M. Jeff Thompson

M. Jeff Thompson began recruiting for the Confederate-allied Missouri State Guard (MSG) early in the war in the southeastern part of the state. Unable to reach the main force of the MSG under General Sterling Price, Thompson struck out on his own and began operations in the swamps of Missouri, earning him the moniker “Swamp Fox.” His forces eventually came under the loose control of Confederate general Gideon Pillow, but Thompson’s forces for much of the war existed in an ambiguous space between the formal Confederate army and guerrillas.