HOLDING KENTUCKY FOR THE UNION.

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refused to furnish. Shortly afterward he was asked by the Secretary ofWar of the Confederacy for a regiment. He declined this request as beyondhis power to grant. His course did not suit the more ardent of the young-men on either side. Blanton Duncan had already procured authority torecruit for the Confederacy, and in various portions of the State men werepublicly engaged in raising companies for him. Before the end of April hehad started with a regiment for Harper’s Ferry by way of Nashville . Anincident connected with this movement shows how strong the belief stillwas that the war was to be short, and that Kentucky might keep out of it.As Desha’s company of Duncan’s regiment was leaving Cynthiana, Ky. , byrail, one of the privates said to a friend who was bidding him farewell:“ Be sure to vote for Crittenden [then the Union candidate for delegateto the Border State Conference] and keep Kentucky out of the fuss. Weare just going to Virginia on a little frolic and will be back in three months.”On the other side, immediately after Magoffin’s refusal to furnish troops,J. V. Guthrie, of Covington, went to Washington and got authority forhimself and W. E. Woodruff, of Louisville , to raise two regiments. Theyestablished a camp just above Cincinnati, on the Ohio side of the river, andbegan recruiting in Kentucky . They soon filled two regiments, afterwardknown as the 1st and 2d Kentucky , which were sent early in July to takepart in the West Virginia campaign.

The Union Club in Louisville was an important factor in organizing Unionsentiment. Originating in May, in six weeks it numbered six thousandmembers in that city, and spread rapidly through the State and into EastTennessee. It was a secret society, the members of which were bound by anoath to be true to the flag and Government of the United States .

One of the most striking figures of the period was Lieutenant WilliamNelson of the navy. He was a man of heroic build, six feet four incheshigh, and carrying lightly his weight of three hundred pounds ; he had manyaccomplishments, spoke several languages, and was endowed with a strongintellect and a memory which enabled him to repeat, verbatim, page afterpage of his favorite authors. A fluent and captivating talker, when hewished to please, no man could be more genial and companionable, hut hehad a quick and impetuous temper and an overhearing disposition, andwhen irritated or opposed was offensively dictatorial and dogmatic. Anative of Kentucky and an ardent friend of the Union, he visited the Stateseveral times in the course of the spring to watch the course of events. Asa result of his observations he reported to Mr. Lincoln that the arms of theState were in the hands of the secessionists, and that the Union men couldnot maintain themselves unless they were also furnished with arms. Mr.Lincoln placed at his disposal ten thousand muskets with means for theirtransportation. Toward the end of April he met in consultation at Frank-fort a number of the leading Union men of the State and arranged for thedistribution of the arms. When, shortly afterward, the organization of theUnion Home Guards began, it was from this source they were armed. InLouisville , on the initiative of J. M. Delph, the Union mayor, a brigade of