Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 62

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

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As soon as the presence of the enemy was ascertained, the artillery of Lieuten- ant Ridgely was moved to the front, and opened its fire upon that of the Mexi- cans. The infantry was pressed forward on the right, and after a desperate struggle, succeeded in penetrating through the chapparal, and gaining the flank ; while on the left, our troops gained a decided advantage. But, in the meantime, the enemy's centre kept up a deadly and destructive fire, which arrested the ad- vance of the Americans, and rendered the fortunes of the day for some time doubtful. Though Ridgely's artillery continued to make terrible havoc in the ranks of the foe, the Mexicans still kept up a well directed fire, which swept our lines and did fearful execution. At this crisis, General Taylor ordered Captain May to charge the battery with his dragoons. Without a moment's hesitation, the gallant May and his fearless horsemen dashed forward through the tempest of fire and iron which the well worked artillery of the Mexicans hurled in one unbroken torrent over the plain, and though he lost many of his followers by the discharge with which his advance was met, he faltered not, but, with trumpets ringing merrily, and gleaming sabres, swept on like a tornado, before which the firm lines of the enemy wavered and broke, and fled. This advantage was fol- lowed up by a fierce onslaught from the infantry, at the point of the bayonet. The enemy's centre was broken, and the fortune of the day decided. The vic- tory was complete as it was wonderful. General Taylor brought into action but seventeen hundred wearied men, against a force of at least six thousand, well disciplined, officered and conditioned. The enemy had every advantage of posi- tion, and maintained it valiantly and well, and nothing but hard fighting wrested the victory from them. Our loss in the battle was one hundred and ten killed and wounded. That of the enemy was probably ten fold, though never precisely ascertained. On the 18th of May, General Taylor took possession of Matamo- ras without resistance.

Though his instructions required his advance into the interior of the country. General Taylor was forced to delay his operations for some time, from having no supplies and no adequate means of transportation. At length, these obstacles being removed, the army was set in motion and advanced upon Monterey. This was a place strong by nature, amply fortified, and maintained by an army of 7,000 troops of the line and 3.000 irregulars. To reduce this strong-hold. Gen- eral Taylor had a force, comprising 425 officers and 6.220 men. Against the forty-two pieces of cannon of the Mexicans, he arrayed but one ten inch mortar, two twenty-four pound howitzers. and four light field batteries of four guns each, the mortar being the only piece suitable to the operations of a siege. With these fearful odds against him, he invested the city.

Having established his camp three miles from the defences of the city, recon- II ... 25

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noissances were made, and it was found possible to turn the enemy's position, and gain the heights in his rear. General Worth was detached upon this duty, which, having been performed, he was to carry the enemy's works on that side of the town. The operations soon became two-fold-the assailing party of Worth being independent of the command of Taylor, whose principal efforts were to divert the attention of the enemy, while Worth proceeded to the execution of his orders.

The order was issued on the 19th of September, and the next day, at two o'clock, Worth commenced his advance, and succeeded in reaching a position above the Bishop's palace. The next morning, the battle commenced in earnest. Pressing forward, Worth encountered the enemy in force, and drove them before him with slaughter. Gaining the Saltillo road, he cut off the communications, and carrying two heights west of the Saltillo road, from one of them he was en- abled, with his guns, to command the Bishop's palace. In the meantime, a de- termined assault was made upon the town from below, by the force under Gen- eral Taylor. It would be useless to attempt a description, in the narrow limits of this sketch, of the series of terrific and bloody contests which ensued. Our loss was very heavy, from the character of the enemy's defences, and the daring. ardor of our troops. General Taylor's purpose of diverting attention from Worth, was, however, attained ; one of their advanced works was carried at the point of the bayonet, and a strong footing secured in the town. This was on the third day after the commencement of active operations. On the fourth, Worth was victorious at every point. The Bishop's palace was taken, while the troops un- der Taylor pressed upon the city, the lower part of which was evacuated that night. On the fifth day of the siege, the troops under Taylor advanced from square to square, every inch of ground desperately disputed, until they reached within a square of the Plaza; while Worth pressed onward, on the opposite side of the city, carrying all before him. At length, matters being ripe for such a movement, preparations were made for a concerted storm of the enemy's position on the next day. The morning, however, brought an offer of capitulation, which resulted in the surrender of the city. Our loss in the affair was about five hun- dred killed and wounded ; but the victory secured the possession of an immense territory and a vast amount of military spoils.

