Dates
|
|
Source
|
Aug.1856
|
B.F.
Massey,
running
on
the
Democratic ticket headed by Truston Polk of St.
Louis, was elected Missouri's Secretary of State to serve a four-year
term.
|
4;
8
|
1860
|
Running on the Democratic
ticket headed by Claiborne F. Jackson, Massey was again elected
Secretary of State to serve a second four-year term.
|
But Massey was destined to
serve only about two years of his elected four-year term.
|
|
|
1861
|
Missouri
was
a
border
State
with ties to both the North and the South, but with
definite leanings toward the South. In fact, in February 1861,
Governor Jackson had actually called for a Secession Convention, but it
was voted down.
|
|
1861
|
Governor
Jackson
then
tried
another
tactic; he sent the State Militia to an
encampment near St. Louis, where there was a Government Arsenal; where
they hoped to capture arms.
|
|
May
1861
|
But
Union
Captain
Nathaniel
Lyon,
in early May 1861, captured this Militia
force.
|
|
30
May
1861
|
Nina
Massey
and
Warwick
Hough
were married a few weeks before the Civil War
started.
|
3
|
12
Jun.1861
|
While
the
Missouri
state
administration
was still in Jefferson City, the
State Capitol, B. F. Massey performed his last act as elected Secretary
of State, signing a proclamation issued by Governor Jackson.
|
6
|
12
Jun.1861
|
B.F.
Massey
packed
up
the
State Seal, and all the records that they could
carry, preparing to move the State administration to Boonville.
Benjamin Ulpian Massey, in his capacity as his father's Chief Clerk,
accompanied his father.
|
4
|
15
Jun.1861
|
Union
forces,
commanded
by
Col.
Francis P. Blair, took possession of the
Missouri State Capitol at Jefferson City, and ousted the elected
administration.
|
6
|
17
Jun.1861
|
After
a
skirmish
at
Boonville,
the first North-South battle on Missouri soil,
the Missouri administration fled with the State troops to an encampment
in McDonald county, Mo. in the South West part of the State. B.U.
Massey, the dedicated custodian of the State Seal, accompanied his
father.
|
10;
4
|
22
Jul.1861
|
Union
officials
held
a
State
convention, summarily dismissed from office
Governor Jackson and his entire administrative staff; and installed
Hamilton R. Gamble as Governor.
Meanwhile, Jackson and his ousted "Government in Exile" had fled to the
South, keeping ahead of the Union forces; functioning as though they
were the true Missouri administration, awaiting the opportunity to
return to Jefferson City, there to resume their interrupted duties.
|
6
|
21
Oct.1861
|
Rebel
Governor
Jackson
convened
a
"Grand Assembly" at Neosho, Mo.
There, in extra session, they passed an Ordinance of Secession, which
was signed by B.F. Massey in his capacity as Secretary of State.
|
10
|
7
Nov.1861
|
The
Rebel
Missouri
Senate,
still
keeping a jump ahead of Union forces, met
at Cassville, Barry Co., Mo.
During the first Quarter of 1862, Benjamin U. Massey, zealously guarded
the State Seal; in Springfield, Mo., after the battle of Wilson Creek,
and 7 Mar.1862, at the battle of Pea Ridge.
|
10;
11
|
7
Mar.1862
|
Confederate
General
Price
was
soundly
defeated at the battle of Pea Ridge, after
which the Civil War in Missouri degenerated into guerilla warfare on
both sides. Governor Jackson, and his entire administration,
which included the Lt. Governor, B.F. Massey as Secretary of State, and
others, fled to Des Arc, Ark., with B.U. Massey still in charge of the
State Seal. At Des Arc, they met with a Commission that had been
appointed by the Rebel Legislature on 21 Oct. 1861 to superintend the
lithographing of $10 million in Missouri State bonds.
|
11;
12
|
21
Oct.1861
-
1stQ.1862
|
We
are
not
sure
of
B. F. Massey's whereabouts, although by reading between
the lines, we deduce that he was not physically with Governor Jackson
and the rest of his staff when they were at Columbus, Miss., then the
headquarters of the Confederate military operations, which also became
the Headquarters of Missouri's Rebel Government in Exile.
|
3
|
2ndQ.1862
|
During
the
second
Quarter
of
1862, B.U. Massey wrote that "in the absence of
the Secretary of State," he affixed his own signature, as his father's
Chief clerk, on some of the Defense bonds.
|
11
|
3rdQ.1862
|
During
the
third
Quarter
of
1862, again reading between the lines, we deduce
that in the absence of his father, B.U. Massey was functioning as
surrogate Secretary of State. Our best guess is that B.F. Massey
was incapacitated by the rheumatism that had plagued him all his life.
|
|
6
Dec.1862
|
Governor
Jackson
died
at
Des
Arc, creating what must have been total despair to
his rebel Government in Exile: the realization that their cause was
truly lost.
By this time it is clear that B.F. Massey had totally ceased to
function as Secretary of State, either by formal or informal
resignation.
|
|
6
Dec.1862
|
On
Governor
Jackson's
death,
Lieutenant
Governor Thomas P. Reynolds at
once became Rebel Governor in exile, and immediately appointed his
Adjutant General, Warwick Hough, B.F. Massey's son-in-law, to be
Secretary of State. This act officially ended the career of B.F.
Massey as Secretary of State.
|
1
|
1863
-
25
Jul.
1863
|
Benjamin
U.
Massey
wrote
that
Benjamin Franklin Massey lived on a farm near
Fayette, Howard Co., Mo. in 1863, until the death of his wife at
Boonville, Mo., on 25 Jul. 1864. He had perhaps already retired
to this farm as early as the fourth Quarter of 1862.
|
4
|
| 9
Jan.1863-
10
May
1865 |
Warwick
Hough
appears
to
have
considered his appointment as rebel
Missouri's Secretary of State very much of an empty honor. Within
a
few weeks he resigned this appointment to enter the Confederate
army.
On 9 Jan.1863 he was commissioned Captain, in the Department of the
Inspector General, where he served until the surrender at Mobile, Ala.
on 10 May 1865. |
1
|
Note
|
We
do
not
know
whether
rebel Governor Reynolds appointed another Secretary
of State after Warwick Hough's resignation.
|
|
