M.A. Kleen

In spring 1861, the Democratic stronghold of southern Illinois teetered on the brink of open revolt. The strategically vital town of Cairo, at the confluence of two great rivers, lay geographically farther south than Richmond, Virginia. More than anyone else, two men, Senator Stephen A. Douglas and Congressman John A. Logan, proved instrumental in reversing Southern sympathies in the region and ensuring its men rushed to fight under the Stars and Stripes.

Please enjoy my latest article at the Emerging Civil War blog! – “Only Patriots―or Traitors”: Douglas, Logan, and the Secession Crisis in Southern Illinois