USA > Kentucky > Henderson County > History of Henderson County, Kentucky > Part 17
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On the thirty-first day of August, Colonel William S. Elam was shot and seriously wounded by one Lewis Leonard. At the trial of Leonard, Colonel Elam, who was a witness, was severely cross-exam- ined by Hal. Barbour, a brilliant young lawyer and nephew, by mar- riage, of F. H. Dallam, a leading lawyer at this bar. Barbour was visiting Henderson at the time, and volunteered to defend Leonard. In his argument to the jury, Barbour applied the lash to Elam most unmercifully, and from this it was well known that a personal ren- counter would ensue. Both parties were immediately placed under bond by the Judge, but this was not enough to soothe the now out- raged honor of Elam. It was said that a challenge passed, and was accepted, that the time and place was agreed upon, that both parties were determined, but through the interference of Governor Dixon, Messrs Dallam, Hughes, Cissell and others, a better understanding was arrived at, and finally peace declared. Hon. Grant Green, hav- ing been elected at the August election, Auditor of Public accounts, resigned his office of County Judge, and after a hotly contested elec- tion, Luke W. Trafton was elected to fill out his unexpired term.
On the eighth day of October, the celebrated Paragon Morgan, by long odds the handsomest horse ever owned in the county, died from overheat in driving him from Morganfield to Henderson. The Postmaster at Smith's mills, having failed for three successive quar- ters, to make his quarterly report to the Post Office Department at Washington, the office was discontinued until December, when it was
192
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
again re-established. On the twenty-eighth day of October, James Tillotson, a great local politician, and noted county man, and for whom one of the precincts of the county was called, and yet bears his name, died. The Spottsville Postmaster resigned his office and re- commended a discontinuance of the same.
CHAPTER XX.
THE WAR CLOUDS-TROUBLOUS TIMES WITH THE SLAVE PROPERTY-IN- TERESTING STATISTICS-THE GREAT DAY FOR TRAFFICING IN NEGROES-PUBLIC MEETINGS CONCERNING THE WAR -ORGANIZATION OF MILITIA COMPANIES, ETC., ETC., ETC .- 1860.
HE population of Henderson County, by official count, was re- ported this year, to be fourteen thousand two hundred and sixty-two, an increase of two thousand and ninety-one since the cen- sus of 1850. Of this number, eight thousand four hundred and five were whites, five thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven were slaves, ninety-five free colored, and fourteen hundred and forty-two foreigners.
Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, was this year elected President of the United States, and upon a platform whose cause of difference be- tween the two great sections of the country was irreconcilable. It was evident that a struggle, destined to rend the country in pieces amid carnage, desolation and blood, was now dawning, and would soon re- sult in war more terrible than had ever before been known. Slavery was now to be abolished in toto, or the right to hold slaves settled for- ever. The question had agitated the country for several years, and the election of Mr. Lincoln was taken by the extreme Southern States to mean freedom of the negro. Kentucky lay topographically in the center of the grouping States, in fact she occupied the identical po- litical and social ground between the contending parties, she had held in her earliest settlement between the Northern and Southern tribes of Indians. She was then the " dark and bloody ground," and upon
13
194
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
her soil was fought great battles by contending forces from the North and South.
