USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I > Part 34
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 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129
Feb. 28-Maj. Hamilton's command at Hawesville and Cloverport rout the guer- rilla band of Davison and Magruder, badly wounding the latter.
March 1- Legislature authorizes the building of turnpikes of less than 5 miles, the tolls to be in proportion to the distance traveled. ....... 2-Any school district may
157
ANNALS OF KENTUCKY.
1865.
levy a special school tax, for building, re- [ soldiers of 30th Wisconsin, sent from Lou- pairing or furnishing a school house, pay- ing a teacher, or other school object ........ 4-Inerease of tax for the ordinary ex- penses of government, 5 cents on each $100 of taxable property ......... Justices in Jef- ferson and Kenton counties to have orig- inal common law jurisdiction to $100, and
equity jurisdiction to $30 ... .. The bank notes of the Southern Bank of Ky. (now in liquidation, by law) no longer to circu- late as money, but to be treated as prom- issory notes. Militia law altered and re-enacted Governor to appoint a committee to inquire into the iniquities and abuses of the boards of trade sys- tem ...... .Chief justice Joshua F. Bullitt summoned for trial before the legislature, May 23, on the charge of belonging to a treasonable association ; and President Lincoln requested to grant to Judge B., who is now in Canada, such respite from arrest that he may be present at his trial. .. 6-Legislature adjourns to May 16. March 1-A bill in the senate to author- ize any county to issue bonds not exceeding $50,000, for bounties to volunteers, in order to avoid the draft, is laid on the table, by 16 to 8. Next day, a bill providing for the payment of a state bounty of $100, was laid upon the table, by 15 to 9.
March 1-Guerrillas enter Louisville, help themselves to Julius Fosses' (assist- ant inspector general of cavalry ) two ele- gant horses, valued at $2,000, and dash out of the city, leaving their compliments to Capt. F.
March 3-A motion directing the auditor to suspend any further payment of salary to Judge Bullitt until after his case is finally tried and disposed of, is voted down in the house.
March 6-142 charters for coil oil or petroleum companies granted by the leg- islature during this session.
March 6 - Mason, Boone, Nicholas, Campbell, Greenup, Gallatin, Bracken, Grant, Kenton, Butler, Carroll, Livingston, Lyon, Caldwell, Fleming, Oldham, and Jefferson counties, and the city of Louis- ville, each authorized by special legisla- tion to raise a bounty fund to aid enlist- ments and provide substitutes.
March 8-Great freshet in the Ohio river ; all the stores along the levee in Louisville, from 3d to 9th st., under water.
March 12 - The people of Columbus, Hickman co., ordered to build a levee in front of the town. The military superin- tend the job, and negro soldiers are the guard that stands over white citizens while they work.
March 12-Death at Stanford, Lincoln co., of Rev. James C. Barnes, D. D., the oldest Presbyterian minister in the state. He preached in the morning (Sunday), and died in the afternoon.
Henry Metcalfe, three notorious guerrillas, surprised and captured, near Webster, Breckinridge co., by a detachment of 50
isville. The others were nursing Magru- der, who was dangerously wounded on Feb. 28. Munday wounded 4 Federals, one mortally, and refused to surrender until promised that he should be treated as a prisoner of war. This promise was dishonored ; for he was captured on Sun- day morning, taken to Louisville, tried and convicted for acts as a guerrilla on Tuesday, and hung on Wednesday, March 15, at 4 p. M. He is only 20 years old. Shortly before his death, he said, if allowed to do so, he could prove that he had been a Confederate soldier for nearly four years, was in the battle of Fort Donelson, with Gen. Morgan in Ky., wounded at Cynthi- ana and cut off from his command, and remained in Ky .: but the court martial refused to let him introduce witnesses. He denied his guilt of many outrages charged against him but committed by others. Just before he was taken from prison to be executed, he penned a very touching letter to a young lady to whom he was be- trothed.
March 13-The Louisville Journal has a severe article against Joseph Holt, now Advocate General of the United States at Washington city-charging him with (al- though advised of them) omitting the most startling, terrible, and easily proved outrages from the list of charges against Gen. E. A. Paine, on which he is now being tried by court martial, and ordering trial only on those which are least material and most plausibly explained. No wonder Paine is acquitted !
March 15-Skirmish at Pitts' Point, Bullitt co., between the citizens and guer- rillas under two brothers named Wigging- ton ; one of whom was killed and his party dispersed.
March 23-Judge L. Watson Andrews, in the Carlisle circuit court, decides as un- constitutional the late act of congress lib- erating the wives and children of enlisted negro soldiers.
