USA > Kentucky > Jessamine County > A history of Jessamine County, Kentucky, from its earliest settlement to 1898 > Part 11
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Prof. A. N. Gordon, a moving spirit in the erection of the monument, was a brave and gallant soldier in the Confederacy, for many years the brilliant leader of educational work in the county, as principal of Bethel Academy, and now principal of Allegan Academy for Boys, near Lexington.
The following is a list of the Confederate dead buried in the cemetery, in whose honor the monument was erected :
John Martin, 30th Alabama ; A. L. Hale, 39th North Carolina ; Henry Rice, 42d Georgia; W. H. Wallace, 6th Florida ; J. E. D. Morris, 6th Florida ; W. J. Hale, 40th Georgia ; W. B. Carter, 9th Georgia ; Peter Guin, C. S. A .: W. L. Cooley, 2d Kentucky ; B. F. Kernan, 6th Kentucky ; Eugene Dickson, 42d Georgia ; Capt. Samuel Scott, Louisiana; C. R. Richardson, C. S. A .; W. H. Yarbrough, Ist Alabama; J. W. Washam, 17th Mississippi ; W. E. Copeland, 3rd Alabama ; John A. Bass, C. S. A .; S. M. Wil- son, 53d Georgia; D. Campbell, 63d Virginia; J. R. Cox, 59th Georgia ; J. Brock, 18th Georgia ; W. M. Boge, 16th Georgia ; O. W. White, 4Ist Alabama ; L. Johnson, 6th Georgia ; J. A. Bowles, 59th Georgia; J. B. Hale, 2d Georgia; E. Willoughby, Ist Georgia; Geo. W. Trabue, C. S. A .; H. Owenby, 39th North Carolina.
The peroration of Colonel Young's dedicatory address, was as follows :
"Nor can I close this address without some reference to the women of Jessamine county, who, with such patience, such in- dustry, such zeal and such unselfishness, have labored so long to erect this monument to our beloved dead. Many who helped at the inception of the undertaking have been denied the happi- ness of seeing its fulfillment, but we feel the sweet presence of their spirits, though they passed over the river before success had
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crowned the labors of the association. If they are not here, we shall, at least, in love and gratitude, remember them and their work for this cause, and their absence alone mars the complete- ness of this occasion. The noblest and highest of the war's de- mands was to be worthy of the faith and trust of the Southern women, and it mitigated the anguish and bitterness of defeat to be able through manly tears to look down into the tear-dimmed eyes of the women of the South and tell them that in the suffer- ings, sacrifices and privations of all that weary struggle, there had been nothing done or left undone which rendered the men of the Confederacy unworthy of what was required by its women, and now, after the lapse of long years, we find the same gentle, loving, beautiful, brave, and unselfish women, with all the enthusiasm of their nobler nature, rearing these memorials to those of our com- rades who went down amid the storms of war, and thus keeping the record of those heroes who gave their blood as a seal of their loyalty to the land of their love and of their troth. We utter benediction for such women. May the angels of blessing and peace hover over and around them in this life and at its end bring them peacefully to that place where there will be no wars, where monuments are not required, where death and sorrow never come. With reverent homage we stand by these graves of our heroes. They are hallowed in our hearts and souls, and we will honor and adore them forever. These are the men who fought with the Johnstons, Lee, Jackson, Breckinridge, Morgan and Polk, and Bragg and Hardee and Hood, and Forrest and Hill, and Cheatham and Cleburne, and hosts of immortal heroes. These are the partakers of the sublime glory of the Confederate armies, and we come in tenderness and devotion and affection to mark, beautify and bless the soil that garners their dust, and to declare by this monument, which we trust will remain forever, that the memories of the virtues, of the courage, of the chivalry, and of the bravery, of the sacrifices, of the sufferings, of the renown of our departed comrades shall be as deathless, as their deeds were illus- trious.
"By fairy hands their knell is rung,. . By forms unseen their dirge is sung. Here honor comes-a pilgrim gray- To bless the turf that wraps their clay. And Freedom doth a while repair, To dwell, a weeping hermit, there."
