Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 60

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II > Part 60

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" With many a weary step, and many a groan." .

In 1819, Dr. McMurtrie published his "Sketches of Louisville." The num- ber of inhabitants was then more than four thousand, and was rapidly increasing. Society was becoming more refined. Dr. McMurtrie complains a good deal of that characteristic of all new cities, too great a devotion to the accumulation of wealth; and adds, with considerable rotundity of style : " There is a circle, small 'tis true, but within whose magic round abounds every pleasure that wealth, regulated by taste, can bestow. There the 'red heel' of Versailles may ima- gine himself in the very emporium of fashion, and, whilst leading beauty through the mazes of the dance, forget that he is in the wilds of America."

In speaking of the diseases of the place, Dr. M. mentions "a bilious remitting fever, whose symptoms are often sufficiently aggravated to entitle it to the name of yellow fever," and predicts the appearance of yellow fever itself, " unless greater attention be paid to cleanliness in every possible way." "During the months of July, August and September," says he, " so strongly are the inhabitants of this and the adjacent towns predisposed to this disease, by the joint influence of cli- mate and the miasm of marshes, and decayed and decaying vegetable matter, that they may be compared to piles of combustibles, which need but the appli- cation of a single spark to rouse them into flame." The yellow fever did not make its appearance as Dr. M. predicted, but in 1822 a fever raged which seemed to threaten almost the depopulation of the town. It prevailed in some degree over the whole western country, but in Louisville it was particularly virulent. Almost every house seemed to become a hospital. In a family, consisting of twenty persons, nineteen were sick at one time. In one family, perhaps in more, every individual died.

After that visitation, Louisville began to be more healthy. At that time, where now stand some of the finest buildings in the city, large ponds flourished in perpetual green, and the croaking of frogs was not less ominous of death than had been the yell of the savage. That period, like all others, had its conservative party-"its party of the present,"-who wished every thing to remain as it was, and were opposed to depriving the frogs of the possessions which they had held "time whereof the memory of man munneth not to the contrary." They would as soon have thought of interfering with the music of the spheres as with that of the ponds. But other counsels began to prevail, and the inhabitants of the waters were obliged to retire before advancing civilization, as the inhabitants of the woods had done before them. Louisville had been called " the grave yard of the west ;" but it began to change its character. Dr. M. says-" To affirm that Louisville is a healthy city, would be absurd." The affirmation may now be made without any fear of the charge of absurdity. Louisville is now acknowledged by all who are acquainted with the matter. to be one of the most healthy cities in the world. There is nothing to make it unhealthy. There are no hills to confine the air until it becomes putrid. The course of the breeze is as unobstructed as is that

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of the winds that revel over the surface of the ocean. The water is cool and pure and abundant. Ten years after the f ver had made its dreadful ravages, the cholera appeared ; but so gently did the destroying angel lay his hand upon the city, that the appearance of this scourge of the world scarcely forms an epoch in her history.

The attention of the people was directed, at a very early period, to plans for overcoming the obstructions to navigation presented by the " Falls." In 1804, the legislature of Kentucky incorporated a company to make a canal round the Falls. Nothing was done, however, for many years. 'The Louisville and Portland canal company was incorporated in 1825, and the canal was finished in 1833. The completion of the canal produced a great change in the business of the city. The " forwarding and commission" business, the operations in which formed so great a part of the mercantile transactions of Louisville, and had given employment to so many persons, was, in a great measure, destroyed. Much of the capital and industry of the city was obliged to seek new channels, and the transition state was one of great embarrassment. But a more healthy condition of things succeeded.

