 The brigade's nickname came about allegedly because the soldiers' home counties were occupied by Union troops for most of the war and they couldn't go home to them.Realizing that neutrality was becoming less and less feasible, six prominent Kentuckians met to find some solution for a state caught in the middle of a conflict.Governor Magoffin, John C. Breckinridge, and Richard Hawes represented the secessionists' position, while Crittenden, Archibald Dixon, and S. S. Nicholas advocated the Northern cause.