The State election, held a few weeks after, exposed the groundless alarm of the leading politicians. It resulted in returning to Congress, from every district but one, zealous Union men. Afterward the State furnished troops whenever they were called for, and, in spite of her timid leaders, finally yielded gracefully to the inexorable decree of the war, touching her pet institution of Slavery.
First Union Troops of Kentucky.
I paid a visit to the encampment of the Kentucky Union troops, on the Indiana side of the Ohio, opposite Louisville. "Camp Joe Holt" was on a high, grassy plateau. Unfailing springs supplied it with pure water, and trees of beech, oak, elm, ash, maple, and sycamore, overhung it with grateful shade. The prospective soldiers were lying about on the ground, or reading and writing in their tents.
General Rousseau, who was sitting upon the grass, chatting with a visitor, looked the Kentuckian. Large head, with straight, dark hair and mustache; eye and mouth full of determination; broad chest, huge, erect, manly frame.
His men were sinewy fellows, with serious, earnest faces. Most of them were from the mountain districts. Many had been hunters from boyhood, and could bring a squirrel from the tallest tree with their old rifles. Byron's description of their ancestral backwoodsmen seemed to fit them exactly:
"And tall and strong and swift of foot were they,
Beyond the dwarfing city's pale abortions,
Because their thoughts had never been the prey
Of care or gain; the green woods were their portions.
Simple they were, not savage; and their rifles,
Though very true, were yet not used for trifles."
The history of this brigade was characteristic of the times. Rousseau scouted "neutrality" from the outset. On the 21st of May, he said from his place in the Kentucky Senate:
"If we have a Government, let it be maintained and obeyed. If a factious minority undertakes to override the will of the majority and rob us of our constitutional rights, let it be put down—peaceably if we can, but forcibly if we must. * * * Let me tell you, sir, Kentucky will not 'go out!' She will not stampede. Secessionists must invent something new, before they can either frighten or drag her out of the Union. We shall be but too happy to keep peace, but we cannot leave the Union of our fathers. When Kentucky goes down, it will be in blood! Let that be understood."
Struggle in the Kentucky Legislature.