Hillery was an optimist and lie was not much of a politician. He thought the trouble would all blow over or be settled amicably so Halsey took his cue from him.
That summer of 1860 was spent much like its predecessors. He took long rides on Palo'mine and camped in the mountains. The rest of the time he spent pleasantly at Eaton Manor. In the autumn he went back to college. He was rather surprised to find that the political struggle had permeated college, where the students debated the questions freely and took very decided stands. The students from the eastern portion of the state were for the Union, while the Blue Grass section were more favorable to Dixie, and the keeping of the slaves.
This was a political condition which was to prevail all through the Civil War, making Kentucky a state partly divided against itself, and this fact gave rise to some of the most bitter local fighting.
In November to the surprise of most Kentuckians Lincoln was elected and the stage was set for the mighty civil struggle which
