Thomas Caute Reynolds
Encyclopedia
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
and then was the second Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Governor of Missouri. After the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he prepared an unpublished manuscript that described his role and the role of Missouri in the Civil War.
Early life
Reynolds was born in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, and graduated from the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1838 and received a doctor of laws degree, graduating summa cum laude, from the University of Heidelberg in 1842. He was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1844 and served as a chargé d'affaires in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
before moving to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, in 1850. There he opened a law practice, served as United States Attorney, and rose in the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, joining the anti-Benton wing when the party split over Senator Thomas Hart Benton
Thomas Hart Benton (senator)
Thomas Hart Benton , nicknamed "Old Bullion", was a U.S. Senator from Missouri and a staunch advocate of westward expansion of the United States. He served in the Senate from 1821 to 1851, becoming the first member of that body to serve five terms...
’s failure to support the Southern side of the national debate in the late 1840s and early 1850s.
Reynolds was fluent in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
as was his French-born wife. Early on in St. Louis, he had good relations with the influential German community. Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, however, consciously and aggressively pursued a Free Soil policy that fed on white fears that slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and the Democratic Party would serve to debase white labor as it was forced to compete with slave labor. Reynolds, as a proslavery Democrat, lost the support of the German community and the Republican editor of the Missouri Democrat, Gratz Brown particularly drew Reynolds’ ire.
Reynolds challenged Brown to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
in March 1855. This duel never came off, however, as Brown chose "the common American Rifle with open sights, round ball not over one ounce, at eighty yards." Reynolds refused the terms because his short-sightedness would have put him at a severe disadvantage in making an accurate shot. The public attacks continued and Brown, chafing under Reynolds' accusations of cowardice for his manipulation to avoid the original duel, finally issued a challenge. Reynolds chose the more traditional dueling pistols and on August 26, 1856, the duel occurred on Bloody Island. Brown was shot in the leg (and was to walk with a limp for the rest of his life) while Reynolds was unscathed. Both returned to the political fray and Brown would serve as Governor of Missouri from 1871 to 1873.
Role in secession
In 1860, Reynolds was elected as Lieutenant Governor, serving along with Governor Claiborne Jackson (D)Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, and assuming office in early 1861. The team, aware of the strong free soil sentiments of important factions of the Missouri electorate, had run as Unionist Democrats (despite privately supporting the Southern Rights wing of the Party).
Reynolds was an early leader of the secessionists in Missouri. On January 4, 1861, soon after his native South Carolina seceded, he called a meeting of secessionists in Jefferson City and began to help organize the Minutemen secessionist paramilitary organization
Minutemen (Missouri Secessionist Paramilitaries)
The Minutemen was a secessionist paramilitary organization in St. Louis, Missouri in the early months of 1861. Many members joined the 2nd Regiment of the Missouri Volunteer Militia, and after May 10, 1861 the Missouri State Guard or the Confederate States Army....
at the same time Unionist companies, the "Home Guard" were being organized by Missouri Congressman Frank Blair, Jr.
Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
Francis Preston Blair, Jr. was an American politician and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and he was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President in 1868.-Early life and career:Blair was born in...
On January 8, Reynolds addressed a public meeting that adopted a resolution which said, in part, "We pledge Missouri to a hearty co-operation with our sister Southern States … for our mutual protection, against the encroachments of Northern fanaticism, and the co-ercion of the Federal Government." On January 17, 1861, he made an influential speech before the Missouri Senate that led the way to the call for a state convention to consider secession.
At the beginning of the Civil War, Missouri adopted a position that it would remain in the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
, but would not send troops or supplies to either side. Governor Jackson refused the call from President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
to supply troops to the Union, and the Missouri General Assembly
Missouri General Assembly
The Missouri General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Senate, and a 163-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the General Assembly are subject to term limits...
established the Missouri State Guard
Missouri State Guard
The Missouri State Guard was a state militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. While not initially a formal part of the Confederate States Army, the State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at times, under regular Confederate...
under Sterling Price
Sterling Price
Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
to resist attempts to force the state to comply. Following the Camp Jackson Affair, when Union military troops and civilians clashed over the arrest of the Missouri Volunteer Militia, Price, Jackson, and Reynolds met on May 14, 1861, to discuss strategy. All appeared to agree with Reynolds that the best course was to organize the entire state militarily to resist any attempt by Lyons to occupy the state capital. On May 20 Price dispatched Reynolds to Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
in order to secure a guarantee from Davis to protect the state secession convention if reconvened.
