 In the months before Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, political tensions in St. Louis deteriorated into armed confrontation, while pro-Southern elements plotted to seize the United States Arsenal.A military force was organized in the Arsenal in April 1861, under federal auspices by Congressman Francis Preston Blair, Jr., and Captain Nathaniel Lyon; Boernstein was elected colonel of the Second Missouri Volunteer Regiment (of four regiments).Before his election as colonel, his company escorted weapons and ammunition by boat from the Arsenal to Alton, Illinois.