Kentucky in the American Civil War

It officially declared its neutrality at the beginning of the war, but after a failed attempt by Confederate General Leonidas Polk to take the state of Kentucky for the Confederacy, the legislature petitioned the Union Army for assistance.

In the historiography of the Civil War, Kentucky is treated primarily as a southern border state, with special attention to the social divisions during the secession crisis, invasions and raids, internal violence, sporadic guerrilla warfare, federal-state relations, the ending of slavery, and the return of Confederate veterans.

[7] The Commonwealth was further bound to the South by the Mississippi River and its tributaries, which were the main commercial outlet for her surplus produce, although railroad connections to the North were beginning to diminish the importance of this tie.

[13] Magoffin called a special session of the Kentucky General Assembly on December 27, 1860, and asked legislators for a convention of Kentuckians to decide the Commonwealth's course regarding secession.

[14] The Assembly did, however, send six delegates to a February 4 Peace Conference in Washington, D.C., and asked Congress to call a national convention to consider potential resolutions to the secession crisis, including the Crittenden Compromise, authored by Kentuckian John J.

[17][18]On April 15, 1861, President Lincoln sent a telegram to Kentucky governor Beriah Magoffin requesting that the Commonwealth supply part of the initial 75,000 troops to put down the rebellion.

Governor Magoffin, John C. Breckinridge, and Richard Hawes represented the secessionists' position, while Crittenden, Archibald Dixon, and S. S. Nicholas advocated the Northern cause.

[23] Several close calls almost started a conflict within the state, but Buckner successfully negotiated with Union general George B. McClellan and Tennessee governor Isham Harris to maintain the Commonwealth's neutrality through the summer.

In an intricate plan worked out with the General Assembly, Fisk resigned as speaker and the Senate elevated Magoffin's chosen successor, James F. Robinson, to the post.

This is documented by E.F. Drake, a Louisville resident, who wrote to Salmon P. Chase in 1861: If the late vote of Ky is relied on, as an indication of the strength of the Union party it will deceive you.

The vote showed a large majority, but when carefully considered it will be found that nearly all old men are unionists at heart and in action while their sons, living in their fathers houses are heading rebellion.

[40] So extensive were the fortifications at Bowling Green that a Union officer who later surveyed them commented, "The labor has been immense– their troops cannot be well drilled– their time must have been chiefly spent in hard work, with the axe and spade.

[41] The convention passed an ordinance of secession, adopted a new state seal, and elected Scott County native George W. Johnson as governor.

[41] Bowling Green, now occupied by General Johnston himself, was designated as the state capital, though the delegates provided that the government could meet anywhere deemed appropriate by the provisional legislative council and governor.

When General Johnston abandoned Bowling Green in early 1862, the government's officers traveled with his army, and Governor Johnson was killed in active duty at the Battle of Shiloh.

[43] Continuing to travel with the Army of Tennessee, the government re-entered Kentucky during Braxton Bragg's campaign in the Commonwealth, but was driven out permanently following the Battle of Perryville.

His line shattered, Johnston abandoned Bowling Green on February 11, 1862, retreating first to Nashville, then further south to join P. G. T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg at Corinth, Mississippi.

[57] At the completion of his escape through the Commonwealth, Morgan claimed to have captured and paroled 1,200 enemy soldiers, recruited 300 men and acquired several hundred horses for his cavalry, used or destroyed supplies in seventeen towns, and incurred fewer than 100 casualties.

[25] Thinking an invasion of Kentucky was preferable to a long siege on the Gap, Smith left a detachment to handle Morgan and proceeded toward Lexington, abandoning the plan to join Bragg and capture Nashville.

[64] At a council of war, Wilder made an unusual request of Bragg's subordinate, Simon B. Buckner– that he be allowed to inspect the forces that now surrounded him to determine whether surrender were the correct course of action.

[71] Bragg hoped to rally potential recruits by installing Richard Hawes, governor of Kentucky's Confederate shadow government, in an inauguration ceremony in Frankfort.

Cesar Kaskel, a prominent local Jewish businessman, dispatched a telegram to President Lincoln, and met with him, eventually succeeding in getting the order revoked.

[87] Colonel John M. Harlan's artillery shelled Morgan's force as it crossed the Rolling Fork River on December 29, seriously wounding First Brigade commander Basil W.

[87] He ordered a few companies to create a diversion, feigning an attack on Lebanon and burning fence rails to give the appearance of campfires, while the main body of his force continued to Campbellsville.

[87] The plan worked, and following a march that many described as their most miserable night of the war, Morgan's men arrived safely in Campbellsville on New Year's Eve and captured some welcome supplies.

[92] Morgan, eager to dispel such rumors and weary of guarding Bragg's left flank,[91] proposed a raid through Kentucky and across the Ohio River.

[97] Two days later, Morgan engaged Colonel Orlando Moore's forces at Tebbs Bend, where a bridge crossed the Green River[98] near Campbellsville.

[107] For the most part, Hicks was right in his assumption that Forrest would not assault the fort, but Confederate colonel Albert P. Thompson, a native of the area, did briefly attempt to capture it before being killed with 24 men from his unit.

[107] Buford's men arrived on April 14, forced Hicks back into the fort, and captured an additional 140 horses in the foundry, exactly where the newspaper reports had placed them.

This is documented in Louisville by a prominent Washington DC journalist, Whitelaw Reid who accompanied Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase for a tour of the south from May 1, 1865, to May 1, 1866 .