 Beriah Magoffin ( April 18 , 1815 – February 28 , 1885 ) was the 21st Governor of Kentucky , serving during the early part of the Civil War . Personally , Magoffin adhered to a states ' rights position , including the right of a state to secede from the Union , and he sympathized with the Confederate cause . Nevertheless , when Kentucky seceded from the Union , Magoffin was in office as governor . He was the last governor to serve in the Confederacy . Magoffin was born in Harrodsburg , Kentucky , the son of a prominent state legislator . He was educated at Transylvania University , and in 1