USA > Kentucky > Fayette County > Lexington > History of Lexington, Kentucky : its early annals and recent progress, including biographical sketches and personal reminiscences of the pioneer settlers, notices of prominent citizens, etc., etc. > Part 19
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Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley, who afterward became so fa- mous as a surgeon, commenced his public career in 1809, in which year he was appointed to the chair of anatomy and surgery in Transylvania University.
Dr. Benjamin Winslow Dudley t was born in Spottsyl- vania county, Virginia, on the 12th day of April, 1785; was brought by his parents to Kentucky county, where they landed six miles east of Lexington, on the 3d day of May,
*Benjamin Kiser.
+Observer and Reporter.
239
DR. BEN. W. DUDLEY.
1808-9.]
1786. His earlier education was obtained at country schools, and finished in Transylvania University. He came to Lex- ington in 1797, and for a time worked in the store of Samuel and George Trotter. He studied medicine with the late Drs. Ridgely and Fishback, after which he attended medi- cal lectures in the old school of Philadelphia, graduated in 1806, and returned to Lexington, where he continued the practice of medicine, and acted as professor in the medical college until 1810, when he visited Europe, and spent four years, profiting by the instructions of the most distinguished medical and scientific teachers. During his stay in London, he was made a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Returning to Lexington, he soon stood in the front rank of the profession. In 1818, on the reorganization of the medical college of Transylvania University, he was recalled to the chair of surgery and anatomy, and remained in that connection for forty years, during which time the college acknowledged no superior on this continent. Its great suc- cess was largely due to Dr. Dudley, whose professional fame spread throughout the civilized world. He attended a la- borious practice for about fifty years, when he contracted, poison in performing a surgical operation, from which he suffered greatly, and never recovered. He died suddenly, after about two hours of illness, at a quarter to one o'clock, on Thursday morning, January 20, 1870, of apoplexy.
Dr. Dudley's achievements in the operation of lithotomy alone are so great as to be actually incredible to the most distinguished surgeons of Europe, and are sufficient of themselves to hand his name down to a distant posterity. He operated for stone in the bladder about two hundred and sixty times, losing only two or three patients. He op- erated upon the eye in numerous cases, and frequently per- forated the cranium for the relief of epilepsy. In spite of the fact that he left no production of his pen behind, his scientific triumphs will long cause him to be remembered as the great surgeon of Kentucky. Dr. Dudley's office was on the corner of Mill and Church streets, and occupied the site of the present residence of E. Sayre.
240
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1810.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Great Prosperity of Lexington in 1810-Center of the Western Trade-Manufacturers and Business-Decline-Lexington Bible Society-Freshets.
LEXINGTON was at the zenith of her commercial pros- perity in 1810. Situated on the great line of communica- tion between the older settlements of the East and the fer- tile West, she was benefited by every great wave of immi- gration that swept into the wilderness. Since 1800, her growth had been so rapid that her population had tripled itself, and was now eight thousand, while that of Fayette county was twenty-one thousand three hundred and seventy. By this time, almost the entire trade of the West centered in Lexington, which had also become the grand depot of supplies for emigrants, and the great manufacturing point of an immense region. It is said that in 1810 the sales of the most extensive business house in Lexington amounted to one hundred thousand dollars per month. A careful eye witness of the prosperity of Lexington at this time said :* "Main street presents to the eye as much wealth and more beauty than can be found in most Atlan- tic cities. A prodigious quantity of European goods are displayed and retailed to the crowds of customers who re- sort here from the neighboring settlements."
A tolerably correct estimate of the business and manu- facturing importance of Lexington in 1810 is extant .; Its enumeration is as follows, viz: four paper mills, two tobacco factories, three nail factories, one mustard factory, four cabinet shops, six powder mills, five wool-carding
-
*Brown's Emigrant Directory.
+Cumming, 160.
241
LEXINGTON'S DECLINE.