In the latter part of April, 1784, the father of the late Judge Rowan, with his family and five other families, set out from Louisville in two flat-bottomed boats, for the Long Falls of Greene river .* The intention was to descend the Ohio river to the mouth of Greene river, and ascend that river to the place of destination. At that time there were no settlements in Kentucky, within one hundred miles of the Long Falls of Greene river (afterwards called Vienna). The families were in one boat, and their cattle in the other. When the boats had descended the Ohio about one hundred miles, and were near the middle of it, gliding along very se- curely, as it was thought, about ten o'clock of the night, a prodigious yelling of Indians was heard, some two or three miles below, on the northern shore ; and they had floated but a short distance further down the river, when a number of fires were seen on that shore. The yelling continued, and it was concluded that they had captured a boat which had passed these two about mid-day, and were massacreing their captives. The two boats were lashed together, and the best practicable arrangements were made for defending them. The men were distrib- uted by Mr. Rowan to the best advantage, in case of an attack-they were seven in number, including himself. The boats were neared to the Kentucky shore, with as little noise by the oars as possible ; but avoided too close an approach to that shore, lest there might be Indians there also. The fires of the Indians were extended along the bank at intervals, for half a mile or more, and as the boats reached a point about opposite the central fire, they were discovered, and com- manded to come to. All on board remained silent, for Mr. Rowan had given strict orders that no one should utter any sound but that of his rifle, and not that until the Indians should come within powder burning distance. They united in a most terrific yell, rushed to their canoes, and gave pursuit. The boats floated on in silence-not an oar was pulled. The Indians approached within less than a hun- dred yards, with a seeming determination to board. Just at this moment. MIrs. Rowan rose from her seat, collected the axes, and placed one by the side of each man, where he stood with his gun, touching him on the knee with the handle of the axe, as she leaned it up by him against the side of the boat, to let him know it was there, and retired to her seat, retaining a hatchet for herself. The Indians continued hovering on the rear, and yelling, for nearly three miles, when, awed by the inference which they drew from the silence observed on board, they relin- quished farther pursuit. None but those who have a practical acquaintance with Indian warfare, can form a just idea of the terror which their hideous yelling is calculated to inspire. Judge Rowan, who was then ten years old, states that he could never forget the sensations of that night, or cease to admire the fortitude and composure displayed by his mother on that trying occasion. There were seven men and three boys in the boats, with nine guns in all. Mrs. Rowan, in speaking of the incident afterwards, in her calm way, said-"we made a provi- dential escape, for which we ought to feel grateful."

Col. RICHARD C. ANDERSON (the father of the Hon. Richard C. Anderson, a sketch of whose life will be found under the head of Anderson county), was a

* Dr. D. Drake's Oxford Address.

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citizen of Jefferson-a member of the first electoral college, and for several years a member of the legislature.

Colonel RICHARD TAYLOR. the father of General Zachary Taylor, came to Ken- tucky at a very early period, and settled in Jefferson county. He was a member of the conventions of 1792 and 1799, which formed the first and second constitu- tions of Kentucky, and was often a member of the legislature.

Commodore TAYLOR, a distinguished officer of the American navy, resided in Louisville for many years before his death.

Colonel G. R. CLARK FLOYD, son of Col. John Floyd, (for whom Floyd county was called), a native of this county, commanded the fourth regiment of infantry at the battle of Tippecanoe, and was highly complimented by the commanding general for his gallantry and good conduct on that occasion.

Colonel JOHN FLOYD, of Virginia, also a native of Jefferson, and son of Colonel John Floyd. He removed to Virginia when twenty-one years of age, and is the only Kentuckian who ever became Governor of the Ancient Doniinion.

Judge FORTUNATUS COSBY, also a citizen of Louisville, was an eminent lawyer, several times a member of the legislature, and judge of the circuit court. He lived to the age of eighty-one, and died in the year 1846.

Colonel GEIGER, also a citizen, was distinguished at the battle of Tippecanoe, and lived to an advanced age, honored and esteemed by all who knew him.

Honorable STEPHEN ORMSBY was a judge of the circuit court, and a member of Congress from 1811 to 1817. He was highly esteemed as a man and as a public servant, and lived to an advanced age.

THOMAS and CUTHBERT BULLITT were two of the first merchants of Louisville -distinguished for their probity and business qualifications, and amassed large estates for their descendents.

