Border states ( American Civil War ) In the context of the American Civil War ( 1861 - 1865 ) , the border states were slave state s that had not declared a secession from the United States . Four slave states never declared a secession : Delaware , Kentucky , Maryland , and Missouri . Four others did not declare secession until after the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter : Arkansas , North Carolina , Tennessee , and Virginia — after which , they were less frequently called " border states " . Also included as a border state during the war is West Virginia , which broke away from Confederate Virginia and became a new state in the Union . In all the border states there was a wide consensus against military coercion of the Confederacy . When Lincoln called for troops to march south to recapture Fort Sumter and other national possessions , southern Unionists were dismayed , and secessionists in Arkansas , North Carolina , Tennessee , and Virginia were successful in getting those states to also declare independence from the U . S . and to join the Confederate States of America . In Kentucky and Missouri , there were both pro - Confederate and pro - Union governments . West Virginia was formed in 1862 - 63 from those northwestern counties of Virginia which had remained loyal to the Union and set up a loyalist ( " restored " ) state government of Virginia . Though every slave state except South Carolina contributed some white troops to the Union as well as the Confederate side , the split was most severe in these border states , with men from the same family often fighting on opposite sides . About 170 , 000 Border state men fought in the Union army and 86 , 000 in the Confederate army Besides formal combat between regular armies , the border region witnessed large - scale guerrilla warfare and violent raids , feuds and assassinations . Violence was especially severe in eastern Kentucky and western Missouri . The single bloodiest episode was the Lawrence Massacre in Kansas in 1863 . With geographic , social , political , and economic connection to both the North and the South , the border states were critical to the outcome of the war , and still delineate the cultural border that separates the North from the South . Reconstruction , as directed by Congress , did not apply to the border states , because they never left the union . They did undergo their own process of readjustment and political realignment , which somewhat resembled the reconstruction of the ex - Confederate states . After 1880 most adopted the Jim Crow system of segregation and second - class citizenship for blacks , although they were still allowed to vote . Lincoln ' s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to the border states . Of the states that were exempted from the Proclamation , Maryland ( 1864 ) , Missouri ( 1865 ) , Tennessee ( 1865 ) , and West Virginia ( 1865 ) prohibited slavery before the war ended . However , in Delaware and Kentucky , slavery continued to be legal ( affecting about 40 , 000 slaves ) until December 1865 , when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified . Background . In the Border states , slavery was systematically dying out in the urban areas and the regions without cotton , especially in cities that were rapidly industrializing , such as Baltimore , Louisville , and St . Louis . However , there was still profit to be made by selling slaves to the cotton plantations in the deep South , as cotton was very profitable and the price of prime field hands kept rising . In contrast to the unanimity of the seven cotton states in the lower South , the border slave states were bitterly divided about secession and were not eager to leave the Union . Border Unionists hoped that some compromise would be reached and they assumed that Lincoln would not send an army . Border secessionists paid less attention to the slavery issue in 1861 ; their states ' economies were based more on trade with the North than on cotton and they lacked the South Carolinian dream of a slave - based empire oriented south toward the Caribbean . Rather their main focus in 1861 was on coercion : Lincoln ' s call to arms seemed a repudiation of the American traditions of states rights , democracy , liberty , and a republican form of government . The disunionists insisted that Washington had usurped illegitimate powers in defiance of the Constitution , and thereby had lost its legitimacy . After Lincoln called for troops , Virginia , Tennessee , Arkansas , and North Carolina promptly declared their secessions and joined the Confederacy , but a secession movement began in western Virginia to break away and remain in the Union . Kentucky , Missouri , and Maryland , having many areas with much stronger cultural and economic ties to the South than to the North , were deeply divided ; Kentucky tried to proclaim itself neutral . Union military forces were used to guarantee these states remained in the Union . The western counties of Virginia rejected secession , set up a loyal government of Virginia ( with representation in the U . S . Congress ) , and created the new state of West Virginia . The five border states . Each of these five states shared a border with the free states and were aligned with the Union . All but Delaware also share borders with states that joined the Confederacy . Delaware . Delaware was integrated into the Northern economy and slavery was nominal except in the southern districts of the