Hamilton Rowan Gamble

Hamilton Rowan Gamble (November 26, 1798ndash January 31, 1864) was the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court who issued a dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott Decision. He also served as the provisional Governor of Missouri during the American Civil War after Union forces captured the state capital at Jefferson City, and deposed the elected governor.

Dred Scott Decision

Hamilton Gamble was born in Winchester, Virginia. In 1818, Gamble joined his brother Archibald Gamble in St. Louis, Missouri. He became prosecuting attorney of the Circuit Court of Howard County, Missouri. In 1824 he was appointed secretary of state by Frederick Bates and moved to the original capital at St. Charles, Missouri.

In 1827, he married Caroline J. Coalter of Columbia, South Carolina. She was a sister to the wife of Edward Bates, who was later President Abraham Lincoln’s attorney general during the Civil War.

In 1846, Gamble was elected to the Missouri Supreme Court by the (Whig Party). He almost immediately became chief justice. Though a slave owner, he dissented in the Missouri portion of what went on to become the Dred Scott Decision, saying that Dred Scott was free because he had entered a free state.

He resigned his judgeship in 1855 due to failing health, and in 1858 moved to Pennsylvania.

Provisional Governor of Missouri

As the secession crisis deepened, Missouri attempted to follow a policy of armed neutrality, in which the state would not support either side in the war but remain in the Union. A special election in February established a Missouri Constitutional Convention to determine the relationship between Missouri and the United States. The convention voted against secession and affirmed the state's neutrality.

The outbreak of hostilities at Fort Sumter led to unrest in Missouri. The Liberty Arsenal was seized by a secessionist mob a week later. Governor Claiborne Jackson called up the state militia for drill in St. Louis and to receive some arms clandestinely obtained from the Confederacy. This resulted in a confrontation with the aggressive Union commander Nathaniel Lyon who forced the surrender of the militia in the Camp Jackson Affair. A deadly riot ensued and the Missouri legislature authorized the reorganization of the militia into the Missouri State Guard controlled by the governor. General William Harney reached an agreement with the new Missouri State Guard commander Sterling Price known as the Price-Harney Truce. However, the policy changed when Lyon was named by Abraham Lincoln to replace Harney as commander of the Department of the West.

Negotiations between Lyon, Jackson, and price failed and Lyon promptly began military actions to secure the state capital. Lyon captured Jefferson City, Missouri in mid-June 1861, forcing Governor Jackson and the state government into exile.

The Missouri Constitutional Convention reconvened to consider the status of the state in July. The convention declared the governor's office to be vacant and appointed Gamble as governor of a provisional government of Missouri on August 1.

Although Gamble was considered by secessionists to be an unelected puppet of the Union forces, he did oppose harsh treatment of the state, particularly the Fremont Emancipation which unilaterally freed the state's slaves in 1861 and imposed martial law. Lincoln agreed to Gamble's requests, rescinded the emancipation and removed John C. Fremont from command.

Gamble was to die in office in 1864 due to complications from a broken arm and the resulting infection after an earlier fall.

References

* [http://www.mohistory.org/files/archives_guides/GambleHamiltonPapers.pdf Hamilton Rowan Gamble Collection] Missouri History Museum
*"Lincoln's Resolute Unionist: Hamilton Gamble, Dred Scott Dissenter And Missouri's Civil War Governor" by Dennis K. Boman ISBN 0-8071-3164-4 Louisiana State University Press (June 2006)