USA > Kentucky > Madison County > Glimpses of historic Madison County, Kentucky > Part 14
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"The men left to guard me were manifestly poor men, with some young men. These seemed to enter into sympathy with me, and in an undertone one said to me, 'Just promise these men to leave, and they will not hurt you.' I replied, 'It is not fitting that I, a native citizen, pledge to these men that I leave my home and the work to which I believe God has called.' I said, 'You cannot see my motives now; you will at the Judgment Day.' By this time the leaders had returned, and men were around me in circles three deep, and heard these last words. One cried out, 'We did not come here to hear a sermon, let us do our work.' They then took Bro. Jones and myself nearer to the bank of the river and ordered Bro. Jones to strip himself. The captain stripped him to the bare back, bent the man down, and with three sycamore rods, heavy and thick, struck the unoffending man many severe blows, leaving the marks on his body as distinct as the fingers of a man's hand. The suffering man groaned and fell forward.
"The captain then turned to me, and, with an oath, said, 'I will give you five hundred times as much if you do not promise to leave this county and not come back again.' I said to him, 'I will take my suffering first,' and knelt down. One of the crowd, whom I then knew not . .. cried out, 'Don't strike him.'. . . O. said, 'I feel that I ought to, but don't like to go against my party; get up and go home.'
"I got on my horse, and took Bro. Jones behind me, for he was so disabled by the whipping that he could not walk.
"The retreat of these men of 'property and standing,' from their
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work at the Big Bend of the Kentucky River, was ludicrously orderly. . . .
"After a ride of .. . quite a number of miles [we came] to the house of a relative of Bro. Jones. There we stopped for the night.
"In the morning Bro. Jones was not able to travel. That portion of his body ... which had been bruised by the whipping was purple because of the bruising and stagnated blood. I left him, only sorrowing that I had not shared some of his suffering, and thus been brought more fully into sympathy with our once suffering Lord and his then suffering poor. Of this experience I was con- scious.
"Alone I started for my home, some ten or twelve miles distant. Terror had spread its pall over all the country. No glad faces greeted [me], until I came to my little home. Wife and children were glad to see me -- wife not apparently surprised nor dismayed. Violent persecution was to both of us no new thing; it had been of frequent occurrence during the past twelve years. .
"We remained at our home in great quietude for two days. I then took my horse and rode to Richmond, the county seat, and engaged the services of two lawyers to aid Bro. Jones in the prosecution of the leaders of the mob. I chose to make the prosecution in his behalf rather than in my own. He was regarded as a Republican, and I as a 'Radical.' I also thought that in this way I would secure Mr. Clay's co-operation, and addressed a letter to him, requesting his aid in behalf of Bro. Jones. He declined, saying, "To do so would be only 'robbing Peter to pay Paul,'" and then advised me to leave the county. He kindly offered to take care of my family and property.
"I returned home. Speedily large numbers of the mob came to Richmond, and, as I was informed, swore they would give five hundred lashes to the lawyer who would dare to defend Fee or Jones. As a matter of fact, no prosecution was made. The Circuit Judge, a kind man, afterward a Republican, witnessed the bravado of the threatening mob; the Grand Jury took no notice of the oc- currence; the civil arm was paralyzed by the slave power."
THE EXPULSION OF THE BEREANS
Probably the most interesting and serious event in the early
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history of Berea College was the expulsion of the Bereans from Kentucky in December, 1859. Reverend John A. R. Rogers, the first principal of the school, gives a graphic account of this un- fortunate affair in his Birth of Berea College, A Story of Providence. There are many deletions, however, in the following excerpt from his Story.
"In October, 1859, John Brown made his famous raid into Virginia and took the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Berea had been known from the first as a school in favor of liberty, and though it had equally stood for law and order, doing nothing rashly or contrary to the laws of the State, yet in the excitement of the times these characteristics were overlooked or disregarded. The stir in Madison and adjoining counties was greatly increased by false rumors, some of which were published in the newspapers as facts. It was said that boxes of Sharpe's rifles had been inter- cepted on the way to Berea. The situation of Berea, in the rear of the Blue Grass region, was pointed out as most admirably selected for strategic purposes and as a base for a raid, and this was regarded by those who were ready to believe the wildest tales as evidence of the warlike purposes of the Bereans.
