[BroJoeK]

tanknetter: "True Union states and territories, or border states and territories?"

First of all, all Union states and territories were "true", regardless of what some Confederates may have wished.
None ever voted to secede, and all supplied more troops to the Union than Confederacy.

Second, all Border States had significant slave-holding populations, but they were distinct minorities, and were unable to control either politically or militarily.
They could however challenge the majority Unionists, and did so, often with very destructive results.

In some cases these were comparable to "scorched earth" policies practiced by some Union forces at war's end.

[tanknetter]

First of all, all Union states and territories were "true", regardless of what some Confederates may have wished.

I think you may be misunderstanding my use of the word "true". What I meant were Union states where there wasn't essentially an internal insurrection going on to flip the state to the side of the Confederacy.

The "Civil War" as we generally recognize it was really a war of secession. The Confederates never had any intention of overthrowing the Federal Government, they just wanted separation. On the other hand the border states WERE in many ways fighting real Civil Wars, where the Confederates were actually seeking to overthrow the established government using military/paramilitary force.

There wasn't the kind of clearly defined our territory/their territory mentality like existed elsewhere, and particularly in the East, and a lot of the fighting - exceptionally bitter and viscous - took place outside the scope of control of the CSA leadership and senior generals.