THOMAS PRATHER was also one of the first merchants of Louisville, and a most remarkable man. Possessed of a strong intellect, bland and courteous man- ners, a chivalric and high moral bearing, with superior business qualifications, and an integrity and probity of character which became proverbial-riches flowed in upon him like water, and he distributed his wealth with a beneficent hand, in benefactions which will prove a perpetual memorial of his liberality. He was president of the old bank of Kentucky, and when that institution suspended specie payments, he resigned the office, with this remark :- " I can preside over no institution which declines to meet its engagements promptly and to the letter ! "

Col. WILLIAM POPE came, at a very early date, to Jefferson county from Vir- ginia. He was a leading citizen of the county until his death. Among his sons were the Hon. John Pope, for a time Governor of Arkansas, and senator and representative in Congress from Kentucky ; the Hon. Alexander Pope, an eminent lawyer in Louisville, who died in his prime; and the Hon. Nathaniel Pope, long judge of the U. S. courts in Illinois.

SAMUEL SMITH NICHOLAS-a son of Col. George Nicholas, after whom Nich- olas county was named-was born in Lexington, Ky., in 1796, and died in Louisville, in November, 1869, aged seventy-three years. He studied law in Frankfort with chancellor George M. Bibb; removed to Louisville, where he rose rapidly to a high position in his profession, and, on December 23, 1831, was commissioned a judge of the Court of Appeals-the highest in the state. Afterwards he served one term in the Legislature, and was for years chan- cellor of the Lonisville Chancery Court. He was one of the commissioners to revise the statute laws of Kentucky, in 1850; and wrote a number of articles on constitutional law and state polity. He was one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day.

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Gen. HUMPHREY MARSHALL Was educated at West Point Military Academy, New York, graduating in June, 1832, and promoted, upon his graduation, to the rank of second lieutenant in the army. His brief service in the army enabled him to make his mark, as will appear by the records of the War De- partmental correspondence, for Gen. Cass, then Secretary of War, expressed officially the desire of the Government to retain him in the army, and offered to place him in any of the branches of service he would prefer. Lieut. Mar- shall had been mentioned honorably in the dispatches of Maj .- Gen. Winfield Scott, then in campaign against Black Hawk and the Sae Indians of the North- west. But the country being in a state of profound peace, Mr. Marshall pre- ferred to try his fortune in civic life. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1833. He settled at Louisville, in November, 1834. In 1836, lie was elected by the people of his ward to the city council, and was then elected to a captaincy of volunteers, called out by President Jackson to march to the Sabine to defend the frontiers of Louisiana against the approaching army of Santa Anna. He quit his profession and municipal honors to accept this new military position; but the battle of San Jacinto settled the fate of Texas, and rendered the march of these volunteers unecessary.

In 1837, he became a candidate for the Kentucky Legislature, and was de- feated by Hon. S. S. Nicholas, who had just retired from the bench of the Court of Appeals, and whose services were demanded by the banks to insure the renewal of their charters, which they had forfeited by suspending specie payments in May, 1837. The canvass was quite animated. It was with diffi- culty, and only after a considerable expenditure of means, the defeat of Mr. Marshall was secured. It was the commencement of his political life; it was the beginning and end of that of his competitor.

Capt. Marshall now, for the first time, sedulously addressed himself to his profession, and his increase of practice was the token of success. The Louis- ville bar was very strong-embracing such men as Guthrie, Thruston, Dun- can, Benham, Loughborough, Pirtle, Field, Thomas Q. Wilson, Wat Wilson, and others, all in active practice; it was with difficulty younger lawyers strug- gled to the surface. Of those who did, Gen. Marshall and Hon. James S. Speed are the most notable instances now remaining. The opening of the Mex- ican war in 1846, again drew Marshall away from his profession, to accept the command of the Kentucky cavalry regiment, which was mustered into the United States service at Louisville, June 9, 1846. Col. Marshall embarked for Memphis early in July with his regiment, and marched thienee, overland, to Mexico, arriving on the Rio Grande in November. At the memorable battle of Buena Vista the tide of adverse fortune was checked by the charge of the Kentucky cavalry.

On being mustered out of service, June 9, 1847, Col. Marshall returned to Louisville. He was nominated for the State Senate in September, 1347, but declined; and removed to Henry county, to try his fortune as a farmer. He was nominated as the Whig candidate for Congress from the Louisville dis- triet, in 1849, and elected, after a violent contest, by sixty-five votes, over Dr. , Newton Lane, the Democratic candidate. He was reelected, in 1851, over Gov. David Merriwether, by a handsome majority-though Hon. Archie Dixon, the Whig candidate for Governor, failed to carry the district by more than two hundred votes. The death of Gen. Taylor and accession of Mr. Fillmore to the presidency opened a schism in the Whig party upon the sectional ques- tions which afterwards led to the civil war under Lincoln's administration. Col. Marshall took an active part in favor of " The Compromise Measures of 1850," and his course was enthusiastically sustained by his constituency.

