On this date 150 years ago, President Lincoln once again placed himself in a vulnerable position, although one that he thought was defensible, when he ordered General Winfield Scott to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Scott was given the authority to implement suspension from points in Maine to the Federal capital.

Jeff Thompson, one-time Mayor of St. Louis and now a pro-secessionist in the Missouri state militia, established southeastern Missouri as an area which he and his troops were determined to rid of Federal "invaders".