Making his head quarters at Monterey, General Taylor proceeded to occupy Saltillo and Paras, while the Mexicans fell back upon San Luis Potosi .- Santa Anna was recalled to Mexico, and placed at the head of the government and army. Before December he had 20,000 men under his command, well or- ganized ; and with this force, he determined to crush Taylor at a blow, and re- deem the conquered provinces. While these preparations were going on, the government of the United States, for the purpose of an attack on Vera Cruz, withdrew from General Taylor the most effective portion of his forces, leaving him with an extended line of territory to defend, a formidable foe in front, and with only a small force, principally untried volunteers, to encounter the enemy. Rejecting the advice of the department, to retire to Monterey, and there defend himself, General Taylor determined to encounter Santa Anna at an advanced po- sition, and selected Buena Vista for that purpose. This field was admirably cho- sen, and the hero, with his little band, there awaited the shock of his powerful adversary. Santa Anna brought into the field 20.000 men, to encounter which General Taylor had a force of 334 officers, and 4,425 men.

On the 22d of February, the Mexicans arrived in sight of the American posi- tion, and made immediate preparations for the attack. Vaunting his immense superiority, and the impossibility of a successful resistance, Santa Anna sum- moned General Taylor to surrender. This was politely but firmly declined. It was followed by an attack, late in the evening, upon the extreme right of the Americans, and an attempt to gain our flank. The skirmishing was continued until dark. During the night the enemy threw a body of light troops on the mountain side, with the intention of outflanking the American left; and at an early hour the next morning, the engagement commenced at this point. It con- tinued, without intermission, through the day, until night separated the combat- ants. Well and nobly did the little band sustain itself against the overwhelming numbers opposed to them. Our limits, however, will not permit us to give the details of this battle, the most desperate ever fought on the American continent. On the part of the Mexicans, it was conducted with consummate skill, and main-

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tained with courage and obstinacy. Overpowering masses of troops were poured upon our weakest points, and at several periods of the battle, their success seemed almost inevitable. But the American commander was found equal to every crisis. Calm, collected, and resolved, he rose superior to the danger of his situa- tion, and wrested victory from defeat. It is admitted by all who were present, that no man but General Taylor could have won the victory of Buena Vista. The battle raged with variable fortunes for ten hours. At length night put an end to the conflict. The Americans slept upon the field of victory, and the foe, shattered and disheartened, retired, and the next day were in full retreat for San Luis Po- tosi. Our loss was 267 killed, and 456 wounded ; that of the enemy was 2,000.

The battle of Buena Vista closed the war in that quarter; and Scott's opera- tions on the Vera Cruz line soon forced the Mexicans to sue for peace. Taylor's victory had aroused popular enthusiasm-" Buena Vista" and old "Rough-and- Ready" was on the tongue of all. He was talked of for President. Overtures were made to ascertain his political views by those in both parties who were eager for the spoils of office. This was settled, on his return home. by a let- ter in which he described himself "as a Whig, but not an ultra Whig.". It was satisfactory to the mass of that party, whose representatives in the Phila- delphia Convention of 1848, ignored the claims of their old and trusted leaders, Webster and Clay, and nominated Taylor. His election was secured, over Gen. Cass, the Democratic nominee. by Mr. Van Buren's "Free Soil" movement, which divided the Democratic party. Gen. Taylor was installed as President, March 5, 1849. The succeeding session of Congress was inaugurated by a ve- hement struggle over the admission of California, the organization of the ter- ritories, and other matters relating to the slavery issue. Gen. Taylor, in his annual message, recommended the unconditional admission of California; and that the territories should be free to form their State constitution as the con- stituents of each should prescribe. These suggestions were, to some extent, embodied in Mr. Clay's propositions, which were under discussion when Pres- ident Taylor was suddenly seized with illness, and died, July 9, 1850.