In June, 1852, a vacancy occurred on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States by the death of Hon. John MeKinley, to which the Louis- ville bar, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, and the Kentucky delegation in Congress, of both parties, recommended Col. Marshall. Several delegations from the Western and Southern states added their recommendations. Presi- dent Fillmore was anxious to make the appointment, but was prevented from so doing by an administrative rule adopted by him at the time of Judge Wood- bury's death, which limited the successor of a justice to the district to which the deceased had been assigned. This rule had been applied in the case of

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Postmaster-General Hall, and now excluded Col. Marshall. Mr. Fillmore ten- dered him the appointment of Minister to the five states of Central America, which was declined. In August, 1852, he appointed him Commissioner to China, with powers plenipotentiary, and Congress passed an act highly complimentary which raised the Mission to the first class, after Col. Marshall's appointment was confirmed by the senate. Col. M. left on the 2d of October, 1852, for Eng- land, and made his way to China, taking France and Italy in his journey, touching at Malta, and traversing the Egyptian desert between Cairo and Suez-an excellent opportunity of seeing what was notable in the Old World. He arrived at Canton, in China, about the first of April, 1853, and at once steamed on to Shanghai, where he resided as Minister until 1854. The re- sults of his mission are to be found in a volume of dispatches, which added greatly to his reputation, and gave him a high standing as diplomat and jurist.

In 1855 he was returned by his old constituency to Congress, by a majority of more than 2,500, over Col Win. Preston, who had been elected during Col. Marshall's absence from the country. This canvass was peculiarly animated, for the competitors were men of acknowledged talents, and the subject matter of discussion -Knownothingism-was new to the disputes of the political arena. Col. Marshall was reelected to Congress by some 1,800 majority, in 1857, over Mr. Holt; but the canvass was one of mere form-the result not doubtful from the beginning of it. In 1859 he was nominated by acclamation for reelection, but, not relishing the platform upon which the party convention placed him, he declined. The convention abandoned all the doctrines of the American party, and simply declared opposition to the Democratic party, no matter what its tenets. Col. Marshall had been long enough in public life to form a proper estimate of the honest effort of the Democracy to save the con- stitutional rights of the states, and it is much to his credit that he preferred retirement altogether rather than to betray his principles for the gratification of an assured election.

Col. Marshall now determined to practice in his profession for a term, to reinstate his private fortune, which had long been neglected entirely. He formed a partnership with Ex-U. S. Senator James Cooper, of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of taking cases before the Supreme Court, before the Court of Claims, and the Departments at Washington City. This firm was very suc- cessful, acquiring very readily the first rank in business at the capital, but the proposed secession of the Southern states and the approaching election of 1860 portended consequences to the country at large that did not escape the penetrating gaze of either of these partners. They both entered zealously into the canvass-Cooper for Bell and Everett, Marshall for Breekinridge and Lane. Col. Marshall canvassed the state of Kentucky for Breckinridge, but to no purpose. The people of the Southern states refused to unite, and Mr. Lincoln was elected.

Col. Marshall left Washington, after Lincoln's inauguration, determined to do all in his power to preserve the Union, if it could be effected, through a convention of the border slaveholding states. In this interest he commenced anew the canvass of the state, but was arrested by the secession of the bor- der states themselves-thus proving that it was too late to appeal to them to prevent the civil war.

