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Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, who descended the
Mississippi from the North in 1673, supplied the first written
accounts of exploration in Missouri. The early Indians in
Missouri were the Osages, Sacs, Foxes, Otos, Iowas, Missouris,
Miamis, Kickapoos, Delawares, Shawnees and Kansas. Although
named for an Indian tribe, today there are no organized tribes
left in Missouri.
As part of the Louisiana Purchase territory, Missouri has
belonged to three nations: France, Spain and the United
States. First claimed for France by LaSalle in 1682, Missouri
was ceded to Spain in 1762. Although Spain held the country
for 40 years, its in influence was slight.
The early development of Missouri was closely associated with
lead mining. Galena, a lead ore, was first discovered in 1701
near Potosi and began to be mined in earnest in 1720 upon the
discovery of significant deposits at Mine La Motte. Mining,
the earliest commercial activity in Missouri, lured early
French settlers and continues to be a major enterprise today.
It was the French who were responsible for the first permanent
settlement of Ste. Genevieve in the mid-1730s. This settlement
alone in the huge Upper Louisiana Territory until the
establishment of St. Louis as a fur trading post in 1764.
Because of its excellent location where the Missouri River
flows into the Mississippi, St. Louis became the largest
settlement in the state and today is one of the nation's
larger cities.
By secret treaty in 1802, Spain ceded the Louisiana Territory
back to France. Napoleon Bonaparte, anxious to rid himself of
the vast and troublesome frontier, sold it to the United
States in 1803 for a total of $15,000,000. About this time
President Jefferson organized the Lewis and Clark Expedition
which was the first extensive exploration of the northwestern
part of the new territory. The expedition left St. Louis in
1804. Missouri was organized as a territory in 1812 and
was admitted to the Union as the 24th state on August 10,
1821. Missouri was the second state (after Louisiana) of the
Louisiana Purchase to be admitted to the Union.
In 1820, the Missouri Compromise was passed whereby Missouri
was to be admitted as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
Although admitted as a slave state, Missouri nevertheless
remained with the Union throughout the Civil War.
At the beginning of the Civil War, most Missourians wanted
only to preserve the peace. However, the state governor,
Claiborne Fox Jackson, was strongly pro-southern and attempted
to align Missouri with the Confederacy. He and most of the
legislature were forced to flee to southern Missouri where
they actually passed an ordinance of secession. However, this
government was no longer recognized by most Missourians.
The most important and bloodiest battle fought in Missouri was
the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield. Other important
battles in Missouri were fought at Carthage, Lexington,
Westport and Boonville - the first engagement within the
state. Missouri contributed 109,000 men to the northern cause
while sending at least 30,000 men into the Confederate ranks.
During World War I, Missouri provided 140,257 soldiers,
one-third being volunteers. Missouri contributed such notable
leaders as Gen. John J. Pershing of laclede, commander of the
American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, and Provost Marshall
Enoch H. Crowser of Grundy County who drew up the Selective
Service Act.
During World War II, Missouri contributed a total of over
450,000 men and women to the various armed forces. Eighty-nine
top officers were from Missouri including Gen. Omar N. Bradley
of Clark and Moberly and Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle of St.
Louis.
The nation's leader during the last year of the war was
Lamar-born Harry S Truman, first Missourian to become
President of the United States. After assuming office upon the
death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, President Truman was
re-elected to a full four-year term. His was the fateful
decision to use the atom bomb and hasten the Japanese
surrender consummated on the deck of the battleship USS
Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Missourians later served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and
Dr. Thomas A. Dooley and Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor emerged as
noted figures. Like the rest of the country, Missouri has
moved toward the 21st century with modernized technology,
nuclear energy, transportation, education; progress in civil
rights and women's rights; and shifts in the economy and
business outlook.
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