USA > Kentucky > History of Kentucky, Volume II > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
People were completely demoralized; towns were deserted; and busi- nesses abandoned. The Maysville Eagle in June, 1833, said, "Maysville, at this moment, presents a scene that finds a parallel no where in the annals of her previous history; nine-tenths of her population have left the city, and, of those who still linger within the vicinity, anxiety and dejection are pictured in every countenance, and each one looks as though the next hour was that allotted for his destruction." 52 Lexington re- ceived a fearful visitation. Within two months, more than 500 people died. A letter, written soon after the plague hit the town, said the scenes were enough "to strike terror to the strongest nerve; even the physicians wore such awful countenances, that it was enough to confound and ter- rify the weak and timid. Nearly all the physicians are completely pros- trate, and many of them now in bed; surely there never has been such mortality in any place of the same number of inhabitants. * * There are not enough well persons left to take care of the convalescent and inter the dead. * * On yesterday and today, it has been im- possible to get coffins or rough boxes made sufficiently soon to put them away." 53 So vivid an account of the course of the scourge in Lexington was given in a letter to the editor of the National Gazette on June 16, that it is here given in full: "On Sunday, the 2d instant, that awful scourge of God, broke out in Lexington, and its ravages have been dreadful and desolating, beyond example-not excepting even New Orleans. It is the opinion of the best informed, that not far short of 400 have fallen victims in about 14 days-and this too with a greatly reduced population. More than one-half, probably two-thirds, fled soon after its commencement. Not the intemperate, not the dissolute, not the wretched and poverty-stricken alone have fallen, but many of our best
50 Niles' Register, Vol. 23, p. 170.
51 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 37, 38; Niles' Register, Vol. 43, pp. 132, 149, 171, 201 ; Vol. 44, pp. 233, 259, 281, 305, 321, 353.
52 Quoted in Niles' Register, Vol. 44, p. 265.
53 Niles' Register, Vol. 44, pp. 265, 266.
751
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY
citizens-men of wealth, of character, of sobriety, of religion. No less than ten or twelve communicants in our church, and I presume a propor- tional number in all the rest. Many of our most worthy and respectable ladies also ;- among them Mrs. Scott, relict of the late Governor Scott. Thus the pestilence has seemed to take a more elevated range than it has usually done in other places. It is true, that many of the lower classes have fallen. It has been very severe upon the blacks, especially upon those who were free. They had nobody to care for them, and money would not command attendants. But, after all, no more than upon others, in proportion to their numbers.
"The progress of the disease has been frightfully rapid. Many have gone to their beds well, and have been in their graves before the next noon. The panic has been dreadful, and the more so as it was wholly unexpected. All that could fly, fled. The city authorities disappeared- no hospital for the poor provided-no board of health formed-no medi- cal reports made or required-and now, no mode of ascertaining our exact loss. We can only guess at it by the numbers of the missing. Stores have been shut-hotels and taverns shut-public houses, printing offices, &c. all shut; and, in short, nothing open but grave yards and their pre- monitories-apothecaries' shops. Even butchers and bakers suspended their functions, and country people ceased to supply our market. In short, the general cry seemed to be that of Napoleon's shattered troops, at the battle of Waterloo-'Sauve qui peut.' Our physicians are either dead or broken down. Dr. Dudley alone I believe has stood it through, and is still on the alert. Some others are trying to follow his example, a la distance. Dr. Cooke, a host in such a scene, has unfortunately been put hors de combat ; by a fall. But, alas !- the most they have done is by way of prevention. The real cholera has been cured but in a few cases. They tell us, indeed, that it will yield to medicine, if taken in season. But this I understand, before the disease fairly sets in. They can cure or stop the premonitory symptoms; and, this, I think, is about the whole amount. If the disease be under the control of medicine, why, with some of the ablest physicians, as I believe, in the United States, have we lost 400 citizens? If the disease be, truly within the control of medi- cine, have not those physicians, who have devoted themselves, day and night, to the sick, an awful responsibility resting on them unredeemed? But I have no doubt that all was done that was possible, in a state of society so completely disorganized. The general suffering has been great, and individual suffering beyond description. No paper has been printed, or handbill issued, because there was nobody to do it. All was con- sternation and dismay. Some, who fled, were soon brought back on the bier-others were buried in the country. Graves could not be dug, nor coffins made, so fast as they were wanted. A number of coffins, or boxes, were sometimes put in one hole. Ten or a dozen bodies have been left in the grave yard, unburied until their turn came the next day. When we retired, at night, we could not expect, and hardly dared to hope, to meet again well. Such, sir, has been the cholera in Lexington.
