USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 99
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108
Mr. Bradley was never a candidate, and he had no desire for office, giving little care to matters outside of his profession, except his ardent advo- cacy in public and private of popular education. He was a man of very positive character, elo- quent and majestic, and wielded a great power over a jury.
G EN. JOHN CABELL BRECKINRIDGE, I only son of Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, a distinguished lawyer and politician, who, at twen- ty-nine, was twice speaker of the Kentucky house of representatives, and secretary of state for three years before his death at the early age of thirty- five, and grandson of John Breckinridge, who before his death at forty-five had twice been speaker of the Kentucky house of representa- tives, United States Senator, and attorney gen- eral of the United States in the cabinet of Presi- dent Thomas Jefferson, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, January 15, 1821; graduated at Cen- ter College, Danville, September, 1839; adopted the profession of law; practiced for awhile at
Burlington, Iowa, but returned to Lexington; was major of Third Regiment Kentucky Volun- teers in the Mexican war, September, 1847-48; represented Fayette County in the legislature of Kentucky, 1849. This was his introduction into political life. He rose rapidly. In 1851 he was elected to the Federal Congress from the Ash- land district after an exciting contest over Gen. Leslie Combs. The district was Whig, and Gen. Combs the devoted friend of Henry Clay. Breckinridge's chances were deemed hopeless; but his talent, his winning manners, together with his vigorous canvass, overcame all obstacles. He was triumphantly elected. He was re-elected in 1853, defeating ex-Gov. Robert P. Letcher, whom the opposition had put forward as their strongest man. The struggle in this canvass was even more protracted and violent than in the first race, but with precisely the same result. He retired from public life in 1855, having previously been tendered by President Pierce the mission to Spain, which he declined. In 1856 he was elected Vice President, in conjunction with Mr. Buchan- an as President, and before the expiration of his term of service the Kentucky legislature elected him United States Senator, to succeed Mr. Crit- tenden for six years from March 4, 1861.
He announced his purpose of appealing to the sword, resigned his commission as United States Senator to the people of Kentucky, refus- ing to recognize a legislature overawed by bayo- nets, and called on the Kentuckians to make common cause with the South. He was ap- pointed brigadier general, and at once placed by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston in command of a brigade at Bowling Green. When the army fell back, Gen. Breckinridge's command formed part of the forces which made that wonderful retreat to Corinth, Mississippi. At Shiloh, in the crit- ical charge where was lost the life of that great soldier, Albert Sidney Johnston, Gen. Breckin- ridge was there, animating his untried troops to deeds of daring and valor. Again he was called upon to cover the retreat of the army, a duty which was skillfully and efficiently executed. And the same service was repeated when the Confederates evacuated Corinth.
Breckinridge had now been promoted major
576
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
general, and commanded a division. In June, 1862, he was ordered to Vicksburg, and with his command successfully resisted the memorable bombardment of that important point, which was kept up during the month of July. The enemy, foiled in the attempt to capture Vicksburg, re- tired. Gen. Breckinridge was next ordered to take Baton Rouge, which was then occupied by the Federals. Although greatly outnumbered, he drove the enemy from his camps, which he de- stroyed and forced them to take shelter under cover of their gunboats. The Confederate ram Arkansas was to co-operate in this attack, but the disaster which destroyed it rendered further operations by the land forces impracticable, and the Confederates retired unmolested.
On August 17, 1862, Gen. Breckinridge took possession of Port Hudson, and discovering its military strength, urged its defense as very im- portant to the policy of holding the Mississippi river. Acting upon positive orders, Gen. Breck- inridge, with his gallant Kentucky brigade (which followed his banner throughout the war) and some Tennessee troops, marched with alacrity to the succor of Gen. Bragg, who was then in Ken- tucky; but before reaching Cumberland Gap, a communication from Gen. Bragg announced his abandonment of Kentucky. At the battle of Murfreesboro, or Stone River, January 2 follow- ing, Gen. Breckinridge, by orders, led his division "into the jaws of death." He assailed an impreg- nable position of the enemy, losing 1,700 men out of less than 7,000. It was a fearful sacrifice, for which Breckinridge was in no measure re- sponsible. Nevertheless, upon his command again devolved the arduous duty of covering the retreat of Bragg's broken army.
