Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 80

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I > Part 80

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"Independent of these advantages, the mouth of the three forks is the best fishing place in the state. In a small crib they can get five hundred pounds of fish in a day, and may get, by a seine, five or seven hundred barrels per annum.

"Tobacco, flour, beef, pork, tallow, hog's lard, hemp, cordage, whisky, or cast iron will be taken in payment for the land."

Gen. GEORGE B. CRITTENDEN, eldest son of Hon. John J. Crittenden, was a major general in the Confederate army. He graduated at West Point acad- emy in 1832, and was appointed brevet 2d lieutenant in the 4th U. S. infantry, but resigned in 1833; re-entered the army in 1846 as captain in the mounted rifles. Was brevetted major for gallantry at the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, Mexico, in 1847; made full major in 1848, and promoted lieu- tenant colonel in 1856. He resigned in 1861, entered the service of the Confederate States, and was appointed major general. After the death of Gen. Zollicoffer at the battle of Mill Springs, Ky., on Jan. 19, 1862, he suc- ceeded to the command, and made a successful retreat with his broken forces. His operations thereafter were in southwest Virginia, near the Ken- tucky line. Gen. Crittenden was considered a superior officer, and was noted for the courage characteristic of his race. Soon after the civil war, he was elected by the legislature state librarian, which office by repeated re-elections he continued to hold until Jan., 1874.

Gen. THOMAS LEONIDAS CRITTENDEN, second son of Hon. John J. Crittenden, was born in Russellville, Ky., in 1819; was a lawyer by profession, having studied with his father; served in the Mexican war, and was a volunteer aid of Gen. Zachary Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista, where he was highly distinguished for gallantry. On the accession of Gen. Taylor to the Presi- dency in 1849, he received the appointment of consul to Liverpool, England. On his return to Kentucky, he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1861, he succeeded Gen. Simon B. Buckner ( who resigned) as inspector general of the state of Kentucky, but vacated when he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers in the U. S. service. He was promoted to be major general for good conduct at the battle of Shiloh, and assigned to a division of the army of Tennessee ; subsequently commanded a corps under Gen. Buell, and after wards under Gen. Rosecrans. On the cessation of the war he retired to civil life, but was in a short time commissioned a colonel in the regular U. S. army which position he still holds (1874).

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Judge THOMAS BELL MONROE, of Frankfort, was a native of Virginia, born in Albemarle co., Oct. 7, 1791; he died Dec. 24, 1865, aged 74 years, at Pass. Christian, in Mississippi-an exile from his beautiful "Montrose " home, on the grand old Kentucky river hill which faces the state house of Kentucky, at Frankfort.

His father, Andrew Monroe, a near relative of James Monroe, fifth presi- dent of the United States, was of Scotch descent; his mother, Ann Bell, of Irish Presbyterian descent. They emigrated, in 1793, to Scott co., Ky. The son had few advantages of education, but studied thoroughly all the books within his reach. At 21, he married Eliza Palmer Adair, daughter of Gen. John Adair, afterwards governor of Kentucky ; and removed to Barren county, which, in 1816, with Judge Joseph R. Underwood for his colleague; he rep- resented for one year in the legislature. A reverse of fortune in 1819 turned his attention to the law, which he began to study and to practice at the same time; removed to Frankfort, as a larger field; took time, in the winter of 1821-22, to attend the lectures and graduated at Transylvania law school; was secretary of state, Sept., 1823, to Sept., 1824; appointed by Gov. Desha, in 1825, reporter of the decisions of the court of appeals-his seven volumes of " Monroe's Kentucky Reports " including the last decisions of the "Old Court;" was U. S. district attorney, 1833-34; on the death of Judge John Boyle, President Jackson appointed him, March, 1834, judge of the U. S. district court for Kentucky, and the U. S. senate unanimously confirmed the appointment. This office he held for over 27 years, until he ascertained, in Sept., 1861, that a threatened military order was actually issued for his arrest, when he abandoned his home and family, and fled to Nashville, within the Confederate lines. There, Oct. 6, 1861, he went before the judge of the Confederate States district court for Middle Tennessee, and was the first person to formally take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States government.

