I think many of us have it in our minds that leading up to the Civil War, the states in America were either considered pro-Union or pro-Confederate, however, this was far from being “cut & dried”. There were many people that sympathized, for one reason or another, with the other side from which their state was known. This was especially common in the border states between the north and the south and wasn’t evident anywhere more so than in Missouri.

During the years leading up to the war, plundering guerilla bands routinely raided smaller towns, and the people of Columbia, MO constantly feared of one of these attacks. Due to this, organizations began popping up as militia-type “home guards” to fight off possible forays.

So, in 1854, when it was rumored that a guerilla band of lawless soldiers, led by the notorious “Bloody” Bill Anderson, intended to sack and pillage Columbia. An armed group of Columbia’s citizens banded together and built a small blockhouse and then fortified the old courthouse in the center of town. This group of people was called “The Missouri Tigers.”

As it turned out, Anderson and his marauders never showed up. It is believed that the reputation of the intrepid “Tigers” leaked out, and Anderson’s gang decided to skirt around Columbia.

Not too long after, Missouri’s first football team was fielded and the athletic committee at the time adopted the nickname “Tigers” in official recognition of their Civil War defenders.

~In an interesting side note, Missouri’s mascot is named “Truman the Tiger”. It’s easy to see why he would be named Truman given that Harry S. Truman was a proud son of Missouri, but many don’t know the irony behind the name.

Harry Truman’s mother, Martha Ellen Young, was born in Jackson County, Missouri, on November 25, 1852, to Solomon Young, a successful farmer who also had a business running Conestoga wagon trains along the Overland Trail, and his wife Harriet Louisa Gregg. The family were Southern loyalists during the War and several relatives served in the Confederate Army.

In her later years, Martha told the story of a band of Union-supporting “Jayhawkers” destroyed her family’s farm in 1861, then came back again in 1863 when the family was ordered to leave their home within 15 days by General Ewing’s General Order 11 and they were forced to move to Platte County, Missouri until the war was over. This harsh treatment of her and her aging parents left Martha with a lifelong resentment for the Union side in the war, and she was well-known for her continued Confederate sympathies, so much so, that it was reported that when she visited the White House for the first time in 1945, she refused to sleep in the “Lincoln Bedroom.”