He continued with the Army of the Tennessee until May 25, 1863, when he was ordered to join Gen. Joseph Johnston in Mississippi. It was his command which gallantly repelled the assault of the enemy on Jackson, Mississippi, July 17, 1863. Shortly afterwards he again returned to Bragg's command, participated in the battle of Chickamauga, and commanded a corps at the battle of Missionary Ridge, which was fought November 25, 1863.
After consultation with the president, he was
ordered to southwest Virginia, and assumed com- mand March 3, 1864. While engaged in duty in his department, he was suddenly called upon by General Lee to march with all his available force to Staunton and the Shenandoah Valley to check the movement of Gen. Franz Sigel. On May 15th he attacked the general at New Market, and routed him, after a brilliant engagement. The Federal general was driven in full retreat to Winchester, but rendered pursuit impossible by burning the bridges in his rear. Gen. Lee sent Breckinridge a congratulatory dispatch, and an order to join him forthwith at Hanover Junc- tion. The order was promptly obeyed, and Gen. Breckinridge's forces protected the rear of Lee's army and his line of communication when Sheri- dan made his great raid. He remained with Gen. Lee's army and bore a conspicuous part in the battle of Cold Harbor, fought June 2, 1864, when the Federal army was repulsed with fearful slaughter. Subsequently, in conjunction with Gen. Jubal Early, he foiled Gen. David Hunter in his attempt to capture Lynchburg, and pur- sued that officer into the mountains.
Gen. Breckinridge's troops were then incor- porated with Gen. Early's, and he was placed in command of a corps. They next prepared for operations in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. On June 22 they took up the line of March. July 3, 1864, Breckinridge's com- mand captured Martinsburg; July 5 the whole army crossed the Potomac at Shepherdstown; July 9 Breckinridge defeated and routed Gen. Lew Wallace at Monocacy, which left the way open to Washington. On the IIth the Confed- erates reached Silver Spring, only six miles from the Federal City, and within sight of the dome of the capitol. Skirmishing occurred the next day; but that night Gen. Early, for prudential reasons, ordered a retreat-re-crossing the Poto- mac at Edwards' Ferry on the night of the 13th. Gen. Breckinridge remained in the Valley, par- ticipating in the serious engagements there fought.
But a few days after the battle of Winchester he received orders from Richmond to return to southwest Virginia, which he did in time to repel the Federal forces which, under Gen. Stephen G.
577
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
Burbridge, were operating in that quarter. He continued in command of this department until February 4, 1865, when he was appointed Sec- retary of War, to succeed Hon. James A. Sed- don, and was thus engaged to the close of the war.
After the fall of Richmond, and the collapse of the Confederacy he made his way to the Florida coast, whence he escaped in a small boat and reached Cuba in safety. He visited Canada and Europe, and returned to his home, at Lexington, Kentucky, a year or more afterward. Avoiding all political complications, he thenceforth devoted himself exclusively to his profession, and to busi- ness engagements as vice-president of the Eliza- bethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad. Like the great chieftain of the "Lost Cause," his course was singularly modest, retiring and pru- dent-deferential, in a marked degree, to that proscriptive policy of the party in power which deprived the nation, however unwisely, of the safe counsels of men of his stamp. Had a more liberal policy obtained, the eloquent voice of John C. Breckinridge would have been heard once more. But he died, all too soon, on Monday, May 17, 1875, aged fifty-four; shortly after a visit from Hon. Henry Wilson, then Vice-Presi- dent of the United States-whose own near ap- proach to the grave seemed to relax somewhat of the unforgivingness of his party friends toward the dying statesman and soldier.
G OVERNOR JAMES CLARK, the son of Robert and Susan Clark, was born in 1779, in Bedford County, Virginia. His father emi- grated from Virginia to Kentucky at a very early period, and settled in Clark County, near the Kentucky River. The subject of this notice re- ceived the principal part of his education under Dr. Blythe, afterwards a professor in Transyl- vania University. He studied law with his broth- er, Christian Clark, a very distinguished law- yer of Virginia. When he had qualified himself to discharge the duties of his profession, he re- turned to Kentucky, and commenced the practice of the law in Winchester, in 1797.