1810.]
machines run by horse power, one sail-duck factory, one brush factory, one reed factory, one umbrella factory, one white lead factory, four chair factories, one oil-mill, thirteen rope-walks, seven brick-yards, five hat factories, ten black- smith shops, seven saddlery shops, ten tailor shops, fifteen boot and shoe shops, three blue dyers, two copper and tin shops, two printing establishments where books were made, one bindery, seven distilleries, four billiard tables, five paint shops, one looking-glass factory, one Venetian blind fac- tory, two foundries, three cotton mills, five bagging fac- tories, and five coarse linen factories. One steam flour mill, the first in Kentucky, had just been erected by Stevens & Winslow. Twenty-five large stores are mentioned. Ne- groes from fourteen to thirty years of age quoted at from three hundred and fifty to four hundred dollars. "Vaux- hall " is described as "a public garden, kept by Mr. Terasse, from St. Bartholomew, with summer-houses, and arbors illuminated every Wednesday evening with variegated lamps, a fashionable resort for music, dancing, and feast- ing." In Lexington and Fayette there were one thousand looms, which wove two hundred and seven thousand yards of hemp, flax, and cotton cloth. "Lexington," says a traveler,* " is expected to become the largest inland town of the United States. Perhaps there is no manufactory in this country which is not known here."
The trade and population of Lexington, after 1810, de- clined, and did not begin to grow again until about the year 1820. The cause of this decline is easily accounted for. It commenced with the successful opening of steam navigation upon the Ohio river, an event which revolution- ized the trade and trade channels of the western country. The same cause which produced this decline in Lexington, made Cincinnati, with its favorable location, an important city. In 1810, when Lexington had eight thousand inhab- itants, Cincinnati had but two thousand five hundred; but the steamboat came, and, in 1820, Cincinnati had grown to four times the size of Lexington. The prosperity of Lex-
*Cumming.
242
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1810.
ington in the future will largely depend upon the use she makes of the same great agent which has operated against her. Steam, upon artificial highways, can bring back to her much of what it carried away upon the natural chan- nels of trade.
A "Bible Society" was formed in Lexington in 1810,* of which Robert M. Cunningham was president. It grew and prospered, and, in 1820, its corresponding secretary, James Blythe, supplied many persons with Bibles printed in Lexington. Its successor was the "Lexington and Vicinity Bible Society," which was formed November 24, 1836,+ and its officers were: President, L. P. Yandell; Vice-pres- idents, J. M. Hewitt, J. C. Stiles, Walter Bullock, D. M. Winston, George Robertson, R. T. Dillard, and Mr. Harris; Executive Committee, James Fishback, Edward Stevenson, T. K. Layton, M. T. Scott; W. A. Leavy, Corresponding Secretary ; Edward Winthrop, Recording Secretary ; Will- liam Richardson, Treasurer. The object of this society, as set forth in its constitution, is, " to aid in the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment. It inter- feres with no man's views of truth and duty; requires no sacrifice of principle; aims to establish no peculiar creed ; but wants all to meet on common ground, to give the Bible to their fellow creatures." The society is still in existence, and doing a great work of usefulness and good.
Alarming freshets were not unfrequent at this period. The miserable " canal " then in existence could not accom- modate the water which ran from all the streets and high lots, and collected in the "Town Fork of Elkhorn creek," and sometimes, after a rain, the water extended from the present Phoenix Hotel far beyond Water and Vine streets.} A lead factory and a paper mill were on Water street at that time, near where the present Louisville freight depot stands, and the mill-races were fed from the then flourish- ing Town Fork, now so insignificant.
*Old Kentucky Gazette.
tSociety Records.
Mccullough.
243
EARTHQUAKE, ETC.
1811.]
CHAPTER XXXV.
Earthquake-Battle of Tippecanoe-Joseph H. Daviess, His Career and Gallant Death-St. Tammany Society.
ON the morning of December 16, 1811, the citizens of Lexington were startled and alarmed by several successive shocks of an earthquake,* accompanied by a sound like that of distant thunder. Fortunately no other damage was done than the breaking of window glass and the disturb- ance of a few bricks from chimneys.