March 23-Gen. Palmer revokes the order prohibiting the circulation in Ky. of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
March 23-The extensive hotel build- ings at Drennon Springs, Henry co., de- stroyed by fire.
March 25-Engagement for three hours, near Garnettsville, Meade co., between guerrillas under Hays, Marion, and Web- ster, and 25 Federals under Capt. W. C. Shannon.
March 26-A portion of the 54th Ky. under Maj. John D. Russell and Capt. Geo. T. Buckley come upon a party of guerrillas near New Liberty, Owen co., kill 3, wound 3, and disperse the rest.
March 27-Robert Mallory, late repre- sentative in congress, while addressing the people at Lagrange, Oldham co., was interrupted by a lieutenant from Chio, who
March 12-Sue Munday (i. e. Marens Jerome Clarke), Capt. Billy Magruder. and | pronounced him a rebel. Mallory told him he lied: whereupon the lieutenant brought up a file of soldiers with fixed bayonets, and told him he should not speak.
158
ANNALS OF KENTUCKY.
1865.
Mallory was disposed to go on, and risk the issue, but his friends persuaded him to desist and avoid a difficulty.
March 29-Desperate fight, 30 miles from Paducah, between guerrillas under Capt. McDougall, and Federals under Capt. Gregory : both officers killed.
March 31-W. F. Ashcraft, Alfred Nich- ols, and Thos. B. Payne, found guilty by a military commission of being guerrillas, and condemned to be shot to-day at Lex- ington : but respited for 30 days.
April 1 - Phil. Tomppert, the Demo- cratie candidate, elected Mayor of Louis- ville.
April 9-Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders the army of Northern Virginia to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, at Appomattox C. H., Va .; the officers to retain their side-arms and private horses and baggage, and to give their parole and a parole for their men not to take up arms against the Unit- ed States until properly exchanged ; the arms, artillery, and public property to be packed or stacked, and turned over to a U. S. officer.
April 13-Gen. Jos. E. Johnston, com- manding Confederate army, and Maj. Gen. Wm. T. Sherman, "commanding the army of the United States in North Carolina," near Durham's Station, Orange co., North Carolina, about 27 miles from Raleigh, make a memorandum or basis of agree- ment-under which, if approved by their principal powers, the Confederate armies are to be disbanded, conducted to the sev- eral state capitals to deposit their arms and public property, and each officer and man to execute an agreement to cease from acts of war; the Southern state govern- ments, upon their officers and legislatures taking the oath prescribed by the U. S. constitution, to be recognized by the U. S. executive ; the Federal courts to be re- established ; the Southern people to be guaranteed their political rights and fran- chises, as well as their constitutional rights of person and property ; war to cease ; and a general amnesty. President Johnson and his cabinet disavow and disapprove of the Sherman-Johnston contract ; and, April 26, Gen. Sherman, by instructions, demands and receives a surrender of Gen. Johnston's army, "on the same terms as were given to Gen. Lee, pure and simple." [This surrender includes a large portion of the Confederate troops from Ky.]
[The number surrendered and paroled by Gen. Johnston was 31,243, with 108 pieces of artillery, &c .; by Gen. Lee 27,805; by Lieut. Gen. Richard Taylor 42,223, and by Gen. E. Kirby Smith 17,686. The total number of Confederates surrendered, by all the armies, was 174,223, besides about 2,600 in Ky., (1,105 of Giltner's, or Mor- gan's old, command,) and 98,802 prison- ers of war-275,625 in all. By the official reports, the aggregate Federal military force, on March 1, 1865, was 966,591-in- creased by enlistments to 1,000,516, on the 1st of May, 1865-besides the prisoners in Confederate hands, number not known.
April 13-Gold in New York 146.
April 14 - Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, in Ford's theatre, Washington city, by J. Wilkes Booth. the actor.
April 14-Col. Geo. M. Jessee, Moses Webster, and others offer to surrender upon the same terms that Gen. Lee and his army surrendered to Gen. Grant. Gen. Palmer announces that " each man, officer and soldier, must make a personal surren- der. and surrender his arms and horses." "No man will be allowed to surrender who has been guilty of crime against the rules of civilized warfare ; persons charged with such offense may surrender to answer such charges, and they will be heard be- fore a commission."
April 15-Andrew Johnson, vice presi- dent, inaugurated as president of the Uni- ted States.
April 17-A Federal scouting party routs a lot of guerrillas beyond Mountsterling, kills Wash. Carter and David Doom, the leaders, and wounds others.
