pproval and probably at his suggestion
loyalist levies were voluntarily recruited on her soil, drilled and
prepared for action. But no Northern troops were sent across her
frontier. He was undoubtedly working for a violation of Kentuckian
"neutrality" by the other side. Circumstances and geographical
conditions helped him. The frontier between Kentucky and Tennessee was a
mere degree of latitude corresponding to no militarily defensible line,
nor did any such line exist to the south of it capable of covering the
capital of Tennessee. On the other hand, an excellent possible line of
defence existed in Southern Kentucky. The Confederate commanders were
eager to seize it, but the neutrality of Kentucky forbade them. When,
however, they saw the hold which Lincoln seemed to be acquiring over the
counsels of the "neutrals," they felt they dared not risk further delay.
Justifying their act by the presence in Kentucky of armed bodies of
local Unionists, they advanced and occupied the critical points of
Columbus and Bowling Green, stretching their line between them on
Kentuckian soil. The act at once determined the course of the hesitating
State. Torn hitherto between loyalty to the Union and loyalty to State
rights, she now found the two sentiments synchronize. In the name of her
violated neutrality she declared war on the Confederacy and took her
place under the Stars and Stripes.

The line between the two warring confederations of States was now
definitely fixed, and it only remained to try the issue between them by
the arbitrament of the sword.

At first the odds might seem very heavy against the Confederacy, for its
total white population was only about five and a half million, while the
States arrayed against it mustered well over twenty million. But there
were certain considerations which tended to some extent to equalize the
contest.

First there is the point which must always be taken into consideration
when estimating the chances of war--the political objective aimed at.
The objective of the North was the conquest of the South. But the
objective of the South was not the conquest of the North. It was the
demonstration that such conquest as the North desired was impracticable,
or at least so expensive as not to be worth pursuing. That the Union, if
the States that composed it remained united and determined and no other
factor were introduced, could eventually defeat the Confederacy was from
the first almost mathematic