"At this time Mr. Fee was at the East, raising money for the school, and said in a sermon at the church of Henry Ward Beecher that the country needed men with the courage and spirit of sacri- fice of John Brown, not with his methods. It was reported in the papers of Kentucky that he was in the East and at Beecher's church, raising John Browns for Kentucky. All these things stirred the people to a perfect whirlwind of excitement. Public meetings of the citizens of Madison County were called that they might decide what should be done to rid the State of the Bereans. Finally, after many such gatherings, at a meeting at the Court House, sixty-two leading citizens of the county were appointed a committee to remove the most prominent Bereans from the State; . . . and John G. Fee and John A. R. Rogers were mentioned by name.
"At this meeting a paper addressed to the people of Kentucky was adopted, giving the reasons for their course . .. The sub- stance of these reasons was that it had been settled that Kentucky was to be a slave State forever, and that the Berea school and the town were in opposition to a fundamental principle of the State, and they could not be tolerated any longer without the
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most serious results to the Commonwealth. It was said to be a case where necessity sets aside law. The document also said liberty and slavery could not dwell together, and that the school favored liberty.
"It was decided that the work of removal should be done without violence, if possible, and that ten days' notice to leave the State should be given to the obnoxious persons, and if they were in the State at the end of that time, they should suffer the consequences of their refusal. . . .
"While the meetings were going on in Richmond, the county seat, and elsewhere, the prominent Bereans took no special pains to find out what attempts were to be made to drive them away. ...
"Whether the committee ... took the utmost pains to conceal the time when they should in a body visit Berea is not known, but the first intimation of their approach was when they were drawn up before the house of Mr. Rogers, .... The leader dis- mounted from his white charger and stated the object of their visit, giving Mr. Rogers a printed document with the reasons for their course. ... They then went to the residence of Mr. Fee, ... and then on, serving the same notice to eight other prominent Berea citizens. . . .
"By common consent all met in the evening at the school building, which was the usual place for all public gatherings, to pray for wisdom. It was a remarkable prayer meeting. It was not a formal coming together to perform a duty, or to ask for general blessings, but to ask God, who they felt alone could make known to them their duty, to make plain whether they should go or stay. . . .
"The next day it was decided to appeal to the Governor of the State for protection, and Mr. Rogers drew up the following pe- tition, which was signed by all those warned away, and Mr. Reed and Mr. Life, ... took it to Frankfort and presented it in person to Governor Magoffin.
To HIS EXCELLENCY, THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY:
1. We have come from various parts of this and adjoining States to this county, with the intention of making it our home; have supported ourselves and families by honest industry and endeavored to promote the interests of religion and education.
2. It is a principle with us to "submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, ... and in accordance with this principle
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we have been obedient in all respects to the laws of this State. 3. Within a few weeks, evil and false reports have been put into circulation, imputing to us motives, words, and conduct calcu- lated to inflame the public mind, which imputations are utterly false and groundless. These imputations we have publicly denied and offered every facility for the fullest investigation, which we have earnestly but vainly sought.
4. On Friday, the twenty-third inst., a company of sixty-two men, claiming to have been appointed by a meeting of the citizens of our county, ... called at our respective residences and places of business, and notified us to leave the county and State, . . . within ten days, and handed us the accompanying document, in which you will see that unless the said order be promptly com- plied with, there is expressed a fixed determination to remove us by force.
In view of these facts, ... we respectfully pray that you, in the exercise of the power vested in you by the constitution and made your duty to use, do protect us in our rights as loyal citizens of the State of Kentucky.
J. A. R. ROGERS
J. G. HANSON
J. D. REED
JAS. S. DAVIS
JOHN F. BOUGHTON
SWINGLEHURST LIFE
JOHN SMITH
E. T. HAYES
CHARLES E. GRIFFIN
A. G. W. PARKER
W. H. TORRY
Berea, Madison County, Ky.,
December 24, 1859.
"The Governor received the bearers of the petition respectfully, but said it was impossible for him to do anything for their pro- tection.
"When they returned and reported the Governor's answer, and what condition of the public mind they had seen on their journey to and from the Capital, the feeling strengthened that it was the part of wisdom for those ordered away to quietly depart. .. .
