The border States Crisis

I have been teaching the Civil War for a lot of years in fifth grade and I had no idea how hard it was for President Lincoln to get the border states to support his efforts. I had just assumed that they joined with the North without much objection. When I read about how difficult it was to get soldiers into Washington DC to protect it through Baltimore, I was astounded. I can see more clearly now why there were brothers fighting against brothers and fathers. For most of the border states slavery played an important role in their economy. I found it interesting that Kentucky thought it could just stay neutral in the war. I know that Missouri was always a problem and quite frankly I was surprised that Missouri went with the North and not the South considering how much they had fought for the right to have slaves in their state. Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland were all slave states. Washington DC was surrounded by slave states. Lincoln had a terrific job on his hands to protect our capital and get the cooperation of these states. I have such respect for Lincoln as I read about the struggles he went through as well as what was happening to this country. When people feel so strongly about something, it is hard to hold things together. Our nation was in a terrible crisis. I would not have wanted to live in one of these border states. You would have a hard time trusting your neighbor. Many unkind brutalities took place in these border states. The creation of the new state of West Virginia was not without a struggle. Only one-fifth of Virginia's counties were for succession thus bringing about the new state of West Virginia. The establishment of West Virginia was critical for the North because of the rail system that went through this area. Reading about all these individual state conflicts makes the meaning of what a Civil War is about more paramount in my mind. Claudia Olson