Wild Wolf: The Great Civil War Rivalry (Four Stars)

Kentucky attempted to remain neutral but that didn’t last long. A so-called “border state,” Kentucky became a land of divided loyalties. Although a slave state, it remained in the Union. Despite its pro-Confederate governor, its legislature would ask for Union troops. Even the soldiers initially raised for its defense were divided between pro-southern State Guard and the pro-Union Home Guard. It would have been a wonder had guerrilla warfare NOT broken out in Kentucky.

Colonel Frank Wolford was commissioned to lead the 1^st Kentucky Cavalry (Union) and became one of the premier cavalry commanders in Kentucky. His opposite number was John Hunt Morgan, who had organized the 2^nd Kentucky Cavalry (CSA) and who would launch several raids into Kentucky in support of regular Confederate efforts to place the state under the control of a “government-in-exile.” Fighting would bring Wolford into pro-Union east Tennessee and Morgan into Indiana and Ohio. In between both commanders would fight guerrillas.


Wolford, however, became a controversial figure. Although a Unionist, he had grave doubts about President Lincoln’s circumvention of civil liberties in order to prevent sedition, and he publicly criticized efforts to enlist African-Americans into the Union Army, believing that this was turning the conflict from a War for Union to a “war against slavery.” He was removed from command by the President in 1864.


Today many people remember Morgan’s Raid. Relatively few know of General Wolford, despite his successes.

The book is well-written and well-illustrated with photographs. Blair works hard to provide the reader details about the key battles involving Wolford, as well as anecdotes which illustrate the nature of the Civil War in Kentucky.