In 1811, the Indians of the Northwest, incited by Tecum- seh and the Prophet, who were encouraged by the British, gave such marked evidences of hostility that General Har- rison marched to the Wabash, where, shortly after, he was joined by Colonel J. H. Daviess and a number of volun- teers from Lexington. On the 7th of November, the mem- orable battle of Tippecanoe took place, and Colonel Daviess was numbered among the slain.
Colonel Joseph Hamilton Daviess was born in Bedford county, Virginia, March 4, 1774.1 His parents, Joseph and Jean Daviess, emigrated to Kentucky when their son was five years old, and settled near Danville. Young Daviess received his education from his mother and superior teachers of country schools, and became a proficient in the Latin and Greek languages, and evinced a remarkable tal- ent for public speaking. In 1792, he volunteered under Major Adair, and served against the Indians, and distin- guished himself by his daring conduct. After this, he studied law under the celebrated George Nicholas, in a class with Jesse Bledsoe, John Pope, Felix Grundy, an ! others, who afterward became noted, and studied with the
*Observer and Reporter.
tCollins.
244
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1811.
most untiring energy and perseverance. He was admitted to the bar in 1795, and in his first case triumphed over his learned old teacher. In 1801, he went to Washington City, and was the first western lawyer who ever appeared in the supreme court of the United States. There he gained another legal victory, which placed him at once in the foremost rank of his profession. He was married to Miss Annie Marshall, sister of the United States chief justice, in 1803, and in 1806, occurred his celebrated prosecution of Aaron Burr, during which he confronted Henry Clay and John Allin.
He removed to Lexington in 1809, and resided there up to the time of his death. During that period, there was hardly an important cause litigated in the courts where he practiced that he was not engaged in. Colonel Daviess was a federalist, but when the Indian war of 1811, which was aggravated by England, broke out, he was one of the first to enlist .* He was appointed major of cavalry, but when he was killed in the battle of Tippecanoe, he was fighting on foot in a charge made at his own solicitation. He fell wounded in three places, and met death with great calmness. General Harrison said of him :+ " Major Daviess joined me as a private volunteer, and on the recommenda- tion of the officers of that corps, was appointed to com- mand the third troop of dragoons. His conduct in that capacity justified their choice; never was there an officer possessed of more ardor and zeal to discharge his duties with propriety, and never one who would have encoun- tered greater danger to purchase military fame." Col- onel Daviess was a man of remarkably fine personal ap- pearance and impressive bearing. As a lawyer he was one of the ablest in the land, and as an orator he had few equals and no superiors. His death caused a profound sensation, and in Lexington imposing funeral ceremonies were performed, and a Masonic lodge was formed and named in his honor. Colonel Daviess lived in the house now occupied by Mr. William Fishback, opposite the Chris-
*Davidson.
+Harrison's Report, Battle Tippecanoe.
245
ST. TAMMANY'S SOCIETY.
1811.]
tian Church, and between Walnut and Limestone, on Main.
A St. Tammany Society was instituted in Lexington about this time (1811), and continued to exist up to 1820. The " Wigwam " was in the second story of "Connell's ale" shop," which stood on the site of the Cleary building, on the corner of Main and Broadway. The sons of St. Tam- many often paraded through the streets disguised as In- dians, and magnificent in red paint, feathers, bows, toma- hawks, and war clubs. It was one of the most noted Dem- ocratic organizations in the West. Thomas T. Barr, Rich- ard Chinn, and others successively filled the office of " Sachem." We give verbatim one of the society's orders,* viz :
" ST. TAMMANY'S DAY .- The Sons of St. Tammany, or Brethren of the Columbian Order, will assemble at the council fire of their great wigwam, on Tuesday, the 12th of the month of flowers, at the rising of the sun, to cele- brate the anniversary of their patron saint.
"A dinner will be provided at brother John Fowler's garden, to which the brethren will march in procession, where a long talk will be delivered by one of the order.