However the next day, Federal authorities under William S. Harney
William S. Harney
William Selby Harney was a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War and the Indian Wars. He was born in what is today part of Nashville, Tennessee but at the time was known as Haysborough....
reached a cease-fire arrangement with Jackson and Price in the Price-Harney Truce
Price-Harney Truce
The Price-Harney Truce was a document signed on May 21, 1861 between United States Army General William S. Harney and Missouri State Guard commander Sterling Price at the beginning of the American Civil War....
. Reynolds, when he heard about the truce through the newspapers, was upset and feared that Price was reverting to Unionism.
Unionists such as Frank Blair also opposed the truce, and President Lincoln authorized Blair to overrule the agreement and relieve Harney of command. Harney's successor, Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War and is noted for his actions in the state of Missouri at the beginning of the conflict....
, accompanied by Frank Blair, met with Governor Jackson and Price on June 11. Lyon demanded that the state government cooperate in suppressing the Southern rebellion, and that it permit federal military activities beyond the city limits of St. Louis. Jackson and Price would only agree to preserve order in the state and resist any Confederate incursions into the state as long as Lyon agreed to disband loyal Home Guards organizations (including the 1st-5th U.S. Reserve Corps) and restrict Federal troops to metropolitan St. Louis. No agreement was reached. Jackson and Price left immediately for the state capital and the next day Jackson issued a proclamation describing the meeting and calling for fifty thousand volunteers to defend the state. Lyon’s reaction was to move immediately against the forces of Governor Jackson.
On June 3, Reynolds had sent a letter to President Davis requesting that a Confederate army be sent to occupy Missouri, and on June 21 Reynolds and Edward Carrington Cabell
Edward Carrington Cabell
Edward Carrington Cabell was the first US Representative from Florida.Born in Richmond, Virginia; attended Washington College , Lexington, Virginia in 1832 and 1833 and Reynolds' Classical Academy in 1833 and 1834; was graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia in 1836;...
, a representative sent separately by Governor Jackson, met with Davis in Richmond. Davis had his own concerns about the loyalty of Price and Jackson after the truce with Harney and their apparent willingness, based on the June 12 proclamation to resist the Confederacy. Davis declined to send troops until Missouri had actually seceded. According to Reynolds, Davis stated:
Davis did, however, authorize Benjamin McCulloch
Benjamin McCulloch
Benjamin McCulloch was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, a U.S. marshal, and a brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.-Early life:...
to provide any necessary military assistance to Missouri consistent with protecting Arkansas and the Indian Territory.
Lyon occupied the state capital in Jefferson City, Missouri
Jefferson City, Missouri
Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. Located in Callaway and Cole counties, it is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses the entirety of both counties. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,079...
in July 1861. The state constitutional convention was reconvened without the presence of pro-Southern representatives, and they declared the offices of Missouri governor and lieutenant governor vacant. Hamilton Rowan Gamble
Hamilton Rowan Gamble
Hamilton Rowan Gamble was the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court at the time of the Dred Scott Decision in 1852, when his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Misssouri of "once free always free". He wrote a dissenting opinion...
was appointed provisional governor, and Willard Preble Hall
Willard Preble Hall
William Willard Preble Hall was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 17th Governor of Missouri from 1864 to 1865 during last years of the American Civil War.-Early years:...
was named lieutenant governor.
Jackson and Reynolds, along with other pro-secession politicians such as David Rice Atchison
David Rice Atchison
David Rice Atchison was a mid-19th century Democratic United States Senator from Missouri. He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate for six years...
, maintaining they were still the elected government of the state, fled to the southwest corner of the state by Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
where Lyon was killed in the Battle of Wilson's Creek
Battle of Wilson's Creek
The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes...