Gen. Taylor was a plain, simple soldier, bred to the profession of arms, and scarcely fitted for high public station. Indeed, he had announced that he " distrusted his own fitness therefor." But he was a patriot: he did not seek the office-it sought him. His whole life had been spent in the service of his country; he had subordinated himself to duty. And it was in accordance with this idea that he accepted the call of his countrymen. He died in the early part of his administration, and before any of its measures could crystal- lize. He had wise counselors around him; but whether or not his administra- tion would have been successful, is, of course, beyond conjecture.

THOMAS E. BRAMLETTE (Ex-Governor of Kentucky) was born in Cumberland county, Ky., January 3d, 1817; admitted to the bar in 1837; elected to the state Legislature from the counties of Cumberland and Clinton; appointed commonwealth's attorney by Gov Crittenden in 1848, and was the terror of the violators of law in his district; resigned his position, two years afterwards, and resumed the practice of law. In 1856 was elected judge of the sixth judi cial district, where his decisions placed him among the foremost of Kentucky's expounders of law. Resigned the judgeship to go into the army, and, taking the Federal side, was elected colonel of the 3d Kentucky infantry. Appointed U. S. district attorney, vice James Harlan, deceased; but also resigned that posi- tion to accept the "Union" nomination for Governor. He was elected for four years, from September, 1863, to September, 1867, and served through the entire time of many of the most trying scenes to which Kentucky was subjected after she became a state. Gov. Bramlette afterwards located at Louisville, where, ic November, 1873, he was one of the most distinguished and successful lawyers.

Col. CURRAN POPE, son of Hon, Worden Pope (see next page), was born at Louisville, Kv .; graduated at West Point ; promoted to brevet 2d lient. of 2d U. S. artillery, July, 1834, but resigned Dec., 1834; assistant engineer improvement of Kentucky and Cumberland rivers, 1835; clerk of Jefferson county court for 17 years; colonel 15th Ky. regiment U. S. infantry during civil war; wounded at battle of Perryville, Oct. 8, and died therefrom Nov. 5, 1862.

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WORDEN POPE was born on Pope's creek, in 1772. His father, Benjamin Pope, and uncle, William Pope (from these two brothers sprang all the Pope family in Kentucky ) came to the Falls of the Ohio (Lonisville) in 1779, where William remained. Benjamin, after a few months, removed to Salt river, and settled about 13 miles below Shepherdsville, in Bullitt county. Near there, his son Worden was engaged in running a ferry, until Stephen Orinsby (then clerk of both the Jefferson circuit and county courts, and afterwards judge), told him if he would go to Louisville and write in the clerk's office he would

" make a man of him." In 1796, Ormsby resigned the clerkship, and Worden Pope was appointed to succeed him, holding both offices until 1834, and that of the county court until his death, April 20, 1838. He was not only one of the most methodical and skillful clerks in the state, but found time to attend to a valuable practice at the bar. Judge Rowan's brief eulogy of him said "he was not a man of showy or ornamental display ; in the profession, his strength was in the extent and accuracy of his knowledge, and the soundness of his judgment." Another contemporary said he was one of the best land lawyers in the state. Few men so quietly have made a reputation so sub- stantial.

CHARLES S. MOREHEAD was born in Nelson county, Ky., July 7, 1802. Gradu- ated at Transylvania University. and removed to Christian county when he com- menced the practice of law. He was elected to the Legislature, in 1827, when barely eligible, receiving nearly every vote in the county; and was elected for a second term. On its expiration, he removed to Frankfort, as a more ex- tended field for the practice of his profession. He was appointed attorney-gen- eral of Kentucky in 1832, and held the office for five years. In 1838-39-40, he was returned to the Legislature from Franklin county, the last year officiating as speaker of the House; was reelected and made speaker in 1841; again in 1842; and, in 1844, for the third time he was chosen speaker. He was a repre- sentative in Congress from 1847 to 1851. Was again sent to the Legislature in 1853, and chosen Governor, in 1855, for the term of four years. At the expiration of his term, in 1859, he removed to Louisville, and formed a law partnership with his nephew, Charles M. Briggs, Esq. His reception there was a perfect ovation. He was received at the railroad depot by a committee of citizens, and escorted to the Galt House, formally welcomed, and made an address. After the secession of South Carolina, he was prominent among the conservatives of his State in laboring to avert civil war. He was a delegate from Kentucky to the " Peace Conference," at Washington, in February, 1861, and again to the "Border State Convention," at Frankfort, in May of that year.

