In 1860 and the opening months of the Civil War, St. Joseph stood at the center of the nation’s transportation and communications networks. After Abraham Lincoln’s election as America’s 16th President, states began seceding to form the Confederate States of America, and by April 1861 St. Joseph’s role as the “Gateway to the West” made it singularly important to the North. As the western terminus of the nation’s railroad system, it provided a vital rail link to the goldfields of Colorado and California. It was also the eastern terminus of the Pony Express overland mail route to California, a steamboat terminus connecting the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio River waterways, and a link to the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe trails and overland transport to the West. Because it served as the central hub of the country’s major communication and transport routes, St. Joseph became critical to the North’s effort to place Missouri under Union control, making its protection from Confederate capture necessary, including against Confederates such as the city’s former mayor General M. Jeff Thompson. Missouri, a border state, voted against secession in March 1861 and tried to remain neutral, declaring it would provide men or supplies to neither side, but securing Missouri and its abundant resources was critical to the Northern war effort, and Union control of St. Joseph became key to that success.
