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One hundred and five companies, nearly twice as many as were called for, went out from Kentucky to join General Taylor's army. The first regiment of infantry, Kentucky comprising nine companies from Louisville, troops was commanded by Colonel Ormsby; the second, by Colonel William R. McKee, of Lexington, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Clay, Jr., and Major Cary H. Fry. The first regiment of cavalry was commanded by Colonel Humphrey Marshall, of Louisville, Lieutenant Colonel Ezekiel H. Field, of Woodford County, and Major John P. Gaines, of Boone County.
KENT. HIST. - 10
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FOUNDING OF THE COMMONWEALTH
The war was fairly commenced before the Kentucky troops reached their destination.
The first action in which any of them fought was the charge on the city of Monterey. The Louisville legion took part in that suc- cessful assault, Sep- tember 24, and were reported to have showed obedience, patience, discipline, and calm courage. General Butler was wounded, and Major Philip N. Barbour was killed. The leg- islature the following Humphrey Marshall year, 1847, passed resolutions in compliment of the Louisville legion, and ordered swords to be presented to Generals Taylor and Butler, and to the widow of Major Barbour.
The only important action in the Mexican War in which Kentuckians largely took part was the memorable battle
Battle of of Buena Vista, fought February 22 and 23,
Buena Vista 1847, around which have gathered so many stirring recollections. Here fell two of the most gallant sons of Kentucky, - Colonel William R. McKee and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Clay (eldest son of Henry Clay the statesman). One fifth of the troops in this battle were from Kentucky, and of the seven hundred and twenty- three men killed or wounded, one hundred and sixty-two were from this State.
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CIVIL AFFAIRS AND THE MEXICAN WAR
The successful issue of this battle led to the capture of Vera Cruz, the daring attack upon Cerro Gordo, and the final capture of the City of Mexico. With the triumph of the American arm's, peace was gained in Texas, and a vast territory was surrendered by Mexico to the United States. An independent company of one hundred men from Clark County, commanded by Captain John S. Wil-
General Taylor at Buena Vista
liams (afterward General Williams of the Confederate army, and later United States senator), took part in the battle of Cerro Gordo, April 18, 1849, where the Mexicans lost in killed and wounded one thousand men, besides three thousand who were taken as prisoners, and all their materials of war.
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FOUNDING OF THE COMMONWEALTH
The Kentucky troops buried their dead comrades upon the field of Buena Vista ; but a few months later the State brought home the ashes of some of her heroes Funeral cere- monies at to rest in the cemetery of the capital. On the Frankfort 20th of July, 1847, the solemn and interesting ceremonies took place. An address was delivered by the Rev. John H. Brown of the Presbyterian Church, and an oration by John C. Breckinridge.
A little later the State erected a handsome monument in memory of the heroes. It was for the occasion of its unveiling that Theodore O'Hara wrote his O'Hara's elegy immortal elegy, The Bivouac of the Dead. O'Hara,1 born in Danville, Kentucky, in 1820, was the son of Kane O'Hara, an Irishman exiled for his religion, who was celebrated in his day in Kentucky for profound classical scholarship. Theodore O'Hara had himself served with distinction in the Mexican War. Entering the army under the appointment of a captaincy, he retired with the rank of brevet major. His heart was stirred by the events through which he had just passed, and his genius expressed itself in as great a poem of the kind as was ever written. It is thrilling even to think of the scene in the cemetery at Frankfort that summer day -- with the State's great dead resting all around under the shade of primeval forest trees - when the soldier poet lifted up his voice in the impressive measure of his verse :
" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet The brave and daring few.
1 O' Hara and His Elegies. By George W. Ranck.
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CIVIL AFFAIRS AND THE MEXICAN WAR
On fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead."
In 1848 John J. Crittenden retired from the Senate of the United States to accept the Whig nomination for governor of Kentucky. He was elected by a large majority over his opponent, Lazarus John Jordon Crittenden elected gover- nor W. Powell, one of the most notable men in the Democratic party of that day. Crittenden was born in the county of Woodford in 1786. After he was called to the bar, he moved to that portion of the State known as the Green River country, then attracting many young men of talent. From Russellville, in the county of Logan, in 1811, he was sent, for the first time, as a repre- sentative to the legislature. In 1817, he was chosen United States senator. During the troublous times of the Old and New Court controversy he again consented to take part in his State's affairs. 2.5 Accordingly he was elected a representative from Frankfort, Jacques Reich where he had settled to prac- John J. Crittenden tice law. In 1835, he was again called into national politics. He held the office of gov- ernor of Kentucky until 1850, when he resigned to become attorney-general in President Fillmore's cabinet. John L. Helm, the lieutenant governor, was inaugurated governor.
