St. Louis Arsenal

Early 1861 found many political factions positioning themselves to gain control of the St. Louis Arsenal. The seizure of federal property within the limits of already seceded States had focused attention on this federal arsenal. The tens of thousands of rifles and ammunition would be critical supplies when conflict broke out. The arsenal was commanded by Major William H. Bell. A North Carolinian by birth, Bell had been in the ordnance service since graduating West Point in 1820.

On January 24, 1861, General Daniel Marsh Frost wrote the following letter to Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson concerning the St. Louis Arsenal and Major Bell. Shortly after this time, unionists were successful in having Bell replaced. Rather than obey orders to transfer to New York, Bell resigned his commission and retired to his St. Charles County farm.

Frost was from New York, had graduated West Point in 1844, was a Mexican War veteran, and married in St. Louis in 1851. In 1854, Frost was elected to the Missouri Senate and helped pass the law that organized the Missouri State Militia. We would later organized and be appointed to command the First Military District, Missouri State Militia (authority with which he wrote the letter below). Frost would later command the 9th Division and 7th Division, Missouri State Guard and eventually become a Brigadier General of the Confederate Army.

St. Louis, Mo., January 14, 1861. His Excellency C.F. Jackson, Governor of Missouri: Dear Sir - I have just returned from the arsenal, where I have had an interview with Major Bell, the commanding officer of that place. I found the Major everything that you or I could desire. He assured me that he considered that Missouri had, whenever the time came, a right to claim it as being on her soil. He asserted his determination to defend it against any and all irresponsible mobs, come from whence they might, but at the same time gave me to understand that he would not attempt any defense against proper State authorities. He promised me, upon the honor of an officer and a gentleman, that he would not suffer any arms to be removed from the place without first giving me timely information, and I, in return, promised him that I would use all the force at my command to prevent him being annoyed by irresponsible persons. I at the same time gave him notice that if affairs assumed so threatening a character as to render it unsafe to leave the place in its comparatively unprotected condition, that I might come down and quarter a proper force there to protect it from the assulats of any persons whatsoever, to which he assented. In a word, the Major is with us, where he ought to be, for all his wordly wealth lies here in St. Louis (and it is very large); and then, again, his sympathies are with us. I shall therefore rest perfectly easy, and use all my influence to stop the sensationists from attracting the particular attention of the Government to this particular spot. ... The Major informed me that he had arms for forty thousand men, with all the appliances to manufacture munitions of almost every kind. This arsenal, if properly looked after, will be everything to our State, and I intend to look after it; very quietly, however. I have every confidence in the word of honor pledge to me by the Major, and would as soon think of doubting the oath of the best man in the community. His idea is that it would be disgraceful to him as a military man to surrender to a mob, whilst he could do so, without compromising his dignity, to the State authorities. Of course I did not show him your oder, but I informed him that you had authorized me to act as I might think proper to protect the public property. He desired that I would not divulge his peculiar views, which I promised not to do, except to yourself. I beg, therefore, that will say nothing that might compromise him eventually with the General Government, for thereby I would be placed in an awkward position, whilst he probably would be removed, which would be unpleasant to our interests. ... I should be pleased to hear whether you approve of the course I have adopted, and if not, I am ready to take any other that you, as my commander, may suggest. I am, sir, most truly, Your obediant servant. D. M. Frost

Sources

• Missouri Secretary of State. “Missouri State Legislators 1820-2000” Accessed January 23, 2011. http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/historicallistings/molegf.asp.
• Peckham, James. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon and Missouri In 1861. New York: American News Company, 1866.
• Peterson, Richard C et al. Sterling Price's Lieutenants. Shawnee Mission, KS: Two Trails Publishing, 1995.
• Snead, Thomas L. The Fight for Missouri. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1886.