. Jackson and Reynolds convened the pro-South elected government in Neosho, Missouri
Neosho, Missouri
Neosho is the most populous city in and the county seat of Newton County, Missouri, United States. Neosho is an integral part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area....
and voted the Missouri secession
Missouri secession
During the American Civil War, the secession of Missouri was controversial because of the disputed status of the state of Missouri . During the war, Missouri was claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy, had two competing state governments, and sent representatives to both the United States...
to secede from the Union. Unable to defend themselves in the state, the government eventually moved to Marshall, Texas
Marshall, Texas
Marshall is a city in Harrison County in the northeastern corner of Texas. Marshall is a major cultural and educational center in East Texas and the tri-state area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Marshall was about 23,523...
.
Role in the Civil War
By December 1861 President Davis was trying to select an overall leader for Confederate forces in Missouri, Texas, and Arkansas. Jackson, Reynolds, and the Missouri Congressional delegation all lobbied for Sterling Price. Davis had concerns about Price based on his misunderstandings with McCulloch and his early support for neutrality. Davis was also unwilling to place in command of the area any general from the states of Missouri, Texas, or Arkansas—fearing that their objectivity for the entire Confederate war effort would be blinded by local concerns. After first offering the position to Henry HethHenry Heth
Henry "Harry" Heth was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He is best remembered for inadvertently precipitating the Battle of Gettysburg, when he sent some of his troops of the Army of Northern Virginia to the small Pennsylvania village,...
and Braxton Bragg
Braxton Bragg
Braxton Bragg was a career United States Army officer, and then a general in the Confederate States Army—a principal commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and later the military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.Bragg, a native of North Carolina, was...
, Mississippian Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn
Earl Van Dorn was a career United States Army officer, fighting with distinction during the Mexican-American War and against several tribes of Native Americans...
was eventually selected. The issue of local versus national control of Missouri troops did materialize after the Battle of Pea Ridge
Battle of Pea Ridge
The Battle of Pea Ridge was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield. In the battle, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the...
when Price’s troops, over the troops' and Price’s objections, were ordered across the Mississippi – Price would eventually return to fight for Missouri but his troops would not.
Reynolds returned to Richmond to work with its Congressional delegation but eventually became frustrated with his inability to contribute. In April 1862 he returned to his family estate in Winnsborough, South Carolina. His active role in the war resumed and took on new importance, however, when he learned in December 1862 that Governor Jackson had died and that he was now governor.
After the Battle of Corinth
Battle of Corinth
The Battle of Corinth may refer to a Roman battle, or to one of two American Civil War Battles:* The Battle of Corinth * The Siege of Corinth, Mississippi , also known as the First Battle of Corinth, during the American Civil War* The Second Battle of Corinth...
, Price had been strongly lobbying the Richmond government to return to Missouri with his troops. In late January 1863 Price went to Richmond to make his case, and Reynolds joined him there in his first act as governor. Both Price and Reynolds were concerned that with Missouri totally occupied by the Union any peace treaty might exclude Missouri from the Confederacy. Meeting with Davis and secretary of War James Seddon
James Seddon
James Alexander Seddon was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms in the U.S. Congress as a member of the Democratic Party. He was appointed Confederate States Secretary of War by Jefferson Davis during the American Civil War.-Biography:Seddon was born in Falmouth, Stafford County,...
, the Missourians received the immediate assignment of Price west of the Mississippi with his troops to follow when circumstances warranted. Reynolds also received a letter designating him as an unofficial advisor to Generals Kirby Smith and Theophilus H. Holmes
Theophilus H. Holmes
Theophilus Hunter Holmes was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate Lieutenant General in the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
and an agreement from Davis to consult Reynolds before the appointment of any general officers.
