Liberty Arsenal
Coordinates: 39°11′57″N 94°24′23″W / 39.19906°N 94.4065°W
The Liberty Arsenal, known by Federal authorities as the Missouri Depot was a United States Army arsenal at Liberty, Missouri in Clay County, Missouri. The depot was seized twice by Southern partisans, once during the Kansas troubles in 1855, and again shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War. It was located generally west of the junction of Missouri Route 291 and old 210 Highway.
On July 2, 1836, President Andrew Jackson signed a bill authorizing construction of an arsenal on the western frontier of Missouri, and on June 30, 1837, the Federal government obtained a deed to ten acres of land near Liberty. Construction of the arms depot was completed in 1839 and on September 30, 1841 the War Department reported that the arsenal consisted of one building for officers' quarters, one building for men's quarters, one storehouse, one magazine, three workshops, one armory, two gun sheds and two laboratories. At that time the whole amount, expended for the Liberty Arsenal from its first establishment amounted to $26,435.96.
During the period when the free or slave state status of Kansas was still an open question, pro-slavery residents of Clay County frequently crossed the border to vote in Kansas territorial elections and participated in armed incursions to oppose Free State elements in the territory. On December 4, 1855 during the "Wakarusa War", a company of over 100 armed Clay County volunteers, led by Missouri Maj. Ebenezer Price, seized the arsenal. The custodian of the facility, U.S. Maj. Luther Leonard and his six employees were placed under arrest while many of the arms and equipment were removed. The arsenal at that time contained: three brass six pounder cannon, 55 rifles, 67 cavalry sabres, 100 dragoon pistols, 20 Colt revolvers, accoutrements, equipment, and ammunition.
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