"I said our city authorities had disappeared. This is true of them as a body. The mayor and Colonel Combs have been active. But in- dividuals have generally, and I may add, with a godlike zeal, devoted themselves to doing good, and to the mitigation of suffering. First and foremost, on this list, is Bishop Smith, of the Episcopal Church, who, in body, is but the skeleton of a man, but in heart and soul, a giant in every good word and work. His whole time, day and night, rain and shine, has been devoted to the consolation of the dying, or the funeral services of the dead. From early dawn to midnight he has been constantly on his feet, or on his knees; and to me, it seems a miracle, that he is still on duty, as bright as ever! What other clergymen here have done-I have not heard. David Sayre, too, has devoted himself, body and soul,
752
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY
and purse, to the alleviation of misery, and deserves from the friends of humanity a brighter meed than ever graced the brows of a monarch. Many others have followed his example. Several gentlemen too in the country have contributed generously to our relief, by sending in and dis- tributing, gratuitously, beef and other necessaries. Among these I need not name the patriot farmer of Ashland.
"But we trust, that the agony is nearly over. The cloud of pestilence, which has so long brooded over our city and burst upon it with all its fury, is beginning to recede. Only 10 or 12 deaths last night, and but few new cases. The weather is now fine, and we cannot but hope, that Providence, in his infinite mercy, will say to the torrent of desolation which has been deluging our city-thus far and no farther. But Lexing- ton has received a shock; from which it cannot speedily recover." 54
The spirit of the whole state seemed to be subdued during these pestilential times. On July 24, Governor Metcalfe set apart a day of humiliation and prayer, to be observed on August 19, by the people assembling in their churches to pray for the arrest of the dreaded scourge.55 In much less violent forms cholera visited the state in 1849, and lingered in one community or another up until the Civil war.56 The economic loss to the state through deaths and the lower morale of the people for a time played almost as much havoc with prosperity as a panic would have done.
The parts played by panics have largely appeared already, whereas the only armed conflict, the Mexican war, was fought far from the borders of the state had little material effect upon it outside of the loss of life. Unsettled conditions during the period when the state was experimenting in banks and heretical relief methods marked a much more serious set-back to the material advancement to the state than the panic of 1837 or its echo of 1842. In 1854 and 1857 panic times were experienced in the nation, but Kentucky was far removed from the cen- ter of most aggravated disturbance. The crisis of 1854 was more severely felt here than the latter one. Notes of some of the banks at this time fell 50 cents on the dollar; but in 1857 the strength of Ken- tucky banks was more than equal to the emergency. While banks were failing in the surrounding states, the Kentucky banks steadily refused to suspend specie payment.57 A reputation for financial soundness and strength had been established by Kentucky by this time, which was sur- passed in no state and equalled by few. The finances of the state were good. In 1857 there was a balance of more than $40,000 in the treas- ury.58 From a material standpoint, Kentucky found herself in 1861 in as strong a position to bear the burdens of a war as any state in the erst while Union.
5+ Quoted Ibid., 311. One of the altruistic spirits of Lexington during these pestilential times was a lowly person called King Solomon, who through his minis- trations left a grateful remembrance among the Lexingtonians. Today his grave in the Lexington cemetery is marked by a large slab. See the beautiful story of James Lane Allen, "King Solomon of Kentucky."
55 Argus, Aug. 8, 1833.
56 Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 59, 60, 62, 65, 72, 73, 75.