April 17-Gov. Bramlette, by proclama- tion, calls upon the people of Kentucky " to pay homage to the national grief " at the death of the chief magistrate, and at the hour of his funeral, 12 a., on Wednes- day 19th, " let every church bell through- out the commonwealth be tolled ; on that day let all business be suspended, all busi- ness houses closed, and the public offices closed and draped in mourning."
April 18-A large public meeting in Louisville adopts resolutions of respect to the memory of President Lincoln. Gov. Bramlette presided, and he and Senator Guthrie addressed the meeting. Next day (Wednesday) was observed as a day of hu- miliation and sorrow, the business houses closed, and a funeral procession three miles in length marched through the streets. Similar demonstrations of respect in other places.
April 20-Among the Confederate sol- diers returning home, and duly registering their names according to the order of Gen. Palmer guaranteeing their protection, is Capt. Mat. Carey, of Newport, Campbell co. Some violent "stay-at-home patriots" peremptorily order him to leave the city, which he did. Provost marshal W. H. Bennett "calls upon all good citizens to aid him in preserving the public peace, and in protecting from injury those who have Gen. Palmer's pledge for their pro- tection and security ; they shall be pro- tected by all means at his disposal." Oth- ers, in other places, are treated like Capt. Carey.
April 20, 22-Singular correspondence between James S. Brisbin, " brevet brig- adier general, and S. O. U. S. troops," and Gov. Bramlette. The former's letter shows how emancipation is being forced on Ky., notwithstanding the U. S. secretary of war has announced that "recruiting and drafting for the U. S. army is discon- tinned for the present." Gen. Brisbin seems to be at the head of the negro re-
159
ANNALS OF KENTUCKY.
1865.
cruiting business in Ky., informs the gov- ernor that he is engaged in recruiting 17 additional regiments in the state, that " negro enlistment has bankrupted slavery in Ky., over 22,000 of the most valuable slaves having already gone into service, while the few thousands left are being rapidly gathered up by the recruiting offi- cers and put into the army. Even old men and boys are found to be fit for duty in in- valid regiments, and are taken. From 70 to 100 enlist daily, freeing, under the law of congress of March 3, 1865, an average of 5 women and children per man. Thus from 300 to 500 black people are daily made free through the instrumentality of the army."
April 21-Gov. Bramlette appoints Thursday, June 1, as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer.
April 24- Maj. Gen. Burbridge pre- sented, at Camp Nelson, with a $1,000 sword, belt and spurs, by the colored cav- alry in brigades 5th and 6th, U. S. C. C. of Ky. Gen. Brisbin made the presenta- tion speech, in which he spoke of Gen. Burbridge as " the pioneer of freedom to the slaves of Ky." Gen. Burbridge said " the war is over with the rebels, and he expected and hoped soon to see our colored troops sent into Mexico."
April 26-J. Wilkes Booth, the assassin of the president, killed in St. Mary's co., Maryland.
April 28-Explosion and burning of the steamboat Sultana, 7 miles above Mem- phis, with 2,175 persons on board-1,966 of them paroled Union soldiers. Over 1,400, many of them Kentuckians, lost.
April 29-Gen. Palmer issues an order saying " the power of arrest will hereafter be sparingly exercised, and directed against real offenders. There is no dignity or jus- tice in pursuing foolish people for foolish words. The bands now prowling through the country are simply guerrillas and rob- bers, and are to be treated as such ; they will be allowed to surrender for trial."
May 5-15 guerrillas tear up the track of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, in Ohio, on the Ohio river near North Bend, 14 miles below Cincinnati ; when the night train stopped, they rob the passengers and Express safe of money and valuables, and $30,000 in U. S. bonds, and escape across the river into Boone co., Ky.
May 6-The tax assessor of Boone re- ported on his list 1,281 negroes, but placed "no value" on them ; his assessment was approved.
May 8-Negro enlistments in Ky. dis- continued by order of the U. S. war de- partment.
May 14-Gen. Basil W. Duke, of the Confederate army, with his officers and men, including about 260 Kentuckians, surrender, at Augusta and Washington, Georgia.
May 16-Legislature in adjourned ses- sion 26-Adopts resolutions touch- ing the murder of President Lincoln.
May 22-Adjutant general Daniel W.
Lindsey reports to the house of represen- tatives that under the act of Jan. 26, 1864, " empowering the governor to raise a force for the defense of the state," Col. Pierce B. Hawkins' Ist Ky. Capital Guards (infantry ) were raised, composed of the Big Sandy, Frankfort, and Paducah (3) battalions, 1,313 men, rank and file, and the Mereer co. state guards, 98 men. As these were mustered out, the following 8 battalions and 1 company were recruited and are still in service : Green River, Middle Green River, North Cumberland, South Cumberland, Three Forks Ky., Hall's Gap, Frankfort, Col. Silas Adams' regiment, and Capt. Perin's Casey co. state guards- 2,223 in all.
