KENTUCKY

The state of Kentucky sat on the border between the North and the South. Officially a slave state, Kentucky stayed in the union, despite the efforts of many who wanted the state to go the way of its Southern neighbors. In 1860, Kentucky supported a population of 1.1 million people, over 900,000 were white, a quarter of a million were slaves, and another 10,000 were free blacks. The state never seceded from the Union, but that did not stop many Kentuckians from fighting for the Confederacy and a faction proclaiming itself the rightful government and seceding - on paper. (The Confederacy added a star to its flag on behalf of occupied Kentucky.)

Over 25,000 men wore gray, and the most famous unit to come out of Kentucky was the Orphan Brigade. Only one mention is made in the Official Records to the Orphan Brigade, and that by Colonel W. C. Whitaker of the Sixth Kentucky Infantry after the Battle of Shiloh:

"In this report I deem it right to give many thanks to General Nelson for his care of our orphan brigade."

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