" An adjourned meeting of the society will be held on to-morrow evening, at the going down of the sun. By order of the grand sachem,
" N. S. POTTER, Sec. " 8th of the Month of Flowers, Year of Discovery, 326."
*Kentucky Gazette.
246
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1812.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
War with England-Rolls of Lexington and Fayette Volun- teers-The Meeting and Parting at Lexington-The Review and the March-Russell's Expedition-Trotter's Fight with the Indians-The Barracks.
THE commencement of the year 1812 found Lexington full of excitement. The frequent and long-continued out- rages of England on American rights and property on the ocean were denounced in the strongest terms by the Demo- crats, and palliated by the Federalists. While the parties hurled at each other the epithets of "Jacobin " and "Tory," a war with England was openly threatened, and on May 2d, General James Winchester, an old officer of the Revolu- tion, established a recruiting office in Lexington. Early in June, an immense war-meeting was held in the court-house yard, and deafening shouts of applause greeted one of the sentiments proposed : "May the legs of every Tory be made into drumsticks with which to beat Jefferson's march."*
War was declared by the United States on the 18th of June, and Lexington greeted the news with a brilliant illumination and great rejoicing, and as soon as it was known that a requisition had been made upon Kentucky for troops, and even before the governor's orders reached Lexington, a company of volunteers had been formed, and its services tendered to the state .; Six companies in all were quickly raised in the city and county, and it is a matter of the greatest regret that complete rolls of them are not to be had, either in the state military office or in the war department at Washington. Of one company, Captain Arnold's riflemen, we could obtain no list whatever, and
*Old Gazette.
fObserver and Reporter.
247
VOLUNTEERS.
1812.]
the following rolls, with the exception of that of Captain Hart's company, are meager, confused, and unsatisfactory. The subjoined fragments are all that could be gathered, viz :
HART'S COMPANY. .
Officers .- Captain, N. S. G. Hart; Lieutenant, L. Com- stock; Second Lieutenant, Geo. G. Ross; Ensign, J. L. Herron ; Sergeants, Levi L. Todd, John Whitney, Chas. F. Allen, Thos. Smith, Fielding Gosney, Thos. Chamber- lain ; Corporals, William O. Butler, Chas. Bradford, Isaac L. Baker, Jacob Schwing, Alex. Crawford.
Privates .- Andrew Allison, F. J. Allen, Francis Allen, Hugh Allen, Thomas Anderson, T. J. Anderson, Daniel Adams, Wm. Adams, James E. Blythe, Henry Beard, I. L. Baker, Wm. C. Bell, John Beckley, Robt. Campbell, R. T. Campbell, Lewis Charless, Hiram Clines, Elisha Collins, R. H. Chinn, Samuel Cox, Jesse Cock, Lawrence Daily, Will- iam Davis, Phillip Dunn, Benj. Davis, Samuel Elder, Ed- ward Elder, Thos. Fant, A. Ferguson, E. Francis, K. M. Goodloe, R. W. Gilpin, James Huston, Jas. L. Hickman, Bennet Hines, Samuel Holding, James Higgins, James. Johnston, Robert Kelley, Thomas King, S. Kalker, J. E. Kelley, John Kay, Charles Lewis, John Linginfelter, Adam Lake, D. Lingenfelter, John Maxwell, Jr., Thomas Monks, Jno. A. Moon, Peter Messmore, J. W. McChesney, Robt. Mather, James Maxwell, James Neale, Chas. Neil, Jas. P. Parker, W. Pritchard, James Reiley, Robert Rolling, George Rogers, Geo. Rolls, Charles Searls, Armstrong Stewart, Ste- phen Smith, Thomas Smith, Valentine Shally, Geo. Shin- dlebower, B. Stephens, V. Shawley, Daniel Talbott, J. Tem- pleman, Sam'l B. Todd, R. S. Todd, - Townsend, Joseph Vance, Derrick Vanpelt, T. Verden, Zephaniah Williams, John Whitney.