"Mourning and sorrow were rather the portion of those who were permitted to remain. They were to lose, as least for a time, their leaders, and the school on which their hopes were set was to be closed, when to be reopened they knew not.
"Finally the day on which they were to leave arrived. The
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families departing met under the oaks in front of Mr. Roger's house, with a concourse of neighbors and friends gathered about them. Then with bared heads under the vault of heaven they lifted up their hearts to God, while the Rev. George Candee, of Jackson County, led them in prayer. ... Then the farewells were uttered and the exiles mounted their various vehicles to begin their march. . . .
"This band of exiles spent the night in Richmond, . . . and next day went by public conveyance to Cincinnati. ... The next morning after the exiles had arrived in Cincinnati the papers were filled with glaring headlines, giving the story of the banish- ment of the Kentuckians accused of no misdemeanor whatever, and these accounts were telegraphed to every part of the land. The next few days public meetings were held in churches and public halls in Cincinnati, where the exiles were invited to tell their own story. Ministers, jurists, and other prominent men pronounced this act an unparalleled outrage.
"Soon the various families driven from their homes made their way to the homes of their friends. Mr. Fee and family went to relatives in Bracken County, Kentucky, from which place he was soon ordered away. Rev. James Scott Davis was also compelled to leave Lewis County, where he had been a faithful minister for many years. The whole slave power of Kentucky was aroused, partly through fear because of the John Brown raid, and partly because it seemed an opportune time to stamp out all anti-slavery feeling in the State. ... Later, when Mr. Fee went back to Ken- tucky on a peaceful errand, to put up some stones at the grave of his son, he was again driven out of the State.
"In March, 1860, Mr. John G. Hanson returned to Berea to look after his business, when he was hunted like a wild beast. His sawmill was destroyed and his pursuers broke into a house where they thought he might be concealed and conducted them- selves in such a way that several men armed themselves to put a stop to the outrages, and a number of shots were fired by both parties. The excitement was such that cannons were brought from Frankfort, the capital of the State, and for a time a warfare similar to that previously in Kansas seemed imminent "
CHAPTER XII The Civil War
A UNION MEETING IN 1861
T HE PEOPLE of Madison County as well as every other section of the State were, early in the year of 1861, much disturbed by the "state of the Union." As a result notices were published in the local papers, the Democrat and the Messenger, that a meeting of all citizens irrespective of parties would be held at the courthouse on Saturday, January 12, 1861. There was a large crowd in attendance and Martin Gentry was elected Chair- man with J. B. McCreary as Secretary. General John Tribble stated that the object of the meeting was "consideration of the critical state of the Union." Resolutions were offered by W. F. Holloway, E. J. Broaddus and T. S. Bronston. Holloway endorsed the Crittenden compromise. McCreary said that it or something similar should be the ultimatum of the South. Broaddus favored secession while Bronston was conservative. Judge Daniel Breck declared that he had no sympathy with South Carolina and C. F. Burnam favored a central confederacy and did not want to join South Carolina. Thomas F. Stone moved that a committee com- posed of Holloway, Broaddus, and Bronston be appointed to draft resolutions on the position of the citizens of Madison County in respect to the national difficulties and that senator and representa- tive in the called session be governed by the same. The chair added William Harris and R. J. White to the above committee, which was to report on Saturday the 19th. At that date one of the largest assemblies in the history of the county convened and in the absence of Mr. McCreary, William Quint Davis served as secretary. Bronston reported on the resolutions, which were decidedly southern in sentiment. Col. David Irvine offered an amendment requesting the Legislature to ask Congress to call a national meeting for considering amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Some favored the resolutions, while others called for secession. Bronston advocated harmony and the calling of a state meeting. Judge W. C. Goodloe made a strong Union speech and C. C. Ball offered three cheers for the Union, which
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2434844
THE GLAY BATTALION APRIL 1861 G BYJ.J.DORRIS 1936
The Cassius M. Clay Battalion. Citizens Defending the White House in April, 1861. Lincoln and his Cabinet are in the center. Mrs. Lincoln is in third second-story window at the left.
