Border states (American Civil War)

• 1. Defining The Border States

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  In the American Civil War, four slave states remained in the Union while their neighbors to the south seceded. Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri formed this unique group known as the Border South. By 1863, a fifth state emerged from Virginia's western counties, creating West Virginia. These five jurisdictions sat geographically between free Northern states and Confederate territory. Their position made them critical to the outcome of the war. Each held a comparatively low percentage of slaves compared to Deep South states. Delaware had less than two percent enslaved population by 1860. Kentucky held 19.5 percent, Maryland 12.7 percent, Missouri 9.7 percent, and West Virginia just 4.9 percent. This demographic reality shaped their political choices during the crisis. President Abraham Lincoln once stated that losing Kentucky would be nearly equivalent to losing the entire game. He believed that without these states, holding Missouri or Maryland became impossible. The geographic proximity meant Washington D.C. could be surrounded if Maryland joined the Confederacy. Virginia also bordered it, making the situation even more precarious for the national capital.

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• 2. Economic And Social Divisions

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  The plantation economy based around tobacco and hemp created internal fractures within these border regions. Slavery was already dying out in certain urban areas and regions without cotton production. Cities like Baltimore and St. Louis were rapidly industrializing by 1860. More than half of African Americans in Delaware were free before the war began. A high proportion in Maryland were also free. In nine of ten chief southern cities, the slave population steadily declined before the conflict started. Richmond, Virginia remained an exception to this trend. Some slaveholders profited by selling surplus slaves to traders who transported them to Deep South markets. Cotton plantations there still demanded field hands at high prices. Border Unionists hoped a compromise would be reached regarding slavery. They assumed Lincoln would not send troops to attack the South. Secessionists paid less attention to the slavery issue since their economies relied on tobacco plantations and trade with the North rather than cotton. Their main concern in 1861 involved federal coercion. Some residents viewed Lincoln's call to arms as a repudiation of American traditions including states' rights and democracy. Secessionists insisted Washington had usurped illegitimate powers in defiance of the Constitution. After Lincoln issued his troop call, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina promptly seceded.

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• 3. Political Maneuvering And Neutrality

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  Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri faced deep internal divisions over whether to remain in the Union. Kentucky tried to maintain neutrality but eventually became split between rival governments. The state fell under Union occupation after 1862. Union military forces guaranteed these states stayed within the Union. Governor Beriah Magoffin proposed that slave states should conform to the US Constitution and remain in the Union. When Lincoln requested one million men for the army, Magoffin countered that Kentucky had no troops to furnish for subduing sister Southern States. The legislature passed two resolutions of neutrality on the 20th of May 1861. They asked both sides to keep out of the state. Confederate General Leonidas Polk occupied Columbus, Kentucky in summer 1861. This broke Kentucky's neutrality. The legislature passed a resolution directing the governor to demand evacuation of Confederate forces. Magoffin vetoed the proclamation, but the legislature overrode him. The General Assembly ordered the Union flag raised over the state capitol in Frankfort. Southern sympathizers were outraged at these decisions. In Missouri, Governor Claiborne F. Jackson called upon the legislature to authorize a constitutional convention on secession. A special election approved delegates to this convention. The convention voted to remain within the Union but rejected coercion of Southern states by the United States. Jackson was disappointed with the outcome and called up state militia for annual training.

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• 4. Military Recruitment And Dual Loyalties

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  About 170,000 border state men fought in the Union Army while 86,000 served in the Confederate Army. Men from the same family sometimes fought on opposite sides. Approximately 35,000 to 40,000 Kentuckians served as Confederate soldiers. An estimated 80,000 to 125,000 Kentuckians served as Union soldiers. Over 20,000 freed or runaway Kentucky slaves joined Union ranks. By war's end in 1865, nearly 110,000 Missourians had served in the Union Army. At least 30,000 served in the Confederate Army. Some 50,000 citizens of Maryland signed up for military service. Most joined the United States Army. Only about one-tenth as many enlisted to fight for the Confederacy. Estimates suggest around 4,000 Marylanders traveled south to fight for the Confederacy. Other contemporary reports offer figures ranging from 3,500 to just under 4,700. West Virginia was unique among Union-leaning states. Soldiers were about equally divided between both armies. It remained the only state containing many counties that had formally voted to secede from the Union. Delaware contributed troops to both sides despite its small population. Maryland contributed 60,000 men to the Union army and 25,000 to the Confederate forces. The split created bitter family divisions across these border regions.