state . Both houses of the state General Assembly rejected secession overwhelmingly ; the House of Representatives was unanimous . There was quiet sympathy for the Confederacy by some state leaders , but it was tempered by distance ; Delaware was bordered by Union territory . Munroe concluded that the average citizen of Delaware opposed secession and was " strongly Unionist " for Delaware , but hoped for a peaceful solution even if it meant Confederate independence . Maryland . Union troops had to go through Maryland to reach the national capital at Washington , D . C . Had Maryland also joined the Confederacy , Washington , D . C . would have been completely surrounded . The Maryland Legislature rejected secession in 1861 , and Governor Thomas Hicks voted against it despite popular support for the Confederacy in Baltimore , Southern Maryland , and the Eastern Shore . Due to the state ' s key position , " habeas corpus " was suspended and a number of Maryland state legislators , as well as officials in Baltimore and other outspoken secessionists , were arrested and imprisoned . Twenty - seven state legislators ( one - third of the General Assembly ) were arrested and jailed in September 1861 . Maryland contributed troops to both the Union ( 60 , 000 ) , and the Confederate ( 25 , 000 ) armies . Maryland adopted a new state constitution in 1864 , which prohibited slavery and thus emancipated all slaves in the state . Kentucky . Kentucky was strategic to Union victory in the Civil War . Lincoln once said , " I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game . Kentucky gone , we cannot hold Missouri , nor Maryland . These all against us , and the job on our hands is too large for us . We would as well consent to separation at once , including the surrender of this capital " ( Washington , which was surrounded by slave states : Confederate Virginia and Union - controlled Maryland ) . He is further reported to have said that he " hoped " to have God on his side , but he " had " to have Kentucky . Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin proposed that slave states like Kentucky should conform to the US Constitution , and remain in the Union . When Lincoln requested 1 , 000 , 000 men to serve in the Union army , however , Magoffin , a Southern sympathizer , countered that Kentucky would " furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern states . " The Kentucky legislature did not vote on any bill to secede , but passed two resolutions of neutrality , issuing a neutrality proclamation May 20 , 1861 , asking both sides to keep out . In elections on June 20 and August 5 , 1861 , Unionists won enough additional seats in the legislature to overcome any veto by the governor . After the elections , the strongest supporters of neutrality were the Southern sympathizers . While both sides had already been openly enlisting troops from the state , after the elections the Union army established recruitment camps within Kentucky itself . Neutrality was broken when Confederate General Leonidas Polk occupied Columbus , Kentucky , in the summer of 1861 . In response , the Kentucky Legislature passed a resolution on September 7 directing the governor to demand the evacuation of only the Confederate forces from Kentucky soil . Magoffin vetoed the proclamation , but the legislature overrode his veto , and Magoffin issued the proclamation . The legislature further decided to back General Ulysses S . Grant , and his Union troops stationed in Paducah , Kentucky , on the grounds that the Confederacy voided the original pledge by entering Kentucky first . The General Assembly soon also ordered the Union flag be raised over the state capitol in Frankfort , declaring its allegiance with the Union . Southern sympathizers were outraged at the legislature ' s decisions , citing that Polk ' s troops in Kentucky were only en route to countering Grant ' s forces . 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 overridden . ) In 1862 , the legislature passed an act to disenfranchise citizens who enlisted in the Confederate States Army . Thus Kentucky ' s neutral status evolved into backing the Union . Most of those who originally sought neutrality turned to the Union cause . During the war , a faction known as the Russellville Convention did form a Confederate government of Kentucky , which was recognized by the Confederate States of America as a member state . Kentucky was represented by the central star on the Confederate battle flag . When Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston occupied Bowling Green , Kentucky in the summer of 1861 , the pro - Confederates in western and central Kentucky moved to establish a Confederate state government . The Russellville Convention met in Logan County on November 18 , 1861 . One hundred sixteen delegates from 68 counties elected to depose the current government , and create a provisional government loyal to Kentucky ' s new unofficial Confederate Governor George W . Johnson . On 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 Union and Confederate armies . Magoffin , still functioning as official governor in Frankfort , would not recognize the Kentucky Confederates , nor their attempts to establish a government in his 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 of the legislature , and then 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 fighting in the Battle of Shiloh , Richard Hawes was named Confederate governor . Shortly afterwards , the Provisional Confederate Congress was adjourned on February 17 , 1862 , on the eve of inauguration of a permanent Congress . However , as Union occupation henceforth dominated the state , the Kentucky Confederate government , as of 1863 , existed only on paper , and its representation in the permanent congress was minimal . It was dissolved when the Civil War ended in the spring of 1865 . Missouri . After the secession of Southern states began , the newly elected governor of Missouri called upon the legislature to authorize a state constitutional convention on secession . A special election approved of the convention , and delegates to it . This Missouri Constitutional Convention voted to remain within the Union , but rejected coercion of the Southern States by the United States . Pro - Southern Governor Claiborne F . Jackson was disappointed with the outcome . He called up the state militia to their districts for annual training . Jackson had designs on the St . Louis Arsenal , and had been in secret correspondence with Confederate President Jefferson Davis , to obtain artillery for the militia in St . Louis . Aware of these developments , Union Captain Nathaniel Lyon struck first , encircling the camp , and forcing the state militia to surrender . While marching the prisoners to the arsenal , a deadly riot erupted ( the Camp Jackson Affair . ) These events caused greater Confederate support within the state . The already pro - Southern legislature passed the governor ' s military bill creating the Missouri State Guard . Governor Jackson appointed Sterling Price , who had been president of the convention , as major general of this reformed and expanded militia . Price , and Union district commander Harney , came to an agreement known as the Price - Harney Truce , that calmed tensions in the state for several weeks . After Harney was removed , and Lyon placed in charge , a meeting was held in St . Louis at the Planters ' House between Lyon , his political ally Francis P . Blair , Jr . , Price , and Jackson . The negotiations went nowhere , and after a few fruitless hours Lyon made his famous declaration , " this means war ! " Price and Jackson rapidly departed for the capital . Jackson , Price , and the pro - Confederate portions of the state legislature , were forced to flee the state capital of Jefferson City on June 14 , 1861 , in the face of Lyon ' s rapid advance against the state government . In the absence of most of the now exiled state government , the Missouri Constitutional Convention reconvened in late July . On July 30 , the convention declared the state offices vacant , and appointed a new provisional government with Hamilton Gamble as governor . President Lincoln ' s Administration immediately recognized the legitimacy of Gamble ' s government , which provided both pro - Union militia forces for service within the state , and volunteer regiments for the Union Army . Fighting ensued between Union forces , and a combined army of General Price ' s Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops from Arkansas and Texas , under General Ben McCulloch . After winning victories at the battle of Wilson ' s Creek , and the siege of Lexington , Missouri , the secessionist forces had little choice but to retreat again to Southwestern Missouri , as Union reinforcements arrived . There , on October 30 , 1861 in the town of Neosho , Jackson called the supporting parts of the exiled state legislature into session , where they enacted a secession ordinance . It was recognized by the Confederate congress , and Missouri was admitted into the Confederacy on November 28 . The elected government in Jefferson City remained loyal to the Union . The exiled state government was forced to withdraw into Arkansas . For the rest of the war , it consisted of several wagon loads of civilian politicians attached to various Confederate armies . In 1865 , it vanished . Guerrilla warfare . Regular Confederate troops staged several large - scale raids into Missouri , but most of the fighting in the state for the next three years consisted of guerrilla warfare . The guerrillas were primarily Southern partisans , including William Quantrill , Frank and Jesse James , the Younger brothers , and William T . Anderson . Such small unit tactics pioneered by the Missouri Partisan Rangers were seen in other occupied portions of the Confederacy during the Civil War . The James ' brothers outlawry after the war has been seen as a continuation of guerrilla warfare . Stiles ( 2002 ) argues that Jesse James was an intensely political postwar neo - Confederate terrorist rather than a social bandit or just a plain bank robber with a hair - trigger temper . The Union response was to suppress the guerrillas . It did that in western Missouri , as Brigadier General Thomas Ewing issued General Order No . 