He was several times elected a member of the State Legislature, in which body he soon at- tained a high and influential position. In 1810,
he was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeals, and acted in that capacity for about two years. In 1812, he was elected to Congress, and served from the 4th of March, 1813, until March, 1816. In 1817 he received an appointment as Judge of the Circuit Court, for the judicial district in which he resided, which station he filled with great abil- ity, and to the general satisfaction of the public, till the year 1824, when he resigned.
In 1825, he was elected to Congress to fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr. Clay's appointment as Secretary of State, and continued to represent the Fayette District in that body until 1831. In 1832, he was elected to the Senate of Kentucky, and was chosen speaker in the place of Mr. Morehead, who was then acting as Governor, in the place of Governor Breathitt, deceased. He was elected Governor of Kentucky in August, 1836, and died on the 27th of September, 1839, in his sixtieth year.
G OVERNOR CHRISTOPHER GREEN- J UP was born about the year 1750, in the then colony of Virginia. When the American Revolution occurred, he was in the prime of youth. It was not in his nature to see his coun- try engaged in such a struggle without engaging in it himself. He accordingly devoted his youth to her cause, and was one of the soldiers and heroes of that great conflict; and passed through its scenes of trial and hardship, acting well his part, and winning no small share of that honor which crowned the triumph of the American arms. In the bloody war which took place be- tween the pioneers of the West and the Indian tribes, he also bore a part, and brought into active service against that formidable foe the skill which he had acquired during the Revolu- tion. To the dangers of such a warfare he freely exposed his life, and risked, with a manly and brave heart, all its perils. After thus gaining for himself considerable distinction in arms, he settled in Kentucky, and on the 4th of March, 1783, was sworn in as an attorney-at-law in the old court for the district of Kentucky, estab- lished by an act of the Virginia legislature. On the 18th day of March, 1785, he was appointed the clerk of that court, which office he held dur-
37
578
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
ing the existence of the court. In 1792 he was elected a member of Congress, and served as such until the year 1797. After this he filled the office of clerk of the senate of Kentucky to within a short time of his election as governor, which occurred in August, 1804. For four years he discharged the duties of this office with high honor and credit, both to himself and the state over which he presided. At the expiration of his gubernatorial term, he was elected to the legislature from the county of Franklin. In 1812 he acted as a justice of the peace for the same county. He served also many years as a di- rector in the old Bank of Kentucky; and, after a long life of public service to his country, he died on the 27th of April, 1818, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
W ILLIAM PULASKI WALTON, Editor of the Interior Journal, Stanford, Ken- tucky, son of Thomas R. and Isabella Turner Walton, was born in Louisa County, Virginia, and educated partly in the common schools there, his studies being interrupted by the war between the states.
He remained at home during his father's ab- sence in the Confederate army, but afterwards attended a college in Baltimore, Maryland.
He was deputy sheriff for two years, and depu- ty county clerk of Hanover County, Virginia, for some time. In 1871 he engaged in railroad enterprises, being a contractor on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in Virginia and West Virginia, building a number of miles of that road; and was subsequently engaged in the same capacity with the Baltimore & Ohio and Cincinnati South- ern Railroad, building in all about forty miles of road.
February 5, 1875, he bought the Interior Jour- nal at Stanford, Kentucky. He has a peculiar and marked adaptiveness to newspaper work and has brought to his editorial chair a pen in touch with the finer sentiments of humanity that is the open sesame to the public confidence and general usefulness. As an editor, Mr. Walton is a mod- ern Chevalier de Bayard, "sans peur et sans re- proche," conscious of his own integrity and guided by a singly defined principle of action;
he is uncompromising in his maintenance of what he conceives to be the right, feeling that the welfare of the masses depends upon the measure of the personal responsibility of the individual. His pen is a terror to evil-doers, and his gen- erous and independent conceptions of true citi- zenship, irrespective of class or conditions, are encouragement to the right minded.
In his management of the Interior Journal he is the fin-de-siecle reporter, realizing that the newspaper is the mouth-piece of the people and that its function is to truthfully chronicle current events, the result of operative causes, by catching the fire of their passing and bringing humanity in touch with the hopes, ambitions, privileges and misfortunes of its kind. In consequence of Mr. Walton's methods, the Interior Journal is a most substantial and influential semi-weekly paper, and is the most widely circulated newspaper in the state outside, of course, of the larger cities.