Thenceforward, Judge Monroe's life was checkered and roving-the for- tunes of war several times compelling a change of temporary residence of himself, wife, and daughters, the two who had been left in charge of their " Montrose " home having been driven from it by Federal soldiers, and com- pelled to take refuge with their parents within the Confederate lines. At Richmond, for awhile after Feb. 7, 1862, he represented the district of his Kentucky residence in the Confederate provisional congress. He practiced law in Richmond, at times, and there and throughout the South made him- self useful in the hospitals and in attending to the sick and wounded. Several of his sons (and several grandsons) were in the rebel army. Maj. THOMAS B. MONROE, Jr. (late secretary of state of Kentucky, and editor of the Kentucky Statesman at Lexington), was killed at the battle of Shiloh, April, 1862, aged 28; Capt. BEN. MONROE was wounded at Shiloh, and died in the summer of 1862; JOHN A. MONROE died at Frankfort in 1873.

Judge Monroe, from 1843 to 1848, taught a law-class at his Montrose home; then spent three winters in New Orleans, as one of the law profes- sors in the University of Louisiana ; afterwards was one of the professors in Transylvania law school at Lexington; and a professor in the Western Military Institute near Frankfort-all this while regularly holding his court (before it was branched), so great was his love for imparting instruction to young men. Three institutions-the University of Louisville, Centre College, Ky., and Harvard University-conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.

An incident in the judicial career of Judge Monroe, which was preserved in a newspaper, some years ago, will illustrate the high purity of his char- acter, and may serve to remind the judiciary of our day how conscientiously judges of the olden time held the scales of justice :

A student in the judge's law school, in 1848, one day asked him if, in deciding a cause, he had ever felt any bias or prejudice for or against the parties.

The judge promptly replied : " Never but once; I'll tell you the story. A very important case, argued with great ability before me by the most dis- tinguished lawyers at the bar at Frankfort, was on trial through two weeks. Every morning as the court opened, a little woman dressed in black came in,

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who unassumingly courtesied to the court, as if unseen, and took her seat near the door. Just before the court adjourned she retired, not without always making a courtesy. It attracted my attention. I inquired who she was, and learned that she was a party to the suit. When the case was sub- mitted, and I was preparing my opinion, I found it impossible to dismiss from my mind that little woman and her courtesy. 1 studied the testimony and law of the case very closely, and decided in her favor. It involved the title of all she possessed in the world. I never was entirely satisfied that my decision was correct, until it was finally unanimously confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States. I feared my judgment had been warped by the simplicity and delicacy of the little woman in black."

KEAN O'HARA, one of the most distinguished of Kentucky educators, was born and educated in Ireland, and came to Kentucky in the latter part of the last century, when yet a young man. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits in the store of James Melancthon, in Frankfort, and made several trips on horseback over the Allegheny mountains to the East, to purchase supplies for the trade in the western country. He afterwards turned his at- tention to teaching-pursuing that vocation in the counties of Jefferson, Fay- ette, Franklin, Woodford, and at Danville, for more than fifty years. He died in Franklin county, Dec. 22, 1851, aged 83.

He was the eldest of three brothers, who came with their father to this country-CHARLES emigrating about 1830 to Georgia, where he followed the same chosen profession. JAMES, born about 1783, after many years of suc- cessful teaching, relinquished it for the law, which he acquired in his leisure hours; settled in the practice at Williamstown, Grant co., Ky., and attained an enviable position as a profound lawyer and able advocate; he was the father of James O'Hara, Jr., judge of the 12th or Covington judicial circuit, 1868-74.

Among the large number of pupils of Kean O'Hara, who rose to distin- guished positions in life were several of the Marshalls and Browns, Zachary Taylor (afterwards president of the United States), and Maj. Croghan, of the U. S. army. Gen. Taylor made a detour from his line of travel to Washing- ton city to be inaugurated president, in order to visit his old instructor then living at Frankfort. It was an affecting scene when the great soldier, then an old man, bowed himself in grateful homage before the venerable pre- ceptor of his youth, and in few but earnest words thanked him for the care bestowed upon his early education, to which he chiefly attributed all the achievements of his after life.

Major George Croghan, at 21 years of age a major and the heroic defender of Fort Stevenson (one of the most brilliant and remarkable defenses in the history of all wars), was a pupil of Mr. O'Hara; went out of his school on Beargrass creek as a volunteer; and returning to visit it-a major, covered with glory, heralded by the applause of his countrymen, and with the thanks of Congress-the whole school turned out to receive him, and gave him such an enthusiastic and joyous welcome as gratified the proud teacher and de- lighted the young soldier.