From this point on, despite an outwardly cordial appearance, the relationship between Reynolds and Price would deteriorate. In September 1863 forces under Price abandoned Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, and Reynolds noted that "General Holmes and all the general officers under Price at Little Rock, except General Frost, considered the evacuation a blunder, and that Steele could have been beaten back with great disaster to him.". He did support and encourage the replacement of Holmes but he lobbied with the President to replace him with Simon B. Buckner rather than Price whom he considered (in Castel’s words) "devious, insincere, petulant, and arrogant" and "impulsive, tactless, and prone to indiscreet and exaggerated language."
Reynolds tried to exert his influence, backed up by his personal relationship with Jefferson Davis, over the civil and military decisions in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He brought some order to the records of the government which he had inherited from Governor Jackson but early on had differences with Price over the disbursement of the dwindling state treasury. The split became open and public when Reynolds appointed Colonel L. M. Lewis to the Confederate Senate to replace Price favorite and Davis critic, incumbent John B. Clark.
As long as Missouri remained in Union hands, Reynolds remained a governor without an actual state to govern. Reynolds' final chance to become governor in fact occurred in October 1864 when he accompanied General Price in his raid
Price's Raid
Price's Missouri Expedition, also known as Price's Raid, was an 1864 Confederate cavalry raid through the states of Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. While Confederate Major General Sterling Price enjoyed some successes during this campaign, he was decisively beaten at the Battle...
back into Missouri. While both Price and Kirby Smith in their official reports painted a positive picture of the raid’s accomplishments (i.e. new recruits, railroads and bridges destroyed, prisoners taken, war materials gather), Castel notes:
Reynolds was proud of his own participation in the raid, claiming he had "been among the bullets on the battlefield, shared mule meat with the starving, and walked in the retreat". At the same time he blamed Price for the raid’s failures which he characterized as nothing but "a weak and disgraceful plundering raid." He was especially incensed at the failure to capture Jefferson City which would have allowed Reynolds to be officially installed as the state’s governor. Reynolds complained to Smith in October and in a December 23, 1864, published letter to the Marshall Texas Republican newspaper he thoroughly lambasted Price in the guise of defending two other officers that Reynolds claimed Price was using as scapegoats for his own failures. Reynolds followed this up by sending a copy to Price and asking him to resign from the military. Price responded by requesting that Smith conduct a formal investigation of Price’s charges and in a published letter to the Shreveport News denied Reynolds’ charges while referring to him as someone "who pretends to be, and styles himself in it [the Texas Republican letter], the Governor of the State of Missouri.
A court of inquiry was held in late April 1865, but it was never concluded due to the end of the war. For the most part, Castel concludes that Reynolds’ specific charges were not supportable and notes that Reynolds in 1887 effectively recanted the most serious charges. Referring to his public charges, Reynolds wrote, "It is against all the canons of history that, made in a heated controversy, they should be used, or even referred to, in stating ‘’facts’’ of that campaign itself."
Post-Civil War life
Reynolds and a group of refugees including Kirby Smith, Sterling Price, John B. MagruderJohn B. Magruder
John Bankhead Magruder was a career military officer who served in the armies of three nations. He was a U.S. Army officer in the Mexican-American War, a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and a postbellum general in the Imperial Mexican Army...
, and Joseph Shelby, with several hundred of his troops, retreated to Mexico in the summer of 1865. Reynolds took up residence in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
where he served as a railroad commissioner and unofficial adviser to the Emperor Maximilian
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...
.
In Mexico Reynolds began work on a book which would present his side of the war and his feud with General Price. Reynolds discontinued this project when he learned of Price’s death and returned to St. Louis in 1869. Reynolds practiced law, was elected to the state legislature in 1874, and served as a trade commissioner to South America in the Cleveland administration. He continued to gather information for his book, but the work, titled "Gen. Sterling Price and the Confederacy", was never published and is in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society.
Reynolds killed himself in 1887 by jumping down an elevator shaft at the Customs House in St. Louis. A note with his body indicated he was afraid that he was losing his mental capacity. He is buried in Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries
Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries
Bellefontaine Cemetery and the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri are adjacent burial grounds, which have numerous historic and extravagant tombstones and mausoleums. They are the necropolis for a number of prominent local and state politicians, as well as soldiers of the...
in St. Louis.