Mr. Walton is especially strong in his friend- ships, will go to the same lengths for his friends that he would like to have them go for him, and for those who are fortunate enough to enjoy his friendship, his sympathy and unselfish personal interest are like a brother's. He is thoroughly in accord with the spirit of Masonry, and is a mem- ber of that order. In politics he is a Democrat, and of course a partisan; he feels too deeply not to advocate strongly, but he aims to be just and even generous in his estimates of men and of en- vironments that largely determine action.
Mr. Walton has made money in the newspaper business where others would have failed, and has investments in other enterprises in and around Stanford; is the owner of the opera house and of other real property in that city; is interested in a Land Association in the eastern part of the state, and is a stockholder and director in several corporations.
He was married to Kate Huffman in Septem- ber, 1875, who died May 6, 1892. In June, 1895, he was again married, his wife being Miss Mattie Owsley, daughter of Hon. John S. Owsley, Sr., of Lincoln County.
An eminent journalist of Louisville has paid the following tribute to the editor of the Interior Journal:
579
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
"Mr. Walton combines the dual faculties of a reporter and an editor in a stronger degree than any other man I know in Kentucky journalism. He and Emmett Logan, I should say, stand at the head. He has that nose for news which marks the true newspaper man, and when news has been collected he never hesitates to print it be- cause it may not meet the approval of some mag- nate of his section. On the contrary, he gives it that prominence in his paper to which it may be entitled, and then writes an editorial com- ment upon it which usually reaches the very marrow of it. Walton is not learned in courtly phrases and his paper is not crowded with them. Yet he is a Virginia gentleman, and higher praise than this cannot be accorded. In all the years of his newspaper career it is doubtful if he ever wrote a sentence from mere wantonness. Yet he can be merciless when the cold letter of the law requires that he shall be so. If the circum- stances demand the use of a bludgeon for the coarse offender, who would appreciate no other punishment, he has that bludgeon ready. If a rapier touch, keen, delicate and deadly, will bet- ter reach the vital point, there is in Kentucky journalism no defter hand than his. Utterly free from bombast or bravado, he is wholly without fear; gentle in thought and manner as the cav- aliers of whose long line he proves so honorable a part; he is careless of danger and brooks no demand upon him for the suppression of the news, or the withholding of his honest opinions. As a conservator of the peace, a promoter of the best interest of society, the Stanford Interior Jour- nal, under the management of Mr. Walton, has been equal to any twenty sheriffs in the counties about him; the superior of any regiment of state troops. Defying crime, whether in high or low places, and demanding that it meet its reward, he has made murder infamous and brought its direst punishment into fashion. No higher praise can be accorded this modest gentleman than to say that he is alike feared and respected by that class against whom his most earnest warfare has been waged.
"Walton is a partisan, as men of his tempera- ment always are, but he is a very fair one. Ever ready and anxious to fight the battles of his party,
he numbers among his friends many who hold opposing political opinions, and none among these can say that he ever sought or accepted an unfair advantage. He is a fair fighter and gives and takes his blows like the fearless gentle- man that he is.
"His friendship is so warm, constant and de- voted that I can find no words in which to de- scribe it. It is enough to say that to those who have come within the charmed circle that encloses his intimates, he is a brother indeed and in fact."
Thomas R. Walton (father) was a son of Wil- liam and Mary Warren Walton of English ex- traction, was born June 10, 1822, in Louisa, Vir- ginia. George Walton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was a near relative of William Walton. Thomas R. Walton was educated in the common schools of Louisa, but removed when a young man to Hanover County, Virginia, and engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He was a Democrat and held a commission as captain in the Confederate army, but on account of delicate health, his service con- sisted principally in raising companies and dril- ling them in military tactics. In 1850 he mar- ried Isabella Lucetta Turner, daughter of Wil- liam Turner, who was a steamboat owner on the Mississippi river. She was born in Vicks- burg, Mississippi, September 17, 1825. She and her husband were members of the Methodist Church.
