USA > Kentucky > Daviess County > History of Daviess County, Kentucky, together with sketches of its cities, villages, and townships, educational religious, civil military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, biographies of representative citizens, and an outline history of Kentucky > Part 3
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During the winter Harrison employed himself in fortifying his position below the Rapids, which was called Camp Meigs, in honor of Governor Meigs, of Ohio. On the 12th of April the advanced
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guard of the Kentucky reinforcement reached Camp Meigs, and on the 26th of that month the British flotilla appeared upon the lake at the mouth of the Maumee River. A vast force of Indians, under the celebrated Tecumseh, attended the British army, and cut off communication with the interior. On the 4th of May Gen- eral Clay, with the residue of the Kentucky brigade, had reached Fort Defiance. General Harrison sent orders to Clay to land 800 men upon the northern shore, opposite the fort, to carry the Brit- ish batteries there placed, to spike the cannon, destroy the car- riages, then regain their boats and cross over to the fort. The residne of the brigade was ordered to land upon the southern shore and fight their way through the Indians to the fort.
These orders would have been easily executed, had the troops been well drilled, and had the object of Harrison, which was to silence the batteries, been distinctly understood by the officers. These batteries were slightly guarded, and the Indian force was on the opposite side of the river. Clay received the order from Hamilton and directed him to communicate it to Colonel Dudley, who was charged with the execution. Dudley does not seem to have thoroughly understood the object of Harrison, and he did not communicate to his subordinates the precise nature of his orders. The great mass knew nothing more than that they were to fight an enemy on the northern shore, and were totally ignorant that when the cannon were spiked and the carriages destroyed their object was accomplished. They accordingly rushed upon the batteries, and the real object of the expedition was accomplished. A small force of Indians and Canadians, however, showed them- selves upon the skirts of the wood, and opened a straggling fire, which was eagerly returned by the Kentuckians, and the retreat- ing enemy was hotly followed up, in considerable disorder, for nearly two miles. The detachment was dispersed in small parties, no general command was retained over it, and no one seems to have understood that they were to retreat rapidly to their boats as soon as the cannon were spiked. The consequences were such as might have been predicted. Proctor came up with the British force and intercepted their retreat; the Indians crossed over in great numbers, and reinforced the retreating party, which had decoyed the Kentuckians into the woods, and the whole detachment, with the exception of about 150 men, was killed or taken. The prison- ers were taken within the walls of the old British fort below under a very slender guard, and while huddled together in this place,
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the Indians amused themselves by shooting and scalping them. This cruel sport continued until it was interrupted by the arrival of Tecumseh at full gallop, who instantly, and with great indig- nation, put a stop to the massacre.
On the whole, the 5th of May was disastrous to the American army. The news of the capture of Fort George by General Dear- born, however, alarmed Proctor, and the little effect produced by his fire, together with the large force which had reinforced Harri- son, induced him to abandon the siege and return to Malden. The force under Proctor, including Indians, was probably 3,200 men; Harrison's force, including Clay's brigade, about 2,500, rank and file, fit for duty. Proctor remained quiet at Malden, organiz- ing an Indian force for a second invasion of Ohio. Harrison re- mained at Upper Sandusky, engaged in preparing for decisive operations in the fall.
The Secretary had now learned the importance of commanding Lake Erie. Lieutenant Perry, of the navy, had been detached from the squadron under command of Chauncey, on Lake Ontario, to superintend the equipment of a fleet on Lake Erie, and take command of it when ready for service. The crisis of the cam- paign arrived, and on the 10th of September the flotilla of Lieu- tenant Perry engaged the British fleet under Captain Barclay, a British officer of great experience, who had fought under Nelson at Trafalgar. The number of men in the respective squadrons was nearly equal. The British vessels carried sixty-three guns, and the Americans fifty-four. The British had six vessels, and the Americans nine. Seven of the American vessels were mere gunboats, most of them carrying only one gun, and none of them more than three, while the remaining two, the Lawrence and Niagara, carried twenty guns each. A detachment of 150 of the Kentucky volunteers served on board of Perry's fleet as marines, and upon this new element acquitted themselves with the greatest bravery.