May 24-Gen. Palmer disbands all the independent Federal scouts in Ky.
May 24-Meeting at Frankfort of Dem- oeratie and Conservative Union citizens of Ky., Jos. R. Underwood presiding.
May 25-The senate, by yeas 10 nays 19, rejects a bill granting to Henry H. Houston, of MeCracken co., "authority to practice law in all the courts, as though he had never entered into the service of the army of the so-called Confederate States of America."
May 30-Geo. W. Norton, president of the Southern Bank of Ky., reports to the legislature that, since its organization in 1850, said bank has paid into the state treasury, 1. An annual tax or bonus ; 2. The entire interest [$18,000 and N. Y. ex- change, semi-annually, for 10 years ] which the state had to pay on its $600,000 of bonds issued to the bank in payment of that amount of stock originally sub- seribed-until the state paid off the bonds in 1860 ; 3. Semi-annual dividends on its stock-to amount of $297,750 ; 4. $600,000 in gold and silver, which the state sold for $973,080 in U. S. legal tender notes ; 5. If no unexpected losses occur in the final winding up of the affairs of the bank-in liquidation sinee Dee. 22, 1863-a further installment of 15 or 20 per cent. ($90,000 to $120,000) will be paid to the state. [The history of the commercial world has but few instances of such remarkably success- ful banking.]
May 31-The senate, by 11 to 17, refuses to entertain a resolution to rescind the joint resolution of Feb. 4, 1865, rejecting the proposed amendment to the constitu- tion of the United States, Article XIII.
May 31-Samuel Robertson, condemned by a military commission for being a guer- rilla, hung at Lexington.
June 2-Jno. B. Bowman, general agent of Kentucky University, reports to the legislature the raising, mostly in the city of Lexington, of the $100,000 required as a condition of its removal to that place. More than $500,000 are already secured, in the way of endowment, grounds, and buildings.
June 3-Legislature repeals the aet au- thorizing the governor to raise 5,000 men, but leaves such force now in service to be mustered out so soon as the safety of tho
160
ANNALS OF KENTUCKY.
1865.
state will admit . ..... Every corporation in Ky. required to report, on Dec. Ist an- nually, to the Auditor, the amount of stock taken, amount paid in, amount of liabilities, assets and income, and full expose of their condition and management-underpenalty of $500 fine, which fine shall go into the school fund ....... Requests President John- son to withdraw the order of President Lin- coln which placed Ky. under martial law .... Requests the President to immediately remove all negro troops from the state, and assign white soldiers for duty in their stead.
June 3-Gov. Bramlette approves the "address of the legislature to him request- ing him to remove from office Hon. Joshua F. Bullitt, one of the judges of the court of appeals" [for the 3d district, and chief justice,] formally removes him, and de- clares his office vacant. The address was " for the reason that the said Bullitt has vacated his office by absenting himself from the sittings of said court and from this state, and having taken up his resi- dence within the territory of a foreign government." It had first passed the house, May 31, by 68 to 19, and then the senate by 20 to 7. In the senate, by vote, the prosecution was conducted by James F. Robinson, and the defense by Asa P. Grover ; and in the house Jaines T. Bram- lette and Thos. W. Varnon were elected to prosecute, and A. Harry Ward and W. M. Fisher to defend. May 25, Joshua F. Bell read a statement, in the house, to the effect that, if time were given, it could be proven that the case of Judge Bullitt was disposed of without any trial ; that he was arrested, ordered and sent out of the state by the military authorities without any opportunity for defense ; that he returned to Ky., and discharged his official duties from Dec. 6 to Dec. 21, 1864; that shortly after-learning that "the military com- mander of the state had declared that he should be tried by a military court and exe- cuted, without any chance of his appeal to the clemency of the President-he, in conse- quence, left, and remains out of the state ; that if he has heard of the President's order permitting his return to Ky. to attend this trial, it is only since these proceed- ings have been taken up, and not in suffi- cient time to be here to make defense ; that if he were here, and time allowed himn, he could establish that he is not guilty of the charges preferred against him in resolu- tions for his address out of office." Where- upon Mr. Ward moved to postpone indefi- nitely the further proceedings in the case- which was voted down by yeas 12, nays 71.
