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- April 15, 1861
- President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve for three months.
- April 17, 1861
- Kentucky refused President Lincoln's call for troops.
- April 20, 1861
- In Louisville, Kentucky, John Cabell
Breckenridge, former Vice President, denounced President Lincoln's call for troops
illegal.
- April 30, 1861
- Major Robert Anderson, "Hero of Sumter,"
was promoted to Brigadier General and sent to Kentucky to help keep the state in the
Union. Kentucky being neutral, he established his headquarters in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
- May 3, 1861
- Fourteen companies offered their services to
the Confederacy and established a camp in the southern part of Kentucky for training
and organization.
- May 13, 1861
- President Lincoln, seeking a means to supply
pro-Unionists in Kentucky with arms without funnelling the arms through the State
government, ordered 5,000 muskets to be shipped to Cincinnati, Ohio. Naval
Lieutenant William Nelson, an old family friend of Lincoln's, volunteered to distribute
the weapons. Shortly after Nelson's arrival in Cincinnati, the guns found their
way into the hands of pro-Union forces in Kentucky.
- May 20, 1861
- Kentucky declared neutrality and forbade the
movement of any troops on state soil.
- June 4, 1861
- Lieutenant William Nelson received more guns
from President Lincoln to be distributed among the loyalists of Kentucky and eastern
Tennessee. These weapons became known as "Lincoln guns."
- July 1, 1861
- The War Department in Washington, D.C.
approved raising federal troops in Kentucky and Tennessee.
- August 6, 1861
- The first recruiting and training camp,
Camp Dick Robinson
, was established in Garrard County, Kentucky.
- August 8, 1861
- The Confederate government authorized the
raising of troops in Kentucky.
- August 15, 1861
- Brigadier General Robert Anderson was named
the new commander of the Department of the Cumberland, which consisted of Kentucky
and Tennessee.
- August 16, 1861
- President Lincoln declared the Southern States
in a state of rebellion and forbade all commerce with them.
- August 19, 1861
- George H. Thomas was promoted to Brigadier
General by President Lincoln.
- August 24, 1861
- President Lincoln informed the Governor of
Kentucky, Beriah Magoffin, that he could not, and would not, remove the pro-Union forces
from neutral Kentucky.
- September 3, 1861
- Confederate forces commanded by Major General
Gideon Pillow marched into Kentucky in route to Columbus, Kentucky, on the Mississippi
River. Kentucky was no longer neutral. This movement brought protests from
the pro-Union forces in Kentucky, and a flurry of enlistments in the Union forces, as well
as departures for the Confederate Army.
- September 10, 1861
- General George H. Thomas was assigned command of
Camp Dick Robinson.
- September 22, 1861
- The 3rd Kentucky Infantry (later redesignated the 7th), under the Command of
Colonel Theophilus T. Garrard, was mustered into service by General George H. Thomas at
Camp Dick Robinson.
- October 21, 1861
- Battle of Camp Wild Cat at Rockcastle Hills, Laurel County
Kentucky.
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