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• 5. The Creation Of West Virginia

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  Western counties of Virginia rejected secession and set up a loyal government with representation in Congress. They created the new state of West Virginia during 1862 and 1863. Lincoln recognized this government and allowed them to divide the state. Serious divisions between western and eastern sections of Virginia simmered for decades over class and social differences. Western Appalachian areas grew based on subsistence farms by yeomen who held few slaves. Eastern planters were wealthy slaveholders dominating state government. A statewide convention first met on the 13th of February 1861. After Fort Sumter's attack and Lincoln's call to arms, it voted for secession on the 17th of April 1861. The decision required ratification by a statewide referendum. Western leaders held mass rallies preparing to separate so their area could remain in the Union. Unionists met at the Wheeling Convention with four hundred delegates from twenty-seven counties. The statewide vote favored secession 132,201 to 37,451. An estimated vote for the fifty counties becoming West Virginia showed 34,677 against secession versus 19,121 in favor. Twenty-four of those fifty counties favored secession while twenty-six favored the Union. The Second Wheeling Convention opened June 11 with more than one hundred delegates from thirty-two western counties. They represented nearly one-third of Virginia's total voting population. State offices were declared vacant and Francis H. Pierpont chosen as governor of Virginia. Pierpont headed the Restored Government which granted permission for forming a new state on the 20th of August 1861.

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• 6. Guerrilla Warfare And Civil Violence

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  The border region saw large-scale guerrilla warfare and numerous violent raids, feuds, and assassinations. Violence was especially severe in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and western Missouri. The single bloodiest episode occurred during the 1863 Lawrence Massacre in Kansas. At least 150 civilian men and boys were killed there. It launched in retaliation for an earlier smaller raid into Missouri by Union men from Kansas. Guerrillas were primarily Southern partisans including William Quantrill, Frank and Jesse James, the Younger brothers, and William T. Anderson. Many personal feuds played out in the violence. Small-unit tactics pioneered by Missouri Partisan Rangers were used in occupied portions of the Confederacy. Brigadier General Thomas Ewing issued General Order No. 11 on the 25th of August 1863. This order forced total evacuation of four counties falling within modern-day Kansas City area. These had been centers of local support for guerrillas. Lincoln approved Ewing's plan beforehand. About 20,000 civilians, chiefly women, children, and old men, had to leave their homes. Many never returned and counties were economically devastated for years. Confederate General Sterling Price raided Missouri with twelve thousand men in September or October 1864. He coordinated moves with guerrillas but nearly escaped to Arkansas after a decisive Union victory at Battle of Westport. That battle marked definitive end to organized Confederate incursions inside Missouri borders.

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• 7. Emancipation And Postwar Reconstruction

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  Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to border states since they were not in rebellion. Maryland abolished slavery in 1864 while Missouri and Tennessee did so in January 1865. West Virginia followed suit in February 1865 before war ended. Delaware and Kentucky saw substantial reduction in slavery but did not see abolition until December 1865 when Thirteenth Amendment ratified. In 1866, Kentucky refused to ratify the amendment though it eventually did so in 1976. By war's end more than seventy percent of pre-war slaves in Kentucky freed themselves through Union military measures or escape to Union lines. When Thirteenth Amendment sent to states for ratification in February 1865, Kentucky governor admitted continuation of slavery was hopeless. Notices of slave sales continued but prices fell dramatically. Legislature refused to ratify leaving last approximately sixty-five thousand slaves out of pre-war total two hundred twenty-five thousand four hundred eighty-three awaiting freedom. After war, most jurisdictions dominated by white Democrats who passed laws imposing Jim Crow system of legal segregation. Blacks remained enfranchised in border states despite movements for disfranchisement during twentieth century. For varying reasons blacks stayed enfranchised unlike Confederate States where almost all blacks disenfranchised first half to two-thirds of twentieth century.

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