Kentucky Members of the Confederate Congress (1861-1862)
Background of Kentucky as a Confederate "State"
and the Provisional Congress
Kentucky Members of the 1st Provisional Confederate Congress
Kentucky Members of the 2nd Provisional Confederate
Congress
Background of Kentucky as a Confederate "State" and Its Role in the Confederate Provisional Congress
On December 20th, 1860, South Carolina was the first Southern state to secede from the Union. It was soon followed by six more states – Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin proposed that slave states like Kentucky should conform to the amendments of the United States constitution and remain in the Union. When Lincoln requested 75,000 men to serve in the Union, Magoffin, a Southern sympathizer, countered that Kentucky would "...furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister southern states."* A proclamation was issued forbidding either the United States or the Confederate government to undertake any movement of troops or occupy any post on Kentucky soil, and further warned citizens of the state against taking part in hostilities. Kentucky had declared itself a neutral state to both Lincoln and Jefferson Davis; however, if neutrality was broken, the state pledged to become part of the Confederacy.
Kentucky's neutrality was broken when Confederate General Leonidas Polk invaded Columbus, Kentucky in 1861. The Kentucky Legislature, in response, passed a resolution directing the governor to demand the evacuation of Confederate forces from Kentucky soil. Magoffin vetoed the proclamation, but the legislature voted against Magoffin and the resolution was passed. The legislature further decided to back General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops stationed in Paducah on the grounds that the Confederacy voided the original pledge by breaking Kentucky's neutral status first.
Southern sympathizers were outraged at the legislature's decisions, citing that Polk's troops in Kentucky were only en route to countering Grant. Later legislative resolutions, such as inviting Union General Robert Anderson to enroll volunteers to expel the Confederate forces, requesting the governor to call out the militia, and appointing Union General Thomas L. Crittenden in command of Kentucky forces, only incensed the Southerners further. (Magoffin vetoed the resolutions, but all were passed by legislative vote.) In 1862 an act disfranchising citizens that entered the Confederate "sin, vice, and other measures" was passed. Kentucky's neutral status evolved into a backing of the Union.
When Confederate General A.S. Johnston captured Bowling Green in the summer of 1861, the self-proclaimed Confederates in western and central Kentucky moved to establish a Confederate government even though Kentucky still officially remained part of the Union. A formal Confederate convention met in Russellville in November of 1861. One hundred and sixteen delegates from 68 counties elected to depose the current government under Magoffin and create a provisional government loyal to Kentucky's new unofficial Confederate Governor, George W. Johnson. A month later, December 10, 1861, Kentucky became the 13th state "admitted" to the Confederacy. Kentucky, along with Missouri, was a state with representatives in both Congresses and with regiments in both Federal and Confederate armies.
On Feb. 4, 1861, delegates representing the Confederate States met at Montgomery, Alabama, to organize a "national" provisional government. Four days later, the Congress approved the Constitution for the Provisional Government, thus laying foundations of the Confederate States of America. The Congress elected (Feb. 9,1861) Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens president and vice president respectively, then drafted a constitution (adopted on March 11,1861) and functioned as the provisional legislature pending regular elections, holding five sessions in all: two in Montgomery and three in Richmond, Virginia.
For more information about the proceedings of the Provisional and Permanent Confederate Congresses, view the online Journals of the Confederate Congress.
Magoffin, still functioning as official governor in Frankfort, would not recognize the Kentucky Confederates nor their attempts to establish a government in the state. He continued to declare Kentucky's official status in the war was as a neutral state - even though the legislature backed the Union. Magoffin, fed up with the party divisions within the population and legislature announced a special session and resigned his office in 1862.
Bowling Green remained occupied by the Confederates until February 1862 when General Grant moved from Missouri through Kentucky, along the Tennessee line. Confederate Governor Johnson fled Bowling Green with the Confederate state records, headed south, and joined Confederate forces in Tennessee. After Johnson was killed in the Battle of Shiloh, Richard Hawes was named Confederate Governor. Shortly afterwards, the Confederate Provisional Congress was adjourned on Feb. 17,1862, on the eve of inauguration of a permanent Congress. However as Union occupation dominated the state, the Kentucky Confederate goverment, as of 1863, existed only on paper and representation in the permanent congress was minimal. It was finally disbanded when the Civil War ended in 1865.
Below are listed the members of the Provisional Confederate Congress representing the state of Kentucky.
| Sessions |
| Feb. 4 - March 16, 1861 Montgomery, Alabama |
| April 29 - May 21, 1861 Richmond, Virginia |
| July 20 - Aug. 31, 1861 Richmond, Virginia |
| Sep. 3, 1861 Richmond, Virginia |
| Nov. 18, 1861 - Feb. 17, 1862 Richmond, Virginia |
First Provisional Confederate Congress
(Below names are the committees on which they served.)
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Second Provisional Confederate Congress
(Below names are the committees on which they served.)
Sergeant-at-Arms
Lafayette H. Fitzhugh
| Kentucky - State Senators | |
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| Kentucky - State Representatives | |
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Works Cited
*"Appletons Encyclopedia." Virtualology. 2001. http://www.famousamericans.net/beriahmagoffin/
Kleber, John E., Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, James C. Klotter. Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992. Call number: K 976.9003 Kent
"Journals of the Confederate Congress." A Century of Lawmaking: Library of Congress. Originally published, 1904 (book form). Converted to online viewing, 1999. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcc.html
"Documenting the American South: Confederate States of America. Provisional Congress." Academic Affairs Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Originally published, Columbia: Evans and Cogswell, 1864 (book form). Converted to online viewing, 2000. http://docsouth.unc.edu/digest/menu.html
"Virtual American Biographies: Beriah Magoffin. Appletons Encyclopedia. Virtualology. 2001. http://www.famousamericans.net/beriahmagoffin/
Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "Kentucky: Confederate House of Representatives." Political Graveyard, 2002. http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/KY/ofc/ccrep.html
Weeks, Dick. "The Confederate States of America." Home of the Civil War, 1997. http://www.civilwarhome.com/csa.htm
Cahoon, Benjamin. "Government of the Confederate States." World Statesmen Encyclopedia, 2002. http://www.worldstatesmen.org/US_govt_CSA.html
Cannon, Devereaux D., Jr. "Flags of the Confederacy: Frequently Asked Questions." Flags of the Confederacy. Savage/Gooder Camp 1513: Sons of Confederate Veterans, 2002. http://home.att.net/~dcannon.tenn/fotc.html
"Robert Anderson." Tulane University. http://www.tulane.edu/~latner/Anderson.html
"Civil War in Kentucky." The Great Republic by the Master Historians.
Public Bookshelf.Com. http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/The_Great_Republic_By_the_Master_Historians
_Vol_III/civilwar_ea.html
"The Confederate Provisional Congress." Confederate War Department. http://www.csawardept.com/history/Congress/index.html