460 



KENTUCKY. 



At the commencement of the year many cir- 

 cumstances existed which produced an unsettled 

 condition of affairs in the State. ^ The guerrilla 

 bands were active, notwithstanding the efforts 

 of the Federal authorities to expel them. The 

 question of emancipation was still undecided, 

 and the tendency of the military operations in 

 the State was to demoralize the slave and ren- 

 der him worthless to his master; thus, from 

 interest, hringing him to the side of emancipa- 

 tion. The railroads, especially of the State, 

 were at this time all in the hands of Govern- 

 ment agents, and every negro was allowed to 

 pass over them to the borders of the State. 

 The political .parties were without organization 

 or a system of policy to be pursued. The 

 Union Convention, which assembled at Frank- 

 fort on June 4th, requested the representatives 

 of the State in Congress to vote in favor of the 

 Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, 

 and expressed its opinion that the slave code 

 of the State should be revised, repealed, or 

 modified so as to be in accordance with the 

 state of affairs in Kentucky. In February 

 Maj.-Gen. S. G. Burbridge, who had been in 

 command of the Federal forces in the State, 

 was relieved, and Maj.-Gen. John M. Palmer 

 appointed to succeed him. The former was in 

 sympathy with the extreme radical men, who 

 were very much displeased at the change. But 

 it was made on other than political considera- 

 tions, and in compliance with an application 

 from the Governor and Legislature. The State 

 troops had proved most efficient and successful 

 in hunting down guerrilla bands, and met with 

 success where the Federal troops had failed. 

 This success was explained by saying that in 

 fighting guerrillas it would not answer to ad- 

 here to the regulations which governed an 

 army. A different school of tactics .was re- 

 quired. The outlaws must be fought on their 

 own principles. The soldier educated in his 

 profession feels perfectly lost while engaged in 

 "bushwhacking," which requires a thorough 

 knowledge of the country and great despatch 

 in movements. The retiring General opposed 

 these State organizations, and was not sustained 

 by the Government hi his opposition. 



The great evils resulting from guerrillas and 

 internal disorders is more clearly manifested by 

 the action of the State Legislature, which ap- 

 pointed a committee to proceed to Washington, 

 to confer with the President and Secretary of 

 War on the defence of the State. Their report 

 was made on February 14th, in which they re- 

 late their conference with the Federal author- 

 ities. The President and Secretary of War man- 

 ifested every reasonable desire to extend to Ken- 

 tucky the protection which the committee de- 

 sired, and requested plans to be submitted. The 

 committee proposed to raise State troops for 

 the destruction of guerrillas and the pacifica- 

 tion of the State, on the ground that the citi- 

 zens generally were unarmed, and the victims 

 daily of rapine and murder. Discharged sol- 

 diers could not go home through fear of being 



robbed and murdered. If the militia of the 

 State were called out for the purpose, it was 

 proposed that the Federal Government should 

 arm, equip, supply, and pay them, and a Fed- 

 eral commander should be appointed over them. 

 Again it was proposed that the troops already 

 raised under the sanction of the Secretary of 

 War, should be retained in the service and not 

 disbanded, and Gen. Burbridge had ordered 

 that in future the commander of the district 

 should " be inhibited from interfering with, or 

 controlling any portion of the militia of the 

 State, when in the service of the State, at the 

 expense of the State, and under the provisions 

 of its constitution and sanction of the State 

 Laws." The reply of the Secretary was that a 

 plan for the military administration of the State 

 and for the necessary protection of the people, 

 was a subject to which the attention of the de- 

 partment was earnestly devoted, and no effort 

 would be spared to accomplish the desired ob- 

 ject. He further added: "It is obvious that 

 without a concurrence of the Federal and State 

 authorities, little can be done by the Federal 

 Government to relieve the troubles in Ken- 

 tucky, which, if they do not originate in, ap- 

 pear to be greatly aggravated by, domestic dis- 

 putes and controversies. While no efforts will 

 be spared, on the part of the Federal Govern- 

 ment, to conform its views and action to the 

 pressing exigencies presented by the state of 

 affairs in Kentucky, it is hoped that there will 

 be a cordial disposition to aid those efforts by 

 the State authorities and the people." 



The legislature of the State, however, in 

 March, adopted an act for reorganizing the 

 militia, which it divided into three classes: 1. 

 The active militia ; 2. The enrolled militia ; and 

 3. The militia of the reserve. The latter was 

 composed of all white males less than eighteen 

 and over forty-five years of age, and such per- 

 sons as were otherwise exempt from service in 

 the enrolled militia, and were liable to be called 

 into service only in case of extreme danger. 



The active militia was styled the " Kentucky 

 National Legion," and was composed of all com- 

 panies organized under the act. It was organized 

 into companies, battalions, regiments, and bri- 

 gades, and could be called into active service 

 by the Governor at any time during the con- 

 tinuance of the war, in case of actual or threat- 

 ened invasion, or apprehended insurrection and 

 obstruction of the execution of the laws. 



The enrolled militia consists of all able-bodied 

 white male residents or citizens between the 

 ages of eighteen and forty-five, except members 

 of the active militia and such persons as are ex- 

 empt from military service by the laws of the 

 United States or of the State, to be enrolled 

 by the assessor in each county, and recorded by 

 the county clerk, who should, prior to the 1st 

 day of September in each year, make return to 

 the adjutant-general, stating the number of the 

 enrolled militia in the county, and a list of such 

 of them as were members of the active militia. 

 On every enrolled militia-man who does not 



