Historical Debate: Meeting the Threat of the Rebels

Abstract

The United States was just a few short months into the war, BUT states were feeling the heat from their respective governments to produce soldiers to meet the threat of the rebels. However, in the state of Indiana, there were threats from all over the nation. Reports from the southern border of Indiana were beginning to worry Governor Oliver Morton in September 1861. Rebel armies were pushing within 40 miles of the city of Louisville, just across the Ohio River from Indiana. Meanwhile, Generals Fremont in Southern Illinois and Rosecrans in Western Virginia were calling for more and more troops from the state of Indiana. Morton faced a serious dilemma. Where should his troops be sent? What threat should be take more seriously: the threat on his border? Or the threat of the rebels on his nation’s capital?