1861: Feb. 11: Legislature, declaring further action at this time on political affairs both unnecessary and inexpedient, (i.e., refusing to call a convention which might take the state out of the Union) adjourns to 20th March next. March: U. S supreme court decides against granting the mandamus, in the case of the Governor of Kentucky vs. the Governor of Ohio, for the surrender of the free negro, Willis LAGO, as a fugitive from justice -- he being indicted in Woodford county, Ky., for assisting a slave to escape from her master. April 3: Legislature calls a border slave state convention for the 27th of May, at Frankfort, and provides for the election of one delegate from each congressional district and April 4: Ratifies the following amendment to the U. S. constitution, as proposed by congress: "No amendment shall be made to the constitution which will authorize of give congress power to abolish or interfere, within any state, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said state." --- $19,400 appropriated for constructing an arsenal at Frankfort, and for machinery and labor for repairs of arms therein . . . . April 7: Gen. Beauregard notifies Maj. Anderson that intercourse between Fort Sumter and the city of Charleston would no longer be permitted. April 8: official notice given, that supplies would be sent to Maj. Anderson -- by force if necessary. April 11: Beauregard demands of Maj. Anderson the surrender of Fort Sumter; it is declined. April 12: Bombardment of Fort Sumter begins at 4:30 A. M., and continues all day; partially suspended at nightfall. The rebels, of Confederates, fore at intervals all night; they have in action 17 mortars, and 30 large guns, mostly columbiads. Sumter is silent, during the night. April 13: At 7 A. M., Fort Sumter opens fire. At 9, the officers' quarters are fired by a shell; at 10, the flag is shot down; at 12, most of the wood-work of the fort is on fire, and the men almost ceasing their fire, roll out 90 barrels of powder to prevent explosion, and are forced to destroy it, by the spread of the flames; cartridges are gone, and none can be made; at 1 P. M. , the flagstaff is shot away, when the flag is nailed to the piece, and displayed from the ramparts. A flag of truce is sent and arrangements for evacuating the fort are made. At 1:55 P. M., the flag is hauled down, and the garrison departs upon honorable terms, bearing their flag, arms, and private property. During the action, no man is hurt in the fort, nor on shore. April 14: Maj. Anderson and his men leave Fort Sumter, and sail for New York. April 15: Correspondence by telegraph between the U. S. secretary of war and the governor of Ky.: Washington, April 15, 1861, To His Excellency, Hon. Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky: Call is made on you by to-night's mail for four regiments of militia for immediate service. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. ----------------------------------------- April 15: Governor Magoffin's response: Frankfort, April 15, 1861. Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War, Washington City: Your dispatch is reviewed. In answer, I say, emphatically (italicized in book), Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States. Yours, B. MAGOFFIN. Governor of Kentucky. April 17: Speech of John J. Crittenden at Lexington, to a large audience. He appeals to Kentucky to take no part in the fratricidal war impending between the North and the South, but to stand firm in the attitude of a peaceful mediator, remonstrating with both sections against involving the nation in civil war, the fatal consequences of which no wisdom nor foresight could foretell. His advice was -- not to be forced into civil strife for the North, nor dragged into it for the South -- to take no part with either. Kentucky had done nothing to bring the war about; she had not invited it, it was against her interest, she should do nothing to promote it; but by all the moral force of her position, should bravely hold on to the flag of the Union, and under its broad folds extend the hand of conciliation to both. April 20: A large meeting at Paris condemns the conduct of the Administration, and approves that of Gov. Magoffin. April 22: Capt. Joe DESHA, with a company of over 100 men, leaves Harrison county for the Confederacy. Other companies leave, from other parts of the state. April 22: Hon. L. P. WALKER, Secretary of War of the Confederate States, requests Gov. Magoffin "to furnish one regiment of infantry, without delay, to rendezvous at Harper's Ferry, Virginia." Gov. M. "promptly, and in the fewest words, declined to comply with the request." April 26: President Lincoln, in a conversation in Washington city with Hon. Garret DAVIS, of Paris, Ky., states distinctly that he would make no military movement upon any state or section that did not offer armed resistance to the authorities of the United States, or the execution of the laws of congress; that he contemplated no military operations that would require him to march troops into or across Kentucky, and therefore he should not attempt it; that if Kentucky, or her people, should seize upon the U. S. post at Newport, it would be his duty, and he might attempt, to retake it; that it was the duty of Kentucky to have furnished the quota of troops for which he made the requisition upon her, but that he had neither power, right nor disposition to coerce her; and if she made no war upon her own government of the United States, it would make no war upon her.