67 Lexington Observer and Reporter, Dec. 9, 1857; Duke, History of the Bank of Kentucky, 106; Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 78.
58 Lexington Observer and Reporter, Dec. 9, 1857. The finances of the state were generally in a good condition after the banking heresies had been outgrown, and after extravagant expenditures on internal improvements had ceased. In 1842, there was a balance of over $60,000 on hand. Niles' Register, Vol. 63, p. 340.
CHAPTER LVI
EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT DURING THE MIDDLE PERIOD
Despite the fact that the early statesmen of Kentucky had taken lit- tle interest in education, not even enough to mention it in the first two constitutions, still before the state had progressed far, schools of all grades were making their appearance. Transylvania early grew into a college, while academies were springing up on all sides. And the elemen- tary or "old field" schools were administering in a precarious way to the wants of the people. But ideas of education were based on the supposi- tion that it should be diffused downward from college to the masses rather than from the masses up to the college. The result was that soon the system became top-heavy with all the interest and endowments going to the upper branches of education while the elementary schools were left unprovided for through any state action. The academies which had been aided in the several counties by grants from the state of 6,000 or 12,000 acres of land grew up in great profusion during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, only to die down with equally as much speed and certainty. This decadence had begun shortly after the War of 1812, and by the outbreak of the Civil war, only one of the state- endowed academies was left.
The causes of the downfall of the academies were various. Their rise had been too easy ; the state had granted land freely to persons who failed to realize the responsibilities they should assume, and other indul- gences were granted, such as freedom of taxation by the state of acad- emy property. The growth of these schools was unnatural and artificial, largely induced by the misplaced munificence of the state rather than by the cooperation and demand of the people at large. They were too far advanced for a people who were yet unprovided with the first rung in the educational ladder-the elementary or common school. The en- dowments of the state were sufficient only to attract the establishment of the academy without providing a fund for supporting the school after it was set going. When the state allowed the lands to be sold, many of the schools parted hastily with their properties, with little returns. The self-perpetuating board of trustees was soo little restrained by the state, and some of these boards wasted their lands in foolish speculative proj- ects. The law allowing the academies to part with all of their lands was passed in 1815, at the time when banks were attracting more atten- tion than schools, with the proviso that the proceeds should be invested in stocks of the Bank of Kentucky, and with the result that whatever benefit came of this would, it was secretly hoped, accrue to the bank rather than to the academies.1 Governor Slaughter, in his message to the Legislature in 1816, referring to the academies, said that the aid granted by the state had been "productive of some good, but the fund has proved inadequate to meet the enlightened and liberal views of the Legislature." 2 Four years later Governor Adair called attention in a similar way to the same situation: "Former legislatures have, perhaps
1 Lewis, History of Higher Education in Kentucky, 26-28.
2 Niles' Register, Vol. 11, p. 392.
753
754
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY
wisely, made considerable donations of land to the several counties, for the purpose of establishing primary schools or seminaries of learning, but little benefit has yet been produced to the community at large from these donations. Whether this failure has arisen from a too great diffusion of the means, or from a too great difficulty of procuring teach- ers, well qualified to take charge of these schools, or from both causes, is not now material to enquire." 3 Humphrey Marshall chronicled the demise of the Frankfort Academy thus: "But, being afflicted with the county disease-multiplicity and bad government-it has languished and revived alternately in the building erected for it, until it has neither acting trustee, teacher, nor student, as it is believed." 4
But the old academies were not without their lasting good; they started on the road toward fame, local and national, many Kentucky boys who became lawyers, doctors, statesmen, ministers, and other pro- fessional men. Many of the old academy buildings were afterwards used for school buildings in other systems that grew up, and some of the important colleges had their beginnings in these old academies.
