 Instead, he began to advocate that Kentucky join the Confederacy, believing that the Union and Confederate nations would be too evenly matched to consider war and would negotiate a free trade agreement that would benefit both.In 1861, Johnson traveled to Richmond, Virginia to ask Jefferson Davis to respect Kentucky's neutrality in the Civil War.Following a near sweep of Kentucky's state and federal elections by Union sympathizers, William "Bull" Nelson established Camp Dick Robinson, a Union recruiting camp, in Garrard County.