172 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



The man I trusted most for guidance, my neighbor and near 

 friend, John W. Finnell, was then adjutant-general of the com- 

 monwealth and effectively in lead of the manoeuvring. He had 

 remarkable ability in judging and guiding action, and to him 

 more than to any other one among a host of real statesmen who 

 have shaped the destinies of the country, the preservation of 

 Kentucky to the Union, and the eventual success of the North, 

 was due. I shall have more to say of him hereafter. I need 

 here but note the state of affairs as they were in the autumn 

 of 1861, as set before me by Finnell and by an old family friend, 

 also one of the masters of fate, James F. Robinson, of whom 

 there is also much to be told further on in my story. 



The plan of those who at this time had control of the Leg- 

 islature of Kentucky, and thus of its destiny, was, in brief, that 

 of men who knew how to wait. They recognized that the seces- 

 sion of Virginia, Tennessee, and probably of North Carolina, 

 was due to an excess of sympathetic enthusiasm, and that at all 

 costs, even to the point of seeming cowardice, they must en- 

 force waiting. At this stage it was evident that the attitude of 

 neutrality, already little more than a farce, could not be main- 

 tained for many months to come. It was believed that the 

 Confederate government would soon, and from their point of 

 view, very properly, try to force action favorable to their cause 

 by an invasion of the commonwealth. The aim of our leaders 

 was to force such action under conditions which would lead the 

 wavering people to regard the invaders as enemies. It was also 

 seen to be good policy to allow the sympathizers with the re- 

 bellion to betake themselves to the Secession standards in the 

 several recruiting camps which had been established in Ten- 

 nessee and Virginia for their reception. Buckner, and many 

 other officers of the state guard, a force organized to preserve 

 the neutral position of Kentucky, had already gone to those 

 camps, taking with them a large part of that force. This ex- 

 odus, while it grimly lessened the fighting power of the com- 

 monwealth, made the end surer. 