Again she was to become the battlefield for the mighty hosts of the North and South, in martial form, a thousand times more terrible and destructive than in early times. How to avert this direful calam- ity, was a question patriots and statesmen labored hard and unceas- ingly to solve. Kentucky declined to secede from the Union, prefer- ring to remain neutral. Her natural and geographical sympathies were with the South, yet there was a sentiment of devotion to the Union, nearly akin to the religious faith, which is born in childhood, and which never falters during the excitement of the longest life, and which at last enables " the cradle to triumph over the grave." At this time Henderson county was strong Union, for the mass of her peo- ple had never reasoned about it. " The suggestion of its dissolution was esteemed akin to blasphemy." Aside from this, the great bulk of her people were better soldiers in peace, than in war, and felt none of those patriotic emotions which rush into absolute and uncontrolable impetuosity at the tap of a drum or the shrill sound of a fife. Outside of two hundred or more enthusiastic young men of the county, the others were content with letting alone and being let alone. There seemed to be a greater disposition to make money at this time than ever before, and notwithstanding war was inevitable, and as a culminat- ing consequence slavery would be abolished, very many of the lead- ing planters of the county purchased large numbers of negroes, and extended the magnitude of their crops. Negroes were purchased up to the time of, and even before the first proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, and when all doubt as to the real and true intent of the party in power was settled beyond question, emissaries from the North were cautiously circulating among the negro population, and many bits of Abolition literature had been discovered. There were secret move- ments of the blacks, and evident dissatisfaction. There was hardly a day or night, but one or more of them did not find safe passage to Indiana. Insurrections became talked of, and for a time great un- easiness was manifestly apparent. Patrols and guards were kept along the entire river front, and yet with all these expensive precau- tions, many slaves effected a safe and farewell escape. In the latter part of 1859 a fellow named George A. Boyle, who had lived in Hen- derson for a year or more, and had oftentimes expressed himself in sympathy with Old John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame, declared that he had a " big Republican heart," and was suspected and accused of having circulated a large number of abolition pamphlets amongst
195
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
the slaves of the city and county. He was watched and detected in holding Republican council with several negroes, and the City Coun- cil, upon learning this fact, voted that he should vacate the town. To this end a committee waited upon the gentleman of Abolition faith, and warned him if he did not depart, and that immediately, he would be furnished a free ride, and a tar suit profusely ornamented with va- rigated feathers. Boyle guided by the advice of the committee, took to his heels, and was never again seen in Henderson. He was a blacksmith by trade. There were many more such men as Boyle, but so secret were their movements, and so carefully and judiciously laid were all their plans, they escaped discovery, and continued to do their work unmolested.
In February an act of the Legislature was approved, authorizing the Judge of the County Court to change the boundary or voting places in any precinct.
March 2, that portion of the county lying north of Green River, and running from James Jones' lower corner, and then on a straight line to Ben. Allin's lower corner on Green River, was taken from Hen- derson and Added to Daviess County.
November of this year, Thomas J. Lockett, who had been com- missioned to take the census of the county, made the following re- port. Population of the county and city, 14,753 ; population of the city, 4,011 ; wealth of the county, $14,594,251 ; wealthiest man in the county, A. B. Barrett, $1,850,000 ; oldest male, James Bell, ninety- three years ; oldest person, "Milly," property of the estate of Colo- nel Robert Smith, one hundred and five years.
December 6, under the military law, William P. Grayson, Colonel of the Henderson County Militia, divided the county into military districts, and ordered an election to be held in each district on the eighteenth day of December, for the purpose of electing captains and lieutenants. The farce was never carried out.
The following advertisement, which to many at this day will sound rather queer, appeared in the "Reporter" for several issues : "B. W. Lucas advertises that he has and keeps constantly on hand a lot of likely negroes, which he will be pleased to sell at reasonable prices. Mr. Lucas is a gentleman who will do all that he says."
About that time, and for some years prior to that time, negro traders made frequent visits to Henderson en route South, and would remain two or three weeks selling, exchanging, or buying negro slaves.
196
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
The first day of January of each year, was a great day. Great crowds of men congregated in the town, knowing it to be the day for hiring and selling negroes. A block, or box, was usually placed at the most central point of the principal street, and from this block, or box, negroes-men, women and children-were hired for the ensuing year, or sold outright.
Now that those horrid times have past and gone, many men, who at that time dealt in human life, look back and acknowledge the jus- tice of universal freedom.