Mr. O'Hara received from Transylvania University the honorary degree of Master of Arts. [For a sketch of his son, Theodore O' Hara, see below.]

Col. THEODORE O'HARA, poet, journalist, and soldier, was the son of the distinguished teacher, Kean O'Hara, born at Danville, Ky., Feb. 11, 1820. He was the apple of his father's eye, educated by him with the greatest care, but received his collegiate finish and graduated at St. Joseph's College, Bards- town, Ky., with the first honors of his class. At that school, Lazarus W. Powell, afterwards governor of Kentucky, and several others since distin- guished, were his fellows.

Though qualitied for the legal profession, there was not enough of adven- ture and of the poetry of life in its practice, for his active and adventurous spirit. He devoted his early life to political journalism, as assistant editor of the Frankfort Kentucky Yeoman, and as editor of the Tocsin or Democratic Rally, a very spirited campaign paper of 1844, and afterwards successively of

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the Louisville Times, Lonisville Sun, and Mobile (Ala.) Register ; of the latter he was sole editor, during the absence of the principal editor and pro- prietor, Hon. John Forsythe, as U. S. minister to Mexico.

He was a volunteer soldier in the Mexican war, held a captain's commis- sion, and was brevetted a major for gallantry displayed on the field of Che- pultepec, while serving upon the staff of Gen. Franklin Pierce, afterwards President of the United States. After the war, he was commissioned a captain in the U. S. cavalry, and stationed upon the frontier of Texas. But life in the army, in time of peace, proved too tame for his restless spirit. Resigning his commission, he entered the service of the 'Tehuantepec railroad company, and was sent to the city of Mexico to procure government aid in behalf of that enterprise. Before his mission had culminated in success, he met with that to him genial spirit, Narcisso Lopez, the great Cuban liberator -from whom he accepted a colonel's commission. Joining the first expedi- tion, in 1851, he commanded a regiment at the battle of Cardenas-where his troops pressed forward and captured the governor's palace, although their commander, while leading the charge, was severely wounded in the legs, and compelled to return to the United States. Before he entirely recovered from the effect of his wounds, Lopez, his unfortunate companion in arms, had or- ganized a second expedition, in which he was captured and garroted at Havana.

Meantime, Col. O'Hara met with that grey-eyed man of destiny, Col. Wm. Walker, and co-operated with him in the organization of his adventurous and ill-fated expedition to Central America, but could not elude the vigilance of the U. S. authorities. He was arrested and indicted, along with Gen. Hen- derson, at New Orleans, charged with violating the U. S. neutrality laws. The government could not make a case against either, and the prosecution was abandoned.

In 1861, upon the secession of Alabama, Col. O'Hara, true to his allegiance to his adopted state, entered its military service at Mobile. He was soon after commissioned a captain in the provisional army of the Confederate States, and placed in command of Fort McRea at the entrance of Mobile bay-which he gallantly defended, until ordered by his superior officer to evacuate it. He was then attached to the left wing of the Confederate army, and on the battle field of Shiloh was near Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston when he fell, and received his dying chief in his arms. He continued in the Con- federate service until the close of the struggle-having, by regular steps of promotion, attained the rank of colonel. He died June 7, 1867, in Barbour co., Ala. His strictly literary productions, outside of his journalistic labors, were not numerous, but some of them are regarded as gems of the purest cast. His "Bivouac of the Dead," by its poetic beauty and soul-touching pathos, has embalmed him in the memory of all true soldiers and patriots, and like Wolfe's " Burial of Sir John Moore," it belongs to the truly grand in what might be termed military poetry. It is published in this volume, page 000. The legislature of Kentucky, by resolution approved April 24, 1873, which designated Col. O'Hara as "the immortal poet and soldier in the Mexican war," directed the Governor to have his remains brought to and deposited in the "State military lot " at Frankfort, and his grave marked with an appropriate stone.

