Financial Fraud and Guerrilla Violence in Missouri's Civil War, 1861-1865 (Yale Series in Economic and Financial History)

This highly original work explores a previously unknown financial conspiracy at the start of the American Civil War. The book explains the reasons for the puzzling intensity of Missouri’s guerrilla conflict, and for the state’s anomalous experience in Reconstruction. In the broader history of the war, the book reveals for the first time the nature of military mobilization in the antebellum United States. "This highly original work explores the impact of a previously unknown financial conspiracy at the beginning of the American Civil War. In early 1861, pro-Confederate militia units formed throughout Missouri to defend the state's expected secession. To arm the volunteers, a group of senior state politicians and bankers secretly plotted to divert money from Missouri's banks and the state treasury. The scheme backfired and set off a chain of events that permanently altered the state's political economy. This episode contributes new data to several larger questions of Civil War history, including the causes of wartime guerrilla violence, postwar leadership persistence in the New South, changes to sectional boundaries, and how the hostile armies mobilized for war"--Jacket. Cover -- Contents -- Appendixes -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- ONE: Financial Conspiracy -- TWO: New Banks -- THREE: New Bankers -- FOUR: Insider Lending -- FIVE: The Unionists Regain Control -- SIX: Guerrillas -- SEVEN: The Transformation of Regional Identity -- EIGHT: War and the Administrative State -- Appendixes -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Illustrations Explores a financial conspiracy at the start of the American Civil War. This book explains the reasons for the puzzling intensity of Missouri's guerrilla conflict, and for the state's anomalous experience in Reconstruction. In the broader history of the war, it reveals the nature of military mobilization in the antebellum United States.