What Were the Border States in the Civil War?
The border states in the Civil War were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri: slaveholding states that remained in the Union after the Confederacy formed. Their location between free states and the Confederacy made them strategically important, while divided public opinion made them difficult to govern. Understanding their role helps explain why the war’s early campaigns, political decisions, and changing policies on slavery were so consequential.
Which States Were the Civil War Border States?
In the standard historical usage, the four border states were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. All permitted slavery when the Civil War began, but none joined the Confederacy. They remained in the United States and, in varying degrees, supplied soldiers, labor, and resources to both sides.
The term describes their position between the free states of the North and the slave states that seceded. It does not mean that all four shared the same politics or experience. Delaware and Maryland were closer to the Union, while Kentucky and Missouri had powerful pro-Confederate as well as pro-Union constituencies. In each, the federal government had to account for competing loyalties.
| Border state | Position in 1861 | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|
| Delaware | Stayed in the Union | Its location and small enslaved population made it less vulnerable to secession, though slavery remained legal. |
| Maryland | Stayed in the Union | It surrounded Washington, D.C., on much of the city’s northern side and was critical to the capital’s security. |
| Kentucky | Stayed in the Union after declaring neutrality | Its rivers and central location made it valuable to both armies. |
| Missouri | Stayed in the Union amid armed conflict | Its Mississippi and Missouri River connections, rail routes, and divided population made it a major theater of war. |
Why the Border States Were So Important
The border states mattered because geography turned their political choices into military and economic advantages. Maryland protected access to Washington, D.C. Kentucky lay between the Upper South and the Ohio River states. Missouri connected the Mississippi Valley to the West. Delaware sat near major Union cities and transport routes. If any of these states had joined the Confederacy, the Union would have faced a larger front and a more exposed capital.
Their people and resources also mattered. Border-state residents served in Union and Confederate forces, though the number and proportions varied by state and by how records classify service. The states provided transportation links, farmland, river access, and military recruits. Their divided allegiances made control of communities, rail lines, and river crossings an ongoing concern.
The border states also shaped the Union’s political strategy. President Abraham Lincoln worried that a harsh policy against slavery could drive slaveholding Union states into rebellion. At the same time, many abolitionists and enslaved people pressed the government to make the conflict a direct struggle against slavery. The government’s approach changed as military conditions and public policy shifted.
How Each Border State Experienced the War
Delaware: A Slave State That Stayed in the Union
Delaware remained loyal to the Union, although slavery was legal there at the start of the war. Its enslaved population was comparatively small, and its political leadership did not take the state into secession. The state’s location near Pennsylvania and New Jersey strengthened its Union connections, while its ports and rail links added to its strategic value.
Delaware’s experience shows why the category “border state” should not be mistaken for a single political position. It was a slave state, but its circumstances differed from those of Kentucky and Missouri. Delaware did not become a major battlefield, yet it contributed troops and remained part of the Union’s military and political landscape. Slavery there ended with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.
Maryland: Protecting the Nation’s Capital
Maryland’s location made its loyalty an immediate concern. Washington, D.C., was surrounded by Maryland on much of its landward side, so a Confederate Maryland could have threatened the national capital’s supply and defense. The state itself was sharply divided, and Confederate sympathies were present, particularly in some regions.
In April 1861, violence broke out in Baltimore as Union troops moved through the city. The unrest and disruption to rail travel highlighted the danger of losing access to Washington. The Lincoln administration took extraordinary steps to secure communications and transportation. Federal authorities arrested some secessionist leaders and suspended habeas corpus in certain circumstances, actions that raised serious constitutional questions.
Maryland’s state government did not secede, and Union control held. The state adopted a new constitution in 1864 that abolished slavery within Maryland, before the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery nationally. Maryland’s wartime history illustrates the tension between preserving the Union, protecting civil liberties, and confronting slavery.
Kentucky: Neutrality, Then Union Control
Kentucky initially attempted to remain neutral. Its leaders declared neutrality in 1861, hoping to avoid becoming a battlefield or forcing residents to choose sides. That position became harder to maintain as both armies sought control of the state’s rivers, railways, and strategic routes.
Confederate forces entered Kentucky in September 1861, and Union troops moved in as well. The state’s legislature ultimately supported the Union government, but the population remained divided. Kentuckians served in both armies, and Confederate recruitment continued even after the state was firmly within Union lines. The fighting at Perryville in October 1862 was the largest battle fought in Kentucky and helped secure Union control of the state.
