Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 81

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 81

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At Indianapolis, Ind., Gen. Buckner was separated from his staff and placed in solitary confinement ; thence sent to Fort Warren, in Boston har- bor, where for four months and seventeen days (March 2, to July 19, 1862;) "he was confined to a narrow room, and allowed no intercourse with any one, and, for a time, no epistolary correspondence even with his own family." His wife was refused the privilege of sending him a letter, or food, clothing, or any other comfort. He wrote a letter to Simon Cameron, U. S. secretary of war, who had ordered him into close confinement, seeking to know why all the ordinary usages of war were departed from in meting out to him such treatment; but the revengeful secretary allowed no response. For 11 days before his release, upon July 30th, he was allowed, each day, an hour's solitary walk upon the parapet, but with sentinels at each end of the path to prevent others from approaching him, although he had been required to give his parol of honor not to recognize any one.

Gen. Buckner was sent to Richmond and exchanged, Aug. 16, 1862. He was promptly promoted to major-general, and in a few days was on his way to Kentucky, in command of a division of Hardee's corps of Bragg's ariny. Along the route, troops and citizens alike cheered for the hero of Fort Donel- son as he passed.

At the battle of Perryville, Oct. 8, 1862, his division rendered most impor- tant service. In this campaign, says the historian Pollard, "Gen. Buckner's services were remarkable; and especially his clear perceptions of the field of Perryville showed generalship of the highest order, and might have accom- plished a decisive result but for the obstinate dissent of the commanding general from all his officers. .. . An army which had been concentrated for action, was, on the eve of battle, scattered to the four points of the com- pass-in spite of the respectful remonstrances of every general officer who came in contact with the commanding general."

In Dec., 1862, Gen. Buckner took charge of the defenses of Mobile, and in four months made that city an impregnable fortress. In the summer of 1863, he was placed in charge of the Department of East Tennessee, a position re- quiring great delicacy, prudence, firmness, and vigilance. In the fall, he was ordered to the command of a corps of two divisions, and on Sept. 20, 1863, led them with distinguished valor and coolness on the sanguinary field of Chickamauga. Military critics assign him a share in the glory of that triumph second only to, if not fully alongside of, the heroic Longstreet.

In the campaign of 1864, he was appointed to the command of the District of Louisiana, and soon after promoted to lieutenant-general ; and in addition, commanded a corps of three divisions and a cavalry command. There were but few active operations, thereafter, in that department. When, some time after the surrender of Generals Lee and Johnston, it was evident the struggle could not be prolonged, Gen. Buckner and Maj .- Gen. Price, of Mo., negotiated with Gen. Canby the terms of a surrender. These terms forbade his imme- diate return to his home in Kentucky; and for some years Gen. B. was a citizen of New Orleans, an editor, and president of an insurance company. In 1871, he was successful in recovering the fine estate of his wife in Chicago, which was held by others, as one of the strange results of the war; and has been somewhat prominent in adding to the architectural beauty of the burnt but restored city. Louisville was his home in 1873-4.

Maj. Gen. THOMAS JEFFERSON WOOD, son of Col. Geo. T. Wood, was born at Munfordville, Ky., Sept. 25, 1825; graduated at West Point in 1845, and was appointed brevet 2d lieut. of topographical engineers; distinguished

الجونة

415

AUTHOR OF RESOLUTIONS OF 1798.

himself at the battle of Palo Alto, Texas, 1846, and was assigned to 2d Dragoons ; for gallantry at the battle of Buena Vista, Mex., Feb., 1847, was brevetted Ist lieut. ; on Texas frontier, 1848-54; promoted captain Ist cav., 1855; traveled in Europe, 1859-61 ; promoted major. March 16, 1861; lieut .- col., May 9, 1861 ; brig .- gen. U. S. vols., Oct. 11, 1861 ; colonel 2d car., Nov. 12, 1861; was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, and Stone River, in 1862, and wounded at the latter ; in the battles of Chickamauga and Mission- ary Ridge, in 1863; in Sherman's campaign, with all its battles, to the fall of Atlanta, and in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, 1864; major-general U. S. vols., Jan. 27, 1865; promoted brevet brig .- gen. U. S. A., March 13, 1865, and, on same day, brevet major-gen. U. S. A., for gallant and meritorious ser- vices at the battles of Chickamauga and Nashville, respectively. Few officers were in so many terrible engagements and in such constant and trying service, and none bore themselves more gallantly or better earned their promotions. After the war, he commanded in Texas, and over the district of Arkansas in 1865, and in 1866 over the district and department of Mississippi. In July, 1874, he was still in the regular army.

