Key Events

One of the most infamous duels in American history, fought on Bloody Island in the Mississippi River between U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton’s ally Spencer Pettis and Major Thomas Biddle. Both men were killed. The duel exemplified the culture of honor and violence that defined frontier St. Louis — the same world into which the young John Wimer had just arrived.

On the evening of May 17, 1849, a fire broke out aboard the steamboat White Cloud at the St. Louis levee. Fueled by wind and the closely packed wooden boats, the flames leapt to shore and consumed fifteen blocks of the city’s commercial district. Wimer, then a prominent civic leader, was among those who battled the blaze. The disaster reshaped the city and led to major reforms in fire safety.

On November 1, 1855, a train carrying over 600 dignitaries to celebrate the opening of the Pacific Railroad collapsed through the Gasconade River bridge. Over 30 people were killed and scores injured in what was one of the worst railroad disasters of the era. Wimer was aboard the train and survived, an experience that left a lasting mark.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford — a case that originated in St. Louis — declared that Black Americans could not be citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories. The decision inflamed sectional tensions nationwide and pushed the country closer to war. In St. Louis, where Dred Scott had lived and sued for his freedom, the ruling deepened the already bitter divide.

On May 10, 1861, Captain Nathaniel Lyon led federal troops and Home Guard units to surround and capture the Missouri State Guard encampment at Camp Jackson in St. Louis. As the captured militia was marched through the streets, civilians jeered, shots were fired, and a massacre ensued — at least 28 people were killed, including women and children. The event ignited the Civil War in Missouri and forced men like Wimer to choose sides.

Fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, Wilson’s Creek was the first major battle of the Civil War west of the Mississippi. General Lyon, who had seized Camp Jackson three months earlier, was killed leading a charge — becoming the first Union general to die in the war. The Confederate victory temporarily secured southern Missouri but could not hold it.

After refusing the federal loyalty oath, Wimer was arrested and imprisoned at Gratiot Street Prison in St. Louis, then transferred to the notorious Alton Penitentiary in Illinois. He managed to escape from Alton and rode south through hostile territory to join the Confederate forces in Arkansas. The escape was a point of no return — there would be no going home.

Fought on January 11, 1863, in Wright County, Missouri, the Battle of Hartville was a Confederate assault led by General Marmaduke against a Union garrison. The Confederates initially drove the federal forces back but ultimately withdrew after heavy losses. John M. Wimer was killed during the fighting, ending the life of St. Louis’s former mayor on a frozen Missouri battlefield far from the city he once led.