Kentucky’s wartime politics also complicated emancipation. Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, issued in September 1862, applied to areas in rebellion but exempted loyal slave states, including Kentucky. Slavery continued in Kentucky until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in December 1865.
Missouri: A Divided State and a Violent Theater
Missouri had a pro-Union state government and a strong secessionist faction. In 1861, fighting between state militia forces and federal troops culminated in the Camp Jackson affair in St. Louis. The crisis helped push the state toward armed conflict. A secessionist convention declared Missouri out of the Union, but the convention did not represent the state’s recognized Union government, which remained in place.
Missouri experienced conventional battles, guerrilla warfare, raids, and reprisals. The 1861 Battle of Wilson’s Creek was a major early engagement in the state. In 1864, Confederate General Sterling Price led a raid through Missouri, including the Battle of Westport near Kansas City. Pro-Union and pro-Confederate residents often lived in the same communities, making the conflict especially destructive.
Missouri’s enslaved population and Unionist politics made emancipation a complicated issue. The state abolished slavery through a new constitution in January 1865, several months before the Thirteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. The state’s experience also shows that remaining in the Union did not eliminate internal rebellion or political division.
Were There Five Border States?
Some discussions mention West Virginia alongside the four border states, but it is generally treated differently. Before 1863, the territory that became West Virginia was part of Virginia, which seceded. Counties in western Virginia opposed secession and formed a separate Unionist government. Congress admitted West Virginia as a state in June 1863, subject to conditions that included gradual emancipation.
Because West Virginia was created during the war from seceding Virginia, it is not usually included in the standard list of four border states. It is more accurate to describe it as a Union state formed from a section of Virginia. Some broader accounts use “border states” less formally, which can lead to lists that include West Virginia or other strategically located areas. The four-state list remains the most common definition.
Border States and the Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. It declared enslaved people free in designated areas then in rebellion against the United States, but it did not apply to the loyal border states. It also exempted certain areas under Union control. The proclamation was a wartime measure tied to the president’s authority as commander in chief, not a universal abolition law.
That limitation reflected the military and political circumstances of the war. Lincoln’s administration sought to weaken the Confederacy while retaining the loyalty of slaveholding states that had not seceded. The proclamation changed the Union war effort by making emancipation an explicit objective in Confederate-held territory and by allowing Black men to serve in the Union military. It did not end slavery in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, or Missouri.
Slavery ended in the border states through different state-level actions and, ultimately, the Thirteenth Amendment. Maryland abolished slavery in 1864, Missouri in January 1865, and Delaware and Kentucky were among the states where slavery remained legal until the amendment was ratified in December 1865. The amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime after conviction.
Border States Compared With Confederate States
The crucial distinction was political: the four border states stayed in the Union, while the Confederate states seceded. That distinction did not mean border-state residents uniformly supported the Union, nor that the states immediately ended slavery. It describes the position of their state governments within the national conflict.
The Confederate states seceded in response to the sectional crisis centered on slavery and its expansion, and they formed the Confederate States of America. Border-state governments remained under the United States, though local resistance and Confederate support persisted in some areas. Their continuing Union status also meant the Emancipation Proclamation did not free enslaved people within their borders.
For a quick comparison, a border state was a slave state that remained in the Union. A Confederate state was a state that seceded and joined the Confederacy. A free state did not permit slavery at the war’s beginning. These categories describe legal and political status, not a complete account of every resident’s beliefs or actions.
Common Questions About the Border States
Were the border states slave states?
Yes. Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri all permitted slavery when the Civil War began. Their continued membership in the Union is what distinguishes them from the slave states that seceded.
Did all border states send soldiers to both sides?
Residents of all four states had divided loyalties, and men from border states served in both Union and Confederate forces. The scale differed by state and community. Military service records can be difficult to compare because enlistment, unit affiliation, and later service were not always documented in the same way.
Did the Emancipation Proclamation free enslaved people in the border states?
No. It applied to specified areas in rebellion, not the loyal border states. Slavery ended in those states through state action and the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery nationally in 1865.
Was West Virginia a border state?
West Virginia is usually not included in the standard list of four. It became a separate Union state in 1863 after separating from seceding Virginia, so it is often described as a state formed during the war rather than a prewar border state.
Reliable Sources for Further Reading
- National Park Service: Civil War Border States for background on the states’ strategic position and divided loyalties.
- National Archives: The Emancipation Proclamation for the document and an explanation of its scope.
- U.S. Senate: West Virginia Statehood for the state’s creation during the Civil War.
- National Archives: The Thirteenth Amendment for the constitutional abolition of slavery.