JOHN HARVIE-one of the finest specimens of the " old Virginia gentle- man" that ever was tempted away from the home of his birth-was born in Richmond, Va., Dec. 1, 1783, and died of a malignant carbuncle, in Frank- fort, Ky., Sept. 20, 1838, aged 55. His father, John Harvie, was one of the signers from Virginia of the Articles of Confederation, and for many years register of its land office. The son emigrated to Kentucky in 1813, to one of the richest farms in Woodford co., but removed thence to Frankfort in 1818; Jan. 20, 1820, was elected by the legislature a director of the old Bank of Kentucky ; and by the same body, on Dec. 7, 1820, chosen Pres- ident of the Bank of Kentucky-over Robert Alexander, the then able pres- ident, and over the distinguished jurist and statesman, Martin D. Hardin. The vote stood: Alexander 30, Hardin 49, Harvie 58; and on the second

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ballot (Alexander having been dropped), Harvie 77, Hardin 60. To this very highly responsible and honorable position the legislature annually re- elected him for eight years, when he declined to serve further. Dec. 20, 1826, the same body selected him as one of the commissioners to superintend the building of the present state house; Feb. 28, 1835, Gov. James T. Morehead appointed him, John L. Hickman and James Harlan, the state board of internal improvement, but he resigned Jan. 22, 1836 ; Aug. 3, 1835, the Whigs elected him to the legislature from Franklin co., by 19 maj. over J. O. T. Hawkins, Dem.,-whereas, the next year, the Democratic candi- date, Dandridge S. Crockett, succeeded by just 19 maj. over Mason Brown.

Mr. Harvie was a remarkable man; no man ever had a nicer sense of honor ; his loftiness of soul never permitted an unworthy thought; to do right was the great aim of his life; shrinking from no duty society or the state required of him, he was loved and honored and trusted as few men are. He was an intimate friend of both Henry Clay and John J. Critten- den; the former generally made his house his home when visiting Frank- fort ; and of the latter's family, Mr. Harvie, after the death of his wife, was a member for seveal years. Of that intimacy, some most beautiful and touch- ing testimonials are preserved. His hospitable mansion was selected by the citizens as the fittest to entertain La Fayette, upon his visit to Frankfort in May, 1825; but the Marquis preferred stopping at the hotel, as freer from restraint and more convenient to his large suite.

His son, Col. Lewis E. Harvie, as firm and as brave as his traditional an- cestry, was the only member of the neutrality address committee, known as the " Union state central committee," (see extracts from their address, ante, pp. 87, 88) who kept faith with the people of Kentucky-he promptly resigning his place on the committee, in the early summer of 1861, and by published letter assigning as the reason, that the committee and the party had be- come a war instead of an armed neutrality one, and was really but secretly seeking to throw the weight of Kentucky into the scales of war on the North- ern . side; and declaring that if Kentucky had to take part in the war on either side, without a previous violation of its neutrality by the other, his fate would be cast with the South. He went to Richmond in July, IS62, and came back in the fall as aid to Gen. Buckner, and as such served in the battle of Perryville; was afterward on the staffs of Maj. Gen. Robert Ran- son, Maj. Gen. G. W. Custis Lee, and Gen. Beauregard, and was surrendered at Appomattox C. H., under Col. Talcott of the corps of topographical en- gineers, April 10, 1865.

WILLIAM LITTELL, distinguished in connection with republishing the laws of Kentucky, emigrated to Kentucky, probably about 1804, from what state we have not ascertained ; one report says he was a native of England, but that is doubtful. He was a lawyer of no special reputation except as a land lawyer, a laborious workman, a constant student, part of his life a man of bad morals, and very eccentric; in walking, his gait was rapid, his stride long, giving him an undulating motion by which his head bobbed up and down, alternating several inches above and below a horizontal line. In passing from his office to the court room, if he met forty men, unless first addressed he never looked at or spoke to any of them.

His first contract with the State was in 1805, to republish, in three vol- umes (afterwards extended to five) the Statute Laws of Kentucky ; these appeared in 1809, '10, '11, '14, and 19. In 1822, appeared the first Digest of the Statutes, from 1799 to 1822, with notes of decisions of the court of appeals-prepared by Wm. Littell and Jacob Swigert. Littell's Reports, in five volumes, embraced the decisions of the court of appeals from the sping term of 1822 to that of 1824; and his Select Cases, in one volume embraced unreported decisions of that court, between 1795 and 1821. Prob- ably his first publication in the state was his Narrative of Events in Ken- tucky prior to 1792, with an appendix-a work of considerable value in elucidating the history of early Kentucky, and now very rare. About 1818, Transylvania University conferred upon him the degree of L. L. D.