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Capt. James White, a son of Elder William White, in 1862, when General Bragg invaded Kentucky, recruited a company of infantry, which was in the Fifth Kentucky Regiment Confederate Infantry, commanded by Col. Hiram Hawkins. Part of the men in this company were recruited from Grant county and were in all the great battles of the Atlanta campaign, and surrendered at Greensborough, N. C., in 1865. The following is a list of the members from Jessamine county, in Captain White's company, and in Company B, Capt. Wm. Lewis, Eighth Kentucky Cavalry, commanded by Col. Roy S. Cluke :
Adams, Thos .; Arnspiger, Geo .: Blackford, Benj. : Bowman, Sanford; Bowman, Robt .; Bowen, Harrison; Brower, Edw. A .; Brown, Samuel M .: Burch, Courtney L .; Campbell, Fernando Wood; Campbell, Peter ; Campbell, Richard ; Campbell. Stephen ; Chrisman, Benj .; Cleveland. John : Cogar, John ; Cook, John W .; Cook, T. B .; Cooley, W. L .; Corman, Geo .; Corman, Grattan ; Daniel, W. H .; Davis, James ; Davis, John P .; Davis, William ; Deboe, Wesley ; Drake, John; Elgin, Jno. S .; Elmore, Fletcher ; Foster, Dr. T. W .: Funk. Henry, killed at Chickamauga ; Gooch, James ; Gordon, Prof. A. N. ; Gregg, S. S. : Gwuyn, Edw .; Hanly, Samuel : Harris, J. W .: Hawkins, Jno. T .; Hayden, W. A .; Hol- loway, Dr. Jno. ; Hollway, Wm .; Jones, Jonathan, at that time 62. died in '91 : Jones. A. D. : Jones, James B. ; Jones, O. A .; Knight. Campbell : Lampkins, Jno. B .; Lear, John T. ; Lear, Jos. R. ; Lear. Wm .: Lee, Melvin ; Livingston, James: Lindsey, Jos .; Lowry. David; Lowry, Samuel ; McAfee, Maj. Allin L .; McAfee, Capt. Jno. J .: McBrayer, Frank : McDavitt, Chas. ; McKinzie, Edw. O .; Mckenzie, James; Mckenzie, Jno. II .; Mann, Dr. Chas .; Met- calf, Geo. W .; Musselman, Henry ; Myers, W. E .: Nave, Samuel ; Nave, Tilford ; Noe, James; Nolan, Rev. Wm .; Patten, Wm. ; Phelps, Edw. ; Price, Louis S .: Reynolds, Geo .; Robinson, Jacob Creath ; Roberts, Rankin : Roberts. Jas. A. ; Rowland, G. T .; Rue, Allen : Rue, Frank; Sandusky, Jacob : Sandusky, L. E .; Scott, Robt., killed at Strawberry Plains; Scott, Samuel: Sparks, Moreau : Stine, Jno. G. : Soper. David ; Spears, Christopher, died from wounds in Camp Douglas ; Steele, Atlas : Vantries, Emanuel, killed at Chickamauga; Walls, Newbold C .; Walls, Benj. J .; Warner, Wm .; Welch, James M .; Woods, Thos. J .; Young, Bennett H.
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Scenery.
Jessamine county has some remarkable natural scenery. The Hudson and the Rhine have nothing so beautiful, majestic or grand as the cliffs along the Kentucky and Dix rivers. If they had been open so as to have been accessible, they would have made Jessamine county famous ; but for many years they could not be reached by railroad and only a part of them were within the limits of navigation on the Kentucky river, and the small boats and the slow time rendered the journey unattractive to the traveling public. With swift boats operated upon the river now that it is locked and dammed to the extreme limits of Jessamine county, a great tide of visitors will flow in to see these wonderful natural curiosities. The first complete American geography, written by Jedediah Morse and published in 1789 at Elizabeth- town, New Jersey, gave a description of the scenery. It says :
"The banks or rather the precipices of the Kentucky and Dix rivers are to be reckoned among the natural curiosities of this county. Here the astonished eye beholds three or four hundred feet of solid perpendicular rocks, in some parts of the limestone kind and in others of fine white marble curiously checked with strata of astonishing regularity. These rivers have the appear- ance of deep, artificial canals. Their high, rocky banks are cov- ered with red cedar groves. The accounts of the fertility of the soil have in some instances exceeded belief and probably been ex- aggerated. The high grounds of Kentucky are remarkably good. The lands of the first rate are too rich for wheat, but will produce fifty to sixty, and in some instances one hundred, bushels and even more of good corn an acre. In common the land will produce thirty bushels of wheat or rye to the acre. Barley, oats, cotton, hemp, flax, and vegetables of all kinds common in this climate vield abundantly. The old Virginia planters say, if the climate does not prove too moist, few soils known will yield more or bet- ter tobacco."
