[Footnote 1:  A state made out of part of another state cannot be admitted into the Union without the consent of that state first obtained.  But as Congress and the people of West Virginia considered that Virginia consisted of that part of the Old Dominion which remained loyal to the Union, the people practically asked their own consent.]

%430.  The Call to Arms.%—­Lincoln held that no state could ever leave the Union, and that therefore no state had left the Union.  Those which had passed ordinances of secession were to his mind states whose machinery of government had been seized on by persons in insurrection against the government of the United States.  When, therefore, he made his call for 75,000 militia to defend the Union, he apportioned the number among all the states, slave and free, north and south, east and west, according to their population.  Those forming the Confederacy paid no attention to the call.  The governors of the border slave states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri) returned evasive or insulting answers.

But the people of the loyal states responded instantly, and tens of thousands of troops were soon on their way to Washington.  To get there was a hard matter.  Baltimore lay on the most direct railroad route between the Eastern and Middle States and Washington.  But Baltimore was full of disloyal men, who tore up the railroads, burned bridges, cut the telegraph wires, and as the Massachusetts 6th regiment was passing through the city from one railroad station to another, attacked it, killing some and wounding others of its soldiers.  This forced the troops from the other states to go by various routes to Annapolis and then to Washington, so that it was late in April before enough arrived to insure the safety of the city.

Though none of the border and seceded states sent troops, the response of the loyal states to Lincoln’s call was so hearty that more than 75,000 men were furnished.  The President decided to turn this outburst of patriotism to good purpose, and May 3, 1861, asked for 42,034 volunteers for three years unless sooner discharged, and ordered 18,000 seamen to be enlisted, and 22,714 men added to the regular army.  Baltimore was now occupied by Union troops, and communication with Washington through that city was restored and protected.

On July 1, 1861, there were 183,588 “boys in blue” under arms and present for duty.  These were distributed at various places north of the line, 2000 miles long, which divided the North and South.  This line began near Fort Monroe, in Virginia, ran up Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac to the mountains, then across Western Virginia and through Kentucky, Missouri, and Indian Territory to New Mexico.

This line was naturally divided into three parts: 

1.  That in Virginia and along the Potomac.

2.  That occupied by Kentucky, a state which had declared itself neutral.