Transylvania early came under an unfortunate admixture of control by the state and a religious denomination, which early showed its blight- ing effect, and which continued through an alliance with almost every important denomination in the state, until the present generation, when they finally separated. This joint control, arousing as it did bitter re- ligious prejudices and hostility, was largely responsible for the failure of this college to fulfill its early promise of becoming and remaining the greatest institution of learning west of the Alleghanies. Under the presidency of Dr. Horace Holley, from 1818 to 1827, it had a golden era. The state had now come to take a closer interest in it, and by a reorganization of the board of trustees it had assumed virtually complete control. Governor Slaughter had in 1817, in a very enlightened mes- sage to the Legislature, advocated a liberal policy of support. He said : "Colleges, or universities, upon a large scale require considerable funds, and cannot be numerous. The Transylvania University, which had its origin in the liberality of our parent state, will soon, it is believed, hold an eminent rank among the institutions of learning in the United States. I am not informed whether its funds are adequate or not, but think it would be wise in the Legislature to extend to this institution every aid necessary to place it on the most respectable footing. It is hoped and expected that this university, situated in one of the most healthful and delightful parts of the United States, will render it not only un- necessary for the youth of our own state to be sent to distant colleges, but invite the young men of other states to finish their education here. There are considerations in favor of a good system of education which strongly address themselves to our pride as a state. It should be re- membered that Kentucky is the first member of the Federal Union that emerged from the western wilderness, and that she now holds a very high standing in the National Government. And shall it be said that she is unfriendly or even indifferent to learning? Let it rather be our boast that Kentucky is as famed for science and the arts as for the valor and patriotism of her citizens." 5
This new regime began with a glowing announcement by Charles Wickliffe, the chairman of the board of trustees, of the session to begin in 1818.6 The medical school, established during this period, advanced rapidly in numbers of students and in reputation. By 1826 it had grown to be the second largest in the country, with 282 students." The law
8 Niles' Register, Vol. 19, p. 171.
4 Marshall, History of Kentucky, II, 336.
" Niles' Register, Vol. 13, P. 386. See also "Transylvania University," by W. H. Townsend, in this work.
6 Niles Register, Vol. 15, pp. 132, 133.
7 Ibid., Vol. 29, P. 326.
755
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY
school continued in its very remarkable career, having in its long his- tory such names associated with it on its faculty as George Nicholas, Henry Clay, James Brown, John Pope, John Boyle, William T. Barry, Jesse Bledsoe, George Robertson, Thomas A. Marshall and Madison C. Johnson-virtually the leadership of the state. Transylvania Uni- versity in 1825 granted 127 A. B., A. M., LL. D. and M. D. degrees.8 Rafinesque lent additional lustre to the institution during this period.
But this phenomenal growth under the inspiring leadership of Presi- dent Holley was not without its dangerous elements. This was an era when orthodox religion had been banished from the institution, when not one of the board of trustees "was a professor of religion," and when President Holly, especially, criticized before his classes many Biblical tenets dear to the people. The religious denominations of the state, led by the Presbyterians, began a war upon Holley which became hotter and more intense as time went on, and which ultimately caused his res- ignation. In 1826 he first offered his resignation, but was prevailed upon by the trustees to reconsider. He remained one year longer, leav- ing the institution and the state in 1827. He soon afterwards died in a storm at sea while on his way from New Orleans to New York.9
One of the immediate outcomes of Holley's regime was the with- drawal by the Presbyterians from any further support of Transylvania, and their attempts to secure a charter for a new college where they could fit their ministers for their duties, freed from the unholy influence of Holley. Their efforts in 1818 to secure a charter for a college at Danville were defeated through the influence of Transylvania, but the next year the fight was renewed. The Presbyterians would endow the new school with certain funds they possessed, and they expected the state to give $30,000. To allay the opposition of other denominations and even enlist their support as far as possible, the plan allowed other denominations to fill professorships in the institution. This whole scheme aroused strong opposition and bitter denunciations against the Presbyterians. It was argued that this plan would lead to a religious aristocracy, with the Presbyterians dominating all other religious sects- it would, in fact, be an end to religious liberty and the separation of church and state.10 The editor of the Kentucky Gasette said: "Upon liberal principles, too many academies cannot be incorporated, but surely no state ought to lend itself to the endowment of sectarian literary in- stitutions." 11 In 1819 the Legislature chartered Centre College at Dan- ville, but not under the control of the Presbyterian synod. The board of trustees was to be selected irrespective of religious belief, and "no religious doctrines peculiar to any one sect of Christians shall be incul- cated by any professor in said college." As this was not according to the plans of the Presbyterians, they withheld their endowment from the college and refused to have anything to do with the institution. Center was now in fact a state school, being a successor to the properties of the old Danville Academy and receiving for two years one-third the profits of the Harrodsburg branch of the Bank of the Commonwealth. As the outlook of the school under this arrangement was not encourag-