Dr. Christopher Graham prepared for Collins' History a description of some of these curiosities in Jessamine county, and described them in a most effective and attractive way. He says :
"After much vexation and annoyance, occasioned by the dif- ficulties of the road, we arrived near the object of our visit, and
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METHODIST CHURCH, SOUTH.
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quitting our horses, proceeded on foot. Upon approaching the break of the precipice, under the direction of our guide, we sud- denly found ourselves standing on the verge of a yawning chasm, and immediately beyond, bottomed in darkness, the Devil's Pulpit was seen rearing its black, gigantic form, from amid the obscurity of the deep and silent valley. The background to this gloomy object presented a scene of unrelieved desolation. Cliff rose on cliff and crag surmounted crag, sweeping off on either hand in huge semicircles, until the wearied eye became unable to follow the countless and billowy-like mazes of that strange and awful scene. The prevailing character of the whole was that of savage grandeur and gloom. A profound silence broods over the place, broken only by the muffled rushing of the stream far down in its narrow passage, cleaving its way to its home in the ocean. Descending by a zigzag path to the shore of the river, while our companions were making preparations to cross, I strayed through the valley. The air was cool, refreshing and fragrant, and vocal with the voices of many birds. The bending trees, the winding stream with its clear and crystal waters, the flowering shrubs, and clustering vines walled in by these adamantine ramparts-which seem to tower to the skies-make this a place of rare and pictu- resque beauty. The dew drops still hung glittering on the leaves, the whispering winds played with soft music through the rust- ling foliage, and the sunbeams struggling through the overhang- ing forest kissed the opening flowers, and all combined made up a scene of rural loveliness and romance, which excited emotions of unmingled delight. The boat having arrived, the river was crossed without difficulty, and we commenced the ascent, and after measuring up two hundred and seventy feet, arrived at the base of the 'Pulpit.' Fifty paces from this point, and parallel with it, in the solid ledge of the cliff, is a cave of considerable extent. At its termination there passes out like the neck of a funnel, an opening, not larger than a hogshead. Upon pitching rocks into this cave, a rumbling was heard at an immense distance below the earth. Some are of the opinion that this cave contains a bottom- less pit. We now ascended the cliffs some fifty feet further. clambering up through a fissure in the rocks, having the Pulpit on our right, and a range of cliffs on our left. To look up here makes the head dizzy. Huge and dark masses roll up above you,
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upon whose giddy heights vast crags jut out and overhang the valley, threatening destruction to all below. The floating clouds give these crags the appearance of swimming in mid air. The ascent of these rocks, though somewhat laborious, is perfectly safe, being protected by natural walls on either side, and form- ing a perfect stairway, with steps from eight to ten feet thick. At the head of this passage, there is a hole through the river side of the wall, large enough to admit the body, and through which one may crawl, and look down upon the rushing stream below. At the foot of the stairway stands the Pulpit, rising from the very brink of the main ledge, at more than two hundred feet of an elevation above the river, but separated from the portion which towers up to the extreme heights. The space is twelve feet at bottom, and as the cliff retreats slightly at this point, the gap is perhaps thirty feet at the top. The best idea that can be formed of this rock is to suppose it to be a single column, standing in front of the continuous wall of some vast building, or ruin, the shaft standing as colonnades are frequently built upon an elevated platform. From the platform to the capital of the shaft is not less than one hundred feet, making the whole elevation of the 'Devil's Pulpit' three hundred feet. It is called by some the inverted candlestick, to which it has a striking resemblance. There are two swells, which form the base moulding and occupy about forty feet of the shaft. It then narrows to an oblong of about three feet by six, at which point there are fifteen distinct projections. This narrow neck continues with some irregularity for eight or ten feet, winding off at an angle of more than one degree from the line of gravity. Then commences the increased swell, and craggy offsets, first overhanging one side, and then the other, till they reach the top or cap rock, which is not so wide as the one below it, but is still fifteen feet across."
Miss Jessamine Woodson, a descendant of distinguished Jessa- mine ancestors, and who was named for the county, prepared for the Acme Club a history of the county, and some of her descrip- tions are so vivid and so exquisitely penned that they deserve pres- ervation, in more permanent form than newspaper columns ; and the author can not refrain from inserting two paragraphs :
Beautiful and highly favored for situation, and beautiful and
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symmetrical in form, bounded on three sides by the Kentucky river, making a horseshoe, which is for luck as well as beauty, we behold beautiful and highly improved farms, well watered and drained by three pretty creeks and intersected by 130 miles of smooth, well-kept turnpikes made of the blue limestone, which can not be found of the same hard quality anywhere else in the world, and these roads, with the thoroughbred horses, the product of the bluegrass and limestone water, is the most attractive feat- ure of this region. Jessamine is better supplied with these roads than her neighbors. We also see her important railways cross- ing each other in the center of the county and diverging to the four points of the compass, fifteen or more churches and schools, sixteen postoffices and country store's, seven railway stations, three or four villages, besides the county seat, and many a neat, comfortable farm house, and a number of large and elegant coun- try seats, some of them dating back to ante-bellum days. We see waving fields of grain, hemp and tobacco and woodland pastures, carpeted with green, velvety grass, and trees that are tall and straight and of great variety and of wondrous beauty, and under these and in the meadows are groups of fat sheep, Jerseys and Shorthorns, thoroughbred horses, Berkshire pigs and Southdown sheep. Thrifty fruit orchards we see, too, and green hedges of osage orange, and stone fences and barn-yards with all sorts of pretty domestic fowls.
Our bluegrass pasture lands are our special pride. Grass as soft as velvet, and with blades often a yard long, and as fine as a siken cord, without a weed, growing close to the very trunks of the tall, wide-spreading elms, walnut, oak and maple trees. Here is the home of the dryads and wood nymphs, and here the poet must have been inspired to write, "The Groves were God's First Temples," and these actually were to the noble army of pioneers who first set up "The Banner of the Cross" while building their log cabins with rifles in their hands. The country is gently un- dulating, with hill and dale, meadow and wood, giving variety and sparing the eye from monotony until you approach the river. when it becomes more rugged, but always grander and more wonderful in beauty and sublimity. It is well and beautiful- ly watered, everywhere unfailing springs of clear, cool water. gushing out from rocky ledges or bubbling out of a mysterious
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cave, overtopped with waving elm, beach or sugar maple trees. A most welcome sight these were to the pioneers who knew noth- ing of cisterns and microbes, and they invariably decided the site of the homestead. Near many of these are still to be seen the old, moss-covered spring-house, so suggestive of cool, rich cream and firm, golden butter, and of primitive arcadian life. Such a spring is Jessamine, the source of the creek of the same name, and of Hickman and Sinking creek, which Mr. Collins tells us is a remarkable natural curiosity. It rises near the Fayette line, about a mile north of Providence church, runs west through the beautiful Lafon, Blackford and Sandusky farms, and unites with a smaller. Sinking creek, from the north in Woodford, form- ing Clear creek. It sinks four times, running under ground from one quarter to a mile each time. At times in the winter and spring, when the water can not sink as fast as it falls, it is fifty feet deep and a mile wide. There are many wonders and curiosi- ties under ground besides these streams.
Jessamine Creek.
Jessamine creek rises in the northern part of Jessamine county and flows in a southern direction emptying into the Kentucky river a few miles above High Bridge. It rises about two and a half miles above Keene, on the farm now belonging to Mr. Pleas- ant Cook, which was early settled by the Singletons and Chown- ings. There are two large springs from which the water comes up. but both of these have been very much changed in later years.
One of the recent owners of the land on which is the creek head, finding the sources of the stream practically bottomless, and that his stock would sometimes fall in between the ledges, which created a sort of chasm from which the water rose, hauled four or five hundred loads of loose stones and threw them into this opening, thus endeavoring to make it safe, so that stock might walk over it. The result has been that when heavy rains fall, the water boils up on both sides within twenty or thirty feet of the spring itself. It has never been known to go dry. It comes out of the side of the hill, the rocks of which overhang the spring about ten feet high. Two large oak trees grow immediately over the spring, and rise out of the cliff overhanging it. While the stream
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has never gone dry within the memory of the young men, the current of water has very much decreased in the last fifty years.
The headwaters of Jessamine creek are in the midst of one of the most fertile portions of Jessamine county. The Singletons, the Cokers, the Sanduskys, the Chownings, and the Barclays settled in this neighborhood. Jeremiah Singleton, one of the earliest settlers on Jessamine creek, built a mill about half a mile below the mouth of the creek. It was used both as a saw and a grist mill. The dam was built first of stone, and afterwards lined with brick laid in cement. The mill itself was built of stone. Steam with its accommodating powers, which could be located on roads or in cities, superseded these old mills, and, about fifteen years ago, the mill was torn down and the bricks in the dam removed and used for other purposes.
Beginning at its very mouth, the creek passes through some of the finest land in Kentucky, which is admirably adapted for corn, but principally for hemp. Beautiful farms with elegant and tasteful residences are seen on every side, and the great fall which it is necessary for the stream to make in order to reach down to the bottom of the tremendous cliffs on the Kentucky river, furnishes magnificent mill sites, and there were no less than six mills along this stream. That part of the stream called the "Narrows," near Glass' mill, has some most beautiful and pictu- resque scenery.
The creek makes a horseshoe bend, the points of the shoe being very close together. Between these the earth rises several hundred feet high, and, standing on either side, you can look far down below upon the stream winding its way in silence and grandeur to its resting place in the bosom of the Kentucky River. High up on the cliffs on the west side of the stream near the "Narrows" is the famous Chrisman Cave. This cave extends a great distance back from the entrance, running in a northwestern course, and it is a neighborhood wonder and attracts many visitors from all parts of the country.
A short distance below Spark's Ford is a natural curiosity, known as the "Little Mountain." It is a mound standing out separate and single and having no connection with the cliffs. There by the action of the water, or by some upheaval of nature, it has cut loose from all surroundings, and stands out alone and independent.
JESSAMINE FEMALE INSTITUTE.
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The creek was given its name prior to 1774, and prior to that time it had been mentioned at Harrodsburg. There are two branches of the creek known as "Main Jessamine" and "East Jessamine." The East Jessamine rises about three-fourths of a mile above Nicholasville, between the Cincinnati Southern and the R. N. I. & B. R. R., on what is known as the Horine Place. It passes through the town of Nicholasville, and, keeping to the east of the Danville Turnpike, enters the main branch about three miles below Nicholasville.
The stone mill, known now as "Glass' Mill," three miles from the Kentucky river, is certainly over one hundred and ten (110) years old. It is supposed to have been laid out as a mill-site as early as 1782. It was subsequently turned into a paper mill which was operated as late as 1849. The rag-house and office still stand in a perfect state of preservation. Subsequently it was turned into a distillery, run by a gentleman named Bryan, and is now owned by Mr. Henry Glass. It has water power sufficient to operate tlie inill seven months in the year, and yields 72-horse power. It is a most admirable site, and is as picturesque and beautiful as it is useful.
Jessamine creek is about thirty miles in length.
Hickman Creek.
Hickman creek rises in Fayette county not far from Lexing- ton, and after running through Fayette and the eastern half of Jessamine county, empties into the Kentucky river near what is known as "Boone's Knob." It is a larger stream than Jessamine creek, and was named for Rev. John Hickman, a pioneer Baptist preacher. It has an east and west branch, and each of these has numerous tributaries, which pass through high cliffs and ridges, rivaling at times the cliffs on the Kentucky river itself. The country between the two branches of Hickman creek is one of the most fertile in Jessamine county. The section drained by Hickman creek is well timbered, and has still a superb growth of oak, hackberry, ash, and hickory, with a sprinkling of maple. Along this creek the earliest settlements of Jessamine county were made, and some of the best citizens who ever came to Jessamine, made their homes in this locality. Mr. Philip Swigert, who was
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born September 27, 1798, came from this neighborhood. When quite a young man he became a deputy in the Woodford Circuit Court Clerk's office, under John McKinney, who formerly re- sided in Jessamine. He afterwards removed to Frankfort and died in 1871, in the 74th year of his age. He was one of the most distinguished Masons in the state, a self-made man, and by his native force, great good sense, and indomitable perseverance, ac- quired a large fortune and also secured a high standing with the best men of the state. He was born on the old farm near Marble Creek schoolhouse, once the property of A. P. Davis.
Jas. Rutherford, Sr., was another of the early settlers. He was a man of native force, strong friendships, great will, and a large number of his descendants still live in that portion of the county.
Abram Vince, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1784, and died January 17, 1874, was also one of the settlers in this district. He came to Jessamine in 1803 : he was a descendant of the Swiss emigrants who settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, the first half of the eighteenth century. He was a man of high character, great industry, and has left for himself and those who bore his name a goodly heritage.
Harrison Daniel also owned property in this section, and long bore honorable and honored part in the government of Jessamine county. He was sheriff of Jessamine county under the Consti- tution of 1799, as also a Justice of the Peace. He was a man of good education and strong mind. He was a member of the legis- lature in 1836 and '37.
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