A Divided United State: Kentucky and Neutrality in 1861

By Linda S. McGinnis

This book has its beginning over 30 years ago when I was in pursuit of my first master’s degree. It is shorter than I intended originally. There are two reasons for this. First, the period written about is a short span of time. There has not been a great deal written about these months in Kentucky’s history. One can find volumes of literature almost anywhere about the Civil War, of course, and there are multiple writings about Kentucky and her role in the war. But what was happening in Kentucky during the initial months immediately following the attack on Fort Sumter has been given little more than a nod by most historians. Second, I am in the early stages of learning how to write for readership. The facts shared and the points made in this book would remain unchanged had I been less concise and more verbose. This being said, should I write a second book on another topic, my wish will be for more pages to be warranted.

I remember studying Kentucky history in the fourth grade. Even at my young age, I was curious about our state’s delay in choosing a Union or Confederate side when the Civil War began. I doubt many of my classmates gave it much thought. We were fourth-graders after all. But my curious mind wondered, “Why did we wait so long?”

This question stayed with me into adulthood. When I was older and in graduate school, I read voraciously about Kentucky, our history, and our attempt at neutrality during the summer months of 1861. Only one book, E. Merton Coulter’s The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky, provided some insight into what was happening with our citizens and with our state’s political leaders during this time. Even with the help of Coulter’s insightful and well-researched work however, my question of why we attempted an untenable position was answered only partially to my satisfaction. It occurred to me that digging deeper into this topic would be something I would have to do myself to hopefully find the answers I sought.

After reading several post-period books, I then immersed myself into articles, pamphlets, newspapers, personal letters, and even a fascinating diary; all written during our five months of neutrality. Following a year of intense research, research that took me to libraries all over our state, A Divided United State: Kentucky and Neutrality in 1861 emerged.
My hope is that you find my effort worthy.


Linda S. McGinnis, October 2022

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669863878

Linda S. McGinnis

Linda McGinnis describes her life thus far as varied, interesting, and fun. Raised in the coalfields of Martin County in eastern Kentucky, she has taught public school and coached girls and boys basketball. Upon the completion of her first master’s degree she became an adjunct professor of history at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia for two semesters. She left teaching in 1994 to partner in a manufacturing business. She became the majority owner and CEO two years later. Linda has served her state as a member of the Department of Economic Development as well as serving on the Executive Board of the Kentucky State Chamber of Commerce. She is also a 1996 graduate of Leadership Kentucky. The business venture was successful, and in 2004, Linda sold the company. She lived in Florence, Italy for three months (to experience another country as a resident as opposed to a tourist) and then moved to Northampton, Massachusetts in pursuit of a master’s degree in social work at Smith College. Becoming a therapist had been a goal of hers for several years. She says she credits a talented therapist for guiding her safely through a severe depressive period following a divorce. The result of this experience, she says, caused her to become fascinated with the profession. Following her graduation from Smith in 2007, she returned to Lexington, Kentucky, to work as a licensed psychotherapist. After a successful thirteen-year career as a therapist, she retired to Owensboro, Kentucky in December 2021. She wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren. Linda has two sons, David and Mark. David has a career in business and Mark is an orthopedic surgeon. She says, “They are my very favorite people,” and adds, “I love my boys more than I love me and I have had the humbling privilege of watching them grow to be the two people I admire most in the world.” Of her four grandchildren, she smiles and says, “They are treasures. They absolutely own my heart, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” When she is not spending time with family -- and sometimes even when she is -- Linda continues to read and study history. She is also a fan of audiobooks and podcasts from different genres. She reads news from various sources daily. She says, “We are living in a noteworthy time in America, historically. I try to not allow myself to live in an echo chamber polically. I prefer facts over opinions and information over emotions so I do my best to stay informed and to read and listen to all sides of an issue. It is imperative that we stay current as we age. Otherwise, we risk having nothing relevant to say.” This is her first book.

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Copyright © 2023 by Linda S. McGinnis.

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Rev. date: 01/23/2023

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

Conclusion

Bibliography

To Mom.

You will never see this finished work but without your love and support and your willingness to become a second mom to my children for days on end so their mom could travel and do research, it could not have been started. And for your unfailing faith in me . . . thank you. I miss you every day.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank the wonderful people at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green who were there in the late 1980’s, years before Google was launched. They could not have been more helpful or instrumental in my research. These were the days when one had to be physically present in a physical location to do research on anything. Whatever I needed was provided, and some invaluable articles were provided I didn’t even know I needed until I saw them. It was in their Special Collections section I was first shown and allowed to read the Nazro Diary (a first-person account of conversations and events in western Kentucky during the early months of the Civil War). I’m not sure how many of these people are still alive but, whether or not they are, they deserve acknowledgement.

To Charles Bias, PhD, and Robert Sawry, PhD, at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, I owe both of you a debt of thanks. This book began as a graduate independent study which these two men guided and critiqued. Thank you, Dr. Bias, for encouraging me every step of the way and suggesting to me that this should be published. It has only taken me thirty-three years to finally do it. Thank you, Dr. Sawry, for disagreeing with my original conclusion. You were right and I was wrong. After this many years it is doubtful you even remember the student with two young children whose commute was two hours each way. But I remember you. And I feel better about my conclusion now because I finally realized what you were trying to tell me then.

INTRODUCTION

A fter Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860, an enraged and frightened South perceiving Lincoln to be an unbending abolitionist began state-by-state secession proceedings. The once dominant Democratic Party had split into northern and southern factions before the election, attributing significantly to their loss of the nation’s highest office. Despite the party’s division, however, they still controlled the majority of the seats in Congress. Thus, Lincoln came to the presidency with less than 40 percent of the popular vote, an unfriendly Congress, and states leaving the Union. ¹

The Republican Party was utterly without a following in the South and had not tried to seek southern support for Lincoln but the president-elect still must have been surprised with the rapidity of the secession movement during the next five months.² Ohio journalist Donn Piatt talked with him twice during the 1860 campaign and later wrote that Lincoln considered the movement [in the] South as a sort of political game of bluff gotten up by politicians and meant solely to frighten the North. Mr. Lincoln did not believe, could not be made to believe, that the South meant secession and war.³ The President readjusted his beliefs quickly into a plan of action to try to prevent the country from dividing. The South also recovered from the jolt of November and by February of 1861 the southern states had formally withdrawn from the Union.⁴

While these two factions were acting in total opposition, a third element emerged — the border states.⁵ Neither wholly northern nor completely southern, these states had bonds to both sides. Each would be pulled from within and without until all, eventually, were forced to cast their lot.⁶ Two chose the North, four chose the South, and one—Kentucky—tried a stand of neutrality until the position was no longer prudent.

I

U nder the auspices of Heaven and the precepts of Washington, Kentucky will be the last to give up the Union. ⁷ These words, chiseled into stone, were sent to Washington, DC early in 1861