THE AUTHOR OF THE KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798.

The following letter, written by Thomas Jefferson in his 79th year-less than five years before, but not published until three years after, his death- settles forever the controverted authorship of the Resolutions published on pages 401-06, ante. It was addressed to Mr. Nicholas (probably the late Judge Samuel S. Nicholas, of Louisville), and is found on page 344, vol. 4, of Jefferson's Memoirs and Correspondence :

" MONTICELLO, Dec. 11, 1821.

" DEAR SIR,-Your letter of December the 19th places me under a dilem- ma which I can not solve but by an exposition of the naked truth. I would have wished this rather to have remained as hitherto, without inquiry, but your inquiries have a right to be answered. I will do it as exactly as the great lapse of time and waning memory will enable me. I may misremember different circumstances, but can be right in substance.

" At the time when the Republicans of our country were so much alarmed at the proceedings of the Federal ascendency in Congress, in the Executive and the Judiciary departments, it became a matter of serious consideration how lead could be made against their enterprises on the Constitution. The leading Republicans in Congress found themselves of no use there, brow .beaten as they were by a bold and overwhelming majority. They concluded to retire from that field, take a stand in the State Legislatures, and endeavor there to arrest their progress. The alien and sedition laws furnished the particular occasion. The sympathy between Virginia and Kentucky was more cordial, and more intimately confidential, than between any other two States of Republican policy. Mr. Madison came into the Virginia Legisla- ture. I was then in the Vice-Presidency, and could not leave my station. But your father, and Col. Wilson C. Nicholas, and myself, happening to be to- gether, the engaging the co-operation of Kentucky in an energetic protestation against the constitutionality of those laws became a subject of consultation. Those gentlemen pressed me strongly to sketch resolutions for that purpose, your father undertaking to introduce them to that Legislature, with a solemn assurance, which I strictly required, that it should not be known from what quarter they came. I drew and delivered them to him; and in keeping their origin secret, he fulfilled his pledge of honor. Some years after this, Col. Nicholas asked me if I would have any objection to its being known that I had drawn them. I pointedly enjoined that it should not. Whether he had unguardedly intimated it before to any one, I know not; but I afterwards observed in the papers repeated imputations of them to me; on which, as bas been my practice on all occasions of imputation, I have observed entire silence. With these prayers, etc.,

"TH. JEFFERSON."

HISTORICAL SKETCH

OF THE

BAPTIST

CHURCH.

THE Baptists were the pioneers of religion in Kentucky. They came with the earliest permanent settlers. In 1776, William Hickman, sr., commenced here his labors in the Gospel ministry .* He was the first to proclaim " the unsearchable riches of Christ," in the valley of the Kentucky. He was on a tour of observation merely, and after a stay of several months, returned to Virginia, remained several years, and then located in this state, where he labored faithfully in the field of the gospel for more than fifty years. In 1779, John Taylor, Joseph Reding, Lewis Lunsford, (the Patrick Henry of the pulpit), and several other ministers of Virginia, visited Kentucky. They found many of their brethren, but owing to the constant alarm from savage depredations, and the other stirring incidents peculiar to new settlements amid the wilds of a strange and unbroken forest, there seemed to be but little concern manifested for religion. These ministers had but few opportunities for preaching. They did preach, however, at a few of the stations. Their object was chiefly to see the country, with reference to sub- sequent settlement. They found it destitute of almost everything except grass for their horses, and meat from the woods, procured at the risk of life. They could do but little more than feast their eyes upon the luxuriant soil, which the Indians had resolved should never be cultivated.t These ministers, except Red- ing, returned to Virginia, but some of them, a few years later, took permanent residence in Kentucky.

In 1780, many Baptists removed to this state, chiefly from Virginia ; but it was not until the next year, that there was an organized church. This was the Gil- bert's creek church. When Lewis Craig left Spottsylvania county, Va., most of his large church there came with him. They were constituted when they started, and were an organized church on the road-wherever they stopped, they could transact church business. They settled at Craig's station on Gilbert's creek, a few miles east of where the town of Lancaster, Garrard county, is now situated.} There were now a number of efficient ministers in Kentucky.

