Tag: kentucky

When to Hold Your Move – Kentucky in the Civil War

Today in History, December 10, 1861:

Kentucky is accepted into the Confederacy by the Confederate government. However the act didn’t mean much.

When the war had begun, both sides very much wanted Kentucky, a well-positioned border state, contiguous with the Mississippi River, on their side.

However, it’s citizens were pretty evenly split in their allegiances between the North and the South, so they declared themselves neutral in the conflict.

President Lincoln very much wanted the state and it’s resources, but what he wanted even more was not to push them to the South, so he accepted their neutrality.

In September of 1861 the Confederacy, in the form of Gen. Leonidas K. Polk, violated that neutrality by ordering the occupation of Columbus and setting up a fort there.

Union Gen. U. S. Grant responded by occupying Paducah; Union assets had to be defended, and a strategic Confederate presence could not go unopposed.

The Kentucky assembly responded by issuing a proclamation ordering the Confederates out and the US flag to be flown over the capitol. Polk had chosen a side for them.

Soon a shadow government of Confederate sympathizers was formed, elected a governor, and applied for entry into the Confederacy, which was granted.

While Kentucky did have regiments on both sides of the conflict, the Confederate government of the state was impotent, soon having to leave the state, finishing the war by trailing the Army of the Tennessee around the South. Their elected governor was killed at Shiloh.

Kentucky…Better Left Alone. Polk’s Blunder


Today in History, September 3: 1861 – Unintended consequences. At the outset of the Civil War, Kentucky declared itself neutral, primarily because the state had an almost equal allegiance to both sides. President Lincoln, on precarious footing with the border states, was careful to respect the neutrality. Kentucky covered key geography and the North couldn’t afford to push it to the South. 

Confederate General Leonidus Polk (2nd cousin to President Polk), was not quite as politically astute, making one of the worst blunders of the war. He made the decision to secure the strategic town of Columbus, Kentucky. The act pushed the fence sitting Kentucky government to the other side, and they asked for Federal protection from the Confederate “invaders”.  This came in the form of Gen. US Grant’s Army forcing Polk out. 

While there were Kentucky units that fought for both the Union and the Confederacy, the state itself was now officially Union.

The Far West – Once Meant What Would Become Kentucky

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Today in History, June 7: 1769 – “Boone Day”. Pioneer Daniel Boone braves the Cumberland Gap, ignoring a British order against westward expansion, to find Kentucky on this date in 1769. Boone would later write, “Not a breeze shook the most tremulous leaf. I had gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and, looking round with astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains, the beauteous tracts below.” He would continue his adventures, settling Boonesborough, Kentucky, becoming a Colonel in the Militia during the Revolutionary War, fighting the British and their allies. He eventually followed his exploring spirit to Missouri, where he died in 1820.