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FOUNDING OF THE COMMONWEALTH
In 1849, the State constitution was revised for the third time. Four important changes may be noted : (1) The judiciary, which formerly had been appointed Third revision
of the consti- by the governor, was made elective by the tution people. (2) The power which the legislature had possessed to raise money for debt on the credit of the State was abolished. (3) Certain provisions for the continuation of slavery were made. (4) No convention to revise the constitution could be called without a two- thirds vote of the entire voting population of the State.
RECAPITULATION
Rise of the Whig party.
James Clark, governor.
Richard H. Menefee.
Thomas F. Marshall.
Charter of United States banks re- pealed.
Three banks chartered by the legisla- ture.
Paper money plentiful.
Speculation followed by bankruptcy.
Momentary return of prosperity, fol- lowed by wide-spread failure.
Attempt to revive "relief measures."
Extreme measures not to be carried.
Robert P. Letcher governor.
Exciting contest for the succeeding governor.
William Owsley, Whig, elected.
Clay the Whig nominee for Presi- dent.
Kentucky gives him a large ma- jority.
The annexation of Texas the ques- tion of the contest.
Clay's opposition to the annexation defeats him.
War with Mexico inevitable.
General Taylor of the United States army dispatched to Texas.
Hostilities begin.
War declared.
Kentucky's attitude toward the war. She offers 10,000 militia.
Kentuckians high officers in the war. The Kentucky troops.
The Louisville legion.
The charge on Monterey.
Battle of Buena Vista.
One fifth of the troops Kentuckians.
Distinguished Kentuckians slain.
The battle leads to the American vic- tory. Peace in Texas.
Acquisition of a vast territory.
Ashes of the heroes of Buena Vista buried at Frankfort.
Memorial monument later erected.
O'Hara and his Bivouac of the Dead.
John J. Crittenden governor. Succeeded by John L. Helm in 1850. Crittenden's ability.
State constitution revised in 1849.
Four important changes made.
IV-THE CIVIL WAR, 1850-1865
CHAPTER XIV
THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY, 1850-1860
LONG before the peal of thunder and the flash of light- ning announce the downpour of rain, forces have been at work in the heavens to produce a storm. Causes of the Long before the outbreak of the Civil War, Civil War events had been slowly tending toward the inevitable con- flict. With the first slaves introduced upon American soil began the conditions which brought about the final tragedy. Of course there were many branches that grew out of the main vine, -the slavery question, -and one was so im- portant and grew so rapidly as time went on that it seemed to many the parent vine, -the original source of the con- troversy. This was the different and directly opposite views held by the North and the South as to the nature of the government of the United States, the former believing that sovereign power resided in the Federal government ; the latter, that it resided in the States.1
In the warm Southern States where cotton was ex- tensively produced, slavery was deemed a ne- Slavery in cessity to the agricultural life. This was not Kentucky the case in Kentucky. But the institution had existed and flourished from the earliest days of the settlement of
1 The War-between the States. By Alexander H. Stephens.
151
.
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THE CIVIL WAR
the region. In 1850 the population of the State was 982,405, of which over 200,000 were slaves.
On the great landed estates of the Commonwealth the lot of the slave was comparatively happy. And yet, over and over again, in important conventions of the State, this problem of human property had claimed the consideration of the people. For years, Henry Clay had been president of the American Colonization Society, and he had advocated a system of gradual emancipation. Many of the prominent citizens of the State, who were large slave owners, concurred in this humane project ; but they were in the minority, and we have seen that the revised constitution of 1849 provided for the continuation of slavery.
