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Freda holds a Master's Degree in History and teaches a variety of college history courses.
The American Civil War is often viewed entirely as the North versus the South, but sandwiched in between these two battling areas were the Border States. The Border States included Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and, by mid-war, West Virginia.
However, the criteria for being a Border State was not simply geographic. They also had a unique cultural identity. Slaveholding was legal in the Border States, and like the South, they didn't support Lincoln in the 1860 election. However, his win was not an impetus for secession here because the Border States also held on to a firm belief in a strong federal union.
The Border States were vital to the success of the Union. They contained significant deposits of mineral resources and were major agricultural areas producing both livestock and grain. Additionally, these states contained transportation and communication lines that were vital to the war.
President Lincoln actively worked to maintain the best relationship with these areas to ensure he never lost these resources. However, their cultural ideologies created some significant dividing lines that had to be carefully balanced, including their ideas on slavery.
Lincoln unsuccessfully tried to convince the Border States to be the leaders in voluntary and gradual emancipation in the first years of the war. He pointed out that being the leaders meant they could have time to acclimate their economies to the loss of the slave labor. He offered them financial compensation for the loss of their slaves. Nothing worked. This failure to gain emancipation in the Border States was one of the major reasons he felt it necessary to draft the Emancipation Proclamation.
In addition to the slavery issue, Lincoln had to delicately balance the military force in all the Border States. The most horrific guerrilla warfare occurred here and, although the Union fought to control it, this was an area where brother turned against brother, family against family. It was not an easy task to ensure both state sovereignty in war and the safety of citizens by using military action. Each state had a unique set of problems, and Lincoln tried to address them both individually and to the benefit of the Union as a whole.
Geographically, Delaware and Maryland were the most northern Border States. Although Delaware is often discounted, slaveholding was legal here. However, the number of slaves, and thus their effect on the economy, was comparatively minimal. Retaining their loyalty to the Union also meant keeping substantial water access and port cities. The National Road and a major railroad ran through Maryland. Maryland also surrounded Washington, D.C. To lose Maryland would mean having to evacuate the Federal capitol, and that would have deeply affected foreign policy as well as upset the regular flow of political business in wartime.
Kentucky bordered both the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, creating a buffer between the Union and Confederate-held Tennessee. Although Kentucky had intense Southern sympathies, especially where slavery was concerned, local politicians were able to promote neutrality in the war, which prevented immediate secession. Lincoln was willing to tread delicately with Kentucky, but the Confederacy was not. Confederates invaded western Kentucky and began to take it over militarily. Once their policy of neutrality was threatened, Kentucky requested and received Union military support to eject the Confederates. This helped solidify Kentucky to Lincoln's cause, despite their differences on emancipation. Kentucky held many resources essential to the war, but Lincoln also believed it was the key to strategically holding on to Missouri. Therefore, losing Kentucky to the Confederates would have been so significant that it could have potentially lost the entire war. Although the Confederates continued to try to garner Kentucky's full support, they never fully received it.
Missouri was a major agricultural producer and St. Louis itself had become essential to the economy, particularly in the western states. Attempts at policies of neutrality here failed, in part, due to the forceful anti-slavery stance of the Federal troops, but also due to ineffective local politics. This resulted in some of the most brutal fighting in the Border State areas. Additionally, both the Union and Confederacy claimed Missouri as their own. There were even state governments created for both sides, but neither one held full control. Guerrilla warfare was common here as the pro-Union Jayhawkers, consistently battled anyone with Confederate sympathies while the Southern Border Ruffians did the same to the Union sympathizers. Both sides were considered lawless and ruthless.
West Virginia had been trying unsuccessfully for decades to separate from Virginia. The Civil War provided the springboard into a successful, but not amicable, separation. The new state of West Virginia was filled with sympathizers from both sides, and slavery was legal. Fighting between Union and Confederate sympathizers was fierce, much like Missouri. One of the more commonly known local groups of Confederate guerrilla fighters, the Moccasin Rangers, were quite successful here in the early days. Eventually, troops from the solidly Union state of Ohio were sent in to keep the peace. It was a tenuous peace at best, but West Virginia remained with the Union from its official statehood in 1863, giving the Union full control of the major east-west passages and the lion's share of the major railroads and waterways.
Let's review. Due to their sectional divisions, the Border States, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and, by mid-war, West Virginia, created unique challenges in the war effort, including some of the most brutal guerrilla warfare in the nation. The geographic position and resources of the Border States remained vital to the success of the Union cause. President Lincoln actively sought to ensure they remained as loyal to the Union as possible, including compromising on the slavery issue. Lincoln held onto their overall loyalty to the Union cause, but he never swayed them on the issue of emancipation.
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