Under the law, a slave could be sold under execution just the same as other property, and oftentimes, husband and wife, mother and child were separated, perhaps never to see each other again. Frequently, for the purpose of settling estates, the unity of a happy family of negroes was entirely broken up by sale. It was not an unfrequent occurrence for mother and father to be sold away down in Dixie, while their chil- dren were purchased by a resident, or some legatee of the estate. It was the universal custom to sell mean or worthless negroes, and most generally they were sent to the far South. Many a sad parting, a dis- tressing separation has been witnessed on the streets of Henderson. . Tears have flown, and distressed manifestations and exclamations have been seen and heard, and yet the great mass would pass on as unconcernedly as though it was the braying of so many dumb brutes. Negroes, who were faithful, and were owned by humane masters, were well treated, and as a general thing were as happy as mankind is ever permitted to be, yet there were instances, where the treatment of these people was cruel in the extreme. As a rule, Henderson County slave owners were good masters, and were solicitous for the welfare of their negroes, and while some of the stories told by the people of the North concerning the treatment of this race, bore the semblance of truth ; in the main they were base fabrications, at least so far as those stories concerned Kentucky.
November 6, the Presidential election was held. The Nat ional Democratic party, having split in the Charleston S. C., Conven- tion, the two factions, each presented a candidate for the presidency, Stephen A. Douglas, representing one faction, John C. Breckenridge the other. Seeing this, the Republican party, then but a small factor in National politics, nominated Abraham Lincoln, while the old Whigs, opposition and Know Knothings, presented a candidate in the person of John Bell, of Tennessee. The contest on all sides was a bitter one, and in no county in the South did the excitement par- take of a greater blaze than in Henderson.
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
The county was stumped by able speakers, and the people thor- oughly aroused to the importance of polling a full vote. The follow- ing is the official vote of the county :
Bell. Breckenridge.
Douglas. Lincoln.
Henderson Precinct
338
144
103
1
.
Tillotson Precinct
98
78
31
0
Walnut Bottom
100
51
19
0
Hebardsville Precinct
117
70
2
0
Woodruff Precinct.
57
19
6
1
Corydon Precinct.
116
126
48
. 3
Point Precinct.
20
10
2
0
-
846
498
211
5
Showing conclusively, that Henderson was unmistakably a strong op" position county. Mr. Lincoln was elected chief magistrate, and upon the reception of this news, the aspect of affairs became truly alarming.
Never in the history of the Nation, did a severance of the ties which bound the States together in one confederated community, ap- pear so inevitable. Of all the dark hours in the history of the Re- public, since the darkest moment in the war of Independance, the darkest cloud yet visible, had cast its shadows athwart the political heavens. The South Carolina Legislature, in session at this time, had taken measures to set up an independent government, and infor- mation from several of the Southern States indicated a determination to withdraw from the Union, and to inaugurate the dismemberment of a confederacy, united by the most hallowed and inspiring recollections, and by a unity and magnificence of interests unparallelled in the his- tory of Nations.
The Government trembled under the strain caused by the war now waging between conflicting prejudices, interests and principles. Kentucky, most sensible to these grand and endearing memories, and inseparably involved in those common interests, claimed to be heard ere the torch was applied to the grand old temple, in which she was the oldest christened daughter of the constitution. Yes, Kentucky was deeply interested, for upon her soil, most likely, were the great con- tending forces to measure strong arms, and Henderson County was interested, for she was a border county.
The State could not speak until the counties had spoken, and upon this depended the destiny of all. Henderson was among the first to speak. A meeting of the people of the city and county was called to meet at the Court House Saturday night November 10, 1860, circulars were issued, setting forth in strong language the importance of the meeting, and at the hour of meeting, a large and enthusiastic audience had assembled. On motion of F. H. Dallam, Hon. Archi-
198
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
bald Dixon was called to the chair, and J. W. Rice, appointed Secre- tary. Governor Dixon, on taking. the chair, explained the object of the meeting, and then made an eloquent appeal in favor of the Union. On motion of Mr. Dallam, a committee of five on resolutions was ordered, and the Chairman appointed F. H. Dallam, C. W. Hutchen, Colonel John W. Crockett, Harvey Yeaman and J. Cabell Allen.
While the committee was out Hon. B. W. Hanna, of Terre Haute, Indiana, a distinguished lawyer and politician, being loudly called for, came forward and addressed the meeting in a most eloquent speech.
Colonel John T. Bunch, Ira Delano and S. B Vance, were called for and responded in speeches of great power. At the close of Mr. Vance's speech the committee came in and made the following report. The resolutions were preceded by a long preamble only a portion of which it is deemed necessary to reproduce:
" WHEREAS, It is apparent that certain misguided persons in the South would fain make the election of Mr. Lincoln the occasion, or pretext, of "pre- cipitating the so-called slave States into secession or revolution, while certain persons in the North would fan the flame of discontent in their section, for the same purpose.