This provision in the constitution grew out of Ken- tucky's resentment of the course which extreme persons
Effect of in the North were beginning to pursue toward abolitionism the slave-holding States of the South. It had its immediate cause in a desire to oppose the conduct of certain abolitionists who, as early as 1841, began a system of stealing away slaves from their masters and running them into Ohio (a free State) and thence into Canada. These persons had accomplices stationed in different parts of Kentucky, and along routes known only to themselves. When the negroes were stolen, they were passed on from one station to another until they were safely out of the country. Thus the means by which this business was ac- complished received the name of the " underground rail- road." Again and again the conspirators were discovered in different parts of the State, and were tried and con- demned ; 1 but still the work went on because those engaged
1 The most noted case was that of Miss Delia A. Webster, who was tried at Lexington, in 1844, and sentenced to two years in the State penitentiary.
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THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY
in it believed they were doing right. Hundreds of slaves were stolen in this way from their owners.
In many cases the slaves were unwilling to leave their
Negroes' Dance
homes. While they greatly desired freedom, they were as a class a peaceable people that dreaded change. Characteristics They knew the life they were living. It had of the slaves sore trials ; but they realized that they would always be
But the same jury that had condemned her for what they judged a crime, signed a petition to the governor for her pardon. She was released because she was a woman, while her companion in the work was sentenced to serve fifteen years in the penitentiary.
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THE CIVIL WAR
provided for. They knew nothing about the life into which they would be taken. Moreover, the careless, ir- responsible existence they led made them unthinking. They lived for the moment, and if they could steal off at night and meet together at some neighboring "quarters " for a dance, they gave themselves up to the frolic with reckless disregard of the punishment which might follow on the morrow.
The leader of the antislavery movement in Kentucky
was Cassius An abolition M. Clay, a newspaper
man of strong will, fearless in advocating his opinions. In 1845, he began to issue at Lexington an abolition newspaper called The True American. Its tone was inflammatory and was considered alto- gether improper. The citizens of that town met and decided that its publication was detri- mental to the peace of the community, and that Cassius M. Clay it must be discontinued. When the editor, who was at home ill at the time, was informed of the action of the meeting, he sent back a defiant reply ; whereupon a com- mittee of sixty of the most honorable citizens of the place were deputed to go to the office of The True American and take possession of it. The whole proceeding was managed
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THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY
in the most orderly manner. The secretary containing the private papers of the editor was sent to him at his home The press, type, etc., were packed by printers and sent to the care of a reliable firm in Cincinnati, and the editor was informed that he would find them there awaiting his order.
Of course the committee of sixty had to be tried, for their action was illegal; but the jury, without hesitation, gave a verdict of "not guilty." All over the The State
commends the
State enthusiastic meetings were held in com- action of mendation of the action of the citizens of Lex- Lexington
ington, and strong resolutions were passed recommending the prevention of such incendiary publications as The True American in the State. This shows that the unwise con. duct of extreme abolitionists awakened much excited feel- ing that otherwise might not have existed.
Kentucky was rapidly growing intensely proslavery. The majority of her people believed to a certain extent in the doctrine of State rights. All their sympa- Proslavery and Union thies were in harmony with the customs of the Southern States; and yet, at the same time, sentiments Kentucky had ever been most ardently attached to the Union. As an evidence of this fact note the words which the legislature of 1850 ordered to be engraved on a block of Kentucky marble that was to be placed in the "General Washington Monument " at Washington City: "Under the auspices of heaven and the precepts of Washington, Kentucky will be the last to give up the Union."
Slowly, steadily, the division between the two sections of country was widening. But all the while the Henry Clay's great and patriotic mind of Henry Clay was Compromise struggling to adjust the differences which Bill threatened dissolution to the Union. The prediction
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THE CIVIL WAR
which Clay had made concerning the annexation of Texas in 1845 was fast being fulfilled. Already a war with Mexico had been fought. Out of the vast territory ceded by Mexico in 1848 to the United States, new States were forming. Already California had framed its constitution and asked for admission into the Union. The question whether slavery should be allowed in the new States raised a conflict of opposition on the one hand,
Clay's Home, Ashland, Kentucky
and advocacy on the other, such as had never before occurred in the nation.