In 1782, several other churches are known to have been constituted, viz : Sev- ern's valley,| (now Elizabethtown), and Nolynn, both now in Hardin county. Also Cedar creek, now in Nelson county.§

In 1783, the first Baptist church and the first worshiping assembly of any order, was organized on South Elkhorn, five miles south of Lexington, by Lewis Craig, principally out of members dismissed from the church on Gilbert's creek. This church was for forty years one of the most prosperous churches in the state ; but its candlestick has been removed .**

After the close of the American Revolution, a flood of Baptists poured into Kentucky, chiefly from Virginia, and churches began to spring up every where in the wilderness. It was still a time of great peril. Before houses of worship were erected, the worshipers would assemble in the forest, each man with his gun ; sentinels would be placed to guard against surprise from the Indians, while the minister, with a log or stump for his pulpit, and the heavens for his sounding board, would dispense the word of life and salvation.

" The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave, And spread the roof above them, ere he framed The lofty vault, to gather and roll back The sound of anthems, in the darkling wood,

* Jolın Taylor's History of Ten Churches, p. 49. 11 Benedict, vol. 2, p. 542.

t Benedict's History of the Baptists. vol. 2, p. 229.

§ Asplund's Register of 1790, p. 32.

Į History of Ten Churches, p. 42.

** History of Ten Churches, p. 50.

(416)

REV. H . B. BAS

COM,D.D.L.L.D.

RT.REV. M. J.

PALDING,D.D.

REV. BEN.

TH,D.D.

B SM

REV. JOHN C.YOUNG, D.D.

REV. H. HOLLEY I

L. D.

ELDER BART

STONE.

REV. JOHN

D.D.

KENTUCKY CLERGYMEN.

Engraved for Collins' History of Kentucky. Strobrulee & in Lith. Gin.

417

HISTORICAL SKETCH, ETC.

Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down, And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks And supplications."

In 1785, three associations were organized, viz. : The ELKHORN, comprising all the regular Baptist churches then north of the Kentucky and Dix rivers ; the SALEM, comprising all the churches of the same order south of those rivers ; and the SOUTH KENTUCKY, comprising all the separate Baptist churches in the State. These associations, which were constituted of some three or four churches each, increased with great rapidity. In 1790, there were attached to them 42 churches and 3105 members; viz .: Elkhorn, 15 churches and 1389 members; Salem, 8 churches and 405 members : and South Kentucky, 19 churches and 1311 members. The population of Kentucky at that period was about 73,000. So there was one Baptist to about every twenty-three inhabitants. Besides, there were many churches not yet associated; and many members just moved into the state, who were not yet attached to the churches. There were, too, at this period, 42 or- dained ministers and 21 licentiates ; or one ordained minister to every 1825 of the inhabitants. This was a tolerably fair proportion of Baptist leaven to the whole lump of people.t

Among the ministers of that day, were John Gano, Ambrose Dudley, John Taylor, Lewis Craig, William Hickman, Joseph Reding, William E. Waller, Augustine Eastin, Moses Bledsoe, John Rice, Elijah Craig, William Marshall, - and other kindred spirits-men of ardent piety, untiring zeal, indomitable energy of character, of vigorous and well-balanced intellects, and in every way adapted to the then state of society. Pioneers to a wilderness beset with every danger and every privation, they were the first ministers of the brave, the daring, and noble spirits who first settled and subdued this country-such men as the Boones, the Clarkes, the Harrods, the Bullitts, the Logans, the Floyds, and the Hardins would respect and venerate, and listen to with delight and profit. It has been the good fortune of the writer to hear some of these venerable ministers preach. Some of them survived many years the men of their own generation. But age seemed to bring to them few of its infirmities. They retained almost to the last the vigor of their manhood's prime : and although they could not be called lite- rary men, they were nevertheless distinguished for their intelligence. for com- manding talents, for profound acquaintance with the doctrines of the Bible, and were possessed of a knowledge of men and things, which eminently qualified them to be teachers and guides of the people.

