CHAPTER II.
ATTITUDE OF KENTUCKY BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR—ITS CLOSE KINDRED AND ALLIANCE WITH THE SOUTH-POLITICAL STATUS BEFORE THE WAR-ITS ACTION WHEN PRESIDENT LINCOLN CALLED FOR TROOPS— GOVERNOR MAGOFFIN'S REFUSAL TO RESPOND UNIVERSALLY ENDORSED—ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF NEUTRALITY—A UNION PROPOSITION-WHY THE SOUTHERN MEN ACQUIESCED— HOW THEY WERE DECEIVED AND OVERREACHED— EFFORTS OF SOUTHERN RIGHTS PARTY TO PROMOTE INTERNAL PEACE—ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE— VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY BY UNION PARTY-SECRET INTRODUCTION OF FEDERAL ARMS AND RECRUITING— WILLIAM NELSON'S ACTIVITY—LAST EFFORTS OF THE SOUTHERN ELEMENT— RESPONSE OF PRESIDENT DAVIS AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN—OCCUPATION OF COLUMBUS BY GENERAL POLK— ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE—GENERAL ANDERSON TAKES COMMAND—REIGN OF TERROR— FLIGHT OF SOUTHERN LEADERS.
HAVING thus briefly glanced at the fundamental causes of the war: first, as indicated by the two opposite contending theories of constitutional construction; and second, as to the immediate occasion of the conflict in the question of slavery, it is proposed to show the part which Kentucky bore in the great struggle. Her attitude, both at the inception and during the progress of the war, has not been fully understood nor described without much error of statement, partly from a misconception of the facts and partly from their being colored by the prejudices or partialities of the writers. The position of Kentucky as a border State placed her in an embarrassing attitude. Allied to the Southern
16
