My Old Kentucky Home at War

The hills and mountains of the Commonwealth of Kentucky were the scene of a bloody and long conflict between two enemies of one nation, the Confederate States of the South and the Union of America. The one thing, however, both sides had in common was the knowledge of the importance for control of Kentucky.To the Union, it was a holding position for an invasion into Tennessee and further South. For the Confederacy, the bluegrass state was truely a "Gateway to the North." If the Confederacy had control of Kentucky it would have access to all major bodies of water and direct access to the roads leading to and from Washington, D.C. By late 1861, both sides had moved into Kentucky. What was to come, wouldn't be resovled until many years later. This short era in Kentucky's history was a defining moment in which the Commonwealth took its stand to become neutral during this conflict, in a time when America was on a course with history.