AND, WHEREAS In view of this deplorable state of things, it is eminently right. and indeed indispensible, that the people take at once the management of this all-important and paramount question out of the hands of partisans, politicians, and office-seekers.
Therefore, resolved, First. That we do now, and here, proclaim our de- termined love and fealty to the Union as it is.
Second. That we do now, and here, on the altar of our country's peace, and for the furtherance of the purposes we have indicated, offer and yield up all of our heretofore mere personal preferances and prejudices.
Third That in view of the dangers which imperil our common country, a mass meeting of all the citizens of the county, without distinction of party. be called, to be held in the Court House, on Saturday, the 17th inst., at 1 o'clock P M, for the purpose of consulting. and forming a suitable organiza- tion, by which to shape and regulate our action hereafter."
F. H. Dallam then advocated the passage of the resolutions infa forcible speech. Col. John W. Crockett addressed the meeting, and then a motion was made, requesting all of the papers in the State to copy the proceedings, and the meeting adjourned.
The object of the meeting on the 17th, was to get an earnest ex- pression of the views of the people, upon the alarming issue between the triumph of sectionalism, and the threatened secession of the Southern States.
The day of meeting came, and with it a multitude from every sec- tion of the county. The spacious court room was packed with citi-
199
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
zens, who evinced a solicitude for the welfare of the country, while their manifested anxiety showed that they appreciated the impending danger. Gov. Dixon was again called to preside over the meeting. and explained the object of its call in an address of the deepest feeling.
Col. John W. Crockett, chairman of the committee appointed on resolutions, made the report, which was for the preservation of the Union at all hazzards. To read the report at this time, one would judge that the people of Henderson and Henderson County were pretty unanimously for the Union, but we find that on the twenty-fifth day of December (Christmas) the Henderson Artillery Organization, formed under the laws of Kentucky, turned out in full force, and fired fifteen rounds for the Southern Confederacy. There was no dam- age done, however, beyond the serious wounding of G. L. Pierman, the gunner, by a premature discharge of the gun, and the upsetting of W. W. Catlin, who was standing near by at the time.
At the close of this year the political mercury had risen to blood heat. and early in 1861 it indicated a still greater degree of political warmth.
1861.
January 10, in a column and a half editorial, the " Reporter " came out squarely for secession, and in the issue of the 17th, a red hot call was made for a mass meeting to be held at the Court House on Saturday, the 19th, " to let Henderson County express her sentiments."
There had been a meeting held in the Court House on the 5th, inst., at which strong Union resolutions were adopted, and this meeting to be held on the 19th, it was understood, was to place Henderson right on the record. The copy of the call will explain itself :
" WHEREAS, It is believed that the meeting at the Court House on the 5, inst .. did not express the sense of the people of this county ; many have united in calling a mass meeting of the people irrespective of party. at the Court House on Saturday, the 19th January, at 2 o'clock, P. M., to take into consideration the state of the country , and indicate the course Kentucky should pursue in the present emergency. The resolution offered by Judge Milton Young, at the meeting on the 5th, declares the Union paramount. Let us see if the people of Henderson County are willing to say to their Southern breth- ren, and their Northern enemies, that they are for the Union whether the South is equal under the Constitution or not People of Henderson County, read this bill, and see if you will not come out on Saturday and rebuke the conduct of the men who have endeavored to place you in such a position."
The foregoing was circulated in every section of the county, and at the appointed time, the Court House was crowded to its capacity.
