of that Government in the States of Maryland and Missouri, and more recently in Kentucky itself, as you inform me 'a military force has been enlisted and quartered by the United States authorities.'

"The Government of the Confederate States has not only respected most scrupulously the neutrality of Kentucky, but has continued to maintain the friendly relations of trade and intercourse which it has suspended with the United States generally.

"In view of the history of the past, it can scarcely be necessary to assure your Excellency that the Government of the Confederate States will continue to respect the neutrality of Kentucky so long as her people will maintain it themselves.

"But neutrality to be entitled to respect must be strictly maintained between both parties; or, if the door be opened on the one side for the aggressions of one of the belligerents, upon the other it ought not to be shut to the assailed when they seek to enter it for purposes of self-defense.

"I do not, however, for a moment believe that your gallant State will suffer its soil to be used for the purpose of giving an advantage to those who violate its neutrality and disregard its rights, over others who respect both.

"In conclusion, I tender to your Excellency the assurance of my high consideration and regard, and am, sir, very respectfully,

These letters are characteristic of their respective authors. The reader cannot fail to note the shrewdness of the one and the dignity of the other. It was idle to speculate as to the course of the United States. The president in his special message to Congress, July 4, 1861, had denounced "armed neutrality" in the severest language, and had plainly indicated his intention not to respect it. The invasion of the State now openly began. The doctrine of neutrality had

proven the means to prevent secession, and to turn the State over to Federal control. Instead of serving the purpose of uniting the different political factions of the State, it served to separate them in implacable hatred. The Unionists gained control of the State government, and the Secessionists formed a provisional Government.

As early as May 7, 1861, Major Robert Anderson, the "hero of Fort Sumter," promoted to the rank of brigadiergeneral, had been placed in command of a recruiting camp at Cincinnati, for the purpose of enlisting recruits from Kentucky. The Department of the Cumberland, consisting of Kentucky and Tennessee, was formed on August 15th, and General Anderson was assigned to the command, with headquarters at Louisville. Early in September, Generals W. T. Sherman and George H. Thomas reported to General Anderson for duty. General Sherman succeeded, on October 7th, General Anderson, who resigned, and on November 9th, General Sherman was removed to Missouri, and General Don Carlos Buell was appointed to the command of the Department of the Ohio. The portion of Kentucky west of Cumberland River was attached to the Department of Missouri. The Federal forces were assembled along Ohio River, and a fleet of ironclad gunboats, under Flag-officer Andrew H. Foote, was being assembled. On September 4th, General Leonidas Polk, commanding the Confederate forces, took possession of Columbus and Hickman on Mississippi River; on September 10th, General Albert Sidney Johnston was assigned to the command of the Department of the West, and at once moved the Confederate army into Kentucky and established the "Line of the Cumberland" across the State.

The legislature passed several acts which showed that the State government sympathized with the Union, and considered neutrality at an end. One of these acts instructed the governor to demand that all Confederate forces should withdraw from the State; another declared enlistment in the Confederate army to be a misdemeanor and

invasion of the State by Confederate troops a felony; still another act, passed September 25th, directed the governor to call out forty thousand men "to repel the invasion by armed forces from the Confederate States." The troops of Kentucky were transferred to the United States.

As long as any hope remained of the preservation of neutrality the Southern sympathizers respected it and no Confederate recruiting camp was formed in the State. Many ardent Southern men, however, left the State and joined the Confederate army. When the United States authorities by general orders created the Department of the Cumberland and assigned General Anderson to the command, the legislature of Kentucky, September 18th, invited him to take command of the State troops and expel the Confederates. When such acts were passed by the legislature as those related above, and when finally the military authorities began arresting prominent citizens who had committed no act amenable to law and against whom no charge could even be invented except Southern sympathy, the Southern men abandoned all hope of peace or neutrality and took steps for their own safety. Many of them fled to Camp Boone near the Kentucky line in Tennessee. There they organized the Kentucky recruits for the Confederate army, and subsequently accompanied the Confederate army in its advance into Kentucky. Ex-Vice-president John C. Breckinridge, evading a party of soldiers sent to arrest him, General S. B. Buckner, and other prominent leaders, left the State. Both the gentlemen above named were appointed to high command in the Confederate army.

During all this time there had been no serious fighting. Light skirmishes had taken place at Lucas Bend, September 26th; Hillsboro, October 4th; Upton Hill, October 12th; Wild Cat, October 21st; West Liberty, October 23d; Hedgeville, October 23d; Saratoga, October 26th; Woodbury, October 29th; Piketown, November 9th, and Cypress Bridge, November 17th. The battle of Belmont

had been fought November 7, 1861, on the Missouri side of Mississippi River.

When the State Convention of Southern sympathizers assembled at Russellville November 18, 1861, to form a provisional government, the military situation was as follows: The two armies confronted each other in lines extending across the State. The portion of the Federal army from the eastern boundary to Cumberland River was embraced in the Department of the Ohio, including also Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Tennessee, commanded by General Buell, with a force of 49,586 men as reported on December 10, 1861. The portion west of Cumberland River was embraced in the Department of Missouri, under command of General John C. Frémont, the portion in Kentucky being under the immediate command of General U. S. Grant, with a force of about 26,000 men. The exact figures do not appear in the official records. This line extended along Ohio River, with forces assembled at Louisville, Paducah, Cairo, and other points and advance posts thrown forward far into the State. A powerful fleet of gunboats on Ohio and Mississippi Rivers was under command of Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote.

The Confederate line extended across the State from Cumberland Gap to Columbus on the Mississippi, under General Albert Sidney Johnston, commanding the Department of the West. This line passed through Bowling Green, which was made the headquarters of the Central Army of Kentucky, commanded by General William Joseph Hardee. The strength of this force was 33,816 men, of whom 22,272 were present for duty. In addition were the forces of Generals George B. Crittenden and Felix K. Zollicoffer, covering Cumberland Gap with 8,451 men, of whom 5,836 were present for duty, making a total of 42,267, of whom 28,108 were present for duty, as reported on December 31, 1861. West of Cumberland River, General Grant faced General Polk and his force of 28,531 men.