The action began between eleven and twelve o'clock, with scarcely a breath of air to stir the bosom of the lake. Perry in the Lawrence, accompanied by two of the small vessels, bore down upon the enemy, but was not closely followed by Lientenant El- liott in the Niagara, and the rest of the small vessels. For two hours Perry remained exposed to the fire of the whole British fleet, by which his vessel was cut to pieces, and three fourths of his crew killed and wounded. Elliott during this time was never
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within less than half a mile of the enemy, and the remainder of the fleet was not nearer than a mile and a half, save the two small vessels that accompanied him. By two o'clock Perry's vessel was totally disabled, but the rest of the fleet was but little injured. The lake was so smooth that the distant gun-boats, from their long twenty-four and thirty-two pounders, threw their shot with great precision, and had made themselves felt in the action; but Elliott's brig, which formed so essential a part of the force, had as yet an- noyed the enemy but little, and had fought principally with two twelve-pounders, the only long guns she liad. At two o'clock Perry left the Lawrence under command of her Lieutenant, and in an open boat rowed to the Niagara. Upon Perry's expressing dissatisfaction at the manner in which the gunboats were man- aged, Elliott volunteered to bring them up. He left the Niagara in a boat for that purpose, and passed swiftly down the line, or- dering them to cease firing, and by the combined use of their sweeps and sails, to press forward into close action. Instantly a new impulse was given to the whole line.
The well-known signal for close action was now seen flying from the Niagara, and after a delay of fifteen minutes to enable the gun-boats to come up, Perry bore down upon the British line, passed through it, and delivered a raking fire of grape and canister, from both broadsides, at half pistol-shot distance. The dreadful cries from the Queen Charlotte and Lady Provost, which followed this close and murderous discharge, announced the fatal accuracy with which it had been delivered. The gun-boats were now within pis- tol-shot and a tremendous cannonade, accompanied by the shrill, clear notes of many bugles from the English vessels, announced that they expected to be boarded, and were summoning their board- ers to repel the anticipated assault. No boarding, however, was attempted. The superior weight of the American mettle was now telling, in close fight, when the full power of their cannonades was felt, and in fifteen minutes the enemy surrendered, with the excep- tion of two of their smallest vessels which attempted to escape. The attempt proved fruitless, and the whole fleet of the enemy became the prize of the captors. The loss on both sides, owing to the dreadful slaughter on board the Lawrence, was nearly equal. The American loss was twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded, considerably more than half of which was sustained by the crew of the Lawrence. This victory, never surpassed in splendor, was decisive of the fate of the campaign. On the 5th of October, Gov-
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ernor Shelby, with 4,000 Kentuckians, reinforced General Harrison, and took part in the brilliant victory of the river Thames, which closed the hostilities in the Northwest.
The most brilliant event of the last war was the battle of New Orleans. It created a deep sensation at the time, and the vast political consequences which have resulted from it have engraved it deeply and indelibly upon the minds of the American people. Twenty-five hundred Kentucky militia under Major General John Thomas took part in this great battle. Less than one fourth of them were armed, as their arms werejon flat-boats that did not arrive until after the engagement.
After the close of the war, the civil history of Kentucky is memorable by the dreadful monetary derangement which led.to the passage of the relief laws, and gave rise to the most embittered and violent conflict of parties which has ever occurred in Kentucky. In 1816 George Madison was elected Governor. He died a few montlis after his election, and Gabriel Slanghter, the Lieutenant- Governor, became Governor unti 1 1820. In the meantime the financial affairs of the civilized world were in a state of painful disorder. The long wars of the French revolution had banished gold and silver from circulation as money, and had substituted an inflated paper currency, by which nominal prices were immensely inhanced. At the return of peace, a restoration of specie payments and the return of Europe to industrial pursuits, cansed a great fall in the nominal value of commodities, accompanied by bankruptcy upon an enormous scale. In Kentucky the violence of this crisis was enhanced by the charter of forty independent banks, with an aggregate capital of nearly $10,000,000, which were by law per- mitted to redeem their notes with the paper of the Bank of Ken- tucky, instead of specie.
