In the first half of 1861, there was a life or death struggle going on between Missouri Congressman Francis P. Blair, Jr. and Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson. Blair was an Unconditional Unionist striving to keep Missouri in the Union at any cost. Jackson was a Secessionist working to have Missouri officially secede and join the Confederate States of America. Many of the events in this struggle took place in St. Louis, Missouri before reaching a climax in the Battle of Boonville when Governor Jackson's state government was forced into exile.