American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.

American Civil War

1861–1865 conflict in the United States

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union. The central conflict leading to war was a dispute over whether slavery should be permitted to expand into the…

Confederate States of America

Unrecognized state in North America (1861–1865)

The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or the South, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States from 1861 to 1865. It comprised eleven U.S. states that declared secession: South Carolina,…

Leonidas Polk

Confederate general and bishop (1806–1864)

Leonidas Polk was a Confederate general, a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separated from the Episcopal Church of the United States. He was a planter in Maury County,…

Kentucky in the American Civil War

Kentucky was a southern border state of key importance in the American Civil War. It officially declared its neutrality at the beginning of the war, but after a failed attempt by Confederate General Leonidas Polk to take the state of Kentucky for the Confederacy, the legislature…

Union (American Civil War)

1861-1865 Government of United States during the American Civil War

The Union was the central government of the United States during the American Civil War. Its civilian and military forces resisted the Confederacy's attempt to secede following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States. Lincoln's administration asserted…