The house of representatives, on May 29, refused, by a. vote of 11 to 63, to dis- miss the Ist and 2d charges in the ad- dress-which were, " 1. That said Bullitt was a member of a secret society or organ- ization commonly known as ' The Sons of Liberty' or 'American Knights,' which is treasonable in its purposes and aims-the same being to give aid and comfort" to those in rebellion, &c .; and "2. That
-
said Bullitt is guilty of a high crime by conspiring with others to oppose with force the lawful government of the United States."
The house then, by a vote of 38 to 34, resolved " That the defense take the evi- dence on the 3d charge against Judge Bullitt ; if that is not sufficient to satisfy the house of the necessity of removing him from office, the 1st and 2d charges will be taken up, and evidence taken to establish said charges or acquit said Judge Bullitt."
On the 30th, the governor transmitted to the senate, and it was read in both houses, Judge Bullitt's letter to him, as follows :
NEAR AMHERSTBURG, Canada West, . May 24, 1865. His Excellency, Thos. E. Bramlette, Gov- ernor of Kentucky :
SIR: I received a dispatch from you yesterday evening, giving me " a copy of Gen. Palmer's permission for you [me] to attend the sitting of the legislature." I determined to make no defense before the legislature for two principal reasons. In the first place, whilst in the performance of my duties as chief justice of the court of appeals, I was compelled to leave the state in order to avoid arrest and trial by a military commission, for an alleged of- fense (treason or conspiracy against the United States), over which the Federal court has jurisdiction, and the military authorities no rightful jurisdiction what- ever. In other words, I was driven from the state by lawless violence, against which you nor the legislature could pro- tect me.
Upon this point the facts leave no room for doubt. Soldiers searched my house on the night of the 27th of December last, and again on the night of the Ist of Jan- ur ry, for the purpose of arresting me ; and on the 8th of January Gen. Burbridge declared, in a public speech at Frankfort, that I ought to have been arrested and "hung," and that I would have been ar- rested if I had not escaped. I left Ky. and came to Canada after the 27th of De- cember, and solely in consequence of the attempt to arrest me. There is no room for doubt that I was driven from Ky. by lawless violence, against which the state owed me protection.
I do not deny the constitutional power of the legislature to remove an absent offi- cer, by address, for any reason deemed sufficient by that body ; and if I had left the state voluntarily to join the Confed- erate army, as did one or two officers who were thus removed, I should not have questioned the propriety of the proceed- ings against me. But for the legislature to try me during my enforced residence in a neutral country scemed to me improper and unjust. I should have resigned soon after coming here if those proceedings had not been inaugurated. I determined to give to the General Assembly of the Com- monwealth an opportunity to decide the question whether they would rebuke the
1865.
ANNALS OF KENTUCKY.
161
violence with which the state has so long been outraged, in the persons and property of its citizens, by refusing to entertain the charges against me, during my enforced absence; or whether they would approve that violence, by trying me whilst I con- tinued to be its victim, and condemning me upon the evidence of detectives in the employment and pay of those who have thus trampled upon my rights as a citizen and officer of the state. Compared with that question, the question of my guilt or innocence seemed to me of small import- ance. For that reason I determined not to resign. And I determined not to de- fend, because an appearance by counsel would have been an implied recognition, which I was unwilling to make, of the propriety of the proceeding against me.
In the second place, I felt convinced that I could not have a fair trial. I do not impute unfairness to a majority of the legislature. But, under the military des- potism prevailing in Ky., I deemed it im- possible to obtain the benefit of evidence, which could otherwise be easily produced. For instance, during the trial of Walsh and others in Cincinnati, several witnesses for the defense were arrested by the judge ad- vocate's order as soon as they left the stand. Again : Many of Stidger's state- ments concerning me and others are known to be false by a number of honest, reliable men ; and I have, what I consider reliable information, that respectable men, well acquainted with him, regard him as un- worthy of belief on oath; but that, when called upon so to testify during the trial of Dr. Bowles and others, at Indianapolis, they feared and refused to do so. Who, in Ky., under the pains and penalties of martial law, would venture thus to assail the great detective, whose statements formed the chief basis of Mr. Holt's pre- election report, asserting that the Northern States had more conspirators in their midst than soldiers in the field ? I regret to find that this difficulty in the way of a fair trial has not yet been removed ; that, though the war has ended, martial law still prevails in Ky .; and that, though you were elected to the office, Gen. Palmer is governor of the Commonwealth. This is sufficiently proved by the fact that you have deemed it necessary to obtain Gen. Palmer's permission for me to return to Kentucky.
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.