"The War in the Border States," by Thomas Nast

As the American Civil War dragged on, people who lived in border states suffered hardships, as depicted in this drawing by Thomas Nast. (Click on the image to see a larger view.)

Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia - all slave states - had remained with the Union. They all shared a border with a free state. Every border state, except Delaware, also shared a border with a Confederate state.

Missouri and Kentucky reflected that internal tension between free and slave status. Each had pro-Union and pro-Confederate factions within their state government.