Lincoln and Kentucky's Secession Crisis

Lincoln’s political astuteness kept Kentucky from seceding during the early stages of the Civil War and allowed Union troops to begin recruiting efforts despite protests from Kentucky’s governor.

Following the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to suppress the rebellion.  This call to arms against the seceded states pushed several of the middle states, including Virginia and Tennessee, to join the Confederacy.  Lincoln asked Kentucky to provide four regiments.  At the time, Kentucky was trying to remain neutral in the conflict and was hoping that the Bluegrass State could lead the way in forging a compromise between the warring sections.  In response to Lincoln’s request for soldiers, Governor Beriah Magoffin refused, stating, “Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern states.”

Although Kentucky did not initially furnish any state troops, the commonwealth’s neutral stance quickly crumbled as Union and Confederate recruiting agents scoured the Bluegrass State.  Eventually, more than 100,000 Kentuckians served in the contending armies, with approximately 75,000 on the Union side and 30,000 serving the Confederacy.

Lincoln understood the importance of the border state of Kentucky.  With rivers, railroads, horses, mules, and manpower, Kentucky’s natural and material resources were vital to the Union cause.  Lincoln reputedly said, “I hope to have God on my side but I must have Kentucky.”  Early in the conflict, Lincoln told a U.S. senator, “I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game.  Kentucky gone, we can not hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland.  These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us.  We would as well consent to separation at once, including the surrender of this capitol.”  He knew the central role that the Bluegrass State would play during the Civil War.  As historian Kenneth W. Noe has written, “Victory likely would go to the belligerent that occupied the border states, and securing that vital region meant holding Kentucky at all costs.”