Page 26

governor said, “Tennessee will not furnish a single man for purpose of coërcion.” 1 She did not adopt an ordinance of secession, but during the month of May her legislature made a military league with the Confederate States, and she became one of them, subject to the vote of the people which was taken on June 8; by a majority of nearly 58,000, they declared in favor of separation from the Union and of joining the Southern Confederacy. 2 29 “Kentucky,” so telegraphed her governor, “will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.” 3 But he could not draw her into the secession movement. A drift of conflicting opinions held her in the balance, but Lincoln knew his native State well and, by tact and forbearance, he guided the Union men so that their influence continually spread until the month of August, when, in the newly elected legislature, they had a majority of nearly three-fourths in each branch. 4 30 Missouri’s governor was likewise favorable to secession, replying to the call for troops: “Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional and revolutionary in its object, inhuman and diabolical.… Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on any such unholy crusade.” 5 He had, however, a resolute antagonist in Francis P. Blair, Jr., a man of extraordinary physical and moral courage, of high social position in St. Louis and personally very popular. Between him and the governor, there ensued four months of political and martial manœuvring, but Blair won in the end and Missouri remained in the Union. 6 31 The array was now complete. Twenty-three States were pitted against eleven; twenty-two million people

Note 1. O. R., III, I, 81. [back]

Note 2. III, 384. [back]

Note 3. O. R., III, I, 70. [back]

Note 4. III, 391; N. & H., IV, 240. [back]

Note 5. O. R., III, I, 83. [back]

Note 6. III, 393. [back]

Contents -SUBJECT INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD