USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 57
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An election was held on the first Monday in August, 1865, at which James H. Garrard, a
Conservative, was elected state treasurer over William M. Neale, a Radical. In the senate there were twenty Conservatives and eighteen Radicals; in the house, there were sixty Con- servatives and forty Radicals. Governor Bramlette was a Conservative, and this great good fortune was accentuated by the fact that the judicial department of the state govern- ment was in full accord with the executive and legislative departments. But governmental machinery did not move then as now, without let or hindrance. Over it always was cast the shadow of the man with the bayonet. The writ of habeas corpus, the honest man's shield, was suspended, and no man had the freeman's privilege of facing the world with the assur- ance that his liberty was secure.
In 1862 the legislature had passed an expa- triation act, requiring the citizen who came to the polls to state under oath that "he has not entered into the service of the Confederate States, nor of the so-called provisional govern- ment of Kentucky, in either a civil or military capacity." This act. of course, disfranchised the Confederate soldiers who had returned from the war. Governor Bramlette, on July 220, preceding the August election in 1865, issued his proclamation to the officers of the election instructing them to enforce its provi- sions. It was claimed that, by reason of this proclamation, the interference with the elec- tion by the military would be prevented. General Palmer, commanding the department of Kentucky, was moved to take part in the coming election, and issued orders from his headquarters forbidding any Confederate soldier from even visiting the places at which the polls were opened. The writer, now in the sunset period of life, has a lively remembrance of a then youthful Confederate soldier, who was too young to vote, had the right not been otherwise denied him, and who defied this order by going to the polls and observing pro- ceedings. He explained his defiance of mili- tary orders by stating that "he wanted to see
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what old man Palmer was going to do about it." Years afterwards, when this recalcitrant young man and General Palmer met in social converse and the incident was referred to, General Palmer insisted that he believed the former Confederate was still rebellious : whereupon the two settled their differences in the manner of Kentucky gentlemen, not once but several times. General Palmer, it will be understood, was himself a Kentuckian, and one who did honor to his state in military and in civil positions, being not only governor of Illinois but a senator in congress from that state, and in the evening of his life, the candi- date of the "Sound Money" Democrats for president of the United States, his associate upon the ticket being that other distinguished Kentucky soldier and citizen, Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner.
At the August election, Conservative repre- sentatives in congress were chosen as follows: First district. Lawrence S. Trimble ; Second district, B. C. Ritter: Third district, Henry Grider ; Fourth district, Aaron Harding. The Radical candidates chosen were as follows: Fifth district. Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau : Sixth district, Gen. Green Clay Smith; Eighth dis- trict, W. H. Randall, and in the Ninth district, Samuel McKee.
There was much interference by the mili- tary at the polls during this election. but one cannot say at this long distant period that the result would have been different had the elec- tion been "free and equal" as the law requires. Numerous indictments were returned by grand juries throughout the state against mili- tary officers for interference with the election ; arrests were made, fines imposed and some of those fined, being unable to pay their fines. were placed in jail. Many indictments found were not prosecuted and those who were im- prisoned were soon released.
On account of military interference in the election. the state senate in February, 1866, declared vacant the seats of Senators Sidney
Allen, R. Tarvin Baker, M. M. Benton and L. B. Goggin, and Representatives Ballew, Barber, Degman, Hawthorne, Gregory, Wil- son, Stroube and Murphy, ordering elections to be held in the regular manner for the choice of their successors.
It will be understood that this action was taken by a general assembly unanimously chosen as friendly to the Union cause. Smith's "History of Kentucky," noting this action, sententiously says : "These proceedings on the part of the Union civil authorities had a most salutary effect upon that characteristic class, who had discreetly and adroitly survived the perils and period of war, but who were, on the restoration of peace, most reluctant to per- mit the privileges of military license to slip from their fingers. Their day of abused power and factitious importance was evidently very nigh to its sunset, to their own discomfiture and to the joy of a grateful people."
These vermin had hoped to subject Ken- tucky to the humiliating experience of the ex- treme southern states that they might thereby reap the foul profits gathered by their kind in those prostrate commonwealths: but they reckoned without their host. The Union men of Kentucky, that is the great majority of them, were honorable, patriotic citizens who refused to brook any attempt to reduce Ken- tucky to a state of vassalage, and who had a feeling of the strongest contempt for the creatures who sought, for their own advan- tage, to keep alive the bitter feelings of the war and the division of the people, which was already fast being removed by the friendly and comrade-like sentiment felt towards each other by the men who had met on so many fields of conflict. To the Union men, who, for- getful of the bitterness of war, and who de- sired nothing so much now as peace, the people of Kentucky have been and will ever be grateful for their successful efforts to render useless the attempts of the irresponsible few to prolong dissension and sow the seeds of
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discord among the good people whose strong- est purpose was the rehabilitation of peace and the bringing together again of all the people under one flag and with one idea-the best thing for all the people of all the state.
Governor Bramlette was a just and con- servative man who had done his duty as he saw it, to his country and his state during the perilous period of the war, and now that it was ended his mind turned to the gentle paths of peace for the people of Kentucky, than which he had no greater desire. During the war, there had been returned indictments against many men for real or alleged offenses, growing out of the disturbed condition of the country. The men against whom these in- dictments were returned were, in most in- stances, soldiers in one or the other of the two armies, the preponderance, perhaps, being against the Confederates. and especially against the cavalrymen of that service, who held peculiar views relative to horses, which views clashed with those held by hard-headed grand jurymen who had never been connected with the mounted service. When these men came home from the wars and found these indictments hanging over them, they were much exercised. The plea of "military neces- sity" which had served them in good stead during the war was found to have no stand- ing whatever in a court of justice and visions of imprisonment haunted them. Accustomed as they had been for four years to the freedom of the open air, the specter of a prison cell depressed and distressed them more than had the privations and dangers of a soldier's life. But Governor Bramlette proved their good angel. As fast as these indictments growing out of the war were made known to him, he issued full pardons to those indicted before their cases had been called for trial. Of course, this refers to the minor offenses such as those committed by cavalrymen who had inadvertently borrowed a horse from some peaceful citizen without the latter's consent,
or had wandered into that citizen's sheep-fold or pig-pen with no felonious intent, but, in a moment of absentmindedness, had wandered out again with a fat lamb or pig under his arm. Such minor offenses as these, the gov- ernor concluded, should not be permitted to remain upon the court dockets to the disturb- ance of the peace of mind of the indicted per- sons, who, in none of the instances referred to in the indictments, had acted with any feloni- ous intent, but entirely in accord with the principle of self-preservation accorded to every man under our theory of government. It would transcend the limits of this chapter were the long list of names of those whom Governor Bramlette thus relieved from fur- ther solicitude, to be given here. A good many of the excellent gentlemen who thus received executive clemency are still living, and out of respect for their since-acquired families and for the peace and comfort of the writer, their names are retained in the back-ground.
It should be understood that when murder and other very serious offenses were charged in the indictments referred to, the governor's interference in the shape of a pardon did not follow as a matter of course, as it did in the matter of minor offenses. This action upon the part of the governor coupled with that of the general assembly and the friendly action of leading Union men, did much to bring about a condition far removed from that which had existed in the state during the most excited period of the war; for instance, when Burbridge ruled and Paine murdered peaceful citizens without let or hindrance.
It seems that the last people in Kentucky, and, for the matter of that, at Washington, to learn that the war was over, were the military authorities. Kentucky was an armed camp long after the last Confederate soldier had laid down his arms and gone to his home to find it in ruins or in ashes ; long after the last Kentucky Federal volunteer had been mus- tered out and had come home to take up anew
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the task he had quitted to serve his country.
Gen. John M. Palmer continued in com- mand at Louisville and military posts were scattered over the entire state. Why this was deemed necessary, no one now knows and it is doubtful if any one knew a good and suffi- cient reason then. There was no election pending in which they might interfere, and the people were in the enjoyment of a state of profound peace. General Palmer in April, 1865, issued an order guaranteeing protection to all Confederate soldiers returning after the surrender and remaining peaceably at their homes. Notwithstanding this order, the writer has a rather vivid recollection of one such soldier who returned to his home in the last days of May, 1865, and who had behaved so peaceably as to disturb his digestion, who was the recipient of an order to report at General Palmer's headquarters. Up to this writing, that order has not been obeyed, and the soldier in question has never yet learned what General Palmer wanted to see him about. Another one of his orders forbade the arrest of any but real offenders. From the terms of this order, one gathers that it had been the custom to ar- rest people whenever a provost-marshal felt peevish, or the little officer in charge of a post had eaten something which disagreed with him. It must have been very distasteful to these gentlemen to be ordered not to arrest any but real offenders. What was the good of a little brief authority if a commanding officer could issue a mere order and take it away from him? How they must have sighed for the good old days of the war, when peaceful and harmless citizens who were arrested on trumped-up charges, were willing to pay hand- some ransom for their freedom.
In May, General Palmer disbanded the Federal scouts, and in October four thousand negro troops in the state were mustered out, but there were six thousand such troops yet in the state. Recruiting of negroes had been kept up, as stated in another chapter, after the
war was closed, and thousands of the white troops had been mustered out of the service. It is supposed that this enlistment of negroes was continued in order that the wives and children of the men this enlisted might be- come free under the terms of the act of con- gress of March 3, 1865.
Under General Palmer's orders, many thousands of passes were issued to negroes over the ferry from Louisville to Jefferson- ville, and over the Kentucky Central Railroad to Cincinnati, thus giving them an opportunity to leave their homes and escape from a slavery which was no longer other than imaginary. The act of congress above referred to, was declared unconstitutional by Judge L. Watson Andrews of the Fleming circuit court, and this decision was affirmed by the court of appeals. but this was mere "kicking against the pricks." Slavery was dead and not all the courts in Christendom could breathe again into its nos- trils the breath of life. The negro was free, but the freer man of the two was that man who had claimed to own him. Generals Palmer and James S. Brisbin were indicted "for abducting slaves, and otherwise violating the slave code of Kentucky." The former was arrested and gave bond in $500 to answer the indictment, as has been before stated. There was never a trial, of course, and the matter was finally dropped from the court records.
General Palmer resigned his commission and retired from Kentucky. He was probably glad to go home and the people of the state were willing that he should go. They did not find a great deal of use for a military com- mander in a time of profound peace. After a time, the writ of habeas corpus, suspended during the war, was restored in Kentucky, long after similar action had been taken in Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and Mis- souri. No one seemed to know why Ken- tucky had been so long excepted but since the writ was restored, no one cared to investigate the matter.
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Quoting from Smith, again, it is found that "on its assembling in December, the legisla- ture enacted a law of general pardon to all persons indicted by the courts of Kentucky for treason against the Federal government through acts done within the state. It repealed the act of October 1, 1861, declaring any citi- zen who invaded Kentucky as a Confederate soldier, guilty of felony, to be punished by confinement in the penitentiary from one to ten years ; also the expatriation act of March 11, 1862, and the act requiring ministers and others to take the oath of loyalty before sol- emnizing marriage and another requiring a similar oath from jurors. Thus, one by one, every obstacle to restoration to civil rights and reconciliation which had grown out of war measures, was removed. The policy was one of manly magnanimity on the part of the Unionists in power towards their old neigh- bors, kindred and companions in citizenship. The confidence of intimacy assured those in authority that, though differing to opposite extremes as to choice between the Federal or Confederate side in the great war issue, their less fortunate brethren of the commonwealth were not less honest, sincere and brave than themselves ; nor were they less to be trusted on their return from the surrenders of the war, in the good faith with which they grounded the arms of rebellious strife forever and resumed the functions and duties of loyal citizenship under the flag of the Union."
Many a former Kentucky Confederate sol- dier reading the above quotation, will learn for the first time, that when he invaded his native state as a soldier, he incurred the pains and penalties of a felon and faced the possibil- ity of a penitentiary sentence of from one to ten years. Had this stringent statute been strictly enforced, a new and piquant interest would have been added to the oft-recurring visits of General Morgan's Kentuckians to their native state. So far as the records of the courts show, no one was ever indicted and
punished under this ridiculous statute. "In the midst of war, the laws are silent," says the ancient adage. It had been well for Kentucky, in the midst of war, had there been more silence among those chosen to make the laws.
Again let free-speaking Shaler describe the political conditions in the state during the clos- ing days of the war and immediately subse- quent thereto. In his "Kentucky Common- wealth" he says: "The conduct of the Repub- licans in regard to the civic rights of the state, the disgust arising from the emancipation of slaves without compensation to loyal owners, the acts of the Freedman's Bureau, and other proceedings hostile to the governmental integ- rity of the state, arrayed an overwhelming majority of the people on the then conserva- tive Democratic side. The result of the strenuous, though orderly struggle of the state authorities with the excess of the military spirit and the wild and malicious legislation of the Republican congress, was to drive the state into intense political antagonism to the party that had control of the government. This has unjustly been assumed to prove the essential sympathy of the Kentucky people with the southern cause. All conversant with the inner history of Kentucky will not fail to see the error of this idea. The truest soldiers to the Union cause were the leaders in antag- onism to the militarism that was forced on them, such as Bramlette, Jacob, Wolford and a host like them, who were ready to battle with one hand against the rebellion and with the other to combat for the life of the civil law. While the Republican party in congress was led by men who knew nothing of war and who were rather enriched or benefited by its continuance, this people, with the battle about their firesides, had a double combat to wage. That they did not falter in either duty is much to their credit. When the war ended, there- fore. the parties in Kentucky were reorganized on new lines.
"Perhaps the most satisfactory feature in
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the close of the Civil war was the really quick restoration of civil order in the state and the perfect reunion of the divided people. In this course, the people of Kentucky set an excel- lent but unheeded example to the Federal gov- ernment. By this action, they avoided having a large part of their citizens parted in spirit from the life and work of the commonwealth. The historian and true statesman will always admire this episode of reconciliation. The effect is since seen in the wiping-out of enmity that came to the whole country after the de- plorable reconstruction troubles of the south. In Kentucky, it came at once, there was 110 torturing and persecuting period of doubt, no hesitation in the return of peace. no gendering of hatreds, as farther south."
At the first election for congressmen held after the close of the war, the following result was had : First district-Lawrence S. Trimble, Democrat, 9,787; G. G. Symmes, Union, 1,780; Second district-John Young Brown, Democrat, 8,922; B. C. Ritter, Union Democrat. 1.155; S. E. Smith, Union, 2,816; Third district-Elijah Hise, Democrat. 7.740; G. D. Blakey, Union, 1,201 ; Fourth district- J. Proctor Knott, Democrat, 8,199: William J. Heady, Union Democrat, 508; Marion C. Taylor, Union, 2,277; Fifth district-Asa P. Grover, Democrat, 7,118; Richard T. Jacob, Union Democrat, 2,417 ; W. A. Bullitt, Union, 742; Sixth district-Thomas L. Jones ; Deino- crat, 9,488; W. S. Rankin, Union, 3.839; Seventh district-James B. Beck, Democrat, 9.716: Charles S. Hanson, Union Democrat, 1.388; William Brown, Union, 1,664; Eighth district-George M. Adams, Democrat, 7,600 ; M. J. Rice, Union, 7,175: Ninth district- John D. Young, Democrat, 9,042; Thomas M. Green, Union Democrat, 862; and Samuel McKee, Union, 7,563.
When the above named gentlemen appeared at the bar of the house to qualify as members of that body but one of them, Major Geo. M. Adams, of the Eighth district, was admitted
to a seat. Samuel McKee objected to the seat- ing of the remaining eight members-elect and the matter was referred to the committee on elections to investigate and report whether at the election at which they were chosen, loyal voters were not overawed by rebel sympathiz- ers and also as to the loyalty of the said mem- bers claiming seats in the house. Major Adams, who was seated without objection, had served in the Union army with distinguished honor and, though a Democrat, it was impos- sible for Mr. McKee to find a flaw in his armor. He continued to serve in the house for several terms; was finally clerk of the house of representatives and later secretary of state for Kentucky, to which position he was appointed by Governor Buckner, who had been a Confederate soldier. During the sec- ond administration of President Cleveland, Major Adams was pension agent for Ken- tucky. At the expiration of his term as such agent, he retired to private life and the enjoy- ments denied to those who, as soldiers or public officers, serve their country.
Of these events the writer is happy to have the opportunity to quote from a signed state- ment by the venerable Major Adams, who writes of the assembling of the Fortieth con- gress and the fate of the Kentucky members- elect thereto: "I was the only one admitted without question, the others all being denied seats on the alleged grounds of disloyalty and inability to truthfully take the oath then pre- scribed by act of congress. The house then appointed a committee, with instructions to visit Kentucky, take proof as to the loyalty of the respective members-elect, and report to the session beginning the following December. The result was that during the session begin- ning December, 1867, all the Kentucky mem- bers thus denied their seats, were admitted, except John D. Young and John Young Brown. Sam McKee was given the seat of John D. Young, and my recollection is that the seat of John Young Brown remained vacant
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during that entire congress, for the reason that the governor of Kentucky insisted that, in point of fact, there was no legal vacancy, and hence refused to issue a writ of election to fill a vacancy which did not exist."
John Young Brown had, in 1861 been elected to congress from a Kentucky district before he was eligible to a seat therein in point of age. Remaining quietly at home during the first session of the congress to which he had been chosen, he reached the constitutional age and took his seat during the second session. Denied a seat in the fortieth congress, he was subsequently returned several times to follow- ing congresses, where he made a reputation as an impassioned orator of the old-fashioned southern school, and, on one occasion, created a sensation by a bitter denunciation of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, who was then serving in congress from Massachusetts, narrowly escap- ing expulsion for the extreme freedom of speech in which he indulged. Mr. Brown, after several terms in congress, retired to pri- vate life, engaging in the practice of law at his home in Henderson and re-entering the public service some years later as governor of Ken- tucky to which position he was elected by the Democratic party. Sometime after the ex- piration of his term as governor, he accepted the nomination of the "Sound Money" Demo- crats for the same position, but was unsuccess- ful at the election and did not long survive.
At the next state election in 1867, John L. Helm, the Democratic candidate for governor, received 90,225 votes ; W. B. Kinkead, Union Democrat, 13,167; Sidney M. Barnes, Repub- lican, 33,939. Helm's majority over Barnes was 56,286; over Kinkead, 77,058. The re- mainder of the Democratic ticket was elected by majorities approximately the same as those received by Governor Helm. Governor Helm, though taking the oath of office at his home September 3, owing to illness, never assumed the duties of the office he was so well qualified to fill. On September 8th this fine old gentle-
man, a splendid type of the statesman of the older days, passed to the Great Beyond, there to meet his gallant son, Ben Hardin Helm, who had preceded him from the field of honor and glory where he had laid down his life without a stain upon the honored name he bore.
Following the death of Governor Helm, John W. Stevenson, the lieutenant governor, succeeded him, and was duly inaugurated as governor September 13th. He thereupon ap- pointed Colonel Frank Wolford, late of the Federal army, as adjutant general, and Major Fayette Hewitt, late of the Confederate army, as quartermaster general. Each of these vet- eran soldiers rendered the splendid service expected of them by those familiar with their efforts under the two flags which they had followed in the great civil war. General Hewitt, in his first official report, had the honor to state that he had collected from the United States government $399,224 on ac- count of war claims, and that $1,468,937 was still owing on the same account, proper steps for the collection of which were being taken. This sum was subsequently collected in large part and, in proof of its collection, the people of Kentucky are pointed to their splendid new Capitol at Frankfort.
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