In this condition of affairs, on the 29th of January, 1850, Henry Clay came forward in the United States Senate with his celebrated Compromise Resolutions, which were known later as the Omnibus Bill. Clay's earnest speech in exposition of these measures of peace lasted two days, beginning February 5. For months the bill called forth exciting debates in the halls of Congress; but finally the various measures which composed it were passed before the close of that memorable year. This was Clay's last
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THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY
great effort. Two years later he died, just prior to the downfall of the Whig party, of which he had long been the leader in spirit, if not in place.
In 1851, Lazarus W. Powell, one of the most talented members of the Democratic party, was elected governor. But the Whigs secured a majority of the other State politics State offices and elected most of their men to both houses of Congress. At this time the first Emanci- pation ticket in Kentucky was run, with Cassius M. Clay at its head, as nominee for governor. His vote, however, was only about thirty-six hundred. Archibald Dixon, who had been the Whig nominee for governor against Powell, was elected United States senator in the place of Henry Clay, resigned. The days of the Whig party were num- bered.
With the election of Franklin Pierce, the Democratic nominee for President, in 1852, the Whig party disap- peared from national politics, never to reap- Downfall of the pear. In Kentucky, for several years longer, Whig party it continued to exist as a distinct organization, under the leadership of John J. Crittenden. But a disruption had occurred in its ranks. Some of its members, more extreme in one direction, had gone off with the abolition move- ment; while others, of the oppo- site tendency, had united with the Democratic forces.
In the unsettled, agitated condi- tion of the nation it was inevita- ble that new parties should arise to embody the various opinions Franklin Pierce the times inspired. . The American or Know-Nothing
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THE CIVIL WAR
party, as it was commonly called, appeared like a meteor only to fall like a meteor. It existed from 1853 to 1856.
Know-Nothing In the Kentucky elections of 1855 for State
party officers and members of Congress this ticket was mainly successful. Charles S. Morehead, a former Whig, became governor.
But the variations in the politics of the State were like the waverings of a newly started pendulum before it finally
assumes its regu- Democratic
lar beat. The supremacy hour of Democratic su-
premacy was at hand. In 1856, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the Democratic nominee for Vice President, was elected, with James Bu- chanan as President. Young Breckinridge was peculiariy fitted to become the leader of the Democratic forces of his State. He was brave, with a winning jacques Reich manner and a ready ora- tory. His sympathies went out John C. breckinridge ardently toward the South in the question which was now before the nation. In the ensuing State elections, the Democrats were victorious. In 1859, Beriah Magoffin, Democrat, was elected governor, and a majority of Demo- crats was obtained in both houses of the legislature.
Although the Democracy held the scepter of power, yet there still existed in the State that old conservative element whose influence has been repeatedly noted. This element
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THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY
has been known to us most recently under the appellation Whig. Left now without a party name, the men of that policy became designated for a time simply as The conserva- the "Opposition." But they were soon to tive element make for themselves a name which is expressive of the work they did for their State and the nation, - Conserva- tive Union party.
This body was composed of some of the purest and most patriotic men the State has ever produced. In their num- ber will be found the names of such able judges as L. W. Andrews, R. A. Buckner, C. F. Burnam, W. B. Kinkead, Joseph R. Underwood, and Nathaniel Wolfe; of such dis- tinguished statesmen as Joshua F. Bell and James Guthrie ; and of such brilliant editors as George D. Prentice of the Louisville Journal, John H. Harney of the Louisville Demo- crat, and D. C. Wickliffe of the Lexington Observer and Reporter. And there were many others who, in the legis- lature, in public speeches to the citizens of the State, and in newspaper editorials, likewise labored to avert the threatened dissolution of the nation. Of these men, John J. Crittenden stood as the representative type in the Federal Congress. All hopes were now turned to him to save the Union.
RECAPITULATION
The North and the South hold con- trary views.
They interpret the Federal constitu- tion differently.
Slavery becoming a serious prob- lem.
Slavery not necessary to Kentucky. Large slave population of the State. The slave problem repeatedly dis- turbs the people.
Gradual emancipation advocated.
Extreme abolitionists excite temper in the people.
"The underground railroad."
Many slaves captured in this way. The careless lives of the slaves.
An abolition newspaper forcibly dis- continued.
The " committee of sixty " tried and acquitted.
Lexington's action commended by the State.
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THE CIVIL WAR
Kentucky opposed to abolitionism. Her belief in State Rights.
