Kentucky was a
border state of key importance in the
American Civil War.
President Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of the
Commonwealth when he declared "I hope to have
God on my side, but I must have
Kentucky."
Encyclopedia of Kentucky, p.43. In a September 1861 letter to
Orville Browning,
Kentucky, being a border state, was among the chief places where the "
Brother against brother" scenario was prevalent. Kentucky was officially neutral at the beginning of the war, but after a failed attempt by Confederate General
Leonidas Polk to take the state of Kentucky for the Confederacy, the legislature petitioned the Union for assistance, and thereafter became solidly under union control.
Kentucky was the site of fierce battles, such as
Mill Springs and
Perryville. It was host to such military leaders as
Ulysses S. Grant on the
Union side, who first encountered serious
Confederate gunfire coming from
Columbus, Kentucky, and
Nathan Bedford Forrest on the Confederate side. Forrest proved to be a scourge to the
Union Army in such places as the towns of
Sacramento and
Paducah, where he conducted
guerrilla warfare against Union forces.
Kentucky was the birthplace of...
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