200
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
The meeting was organized by appointing Colonel John W. Crockett Chairman, and Robert T. Glass Secretary. It was soon evident that a great split was to occur ; there were those who wanted to sympathize with the South, and so express it in writing, while the large majority were in favor of standing by the resolutions of the previous meeting. Peace and harmony had withdrawn, and every fellow who could speak, and many more who could not, were yelling at the top of their voices, Mr. Chairman ! Mr. Chairman ! while in this tumultous uproar, and broad field of disorder, an old grey haired patriot entered the crowded auditorium, waiving over his head a large flag, "The Stars and Stripes "-great heavens, what a scene ! it could hardly be pictured : strong men wept like little children, the crowd arose seemingly en- masse, and fairly rent the building with screams for the Union. The excitement was beyond control, and not until Governor Dixon, whose magnificent presence electrified all around him, had mounted the ros- trum, and waived his arm, could a composed looker-on, determine whether this wonderous crowd, was a convention of intelligent men, or an asylum of howling lunatics When comparative order had been restored, the flag was taken to the speaker's stand, and the announce- ment made that it had been presented by thirteen patriotic ladies of the city. This was the occasion for another outburst. To look upon the sea of humanity that surged within the walls of the Court House, it was but natural that Fancy should assert a temporary reign, and waving her jeweled sceptre, bid one's spirit back to the old Hall of Independence, where the representatives of the people, who writhed under the lash of oppression and the scorpion sting of wrong, were signing the declaration, pledging all, to conquer their oppressors or pour out their crimson life tide on the soil they had sworn to protect. In that throng were all ages-the boy, young and thoughtless ; the young, fired with patriotism and confident of strength, and the sire with the frosts of many winters silvering his aged locks, whose super- annuated frame quivered with a strange strength, whose prescient eye beheld the storm clouds in the Northern and Southern horizons, con- veying with the rapidity of the sweep of a sirocco. Resolutions were passed. but not the sort of resolutions wanted by those who had been instrumental in calling the convention.
The meeting adjourned amid the wildest confusion, and until a late hour in the night, the stars and stripes were' paraded over the town, followed by hundreds of men and boys ; music was in the air, and every man who could speak and had a good word to say for the flag, was serenaded, and called to the front. An unusual crowd gath-
201
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
ered in front of Governor Dixon's residence, and after listening to several pieces by the band, the Governor appeared, and for thirty minutes held them spell bound by his matchless eloquence. Late in the night the crowd dispersed, and in three weeks afterwards, many of them were yelling the loudest for the Southern Confederacy.
RESULT OF THE WAR SPIRIT.
During the month, the following editorial appeared in the Re- porter :
" We cannot remember when times were harder than at present, money is almost entirely withdrawn from circulation, and we are told is worth an al- most fabulous percenture per month. Real estate can hardly be disposed of at any price. The question is not how much money a man is worth, but how much can he raise. Negroes sold on New Years day at ruinously low figures, and the best of servants hired at prices vastly below the usual standard. Con- fidence cannot be restored in commercial circles until the National difficulties are settled, and the sooner the odious union between North and South is sev- ered the better Capitalists will not relax their purse strings before the estab- lishment of the Southern Confederacy, which we believe will be born about the fourth of March next."
Contrary to the judgment of the "Reporter," money was never more plentiful, nor the wages of mechanics and laboring men so high, as during the war which followed. Expert stemmers of tobacco were known to hire for one hundred and fifty dollars per month, while the most ordinary hand could command seventy-five dollars.
On the thirteenth day of January, Old Jack Shingler, one of the pioneers of the county, breathed his last.
March 19, a terrible wind storm passed over the city, unroofing many houses.
April 15, President Lincoln issued his proclamation, calling for seventy-five thousand militia to suppress the rebellion. A call was made upon Governor Beriah Magoffin for Kentucky's quota. The Governor sent the following dispatch :
'. I say, emphatically, that Kentucky will furnish no troops for subduing her sister Southern States."
After this the war began in earnest. River towns were seized, and a regular system of searching steamboats established.
On the twenty-third day of April a meeting was held at the Court House for the purpose of organizing a Home Guard Company. Hon.
202
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
John C. Atkinson presided, and Gawin I. Beatty performed the du- ties of Secretary. A large number enrolled their names, and in a few days a full company was organized and ready for service. An elec- tion of officers was held, and the following names chosen : E. L. Starling, Jr., Captain ; First Lieutenant, Charles T. Starling ; Second Lieutenant, Harvey Yeaman ; O. S., W. S. Johnson.
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