11 on 25 August 1863 in response to Quantrill ' s raid on Lawrence , Kansas . The order forced the total evacuation of four counties that fall within the area of modern - day Kansas City , Missouri . Lincoln approved Ewing ' s plan beforehand . About 20 , 000 civilians ( chiefly women , children and old men ) had to leave their homes . Many never returned , and the counties were economically devastated for years . According to Glatthaar ( 2001 ) Union forces established " free - fire zones . " Union cavalry units would identify and track down scattered Confederate remnants , who had no places to hide and no secret supply bases . To gain recruits , and to threaten St . Louis , Confederate General Sterling Price raided Missouri with 12 , 000 men in September / October 1864 . Price coordinated his moves with the guerrillas , but was nearly trapped , escaping back to Arkansas with only half his force after a decisive Union victory at the Battle of Westport . The battle , which took place in the modern - day Westport neighborhood of Kansas City , is identified as the " Gettysburg of the West " due to the fact that it marked a definitive end to organized Confederate incursions inside Missouri ' s borders . The Republicans made major gains in the fall 1864 elections on the basis of Union victories and Confederate ineptness . Quantrill ' s Raiders , after raiding Kansas in the Lawrence Massacre on August 21 , 1863 , killing 150 civilians , broke up in confusion ; Quantrill himself with a handful of followers moved on to Kentucky , where he was ambushed and killed . West Virginia . The serious divisions between the western and eastern sections of Virginia had been simmering for decades . The western areas were growing , and had few slaves or plantations while the plantation dominated east controlled state government . By December 1860 secession was being publicly debated throughout Virginia . Leading eastern spokesmen called for secession , while westerners warned they would not be legislated into treason . A statewide convention first met on February 13 and after Fort Sumter it voted for secession on April 17 , 1861 . The decision was dependent on ratification by a statewide referendum . Western leaders held mass rallies and prepared to separate , so it could remain in the Union . Unionists met at the Wheeling Convention with four hundred delegates from twenty - seven counties . The statewide vote in favor of secession was 132 , 201 to 37 , 451 . An estimated vote on Virginia ' s ordinance of secession for the 50 counties that became West Virginia is 34 , 677 to 19 , 121 against secession , with 24 of the 50 counties favoring secession and 26 favoring the Union . The Second Wheeling Convention opened on June 11 with more than 100 delegates from 32 western counties representing nearly one - third of Virginia ’ s total voting population . It announced that state officers were vacant and chose Francis H . Pierpont as governor of Virginia ( not West Virginia ) on June 20 . Pierpont headed the Restored Government of Virginia , which granted permission for the formation of a new state on August 20 , 1861 . The new West Virginia state constitution was passed by the Unionist counties in the spring of 1862 and this was approved by the restored Virginia government in May 1862 . The statehood bill for West Virginia was passed by Congress in December and signed by President Lincoln on December 31 , 1862 . The ultimate decision about West Virginia was made by the armies in the field ; the Confederates were defeated , the Union was triumphant , so West Virginia was born . In late spring 1861 Union troops from Ohio moved into western Virginia with the primary strategic goal of protecting the B & O Railroad . General George B . McClellan destroyed Confederate defenses in western Virginia . Raids and recruitment by the Confederacy took place throughout the war . Current estimates of soldiers from West Virginia are 20 , 000 - 22 , 000 men each to the Union and the Confederacy . The unique conditions attendant to the creation of the state led the Federal government to sometimes regard West Virginia as differing from the other border states in the post - war and Reconstruction era . The terms of surrender granted to the Confederate army at Appomattox applied to the soldiers of the 11 Confederate states and West Virginia only . Returning Confederate soldiers from the other border states were required to obtain special permits from the War Department . Similarly , the Southern Claims Commission was originally designed to apply only to the 11 Confederate states and West Virginia , though claims from other states were sometimes honored . Other border areas . Tennessee . Though Tennessee had officially seceded , East Tennessee was pro - Union and had mostly voted against secession . Attempts to secede from Tennessee were suppressed by the Confederacy . Jefferson Davis arrested over 3 , 000 men suspected of being loyal to the Union and held them without trial . Tennessee came under control of Union forces in 1862 and was omitted from the Emancipation Proclamation . After the war , Tennessee was the first state to have its elected members readmitted to the US Congress . Oklahoma . In the Indian Territory ( now the state of Oklahoma ) , most Indian Tribes owned black slaves , and sided with the Confederacy . However , some tribes sided with the Union , and a bloody civil war resulted in the territory , with severe hardships for all residents . Kansas . After years of small - scale civil war , Kansas was admitted into the Union as a free state under the " Wyandotte Constitution " on January 29 , 1861 . Most people gave strong support for the Union cause . However , guerrilla warfare and raids from pro - slavery forces , many spilling over from Missouri , occurred during the Civil War . Apart from one small battle , there were 29 Confederate raids into Kansas during the war . Lawrence , Kansas came under attack on August 21 , 1863 , by guerrillas led by William Clarke Quantrill . It was in part retaliation for " Jayhawker " raids against pro - Confederate settlements in Missouri .