Gov. Morehead was arrested, on the 19th of September, 1861, at his residence near Louisville, at midnight, by orders of the Federal Government, without cause, without warrant, and without legal authority, and secretly conveyed in a small boat across the Ohio river, so that the civil law could not be invoked to release him. He was thence transferred to Fort Lafayette. off New York harbor, and held as a prisoner of state. The sole offense of Gov. Morehead was that he sympathized with the Southern people in their struggle for liberty. But not only had he committed no overt act, but he had, a short time previous, been, as a member of the "Peace Conference," among the foremost counselors for conciliation and peace. Notwithstanding his efforts to stay the fratricidal hand of war, both in the Federal city and among his own people, yet he was the very first and most noted victim of Federal oppression and outrage in the country. He was in prison many months, and the exposure he had to un- dergo, together with the rigorous climate, implanted disease, which was eventu- ally the cause of his death. He possessed a great fortune at the beginning of the war, chiefly invested in slave property, and which was all lost. After his release from prison, in January, 1862, he returned to Louisville, expecting to remain in quietude; but, being advised that he would be again arrested, he fled to Canada. He subsequently visited Europe and Mexico, and was ab- sent several years. He was allowed to return to his plantation, near Green- ville, Washington county, Miss., only after the war, where he died suddenly of heart disease, on December 23, 1868. Gov. Morehead was an able lawyer, an exemplary citizen, and an upright man.

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While in exile, in Liverpool, England, during the war of the Rebellion, Gov. Morehead was invited to make a speech ; in the course of which he gave the following account of his experience in Fort Lafayette :

" I was seized at two o'clock at night, Sept. 19, 1861, in my own bed, dragged from it and from my family, without a moment's warning, and car- ried across the Ohio river in defiance of the habeas corpus. The soldiers took me and ran me by night by special train to Indianapolis. One of the judges of the Supreme Court sent a U. S. marshal with a habeas corpus to bring me back ; but I was carried by special train to Columbus, Ohio. There I was kept awhile, then hurried on to New York, and afterward carried to the prison of Lafayette. I can not well conceive of any horror more dread- ful than that experienced in that prison. It has a small court, not much larger than this room, for exercise. Thirty-eight of us were placed in one room, five 32-pounder cannons occupying one portion of the room, which was sixty feet in length and twenty-two in depth. The floor was of brick, and so damp that our boots would be covered with green mold every morn- ing. They gave me, to sleep on, fourteen pounds of straw, carefully weighed, about half rotten. It was placed in a very coarse tick. Without my shoes, I am six feet in height, and the bed measured four feet seven inches. We had one very dirty tin cup to drink out of, and the water we drank was filled with tadpoles. We had to hold our noses when we drank, and strain every drop of it.

"We were locked up at six at night, and kept till six next morning, with- out any convenience for the wants of nature whatever, suffering the agonies of death. There was an old man brought from Kentucky, upward of seventy years of age. A friend had sent me some liquors. I asked that old man if he would not like to have a little whisky or brandy; he said yes, it was the only time in his life that he felt that a good dram would be of service to him ; so he took the bottle and poured out a very heavy drink. He drank it off without mixing it with water, and took up a glass of water-we had pur- chased glasses at that time-to drink after it, and saw the tadpoles. He set it down again, shaking his head, saying he could not stand it, and walked away; but the brandy burned him so much that he came back, took it up, and held it between the sunlight and himself, and, soliloquizing, said : ' Well, tadpoles, if you can stand it, I can ;' and drank it off. [Laughter.]

"We wrote a letter to President Lincoln, signed by every individual in the Fort, telling him of the horrors of this prison, stating that we did not pre- tend to discuss the rightfulness of o ir imprisonment, but that we supposed we were entitled to the common rights of human beings. As the result of that, in about a month we were taken to Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, on a vessel, by sea. The captain told me himself that the vessel was calculated to carry about 250 persons, and they took 1,100. We were fifty hours-over two days and two nights-in making the voyage; and all that was given us to eat during that time was a piece of fat barrel-pork, perfectly raw, about the size of my hand, and three sea-crackers. I saw the poor soldiers eat that raw meat. Several of us had furnished ourselves with something better, but we could not feed them all with the little we had.

