Biography
Beriah Magoffin was the 21st governor of Kentucky, serving during the early part of the Civil War. Personally, Magoffin supported slavery, believed in the right of a state to secede from the Union, and sympathized with the Confederacy. Nevertheless, when the Kentucky General Assembly adopted a position of neutrality in the war, Magoffin ardently held to it, refusing calls for aid from both the Union and Confederate governments.