In 1793, an attempt was made to bring about a union between the Regular and Separate Baptists, which failing of success, sundry churches of the South Ken- tucky association withdrew from that body, and organized the TATE'S CREEK as- sociation.£ The oldest churches in this association were organized at the dates following : Tate's creek, now in Madison county, 1785 ;§ White Oak, in the same county, 1790 ;| and Cedar creek, now Crab Orchard, Lincoln county, 1791.5

In 1798, the number of churches in the Elkhorn association being 33, and its territory extending from the Holstein on the south, to Columbus, Ohio, on the north; and from the mouth of Beargrass on the west, to the Virginia line on the east, it was deemed expedient to dismiss the churches north of Licking river for the purpose of forming a new organization ; and accordingly the BRACKEN asso- ciation was constituted. The oldest churches in this association are, Limestone creek ** (now extinct), near the present city of Maysville, and Washington, both constituted in 1785 ; and Mayslick church, constituted 1791.tt

· The general harmony of the denomination was undisturbed, and their pro- gress steady and healthful. In 1799, commenced what is known to this day as the Great Revival, which continued through several years. During its prevalence, the accessions to the churches in. every part of the state were unprecedented. The Baptists escaped almost entirely those extraordinary and disgraceful scenes pro- duced by the jerks, the rolling and the barking exercises, &c., which extensively obtained among some other persuasions of those days. The work among the

* Bryant.

t Asplund's Register, p. 33. t Benedict, vol. 2., p. 233.

1 ... 27

[ Benedict, vol. 2, p. 540. , Asplund. p, 32. ** Ibid.

tt Benedict, ut supra.

418

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF

Baptists was deep, solemn, and powerful ; but comporting with that decency and order so emphatically enjoined in the scriptures. During this revival, large ad- ditions were made to the churches in every quarter of the State. The Elkhorn association, at its annual meeting in 1801, reported an addition of 3011 members by baptism during the current year ; and in 1802, an accession of twelve churches was reported, making the whole number of members, 5310. So numerous were the churches, and so extensive still were the boundaries, it was thought advisable again to divide the association, and accordingly those churches lying along the Ohio river, west of the Bracken association, were dismissed and organized into the NORTH BEND association.

To the South Kentucky, the accessions were almost equal to those of the Elk- horn association. It too became of such unwieldy dimensions, as to demand a division. It was accordingly separated into two bodies, in 1802; the part north of the Kentucky river being denominated the NORTH DISTRICT association, and the part south of the river, the SOUTH DISTRICT association.

The Tate's creek association reported in 1801, the addition of 1148 members by baptism. The Salem association also shared largely in the blessings of this revival. It received upwards of 2000 members. Its boundaries were extended north of Salt river, where enough churches were gathered to justify the organiza- tion of the LONG RUN association in 1803 .*

The GREEN RIVER association, lying in what are now Warren, Barren, Green, and Adair counties, was constituted in 1800, about the beginning of the Great Revival in that section of the state. It contained at first, nine churches, eight ministers, and about three hundred and fifty members. The very first year of its existence, it increased to more than one thousand members, and in 1804, it con- tained 38 churches, and comprised so much territory that it was deemed sound policy to divide it into three bodies. The middle portion of the churches retained the old name of the association : those of the northern portion were organized into the RUSSEL'S CREEK association : and those of the southern portion, into the STOCKTON'S VALLEY association. t

This revival had the happy effect to bring about a union between the REGULAR and SEPARATE Baptists. These distinctive names were imported from Virginia, and mean the same as those of Particular and General Baptists in England-the former meaning those who hold to Calvinistic, and the latter those holding Ar- minian sentiments. Several unsuccessful efforts had been made to effect a union between the Regular and Separate Baptists in Kentucky ; but the Great Revival removed all obstacles. Melted into love by its influences, these kindred parties then mingled into one. In 1801, terms of union previously agreed upon by a committee appointed for the purpose, were ratified by the two parties in their respective associations. The names Regular and Separate were henceforth to be laid aside, and that of the United Baptists used in their stead. Thus was con- summated the " General Union."

