Kentucky's Civil War Governors

Kentucky's Civil War Governors. Fort Hill Civil War Park. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln frequently tangled with the governors of Kentucky. Disagreements usually erupted over Union military policies involving civilian arrests, the emancipation of slaves, and the enlistment of African American soldiers. , Kentucky's first wartime governor, Beriah Magoffin, fought Lincoln over secession and Kentucky's neutrality policy. When the Confederacy was formed, Lincoln requested Kentucky soldiers to fight the rebellion; but the governor refused. Once the Kentucky legislature became overwhelmingly pro-Union, Magoffin became an ineffectual executive and resigned from office. , Magoffin's successor, Governor James Robinson, also frequently disagreed with the Lincoln administration. Although Robinson supported the Union, he complained about Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and civilian arrests made by Union military authorities. In the 1864 presidential election, Robinson supported Lincoln's opponent, General George McClellan. , Kentucky's final Civil War-era governor was Thomas E. Bramlette. He complained to Lincoln about Union military interference in local elections and differed with Lincoln over many issues, including African American enlistments and the suspension of the writ of habeus corpus. After Lincoln's assassination at the end of the Civil War, however, Bramlette recognized that Lincoln had worked "to preserve all that is worth preserving and that could possibly be preserved from the wreck of this revolution...experience and time has demonstrated that his was the only line of salvation for our country." , Lincoln maintained a rocky relationship with Kentucky's governors during the Civil War Although the governors differed with Lincoln over policy issues, throughout the conflict the commonwealth officially remained loyal to the Unionist cause.