8 Ibid., Vol. 28, p. 368.
9 Niles' Register, Vol. 30, pp. 39, 366. The New York Courier said of him: "Our country lost a brilliant ornament in the late president of Transylvania Uni- versity. He was a man of such varied accomplishments, of such strength and such gracefulness of intellect, of such physical as well as mental beauty, that he claimed alike the homage of the eye and heart. Everything connected with the history of such a man is of peculiar interest. To trace the life of a man of genius from the early dawn of his intellect, to examine the habits and associations which formed his character and gave impulse to his feelings, is a task fraught with instruction and delight." Quoted Ibid., Vol. 35, p. 85.
10 Kentucky Gazette, Jan. 1, 1819.
11 Jan. 8, 1819.
756
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY
ing, in 1824 the state handed the control of the school over to the Pres- byterians.12
The other denominations, interested as they were in the religious turmoils of the times, set about founding colleges for themselves. Some of them grew out of the old academies; all were an expression of the rising denominational interest in education. The Roman Catholics set up St. Joseph College in 1819; the Methodists began Augusta College in 1822 as an academy, which came to be conducted as a college in 1827; the Cumberland Presbyterians founded Cumberland College in 1824; and the Baptists secured a charter for Georgetown College, which was founded in 1830.13
As heretofore intimated, the educational development of Kentucky had begun and long continued in an illogical, though, perhaps, a more practicable manner. Academies had been founded, flourished for a short day and had died down; and a burst of activity in founding col- leges had characterized the decade of the '20s. But the solid founda- tion for all real educational advancement had been almost wholly ignored, except in words. Colleges were more easily established and kept going than a system of common schools scattered throughout the rural communities, and they appeared to be greater advertising orna- ments for the state. Travelers were lulled into believing that Kentucky had nothing to desire in her educational facilities, because they saw in the towns of the state prosperous educational institutions, academies or colleges, and an enlightened view on educational matters. They failed to note that the rays of these lighthouses extended not far into the country, where the people scarcely knew the meaning of a school. A traveler during the '20s paid these glowing tributes to Kentucky, which were true for the towns alone: "The zeal for the advancement of Literature * *
* is observable amongst the citizens in every village, every county, and in every neighborhood ; here there are schools established and conducted by competent teachers, whenever necessity or convenience renders them desirable." 14 With the exception of com- mon schools, this further observation of the traveler was correct : "There is, probably, no state in the Union, considering its infancy and finances, who has done so much to patronize Literary and Benevolent Institutions, as the State of Kentucky." 15
The difficulty as well as the great desirability of educating the masses of the people was recognized early and became a theme of every gov- ernor's message, from Slaughter on down to the Civil war. In 1816 Governor Slaughter said: "I presume you will agree with me that nothing in this government, whose firmest rock is public sentiment, is more worthy of your attention than the promotion of education, not only by endowing colleges or universities upon a liberal plan, but by diffusing through the country seminaries and schools for the education of all classes of the community; making them free to all poor children and the children of poor persons." He saw in the education of the masses the surest foundations of a republican government : "Knowledge and virtue are everywhere the surest basis of public happiness; the strongest barriers against oppression; a powerful check to mal-admin- istration, by rendering it necessary for those in power to secure not the blind, but the enlightened confidence of the people. Every child born in the state should be considered a child of the republic, and educated at the public expense, where the parents are unable to do it. Such a system will not only improve the minds and morals of our youths, and
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.