Border states (American Civil War)

The term border states refers to four slave states and one free state that were on the border between the Northern Union states and the Southern slave-states that formed the Confederate States of America. In some of these states there were both pro-Confederate and pro-Union factions and men (sometimes even from the same family) from these states fought as soldiers on opposite sides in the war.

The five border states were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia (the District of Columbia is sometimes included for geographical convenience). West Virginia was formed in 1863 from the northwestern counties of Virginia that had seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union. In the cases of Kentucky and Missouri, the states had two state governments during the American Civil War, one supporting the Confederacy and one supporting the Union.

In addition, two territories not yet states - specifically the Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma), and the New Mexico Territory (now the states of Arizona and New Mexico) also permitted slavery; yet very few slaves could actually be found in these territories despite the institution's legal status there. During the war, the major Indian tribes in Oklahoma signed an alliance with the Confederacy and participated in its military efforts. Residents of New Mexico Territory were of divided loyalties. In July 1861, Confederate forces from Texas captured the southern New Mexico settlement of Mesilla[1][2], after which the southern half of the territory, located south of the 34th parallel, joined the Confederacy. Oklahoma is often cited as a "border state" today, but Arizona and New Mexico are rarely if ever so characterized.

With geographic, social, political and economic connections to both the North and South, the border states were critical to the outcome of the war and still delineate the cultural border that separates the North from the South. After Reconstruction, most of the border states adopted Jim Crow laws resembling those enacted in the South, but in recent decades some of them (most notably Delaware and Maryland) have become more Northern in their political and social orientation, while others (particularly Kentucky and West Virginia) have adopted a predominantly Southern persona.

Today, the phrase is also sometimes applied in common usage to the states of the upper South, which formed the northern tier of the Confederacy, such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Delaware

Delaware never considered secession.

Maryland

The Maryland Legislature rejected secession (April 27, 1861), but only after the rioting in Baltimore and other events had prompted a federal declaration of martial law. As a result of the Union army's heavy presence in the state and the suspension of habeas corpus by Abraham Lincoln, several Maryland state legislators who were believed to support secession were arrested and imprisoned by Union authorities. Maryland contributed several units of troops to both the Confederate and Union armies. Maryland was omitted from the Emancipation Proclamation, but abolished slavery during the Civil War.

Kentucky

Kentucky did not secede, but a faction formed a government and it was recognized by the Confederate States of America as a member state.

Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin proposed that slave states like Kentucky should conform to the United States constitution and remain in the Union. When Lincoln requested 75,000 men to serve in the Union, Magoffin, a Southern sympathizer, countered that Kentucky would "furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister southern states." A proclamation of neutrality was issued May 20, 1861 forbidding either the United States or the Confederate government to undertake any movement of troops or occupy any post on Kentucky soil, and further warned citizens of the state against taking part in hostilities. Kentucky had declared itself a neutral state to both Lincoln and Jefferson Davis; however, if neutrality was broken, the state pledged to become part of the Confederacy.

Kentucky's neutrality was broken when Confederate General Leonidas Polk invaded Columbus, Kentucky in 1861. The Kentucky Legislature, in response, passed a resolution directing the governor to demand the evacuation of Confederate forces from Kentucky soil. Magoffin vetoed the proclamation, but the legislature voted against Magoffin and the resolution was passed. The legislature further decided to back General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops stationed in Paducah, Kentucky on the grounds that the Confederacy voided the original pledge by breaking Kentucky's neutral status first.

Southern sympathizers were outraged at the legislature's decisions, citing that Polk's troops in Kentucky were only en route to countering Grant. Later legislative resolutions, such as inviting Union General Robert Anderson to enroll volunteers to expel the Confederate forces, requesting the governor to call out the militia, and appointing Union General Thomas L. Crittenden in command of Kentucky forces, only incensed the Southerners further. (Magoffin vetoed the resolutions, but all were passed by legislative vote.) In 1862 an act disfranchising citizens that entered the Confederate "sin, vice, and other measures" was passed. Kentucky's neutral status evolved into a backing of the Union.

When Confederate General A.S. Johnston captured Bowling Green, Kentucky in the summer of 1861, the self-proclaimed Confederates in western and central Kentucky moved to establish a Confederate government even though Kentucky still officially remained part of the Union. A formal Confederate convention met in Russellville in November of 1861. One hundred and sixteen delegates from 68 counties elected to depose the current government under Magoffin and create a provisional government loyal to Kentucky's new unofficial Confederate Governor, George W. Johnson. A month later, December 10, 1861, Kentucky became the 13th state "admitted" to the Confederacy. Kentucky, along with Missouri, was a state with representatives in both Congresses and with regiments in both Federal and Confederate armies.

Magoffin, still functioning as official governor in Frankfort, would not recognize the Kentucky Confederates nor their attempts to establish a government in the state. He continued to declare Kentucky's official status in the war was as a neutral state - even though the legislature backed the Union. Magoffin, fed up with the party divisions within the population and legislature announced a special session and resigned his office in 1862.

Bowling Green remained occupied by the Confederates until February 1862 when General Grant moved from Missouri through Kentucky, along the Tennessee line. Confederate Governor Johnson fled Bowling Green with the Confederate state records, headed south, and joined Confederate forces in Tennessee. After Johnson was killed in the Battle of Shiloh, Richard Hawes was named Confederate Governor. Shortly afterwards, the Confederate Provisional Congress was adjourned on February 17, 1862, on the eve of inauguration of a permanent Congress. However as Union occupation dominated the state, the Kentucky Confederate goverment, as of 1863, existed only on paper and representation in the permanent congress was minimal. It was finally disbanded when the Civil War ended in 1865.

Missouri

In Missouri, the state government under Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, a Southern sympathizer, evacuated the state capital of Jefferson City when it was attacked by Union General Nathaniel Lyon on June 14, 1861. The elected Missouri government, under Jackson, met in-exile at the town of Neosho, Missouri and adopted a secession ordinance that was recognized by the Confederacy on October 30, 1861 (see the Missouri secession controversy). Meanwhile the Union organized a competing government of the state by calling a constitutional convention, originally convened to vote on secession. During the Civil War, Missouri adopted a new constitution as a free state.

West Virginia

Unionists in Virginia organized the state of West Virginia from Virginia's northwestern counties, seceding from Virginia and entering the Union in 1863 with a constitution that gradually would have abolished slavery.

Other issues

Though Tennessee had officially seceded, eastern Tennessee was a hotbed for pro-Unionism. Tennessee came under control of Union forces in 1862 and was omitted from the Emancipation Proclamation. Tennessee was the first state readmitted to the Union.

Winston County, Alabama issued a resolution of secession from the state of Alabama.

The Red Strings were a prominent Southern anti-secession group in areas of Virginia and North Carolina that had few slaves.

New Jersey had not yet completely outlawed slavery, but it never considered secession.