Besides these works of public value and interest, he published a small vol-

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L. .

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ume of poems written by himself, Festoons of Fancy ; and also a volume of miscellaneous writings, said to be of no great value. We have not seen either of them. He died at Frankfort, Sept. 26, 1824, quite poor-his " prop- erty not enough to pay his debts unless sold by a person who has the in- terest of his estate at heart, who may thus pay his debts, and save something for his infant son;" so says a legislative act for the benefit of his estate.

Lieut .- Gen. SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER was born in Hart co., Ky., April 1, 1823. Kentucky was not only the theater of one of the greatest battles in the world's history (that near Perryville); but, of the distinguished actors in the greatest of modern civil wars, she furnished a remarkable proportion. The chief magistrates of the two contending sections, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, were both natives of Kentucky ; as were 8 major-generals and 20 brigadier-generals of the Federal army, and 1 general, 3 lieutenant- generals, 5 major-generals, and 16 brigadier-generals of the Confederate army.

Gen. Buckner was a military man by education, a graduate of West Point in 1844-in a class of twenty-five, of whom only one other has attained to much distinction. After one year's service as brevet second lieutenant, he was made, when only 23 years old, assistant professor of ethics at West Point. But in his eagerness to witness something of actual war in Mexico, he was allowed to resign. As 2d lieutenant of the 6th Infantry, he did effective service on the Rio Grande, in the fall and early winter of 1846. In Jan., 1847, with the advance of Gen. Worth's division, he participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, and thence in every battle but one up to the capture of the Mexican capital. For heroic behavior at Cherubusco, where he was slightly wounded, he was brevetted first lieutenant; and for like meritorious conduct at Molino del Rey was brevetted captain. Before his return to the United States, the order was issued assigning him to duty as assistant in- structor in infantry tactics at West Point. After two years service there, he was transferred to New York harbor, and then to his company on the western frontier. In 1852, he was promoted captain, but in Jan., 1855, re- signed, to give attention to his private business.

While living at Louisville, he was called by Gov. Magoffin, in 1860, to the command-in-chief of the Kentucky State Guard, with the rank of major- general; and in a short time brought that volunteer force to a high degree of efficiency. Under the instructions of Gov. M., he visited Washington city, in 1861, as commissioner from Kentucky, and had an interview with the president, in which he received pledges which were never redeemed. He stood up boldly and consistently for the peaceful neutrality determined upon by his state at the first, and for a short time maintained. As late as June 24, 1861 (see p. 92 ante,) he ordered six companies of State Guards to Columbus, Ky., to preserve, in that neighborhood, the neutrality of the state. When he satisfied himself that this honorable position could not be main- tained, he resigned the command of the state troops, and visited Richmond ; but there declined handsome position in the Confederate, as he had pre- viously done in the Federal army, because Kentucky had not yet formally abandoned or been frightened from her neutrality.

It was not until after the controlling majority of the Kentucky legislature, On Sept. 11, 1861, refused to enforce or to attempt to enforce her doctrine of neutrality, that Buckner tendered his services to the Confederate govern- ment. Sept. 15th, he was appointed brigadier general. On the 17th, by order of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, he occupied Bowling Green, with a division of troops, and, the next day, Munfordville.

Buckner's first engagement with the enemy was, as third in command, at Fort Donelson, Feb. 13, 1862. He ordered his men, composing the right wing, to withhold their fire, as the assailants advanced, until each could be sure of his mark. At the word given, the slaughter was terrible and the recoil sudden. Again, and a third time, the enemy was led on to the attack, but the slaughter was as dreadful and the repulse as bloody. The attacks were transferred to the left wing, with like results. The Federals were driven back to their positions of the morning, and for two miles mangled

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human forms strewed the ground. Sleet and snow fell during the night, and with a bitter north wind the weather became so cold as to cause intense suffering and many deaths-no truce being allowed to care for the wounded or bury the dead. For three days more, the little force of less than 13.000 boldly fought and bravely suffered in the face of over three times their number, many of them fresh troops. The two senior generals, and part of their forces, escaped during the night of the 15th, and in the morning Gen. Buckner surrendered the remainder as prisoners of war, and they were im- mediately sent off to Northern prisons.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 80

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452