MEGOWAN'S COMPANY.
Officers .- Captain, Stewart W. Megowan; Lieutenant, Martin Wymore ; Ensign, Levi Todd; Sergeants, Richard Roach, Barnet Harvey; Corporals, T. H. Blackburn, John McMakin.
248
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1812.
Privates .- Alexander Alsop, John Brown, Ezra Bowyer, James Cummins, John Eaves, James Fear, Bernard Giltner, T. R. Gatewood, - Griffin, John P. Hogan, John M. Hogan, Hiram Jeter, Bernard Jeter, Richie Jerrett, John P. Kin- kead, Solomon Kolker, Zach. Kirby, Joseph Lankhart, John Litterell, John Moon, John P. Miller, Wm. Mitchell, Richard Masterson, Jr., S. McMakin, James Napper, Tom . Petty, Lewis Pilcher, Beverly Pilcher, Geo. W. Shivery, Green Spyers, John Shivel, James Schooley, David Weigert, Hiram Worthen, Simon Waters.
M'DOWELL'S CAVALRY.
Captain, James McDowell; First Lieutenant, Michael Fishel ; Second Lieutenant, J. G. Trotter.
Privates .- W. W. Ater, Patterson Bain, W. P. Bryant, T. M. Bryant, George Bowman, John Dishman, John Gist, George Hooker, William Long, Joseph Lemmon, William Montgomery, James McConnell, William McConnell, F. McConnell, Samuel McDowell, Salem Piatt, Alexander Pogue, Henry Riddle, William Royal, Thomas Royal, Byrd Smith, David Steel, William Tanner.
EDMONSON'S COMPANY-ALLEN'S REGIMENT.
Captain, John Edmonson.
Privates .- Richard Bledsoe, Walter Carr, Jr., R. P. Kin- ney, Robinson Prewitt, W. D. Parrish, Dudley Shipp.
HAMILTON'S COMPANY.
Captain, John Hamilton; Lieutenant, William Moore ; Sergeants, Tobias Pennington, R. Mccullough; Corporals, Ira Barbee, Thomas Parker, Thomas Hamilton.
Privates .- Willis Calvert, Geo. Corman, Nathan Chinn, Alfred Chinn, William Doyle, Luke Field, Michael Good- night, James Gregg, Samuel Hicks, Philip Jones, Hartwell Long, Wm. Musgrove, Andrew Mefford, Jonathan McLain, W. D. Patterson, Wm. Patterson, Thomas A. Russell, Jas. Sanderson, William Sanderson, George Sanderson, Ander- son Simpson, Andrew Simson, Nelson Tapp, Linton Taudy,
1
249
VOLUNTEERS.
1812.]
Willis Tandy, Thomas Venard, Absalom Venard, John Wilhoite.
In addition to these participants in the war, the following persons also went from Lexington or Fayette, viz : Will- iam O. Butler, afterward general; Major Ben. Graves, on the staff of Colonel Lewis; James Overton, aid to General Winchester; Chas. Carr, paymaster of Dudley's regiment ; Charles S. Todd, then a young lawyer in Lexington, but subsequently minister to Russia; Thomas Bodley, deputy quartermaster-general, who died June 11, 1833, aged sixty- one; and Adjutant, afterward General, John M. McCalla, who was reported by his commander as " distinguished " in the actions of the 18th and 22d of January, 1813. General McCalla, now a venerable and highly esteemed citizen of Washington, D. C., is a native of Lexington, and a grad- uate of Transylvania University. He practiced law in this city for many years prior to his removal to his present residence, and was well known for his bold and skillful support of the Democratic party. He was a clear, astute, and efficient political debater, and is well remembered for his earnestness, energy, and integrity. General McCalla erected and lived in the house now owned by Mr. Benjamin Gratz, and situated on Mill street, opposite the college lawn.
