Senator Trusten Polk

Trusten W. Polk (May 29, 1811 – April 16, 1876) was an American lawyer, Democratic politician, the 12th Governor of Missouri, and a United States Senator from Missouri during the turbulent years leading up to and including the early period of the Civil War. He served as governor in 1857 and as a U.S. Senator from 1857 until 1862, representing Missouri in the Senate for one term during a significant period in American history.

Polk was born on May 29, 1811, in Bridgeville, Delaware. Little is recorded in the available sources about his early family life or childhood, but he came of age in an era of growing sectional tension in the United States. He pursued the study of law and was admitted to the bar, establishing himself in legal practice before entering public life. His professional training as a lawyer would later underpin both his political career and his postwar return to private practice.

By the mid-1850s, Polk had become an influential figure in Missouri politics as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1856, he was elected Governor of Missouri, taking office as the state’s 12th governor on January 5, 1857. His tenure as governor was brief but notable, as it coincided with the mounting national crisis over slavery and states’ rights. Polk resigned the governorship on February 27, 1857, after less than two months in office, in order to take a seat in the United States Senate. Following his resignation, Hancock Lee Jackson succeeded him as governor in an acting capacity until the election of Robert Marcellus Stewart.

Polk entered the United States Senate in 1857 as a Democrat representing Missouri and served during the 35th, 36th, and part of the 37th Congresses. His service in Congress, from 1857 to 1862, occurred during a critical period in American history marked by the deepening sectional divide and the outbreak of the Civil War. As a senator, he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Missouri constituents at a time when the state was sharply divided between Union and Confederate sympathies. His term in the Senate, originally extending from 1857 to 1863, was cut short as the national conflict intensified.

On January 10, 1862, Polk was expelled from the United States Senate for his support of the South in the American Civil War, making him one of the relatively small number of senators formally expelled from that body. Following his expulsion, he openly aligned himself with the Confederate cause. He was appointed a colonel in the Missouri State Guard, a pro-Confederate militia force in Missouri that operated under the command of Confederate General Sterling Price. In this capacity, Polk took part in the Confederate military structure tied to Missouri’s secessionist efforts.

Later in the war, Polk’s legal background led to his service in the Confederate judicial system. In 1864 and 1865, he served as a judge in the military courts of the Department of Mississippi, helping to administer military justice in the Confederate theater of operations in that region. These roles reflected both his political commitment to the Southern cause and his continued reliance on his legal expertise during wartime.

After the Civil War, Polk returned to civilian life and resumed the practice of law in St. Louis, Missouri. In the postwar years, he lived and worked in a state undergoing reconstruction and reconciliation after deep internal divisions. He continued his legal career there until his death. Trusten W. Polk died on April 16, 1876, at the age of 64. He was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, closing the life of a figure whose career spanned state governance, national legislative service, and controversial alignment with the Confederacy during the nation’s most profound crisis.