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GLIMPSES OF HISTORIC MADISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY
received a vociferous response. T. S. Bronston, Sr. warned the group against any unconstitutional action. By motion the resolu- tions were tabled and the meeting adjourned without taking any action .- The French Tipton Papers. The authors learned, some years ago, that a granddaughter of Squire Turner, then living in Atlanta, Georgia, had a Richmond paper containing an account of these meetings with the resolutions, but they were unable to obtain the paper or a copy of the desired information.
THE CLAY BATTALION
There was much excitement in Washington during the siege of Fort Sumter and immediately after the surrender of the fort on April 14, 1861. Among those in the Capital who believed that the defense of the city was inadequate and that Washington was in danger of being seized by the Secessionists and perhaps the Presi- dent assassinated were Cassius M. Clay, of Madison County, Ken- tucky, and Senator James H. Lane, of Kansas. These men (ap- parently on Mr. Clay's initiative) organized and armed with weapons from the War Department a battalion of volunteer citizen soldiers to defend the Capital and especially the White House.
The two men operated independently until April 24th, when they were ordered to unite their forces and "take post at the United States Navy Yard for its protection." Mr. Clay wrote many years later: "When the two commands met, Lane desired the joint com- mand to which I objected, as my force was much larger than his; and referring it to the soldiers themselves, I was made the com- mander of the battalion ... . " Vice-President Henry Wilson also wrote in his History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol. III, p. 171: "Cassius M. Clay was chosen leader, and the body was known as the Cassius M. Clay battalion. They patrolled the city that night [April 18], while a body, a division of the battalion, went to the White House, encamped in the East Room, and prepared to protect the President."
The battalion was dissolved soon after regiments arrived from northern states; and Mr. Clay also wrote: "Lincoln issued an order thanking me for my services; and presented me with a Colt's revolver, as a testimony of his regard." Late in life Mr. Clay gave this weapon to his friend, Col. J. W. Caperton, whose grand- son, Caperton Burnam of Richmond, now has it.
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The illustration shows the Clay battalion drawn up in rear of the White House. President Lincoln and his cabinet are in the center of the group and Mrs. Lincoln is at an upper window. Mr. Clay is believed to be the man at the left in light trousers. It appears that this is the second time this picture has ever been published. See Clay's own work, The Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay, Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches, pp 259-64.
THE BATTLE OF RICHMOND
While General Robert E. Lee, in August, 1862, was pushing the Federals aside and making a way for his first invasion of the North, the Confederates were also planning to occupy Kentucky and carry the war, perhaps, north of the Ohio. A month earlier General John H. Morgan had made his first raid through Ken- tucky, returning via Richmond to Tennessee. It was evident, therefore, that Kentucky could be invaded. Accordingly, General E. Kirby Smith, with about 12,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, passed through the defiles west of Cumberland Gap, and, avoiding the Federal troops guarding that passage, marched on in the direction of Lexington and Cincinnati.
General William Nelson, whose headquarters were at Lexington, had about 16,000 troops to defend the Blue Grass Country. The Confederates met no opposition until they entered Madison County, where about 7,000 of Nelson's command, under General M. D. Manson, were located near Richmond. The first skirmish oc- curred August 29 near Rogersville, on the Big Hill pike. In this engagement the Confederates were repulsed, but early the next day they drove the Federals back to Richmond and beyond to the Kentucky River. All day, with the temperature reaching ninety- six in the shade, the battle raged along the highway, over the meadows and cornfields, and even in the cemetery and on the streets of Richmond. The Federals made two or three desperate attempts to stop the enemy, but, being mostly raw troops just from their homes across the Ohio and believing themselves greatly outnumbered, their efforts were in vain. General Nelson arrived from Lexington about 2:00 P.M., and vainly tried to stem the tide. The Federal army was entirely routed, and Union soldiers who escaped, fled across the Kentucky River to the North. The Con- federates reported the Union loss as 206 officers and men killed,
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844 wounded, 4,303 prisoners, besides the capture of "9 pieces of artillery, 10,000 stands of small arms, and large quantities of supplies." Their own loss was probably 75 killed and 200 wounded. The Confederate Military History (Vol. VIII, p. 46) states that "the attack was made and resisted with energy and vigor, so much so that Smith believed that he had encountered 10,000 men, and Manson was confident that he was beaten by an army of veterans 16,000 strong."