The first battle of Manassas opened the trial by battle between the United States and the Southern Confederacy, and palsied the hands of all who hoped to save the Union by the intervention of the states themselves. Col. Marshall retired to his farm in Henry county, Ky., intending to take such course as Kentucky might choose to pursue; but he was not destined to occupy this position long, for, in the fall of 1861. a coup d'etat was planned and partially executed, of which the result would have embraced Col. Marshall had he re- mained in the state. Ile withdrew, in September, to Nashville, Tenn., and afterwards accepted a Brigadier's commission in the Confederate army. In this rank he was entrusted with a separate command, styled " The Army of Eastern Kentucky," with which it was at first designed to invade Kentucky through her eastern mountain passes. The surrender at Fort Donelson, in the winter of 1861-2 changed this plan, and threw the Confederacy on the

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defensive. In January, 1862, Gen. Marshall came to action with Gen. Gar- field, of Ohio, at the forks of Middle Creek, in Floyd county, Ky., but neither lost many men. Both claimed victory. Marshall remained in the county- about seven miles from the field of battle-until about March; Garfield fell back to Paintsville, in Johnson county.

It was the occurrences in the West that commanded the management of the forces in the mountain passses. The campaign through the winter of 1861-2 by Gen. Marshall's force was one of the hardest ever experienced by any sol- diery. There were no roads through the country, and no mills to grind meal, except those on the mountain branches, which were barely sufficient to turn off about two bushels in twenty-four hours. The soldiers of Gen. Marshall's command gathered the iced shucks in the fields, shelled the corn, and took it to these mills to be ground into meal. Many a time they lived on parched corn for days, though marching from morning until night. The typhoid-pneu- monia took off hundreds of young Kentuckians and Virginians from this com- mand, in the spring of 1862.

In May, 1862, Gen. Marshall surprised Maj .- Gen. Cox at Princeton, Va., and, by an action, relieved the Lynchburg and Knoxville Railroad-indeed, South- western Virginia-of the presence of the Union troops. For this movement, Gen. Robert E. Lee complimented Gen. Marshall, in a letter written for the occasion.

The defeat of Mcclellan before Richmond, Va., seemed to open a chance for the invasion of Kentucky; and accordingly the President of the Confederacy directed Gen. Marshall to prepare his column to move into Kentucky, prom- ising that he should lead this invasion. Afterwards this command was given to Gen. Bragg, and amounted to nothing, for that officer knew nothing of the topography of Kentucky, nothing of her people, and chilled by his vacillation the spirit of revolt in Kentucky. Gen. Marshall was opposed to the retreat from Kentucky, in the fall of 1862, by the Confederate army, but was alone in his opinion in the council of war which determined upon that measure.

In the winter of 1862-3 he pursued Gen. Carter to the Kentucky line, when that officer penetrated to the railroad near Bristol, Tenn., but only came upon his rear-guard at Jonesville, Lee county, Va., as they were entering the mount- ain passes in retreat. In the spring of 1863, Gen. Marshall entered Kentucky withi a cavalry force, to which it was designed to attach the commands of Gens. Pegram and Jenkins, so as to make head-quarters at Lexington, Ky., with some seven thousand cavalry ; but the right and left wings of this force were exhausted by the independent movements of their chiefs, and this expedi- tion effected nothing.

During his absence in Kentucky, the cominand of Gen. Marshall was trans- ferred to Gen. Wm. Preston, of Kentucky, and Gen. Marshall was ordered to report to Gen. Joseph Johnston, in Mississippi. This he did; but, before a di- vision was assigned to his command, the President sent other generals of di- vision to occupy the place designed by Gen. Johnston for Gen. Marshall; and as there was nothing left for the latter but the broken brigade of Tilghinan, `who had been killed at Baker's creek, Gen. Marshall tendered the resignation of his commission in the army, which he insisted should be accepted by the government. This was reluctantly done when it was discovered that no other course could be pursued consistent with Gen. Marshall's wishes.

Gen. Marshall settled at Richmond, Va., to practice law, in June, 1863; but the Kentuckians presented his naine, and he was elected to the Second Con- gress of the Confederate States, in which he was placed upon the Committee on Military Affairs. He was reelected, and occupied this place when Rich- mond was evacuated and the Southern armies surrendered. He crossed the Mississippi, in July, 1865, but found the Confederate flag had yielded through- out the whole boundaries of the government. He spent the summer of 1865 in the valley of the Brazos, in Texas, and from this point obtained a permit to return to New Orleans, in November, 1865; but the public authorities would not consent to his return to Kentucky. He commenced practicing law in New Orleans, but left, in September, 1866, under a permit from President Johnson, to visit his family in Kentucky.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 60

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1654

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654