Her ardent attachment to the Union. Henry Clay's prophesy concerning Texas fulfilled.
New States ask admission to the Union.
Question of slavery in the new States. Clay's Resolutions of 1850.
The various measures carried.
Clay's death two years later.
Whigs carry most of the elections of 1851.
Lazarus Powell, Democrat, elected governor.
Cassius M. Clay heads an Emancipa- tion ticket in 1851.
Archibald Dixon succeeds Clay in United States Senate.
National downfall of the Whig party. Crittenden holds it together a little longer in Kentucky.
Rise and fall of the Know-Nothing party.
Democratic supremacy.
John C. Breckinridge the Democratic leader.
Beriah Magoffin, Democrat, governor. Old Whig party first called the " Op- position."
Becomes the Conservative Union party.
Its members men of weight in the community.
CHAPTER XV
KENTUCKY'S POSITION OF NEUTRALITY, Nov. 1860-JUNE 1861
IT is a curious coincidence that the two men who were destined to take the political lead in the great conflict of the nation were born in Kentucky, within one year of each other. Jefferson Davis was born Lincoln and Davis, natives June 3, 1808, in that part of Christian County of Kentucky which afterward became Todd County. In his infancy his family moved southward to Mississippi,
where he be-
came imbued with the spirit and the customs of the planters. Abraham Lin- coln was born in a log cabin in that part of Hardin County which afterward became Larue County, on the I 2th day of February, 1809.
KENT. HIST. - II
Abraham Lincoln
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THE CIVIL WAR
In his boyhood, his family moved northward into the uncultivated regions of the newly opened West. From a life of vigorous physical toil and earnest mental exer- tion, he learned those lessons of truth and freedom which prepared him for his mission.
In November, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. The leaders of the South
Secession of had declared that in the event of his election
Southern
they would withdraw from the Union. Seces-
States sion feeling was growing. On December 17, South Carolina met in a State convention that re- sulted in the secession of that State from the Union on December 20. Within two months Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed this precedent. On December 18, John J. Crittenden offered in the United States Senate certain compromise proposi- tions which, if adopted as amendments to the Federal con- stitution, he hoped would bring peace between the North and the South. But the propositions were voted down. The country was in no state of mind to listen to reason. Ten years had passed since Clay had carried in that same body his compromise measures of 1850. For ten years fuel had been added to the flame which was then burning in the North and in the South. In 1850. it was possible to subdue it ; in 1860, it had grown beyond the power of man to quench.
In January, 1861, a committee composed of one member from the representation in Congress of each of the Bor- Efforts toward der States met and framed other compromise
compromise resolutions which Crittenden, a member of the
unavailing committee, accepted as substitutes for his own. But these proposed amendments met the same fate as their predecessors. In the meanwhile, at home, the Union men
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KENTUCKY'S POSITION OF NEUTRALITY
upheld the hands of their senator. Conventions passed resolutions in favor of his efforts to avert the approaching catastrophe. Earnest speakers addressed the citizens in different parts of the State and implored them to be mod- erate in their actions. "Secession," they said, "means revolution, and revolution means war. And war with whom? With our neighbors, our friends, our brothers!" In glowing language they urged the citizens nobly to face the wrongs which the South had suffered from the North, not failing to recognize, at the same time, the honor and the blessing of living in a great united country ; and to stand firm in the position they had taken for the Union.
On the 17th day of January, 1861, the legislature met in called session. Governor Magoffin, in his message, set forth the condition of the country as it ap- The governor's peared to him at the time, and strongly recom- message mended the calling, forthwith. of a State convention to determine the future attitude of Kentucky toward the Federal government. The governor also recommended the arming of the State; the appointment of commission- ers to act for Kentucky in a convention of Border Slave States to meet in the city of Baltimore at an early day ; and the presentation of the Crittenden compromise, or its equivalent, as an ultimatum.
Many members of the Democratic party advocated call- ing a State convention. Notable among these was Vice President Breckinridge, who definitely ex- Democratic pressed his views on the subject in a letter to views the governor received a few days before the legislature convened. After giving a summary of the Crittenden compromise propositions, and mentioning other efforts which had been made to settle the political differences then dividing the country, he stated his firm conviction that no
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