The Madison Female Institute in Richmond was converted into a hospital for the wounded, and the dead were buried in the Rich- mond cemetery, from which they were later removed to the Na- tional cemetery at Camp Nelson. The trustees of the Institute, in February, 1863, lodged a claim against the United States for damages done the school while it was used as a hospital and in May, 1915, received $5,200 from the Federal Government.
General Smith recruited troops in Richmond and places near, and was soon assisting General Bragg, who had invaded Kentucky further west, in setting up a Confederate state government at Frank- fort. The Confederates, however, after the Battle of Perryville, October 8, retired from the State. General Lee had already (Sep- tember 17) been turned back at Antietam.
An account of the Battle of Richmond by Warren Dean Lambert of Berea College, is of such quality that its inclusion here, with a little editing, is desirable. The experiences of John G. Fee and Mrs. Fee in the narrative are especially informative. Mr. Lambert's account may be found in the "Golden Anniversary" edition of the Berea Citizen, June 30, 1949. What Mr. Lambert says about Mr. and Mrs. Fee before his account of the Battle might well be repeated.
"John G. Fee never doubted the outcome. As soon as the United States outlawed slavery, he declared, the tide would turn.
"When the spring of 1862 came, Fee felt it was time to risk going back into Kentucky to see the condition of things there, and to find out whether or not they might think of returning and starting the school again. The State had not seceded and was for the most part in Union hands. With Mrs. Fee he went across into Bracken County. Rogers started to Berea the same day as Mrs. Fee, while Mr. Fee took his youngest boy, Howard, around by Cincinnati to proof-read an anti-slavery book being printed there.
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Their household goods were packed up to be sent, but the gov- ernment had commandeered all the railroads for troop and muni- tions movements, and there was no civilian shipping possible.
"The Battle of Richmond"
"John Hunt Morgan had been raiding the countryside, and things were pretty much in confusion. E. Kirby Smith in command of some 12,000 Confederates plus 4,000 cavalry mostly veteran East Tennessee and Mississippi infantry, had been poised at Cumberland Gap; Gen. William Nelson was massing a smaller Union army of hastily organized Kentucky and Ohio troops, largely new re- cruits, at Lexington. It was anticipated that Smith would thrust toward Lexington and Cincinnati, from where the Confederates hoped to range into the rich plains of Ohio and Indiana, carrying the way into the heart of the Union itself.
"Pursuant to this plan Smith moved from the Gap in mid August, striking up toward central Kentucky. The Fees' attempt to return to Berea ran squarely into his invasion.
"On August 23, while the Fees were still in the north, Nelson ordered the 7th Kentucky and Child's Battalion Tennessee Cavalry (US) to Big Hill, to resist Smith if he started down the passes out of the hill country there. Smith by then had established head- quarters in Barbourville, and a branch of his army having doubled back under Gen. McCown and having cut off George W. Morgan's Union Army at the Gap, so that the latter was compelled to retire to the Ohio River through east Kentucky, was ready to move on Lexington.
"It was into the midst of this state of affairs that the Fees were moving. Had Mr. Fee come on with his wife they might both have reached Berea; as it was his day's delay in Cincinnati put him far enough behind so that the battle was to separate them.
"The roads were choked with soldiery and army teams, and with the greatest difficulty Mrs. Fee got as far as a tavern three miles north of Richmond the first day. Buying a few groceries she swung her carriage in with the stream of army vehicles on the road, and went through Richmond, to the astonishment of the inhabitants, a lone woman with three children in the middle of the Federal Army.
"Three miles south of Richmond the Union pickets halted her.
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Smith's Army had moved out of Barbourville and was at Big Hill. During the afternoon of the 24th or 25th the Federal Cavalry named above, under a Col. Metcalfe, had engaged the Con- federates in the valley and along the ridges running from the old Wayside Tavern, later the Grant House, to Pilot Knob.
"The Union forces were badly outnumbered. For a time the Tennessee Cavalry held, but the Kentucky Cavalry broke and ran, re-formed and joined the Tennessee after the latter had fought a rear-guard action through Freeman's Hollow, broke again when the Confederates moved against their new positions, and fell back to Richmond, leaving the Tennessee to hold the road.
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