These independent banks were chartered at the session of 1817-'18. The Bank of Kentucky had then resumed specie pay- ments, and was in good credit. In the summer of 1818 the State was flooded with the paper of these banks. The consequences were such as might have been anticipated. Speculation sprang up in all directions. Large loans were rashly made and as rashly expended. Most of these bubbles exploded within a year, and few were alive at the end of two years.
In the meantime the pressure of debt became terrible, and the power to replevy judgments was extended by the Legislature from three to twelve months by an act passed at the session of 1819-'20.
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During the smnmer of Iseo the cry for further relief became overwhelming, and vast majorities of both Hlouses were pledged to some measure which should relieve the debtor from the conse- queners of his mushness. The reign of political quackery was in its glory. General Adair had been elected Governor of Kentucky in 1820. id Heartily concorred with the Legislature in the acts passed at the cusning session. The great cry of the people was for money, and their heaviest complaint was debt. Therefore the Legislature of 1920-21. chartered the bank called the Bank of the Commonwealth, which was relieved from all danger of suspension, by not being required even to redeem its notes in specie. Its paper was made payable and receivable in the public debts and taxes, and certain lands owned by the State, south of the Tennessee River, were pledged for the final redemption of its notes. Its business was to pour out paper in profusion in order to make money plenty. The creditor was required to receive this bank paper in payment of his debt, and it he refused to do so, the debtor was authorized to replevy the debt for the space of two years. But these were not the only acts of this mad session. They already had one bank, the old Bank of Kentucky, then in good credit, its paper redeem- able in specie, and its stock at par or nearly so.
By the terms of this charter the Legislature had the power of electing a number of directors, which gave the control of the board. This power was eagerly exercised during this winter. A conserv- ative president and board were turned out by the Legislature, and a president and board elected who stood pledged before their election to receive the paper of the Bank of the Commonwealth, in payment of the debts due the Bank of Kentucky. This was intended to sustain the credit of its paper, but the effect was instantly to strike down the value of the stock of the Bank of Kentucky to one half its nominal value, and to entail npon it an eternal suspension of specie payments. The paper of the new bank sunk rapidly to one half its nominal value, and the creditor had his choice of two evils. One was to receive one half his debt in pay- ment of the whole, and the other was to receive nothing at all for two years, and at the end of that time, to do the best he could, -- running the risk of new delays, and of the bankruptcy of his secur- ities.
Great was the indignation of the creditor at this wholesale con- fiseation of his property, and society rapidly arranged itself into two parties, called Relief and Anti-Relief. With the first party were
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the great mass of debtors and some brilliant members of the bar, sneh as John Rowan, William T. Barry and Solomon P. Sharp. With the Anti-Relief party were ranged nearly all the mercantile claos, a vast majority of the better class of farmers. An angry conflict sprang up in the newspapers, upon the stump, in the taverus and highways, which gradually invaded the most private and domestic circles.
The question of the power of the Legislature to pass the act was raised at an early day and was quickly brought before the Circuit Courts. Judge Clark, of Clark County, boldly decided the act un- constitutional, in the first case which came before him, and the act was carried to the Supreme Court. That high tribunal was then occupied by John Boyle, Chief Justice, and William Owsley and Benjamin Mills, Associate Jndges. The question came directly before them in case of Lapsley vs. Brashear, at the fall term 1823, and they decided that the act of the Legislature was in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and totally void. The clause in the Constitution with which the act conflicted was that which prohibited the States from passing any law impairing the obliga- tion of contracts. The opinion created an immense sensation in the State, and the conflict of parties was renewed with redoubled fury.
The judiciary, by the Constitution, held their offices during good behavior. Nothing less than two thirds of both Houses could remove them. The canvass of 1824 was conducted with the hope of obtaining this result. General Joseph Desha was the candidate of the Relief party for the office of Governor, and was elected by an overwhelming majority. A vast majority of both Honses were of the Relief party. The three judges were summoned before the Legislative bar, and calmly assigned reasons at length, for their decision, which were replied to by Rowan, Bibb and Barry. A vote was at length taken and the constitutional majority of two thirds could not be obtained. The Relief party then renewed the assault in a formidable direction which had not been foreseen. The majority could not remove the judges by impeachment, because their majority was not two thirds of each House. But they could repeal the act by which the Court of Appeals had been organized, and could pass an act organizing the court anew. A bill to this effect was drawn up, and after an excited and protracted debate, was passed by a large majority in both Houses.
