This article is an update to the January 3, 2017 article.
Fannie was born a slave in Kentucky at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861.
Even though Kentucky entered the war on the side of the Union it was a slave state. Kentucky had some laws that were more lenient that most slave states, such as freed slaves were not required to leave the state. As a result Fannie might have been born a free person, but it is more likely that Fannie born a slave. If so she did not gain her freedom as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 as it only applied to slaves in the Confederate slave states. She also didn't gain her freedom at the end of the war either, May 9, 1865.
Even while engaging on the union side in the fight against slavery, several of the 'border states' retained slaves until the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the constitution, December 6, 1865. Ending slavery in all states.
In the context of the American Civil War (1861–1865), the border states were slave states that did not declare a secession from the Union and did not join the Confederacy. To their north they bordered free states of the Union and to their south they bordered Confederate slave states.In the case of Kentucky the state tried to maintain a neutral, non-participation stance, but this ended when Confederate General Polk occupied Columbus, Kentucky.
"I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor Maryland. These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us. We would as well consent to separation at once, including the surrender of this capitol [Washington, which was surrounded by slave states: Confederate Virginia and Union-controlled Maryland]." Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln reportedly also declared, "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
Who is who in this post:
- Fanny Pope is the grandmother of James F. Williams.
- She married first, James Buchanan Bell (James’ grandfather), and later Joseph Rowlette/Roulett, the Civil Ware Union Army veteran.
- James F. & Myrtle (Montgomery) Williams are the focal point of this project