They had four children: Thomas R. of Flor- ida; Mrs. I. N. Vaughan of Virginia; Edwin Claiborne of Stanford, and William Pulaski Wal- ton. Thomas R. Walton died November 5, 1881, and his wife died April 17, 1877. They are buried side by side at the old homestead in Hanover County, Virginia.
C HARLES WILLIAM WHITE, Repre- sentative from Hardin County to the Ken- tucky Legislature, son of Benjamin F. and Jane (Pemberton) White, was born in Shelby County, Kentucky, September 27, 1857. He was edu- cated in the common schools in Shelby County, and afterwards engaged in mercantile business. He is a Democrat of the most pronounced and
580
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
uncompromising convictions; was elected to the Legislature from Hardin County, Kentucky, in 1892, and was re-elected in 1895. He has only resided in Hardin County six years and during that time has been chosen twice by the people of the county to represent them in the Legislature.
He was married on November 24, 1886, to Fan- nie Shaw, daughter of Judge J. R. Shaw. She was born February 28, 1871. Their only child, born September 1I, 1887, is now attending the school at Elizabethtown. Mr. and Mrs. White are mem- bers of the Methodist Church.
Benjamin F. White (father) was born in Wheel- ing, West Virginia, February 15, 1804, and was educated there in the common schools. He was a stage contractor by occupation and a Demo- crat in politics. He came to Virginia when quite young, and during the latter part of his life he was proprietor of a hotel at Graefenberg, Ken- tucky. In his religious views he held to the be- lief of the Methodist denomination. Mr. White was a man of great social prominence and noted for his strong character.
Jane Pemberton White (mother), daughter of Richardson Pemberton and Sarah Hoell Pem- berton, was born in Franklin County, June 15, 1836, and educated there. She was well known as "Aunt Jane White," and was noted for her sympathy, religion and hospitality. Her home was always a welcome haven for the Methodist preachers, to which denomination she belonged.
J. ALEXANDER IRELAND, M. D., of Louisville, son of William Ireland and Jane Stone, was born in Jefferson County, Ken- tucky, September 15, 1824. He received a good English education, with a fair knowledge of Latin and Greek; and at the age of seventeen began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. James F. Pendergrast in Jefferson County, and con- tinued his medical studies under Doctors Bullitt and Cummins in Louisville; attended the lectures in the medical department of the University of Louisville in 1845-6, and, after continued study and careful preparation, attended a further course in the Kentucky School of Medicine, from which he graduated in 1851.
He began the practice of his profession in Louisville and remained in that city until 1854, when he removed to his farm in the county and practiced in that vicinity until 1864, at which time hc was elected to the chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Kentucky School of Medi- cine. In order to fill this appointment he again became a resident of Louisville, and was professor in the Kentucky School of Medicine until that college was merged into the University of Louis- ville, and was then elected professor of Clinical Medicine in the university.
Upon the re-establishment of the Kentucky School of Medicine, he resumed his former chair in that institution, which he occupied until 1870, when he was elected to a similar chair in the Louisville Medical College, and has remained in connection with that college until the present time, having recently been elected Emeritus Pro- fessor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, with full pay and no work! During his long connection with the Louisville Medical College, he served for a period of fourteen years as dean of the college, and while acting as professor in this institution hc was elected to the chair of Gynaecology and Paedology in the Kentucky School of Medicine, with which he had been connected formerly, but declined the honor. From this it will be seen that of the forty-five years of Dr. Ireland's pro- fessional life, hc has given a third of a century to the training of others in the science of medi- cine. But this constitutes only a small part of the labor performed in those years, for no one of the many distinguished men of the medical profes- sion in Louisville has stood higher as a family physician, and his large general practice has been conducted with energy and industry and has been attended with a degree of success that has been as gratifying as it has been profitable, and would satisfy the ambition of any man.
Dr. Ireland's position in the medical societies of his times, his generous and able work in behalf of the local, state and national organizations, of which he has been an enthusiastic member, has been generously recognized by the honors which have been conferred upon him from time to time, while his ability as a professor has been attested by the long service which he has rendered in the
581
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
medical colleges, no less than three different in- stitutions having sought his aid as teacher and professor in chairs of the highest importance.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.