Kentucky Rising: Democracy, Slavery, and Culture from the Early Republic to the Civil War

13. Civil War, Part One: Fighting Spirit, Divided Families, and the Confederate War of Proclamations

277 13 Civil War, Part One Fighting Spirit, Divided Families, and the Confederate War of Proclamations Kentucky was the only state that declared neutrality in the Civil War; when neutrality ended, the state endured an inner civil war over the hearts and minds of the people, a war of proclamations that moved the Louisville Journal correspondent in Paducah to joke that, when something was to be done, the order of the day was to publish a proclamation. “We are blessed,” he wrote, “with a ‘make proclamation’ President, and ‘make proclamation ’ Generals, if with nothing else.” But this war was in dead earnest and involved extreme rhetoric that produced excessive actions and generated fear, uncertainty, and violence. Fellow Kentucky natives Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis both won the contest—Kentuckians joined the South in sentiment, but Lincoln won his highest goals of saving the Union and freeing the slaves of Kentucky. The commonwealth remained in the Union, but the dynamic propaganda war for the loyalty of the people made the position of Union military commander in Kentucky one of the most challenging in the war. General George McClellan said that “the delicate post” required uncommon sensitivity; General Ulysses S. Grant observed that it required extraordinary wisdom and common sense.1 Lincoln’s most challenging year was 1864, and one of the worst developments that could have occurred would have been the reality of the greatest fear of Union commanders in Kentucky—a transformation of the conflict for the hearts and minds of the people from thought into action—a general uprising of pro-Confederate citizens against Union authority. On March 15, 1864, the moment of greatest crisis in the history of the war in Kentucky, 278 KENTUCKY RISING the state stood on the brink of such a rebellion. Serving as the Union commander of Kentucky was so stressful that the first general had to resign and leave the state for his health; the second had a nervous breakdown and went home on leave to recover; and others were removed against their wishes, including one who was a hero to Unionists and African Americans but so despised by most Kentuckians that he and his family fled from the state into exile. Henry Clay’s devotion to the Union was deeply ingrained in Kentucky tradition, but with it came the assumption that slavery was a necessary evil and the belief in a state’s right to determine what to do about slavery. Kentuckians were divided over which side to take in the war, and, therefore, they agreed initially to unite behind Clay’s vision of saving the Union through compromise. When all the compromises failed, state leaders agreed to declare neutrality. Five months into the war, troops from both sides entered Kentucky and forced the General Assembly to choose, and it declared for the Union. At that point, with both sides considering the state vital, they began competing for the soul of Kentucky in a war of proclamations to the people. In some of the most immoderate propaganda in American history, both sides predicted disaster if the other side won. Confederates challenged the people to rise in armed rebellion, and Unionists demanded unquestioned loyalty and positive action in support of the Union cause. The Union army occupied Kentucky and secured its cities, but, in the countryside throughout most of the state, guerrillas favoring one side or the other and outlaws interested only in themselves terrorized the people. By Lincoln’s reelection, most Kentuckians sympathized with his Confederate opponents. The Kentucky military tradition remained strong, and orators who defended the state’s neutrality proclaimed that the men of Kentucky were willing to fight when necessary. Over five thousand people attended the Union meeting in Louisville on April 19, 1861, and heard former lieutenant governor and U.S. senator Archibald Dixon declare: “Kentucky is always ready to fight. She was born to fight when necessary, and when the soil of Kentucky is stained with blood, and the spirit of her sons aroused, let her enemies tremble!” Kentucky’s fighting men on both sides were among the most courageous, aggressive soldiers their commanders had ever seen. They were admired as fighters par excellence, eager to rush into combat where the battle was most bloody and contested. About 40,000 men served TENNESSEE VIRGINIA NORTH CAROLINA OHIO INDIANA ILLINOIS MISSOURI WEST VIRGINIA O h io Cumberland K e n t u c k y...