capital on June 15, but only two state officers, including the Attorney General, remained. Provisional Missouri Government organized On July 22, the executive committee of the Missouri State Convention reconvened and called for the convention to reassemble in Jefferson City. On July 30, the Missouri State Convention declared the existing state offices vacant. It then installed Hamilton R. Gamble as the military governor of Missouri and appointed the remaining state officers. It also declared all the seats of the legislature vacant and set a date for new elections. Knott, the elected Attorney General, was still in Jefferson City but soon found himself under arrest and then deposed for refusing to take an oath to the second state government. A series of skirmishes and battles between the Missouri State Guard and Union troops dominated the summer as Jackson's government fled to the southwest. Confederate troops crossed into the state to reinforce them in early August, culminating in the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861 near Springfield. Neosho Legislature and Secession Ordinance In the fall, Jackson's government set up a provisional capital and convened in the town of Neosho. On October 28, the legislature took up a bill for Missouri's secession from the Union, citing various "outrages" committed against the state and the overthrow of its government by Lyon. The bill was passed on October 30, and on October 31, it was signed by Governor Jackson, guaranteeing the secession of Missouri from the Union. The Neosho Secession Ordinance has long been a source of mystery for historians due to the unusual circumstances surrounding it. Ironically, the authority to secede had originally been given by the legislature to the state convention based upon the idea that a constitutional rewrite might be needed for an ordinance of secession to be passed. It is unclear whether the legislature had the authority to secede under state, if not Federal, law without the direction of the convention. At the same time, however, it is questionable as to whether the State Constitutional Convention had the legal power to expel both the entire executive and legislature from office and appoint new state officers, especially considering that at that specific point in time, no ordinance of secession had been passed, and it was legally nebulous whether any of the previous officers had committed treason or any other impeachable offense. Questions remain unresolved to this day as to whether Jackson's