The Kentucky quota was rapidly organized for the field, and the Fifth regiment, commanded by Col. William Lewis, and composed of the companies of Capts. Hart, Hamilton, and Megowan, from Fayette; Capts. Gray and Price, from Jessamine ; Capt. Williams, from Montgomery, and Capts. Martin and Brassfield, of Clark, in obedience to orders, assembled in Lexington on the 14th of August, to march to the general rendezvous at Georgetown, at which place it was to join the other regiments, and be put in motion with them for the frontier .* It was a soul-stirring occasion, and thousands of citizens assembled from all quarters to witness the novel sight of a band of citizen soldiers march- ing to the battle-field. Gray-haired veterans of the Revo-
*General J. M. McCalla.
250
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1812.
lution, and their matron companions, came to behold again what they often saw in former days; the youth of both sexes, the generation which had grown up since the storm of the Revolution had passed away, were eager to behold the unwonted spectacle, and all classes came to bid an agitated adieu to friends, to sons, to brothers, to lovers, to those whom they might never again behold. Many doubted whether the youth and effeminacy of some of the troops were not unequal to the fatigues of the campaign; all felt for them the deepest interest, the keenest anxiety. As the regiment took up the line of march from "the common " (Water street), where it was formed, and wheeled into Main street, at Postlethwaite's corner, such a spectacle was there exhibited as Lexington had never seen before, and probably may never behold again. The moving mass of people filling the street; the windows, doors, and even roofs of houses crowded; weeping females waving their parting adieus from the windows; an occasional shout from the crowd below; the nodding plumes and inspiring music; the proud military step and glancing eye of the marching soldier as he caught the last view of the girl he left behind him, or looked his last farewell to his tender mother or affectionate sister-neither language nor paint- ing can portray the scene.
The troops marched a few miles that evening and en- camped, and the next day reached Georgetown, where, with Scott's and Allen's regiments, they were formed into a brigade under General Payne. On the following Sunday they were reviewed by Governor Scott and Generals Payne and Winchester, accompanied by all the field officers. The field was covered with the friends and relatives of our brave soldiers who went to take their parting farewell. The spectators, it is supposed by some, amounted to twenty thousand persons .*
After the review was finished, the army and spectators formed a compact body and listened to an eloquent address from Henry Clay, and an animated sermon from President
*Old Gazette.
1
251
RUSSELL'S EXPEDITION.
1812.]
Blythe, of Transylvania University. Mr. Clay adverted to the causes of the war, the orders in council, the previous aggressions on American commerce, the impressment of seamen, and the incitement of the savages to hostilities. He concluded with a stirring appeal to the troops to remem- ber that much was expected of them from abroad, that Ken- tucky was famed for her brave men, and that they had the double character of Americans and Kentuckians to support.
A few days after the review, the brigade was ordered to Cincinnati to receive arms, ammunition, and camp-equip- age. Hardships commenced at once, for heavy rains con- tinued from the time the troops left Georgetown until they reached Cincinnati. That was, however, but a trifle to the labors which were awaiting them, when, having crossed the Ohio under the gloom of Hull's surrender, and pressed for- ward to Saint Mary's, they were ordered to leave their heavy baggage, take six days' provision, and a supply of ammunition, and by forced marches, to push on to relieve Fort Wayne, then besieged by an allied Indian and British force. Here en route, we leave them for the present.
On the 29th of September, General W. H. Harrison, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Western army, left Lexington for the seat of war.
Little was done by the American forces during the year 1812, after Hull's surrender; but what was done, was largely participated in by the volunteers from Lexington. In October,* Colonel William Russell, with four hundred men, marched rapidly up the Illinois river until he got within a mile of one of the Peoria towns. A brisk charge was made upon the town defended by about one hundred and fifty Indian warriors, who were put to flight, with the loss of twenty-five found dead, besides a number carried off. The women and children fled to a swamp at the first approach of the men, and the warriors soon took shelter under the same cover. Colonel Russell had only three men wounded. Four prisoners were taken, and about sixty horses prepared to remove the women and children, with
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