"We were placed afterwards in Fort Warren upon the naked floor ; with- out bed or blanket, or anything-not a wisp of straw, even ; and there, in that condition, we had to remain-until we supplied ourselves with such things as we needed, buying beds and bedsteads. Being allowed by a very kind, excellent, and humane officer, Col. Dimmick-who did all he could to alleviate our condition-to employ a cook and to buy provisions, we lived very com- fortably there.

" An order came to Fort Warren while we were there, forbidding us to employ counsel; it being stated that the mere fact of employing counsel would be a sufficient cause for continuing us in prison."

GEORGE DENISON PRENTICE, a distinguished editor and poet, born Dec. 18, 1802, in New London county, Connectient (one account says in Griswold, and another in Preston, towns within 8 miles of each other) ; died a few miles below Louisville, Ky., Jan. 21, 1870-aged 67; a fluent reader at 4 years of age ;

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could translate and parse any verse in Virgil or Homer, at 15, and was ready for college, but want of means compelled him to teach school two years: en- tered the sophomore class at Brown University, Providence, R. I., in 1820, and graduated in 1823; studied law, but finding the practice uncongenial, aban- doned it; editor of the Connecticut Mirror, 1825; associated with John G. Whittier in the publication of the New England Weekly Review, 1828-30; visited at Ashland and wrote the Life of Henry Clay, 1830; removed to Louisville, Sept., 1830, and issued the first number of the Louisville Daily Journal, Nov. 24, 1830-which he continued to conduct until Nov. 8, 1868, when it was merged in the Courier, and the two issued thenceforth under the name of the Courier-Journal, Mr. Prentice continuing to aid in editing until the sickness which resulted in a few weeks in his death.

In college, Mr. Prentice was recognized as a fine scholar and distinguished as a writer of both prose and verse-his college essays exhibiting marked vigor of thought, beauty of diction, correctness of style, and purity of English ; some of his sweetest productions in verse were written while in the univer- sity. He relinquished the law because he liked Addison and Byron better than Chitty and Blackstone; there was too much of poetry in him for the dry formulas of the court room. His " Biography of Henry Clay "-much of it written in the home of the great statesman-was finished just ten days before he entered upon the great work of his life as editor of the Louisville Journal. It was written in a glowing and ardent style, reflecting the true life of one in the unalloyed admiration of the other.

During the thirty-eight years of editorial life in the Journal, he perhaps wrote more, and certainly wrote better, than any journalist that ever conducted a daily paper in this state. He made the Journal one of the most renowned papers in the land, and many articles from his pen would have done honor to the highest literary periodical of the day. The Journal under his guidance made and unmade the poets, poetesses, essayists, and journalists who appeared in the West for the third of a century which preceded his death. His humor, his wit, and his satire were the best friends and the worst enemies that aspir- ants to fame in his region could have.

In 1835 Mr. Prentice was married to Miss Henriette Benham, daughter of Col. Joseph Benham, a distinguished member of the Kentucky bar. They had two sons-William Courtland Prentice. who was killed while bravely leading his company of Confederate soldiers at the battle of Augusta, Ky., Sept. 18, 1862, and Clarence J. Prentice, also a Confederate officer, who was killed by the upsetting of his buggy, near Louisville, Nov., 1873. Mrs. Prentice died in April, 1868, at the family residence in Louisville.

In 1860 he published a book under the title of " Prenticeana," made up of his humorous, witty, and satirical paragraphs as they appeared in the Journal. To this style of composition, perhaps more than to any thing else, Mr. Pren- tice owed his fame as a journalist. He was a paragraphist of unparalleled ability.

At the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, Mr. Prentice took sides and used his powerful pen against the South, in the conflict which ended so dis- astrously to that section. And yet, during the war he performed numerous kind and generous acts to individual sufferers on the rebel side, and proved a friend to many in times of need.

The disease of which Mr. Prentice died was pneumonia, the result of vio- lent cold taken in riding in an open carriage, on the coldest day in the year, from Louisville to the residence of his son Clarence, some miles below the city. He struggled with it for a month, retaining his mental faculties to the last. Just before he drew his last breath, he exclaimed, "I want to go, I want to go." His grave at Cave Hill cemetery is yet without a becoming monument.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 62

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