But the harsh note of discord was heard just as the sweet melody of revival and brotherly love began to subside, and ere they had ceased. In 1796, James Gar- rard, a Baptist minister and a member of Cooper's run church, Bourbon county, was elected Governor of Kentucky. He appointed to the office of secretary of state, Harry Toulmin, who had been a follower of Dr. Priestly in England, and a minister of the Unitarian persuasion. Mr. Toulmin was a gentleman of talents and erudition. It was owing perhaps to the intimacy existing between Gov. Garrard and Secretary Toulmin, arising in part from their official relations, that the former became tinctured with Unitarian sentiments. Be that as it may, it is certain that in 1802, Mr. Garrard and the pastor of Cooper's run church, Augus; tine Eastin, a minister of considerable eminence, began to propagate Arian, or rather, Socinian sentiments. The majority of Cooper's run church, and several neighboring churches to which Mr. Eastin preached, espoused the doctrines of Garrard and their ministers. Every effort was made to reclaim these individuals and churches. The Elkhorn association promptly attended to the case. but failing to effect their return to the old paths, reluctantly dropped them from connection and correspondence. It may be recorded to the credit of this association, and of

* Benedict, vol. 2, pp. 230-244.

Ib. p. 239.

# Butler's History of Kemucky, p. 262.

٠٠

419

THE BAPTIST CHURCH

the Baptists, that although Garrard and Eastin were much beloved, and of pow erful influence, yet they could take but a very inconsiderable fraction with them, which declined gradually and noiselessly away. Unitarianism could never obtain favor with the Baptists .*

About the same time, in the South District association, a very popular minister, John Bayley, embraced the sentiments of the Restorationists. He was generally believed to be a very pious man, and the majority of the association was devo- tedly attached to him; and insisted, that although he preached this doctrine, yet he did it in such a manner as not to offend the most delicate ear. The minority, however, thought differently, refused all fellowship for him and his adherents, and claimed to be the association. The neighboring associations acknowledged their claim : the other party could not obtain any countenance from the associations in the General Union, and again assumed the old name of the South Kentucky association of Separate Baptists.t

About 1804, Carter Tarrant, David Barrow, John Sutton, Donald Holmes, Ja- cob Gregg, George Smith, and other ministers of less note, with many of their members, declared for the abolition of slavery; alledging that no fellowship should be extended to slaveholders, as slavery, in every branch of it, both in principle and practice, was a sinful and abominable system, fraught with peculiar evils and miseries, which every good man ought to abandon and bear testimony against. They called themselves " Friends of Humanity," but are known in the records of those times by the name of " Emancipators." The associations generally declared it " improper for ministers, churches, or associations to meddle with the emancipation of slavery, or any other political subject; and advised them to have nothing to do with it in their religious capacity." These resolu- tions gave great offence to the "Friends of Humanity ;" and they withdrew from the General Union of Baptists, and in 1807, formed an association of their own, called " The Baptized Licking-Locust Association, Friends to Humanity." They were quite numerous at first, but they soon dwindled-consumed in the fires of their own zeal. Not a vestige of them remains.±

In 1809, a respectable and highly influential portion of the ministers and churches of the Elkhorn association withdrew, not only from that body, but from the General Union of Baptists in the state, and organized the ". LICKING Asso- CIATION OF PARTICULAR BAPTISTS." This schism had its foundation in a personal difficulty between Jacob Creath and Thomas Lewis, about a negro trade ! The former was pastor, and the latter a member of the Town-fork church, a few miles west of Lexington. The matter was not suffered to remain in the church where it properly belonged ; it became a topic of general conversation, and of the printing press ; other churches became involved in it; it gathered other matters in its progress ; when finally, it was thrust upon the association, and schism ensued.||

But notwithstanding these adverse events, the course of the Baptists was on- ward. They were refreshed with many revival seasons. In 1812, they had 13 associations, 285 churches, 183 ministers, and 22,694 members. The population of the state at that time was rising 400,000. So that the proportion of the Bap- tists to that of the inhabitants was about one to twenty.§

During the next twenty years, no event transpired among the Baptists deemed of sufficient consequence to claim a notice in this brief sketch, except the schism produced by what is generally known as the " reformation," begun and carried on by Alexander Campbell. This is not the place nor the occasion to discuss the principles involved in that unfortunate controversy. Suffice it to say, that in 1829. and for several years thereafter, until 1832, a great many divisions in associations and churches occurred. But in spite of all this, the Baptists stood firm. and still retained their accustomed ratio to the population of the state. In 1832, after this storm had spent its fury, after the greatest secession from the Baptist ranks ever known in their history in Kentucky, they had 33 associations, 484 churches, 236 ordained ministers, and 34,124 members. The population of the state, by the census of 1830, was 687,917-so that the Baptists still retained their propor- tion of about one to twenty of the inhabitants. **

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 81

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