The new court was organized at once, which consisted of four 3
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judges. William T. Barry was Chief Justice, and John Trimble, James Haggin and R. H. Davidge were Associate Justices. Francis P. Blair was appointed Clerk, and took forcible possession of the records.
The old court, in the meantime, denied the constitutionality of the act, and still continued to sit as a Court of Appeals and decide such cases as came before them. A great majority of the bar of Kentucky reorganized them as the true court, and brought their causes by appeal before their tribunal. A certain proportion of cases were taken to the new court, and some of the circuit judges obeyed their mandates exclusively, refusing to recognize the old court. This judicial anarchy could not possibly endure. The people were again appealed to by both parties, and the names of Relief and Anti-Relief became merged in the title of New Court and Old Court. The result was the triumph of the Old Court party by a large majority in the popular branch of the Legislature, while the Senate still remained attached to the New Court. In consequence of this difference between the two Houses, the reorganizing aet still remained. nnrepealed, and the canvass of 1826 saw both parties again arrayed in a final struggle for the command of the Senate. The old court party again triumphed, and at the ensuing election the obnoxious act was repealed and the three old judges re-estab- lished. All the acts . " the New Conrt were treated as a nullity. This is one of the most signal triumphs of law and order over the fleeting passions which is recorded in the annals of a free people.
The fate of the Bank of the Commonwealth, and the replevin laws connected with it, was sealed with the triumph of the Old Court party. The latter were repealed, and the former was grad- nally extinguished by successive aets of the Legislature, which directed that its paper should be gradually burned instead of being re-issued. In a few years its paper disappeared from circulation, and was replaced by the paper of the United States Bank, of which two branches had been established in Kentucky, one at Louisville and the other at Lexington. It was the policy of the great Jackson party of the United States to destroy this institution entirely, and the re-election of Jackson in 1832 sealed its doom. It became obvious to all that its charter would not be renewed, and the favor- ite policy of that party was to establish State banks throughout the Union to suppy its place.
As soon as it became obvious that the charter of the Bank of the United States would not be renewed, the Legislature of Kentucky,
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at its sessions of 1833-'34, established the Bank of Kentucky, the Northern Bank of Kentucky, and the Bank of Louisville, the first with a capital of $5,000,000, the second with a capital of $3,000,- 000, the third with a capital of $2,000,000.
The result of this enormns multiplication of State banks throughout the United States, consequent npon the fall of the Na- tional Bank, was vastly to increase the quantity of paper money afloat, and to stimulate the wildest spirit of speculation. During the years of 1835-36 the history of one State is the history of all. All rushed into the market to borrow money, and eagerly projected plans of railroads, canals, stock-water, navigation and turnpike- roads, far beyond the demand of commerce, and in general with- out making any solid provision for the payment of the accruing interest, or reimbursement of the principal.
This fabric was too baseless to endure. In the spring of 1837, all the banks of the Union suspended specie payments. Kentucky was then in the midst of a scheme of internal improvement, upon which she was spending about $1,000,000 annually, embracing the construction of turnpike-roads and the improvement of her rivers, and she was eagerly discussing railroad projects on a princely scale. In this state of things the Legislature of 1837 met, and legalized the suspension of the banks, refusing to compel them to resume specie payments, and refusing to exact the forfeiture of the charters. Specie disappeared from circulation entirely, and the smaller coin was replaced by paper tickets, issued by eities, towns and individuals, having a local currency, but worthless be- yond the range of their immediate neighborhood. The banks in the meantime were conducted with prudence and ability. They forebore to press their debtors severely, but cautionsly and grad- ually lessened their circulation and increased their specie, until, after a suspension of a little more than one year, they ventured to resume specie payment.
This resumption was general throughont the United States, and business and speculation again became buoyant. The latter part of 1838 and nearly the whole of 1839 witnessed an activity in business and a fleeting prosperity which somewhat resembled the feverish order of 1835 and 1836.
But this seeming prosperity was only transitory. In the autumn of 1839 there was a second general suspension of specie payment, with the exception of a few Eastern banks. It became obvious that the mass of debt could not much longer be staved off.
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Bank receipts multiplied in every direction. All public improve- ments were suspended, and Kentucky was compelled to add fifty percent to her direct tax or forfeit her integrity. In the latter part of 1841 and in the year 1842, the tempest, so long suspended, burst in full force over Kentucky. The dockets of her courts groaned under the enormous load of law-suits, and the most frightful sacri- fices of prosperity were incurred by forced sales under execution. The revival of the ancient Relief party again assumed a formidable appearance in the elections of 1842, but was encountered in the Legislature with equal skill and firmness. The specie measures of the Relief party were rejected, but liberal concessions were made to them in other forms, which proved satisfactory to the more ra- tional members, and warded off the fury of the tempest which at first threatened the most mischievous results. The middle term of the Circuit Courts was abolished; the magistrates were com- pelled to hold four terms annually, and forbidden to give judg- ment, save at their regnlar terms. The existing banks were re- quired to issue more paper, and give certain accommodations for a longer time and a regular apportionment. During the years 1843 and 1844 society gradnally assumed a more settled and prosperous state. In 1836 Judge Clark was elected Governor; Robert P. Letehe in 1840, and Judge William Owsley in 1844. General Har- rison was before the people as a Presidential candidate during the years 1836 and 1840, and was warmly supported by the party in Kentucky which snecessively bore the name of "Anti-Relief" "Old Conrt," "National Republican" and "Whig."
In 1844 Clay was a second time before the people as a candi- date for the Presidency, and was opposed by James K. Polk of Tennessee, a member of the old Jackson party. Clay was sup- ported as usual in Kentucky, with intense and engrossing ardor, and obtained its electoral vote by a majority exceeding 9,000. He was supported by the Whig party of the Union with a warmth of personal devotion which has seldom been witnessed, and was never surpassed in the annals of popular government. The great national issne involved in this election was the annexation of Texas to the United States. Polk was the champion of the party in favor of annexation, and Clay opposed it as tending to involve the conn- try in foreign war and internal discord. The annexation was ac- complished, but the war followed in its train.
In May, 1846, began the war with Mexico, which, however, parties in Kentucky differed as to its policy or its justice, so struck
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the popular chord as to enlist 13,700 volunteers, which the Gov- ernor had called for and could accept less than 5,000 men. The war closed triumphantly for the United States in 1848, by the an- nihilation of the Mexican annics and the capture of the Mexican capital.
In 1848, upon the mighty wave of exultation, General Zach- ary Taylor was borne into the presidency. The life-longclaims of Kentneky's greatest sons were set aside and the excited nation placed the victorious soldier at the helin of the state. With the inauguration of Taylor came the demand of California for admission as a State, and the necessity of providing territorial Governments for the other acquisitions which the United States had made. With these demands came the exciting question whether the States to be carved out of the new domain should be free or slave States. The advocates of the Wilmot proviso on the one hand, and the advocates of the obliteration of any geographical line restricting the extension of slavery on the other, waged loud and clamorons wrangle in every hamlet of the Union, and fiercest of all in the council halls of the nation.
The election of General Taylor to the Presidency had forever blighted what was supposed, by both friends and opponents, to be the cherished ambition of Kentucky's peerless son, Henry Clay-his election to the Presidency. Stricken in years, and with waning physical strength, a purer and loftier ambition for a time aroused all the energies of his gallant sonl. Resuming his seat in the Sen- ate of the United States, the grandest period of his life was its close. Cass, Douglas, Webster, Foote-men who had shivered many a lance upon his bnekler-recognized the imperial grandeur of his efforts, and generously hailed him chief among the giants. Under his leadership the compromise measures of 1850 were adopted, resulting in the admission of California, without restriction of slavery (although her State Constitution had forbidden it), and in the extension of the Missouri Compromise line of 36° 30' through the new Territories, north of which slavery was interdicted, and south of which the people were permitted, in organizing their State Governments, to decide the question for themselves. And then Henry Clay sank to his last, long sleep, beneath the monument erected to the memory of his services, his genius and his fame.
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