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 27
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One of the thousand incidents of the battle has a home interest. The Lexington boys had nothing to eat and but little to drink for two days; but Lieutenant John H. Mor- gan, afterward the famous cavalry leader of the South, had succeeded in procuring a canteen of water. An officer of an Indiana regiment saw the precious fluid, and, parched with the thirst which then tormented all the army, eagerly offered him "twenty-five dollars for a drink." Morgan shared it with him, remarking that "a Kentuckian never accepted money for water."
After the battle, the Lexington companies sadly gathered
357
LEXINGTON'S DEAD.
1847.]
their dead heroes, whose bodies were found covered thick with wounds from Mexican lances. No timber grew near the battle-ground, so the brave volunteers were wrapped in their soldier-blankets and buried in coffins made from the sides and bottoms of army-wagons, and the same material furnished the simple head-boards which bore their names and marked their honored graves. They were buried near the little blood-baptized village of Buena Vista, which then became doubly fraught with mournful interest to Lexington.
The news of the battle was received in Lexington while the circuit court was in session. It was immediately ad- journed in respect to the Kentucky slain, and the citizens offered every token of sympathy and regard to the families of the soldiers who had so gloriously fallen.
On the 12th of April, 1847,* a great public meeting was held, at which the following committee on resolutions was appointed, viz: John C. Breckinridge, M. C. Johnson, R. A. Buckner, R. Wickliffe, Sen., Edward Oldham, Waller Bullock, Geo. R. Trotter, J. O. Harrison, Robt. N. Wick- liffe, Edward A. Dudley, Jas. L. Hickman, and George B. Kinkead. The committee reported as follows :
" The gallant deeds of our brave sons who shed their blood on the glorious battle-field of Buena Vista, have added ad- ditional lustre to the Kentucky character for courage and patriotism, and it is just and proper that their dead bodies should not remain in a foreign country and on an enemy's soil, but that they should be removed to their native land, and rest under the protection of their kindred and friends.
"Resolved, therefore, That while the citizens of Lexington and Fayette county rejoice with those who survived that memorable conflict of arms, and congratulate them on its great result, they mourn and sympathize with the friends and families of those who fell in battle, and will take im- mediate measures to remove their bodies for interment in Kentucky.
"Resolved, That Capt. George P. Jouett and Nelson Dud-
*City Papers.
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1847.
ley, Esq., be requested and appointed to proceed to the battle-ground of Buena Vista in Mexico, and bring home the bodies of Col. Wm. R. McKee, Lieut. Col. Henry Clay, Jr., Adjutant Edward M. Vaughn, and Messrs. A. G. Morgan, Wm. W. Bayles, Clement Jones, Nathaniel Ramey, Henry Carty, Wm. Thwaits, and Thomas Weigert."
About the middle of June, 1847, the volunteers returned to Lexington, Captain Clay's company being under the command of Lieutenant Jesse Woodruff. Captain Beard's company went out with seventy-eight men and returned with forty-three. Captain Clay's, which had numbered seventy-five, had fifty-four left. The soldiers were wel- comed home by an enthusiastic crowd of citizens and mil- itary, and were addressed by Judge George R. Trotter, and soon after their return a grand barbecue was given in their honor. Captain Clay, after a painful and protracted im- prisonment, returned in December and was warmly greeted and congratulated.
The bodies of the heroes who had fallen, were tenderly conveyed from their distant resting places to a glory bed prepared for them in the Frankfort cemetery by the com- monwealth, whose honor they had so nobly defended.
There, on Tuesday, July 20, 1847, an immense concourse assembled at the spot where now rises the stately and beau- tiful monument erected to the Kentucky soldiers who fell in the war with Mexico. After appropriate and impressive ceremonies, an oration was delivered by General John C. Breckinridge and an address by Rev. John H. Brown. The remains of the lamented dead were then borne to the graves by the pall-bearers, and after a military salute of three guns by the whole line of infantry and rifles, the ceremo- nies were concluded by the Masonic fraternity. The bodies were then lowered into the graves, and the most impressive scene of the day transpired. By an apparently impulsive movement, the large body of returned volunteers, headed by Colonel Humphrey Marshall, formed in line, marched around the graves uncovered, and in that way left the grounds with slow and solemn tread, and with sincere sor- row depicted in every countenance. It was a silent, but
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HONORS TO THE SLAIN.
1847.]
impressive manifestation of their feelings, which was com- municated to all around. Three rounds of blank cartridges were then fired from the whole line, and the burial was completed. It was this solemn and beautiful occasion which inspired the gifted Theodore O'Hara to pen that unequaled martial requiem, the "Bivouac of the Dead," commencing with that sublime stanza :
" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and daring few. On Fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead."
360
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1848-40.
CHAPTER LXVII.
Telegraph-Kentucky Statesman-Cholera-Lexington Ceme- tery-A. K. Woolley.
IN 1848, a telegraph line was established between Lex- ington and Louisville, and the first message was flashed over the wires on the 6th of March of that year.
The Kentucky Statesman, a Democratic newspaper, was established by a company in Lexington, and B. B. Taylor became its first editor. The first number of the paper ap- peared October 6, 1849. The Statesman existed about thir- teen years.
The cholera appeared in Lexington again in 1849, and a number of deaths resulted from it.
A revision of the State constitution was demanded by the people in 1849, and a convention was accordingly ordered for that purpose. The delegates elected from Fayette county were James Dudley and Robert Nelson Wickliffe. The convention assembled in Frankfort, and after three months' discussion and consultation, a new form of govern- ment was produced and the convention adjourned tempo- rarily until the people pronounced upon it.
Though an act was passed by the legislature in Febru- ary, 1848, incorporating the Lexington Cemetery, it was really not established until the year following. At an acci- dental meeting of Messrs. M. T. Scott, Benjamin Gratz, M. C. Johnson, and Richard Higgins, on the 23d of January, 1849, it was resolved that each one use every exertion to obtain a sufficient sum by subscription for the purpose of purchasing a suitable site for a cemetery and for the in- closing and laying out of the same. Their efforts were suc- cessful, and on February 12, 1849, the original charter was amended with the following gentlemen as incorporators, viz :
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361
LEXINGTON CEMETERY.
1848-49.]
Benj. Gratz, M. T. Scott, M. C. Johnson, Richard Higgins, S. Swift, Joel Higgins, David A. Sayre, John Tilford, A. T. Skillman, E. K. Sayre, Robert Wickliffe, T. Hemingway, John W. Tilford, John Lutz, D. M. Craig, A. F. Hawkins, Benjamin Warfield, Robert J. Breckinridge, E. Warfield, G. W. Sutton, John Brand, H. T. Duncan, and Edward Macalister.
Shortly after the passage of this act, the beautiful wood- land of Thomas E. Boswell, containing forty acres, and in- cluded in the present cemetery property, was purchased for $7,000.
The grounds were rapidly improved, and, on the 25th of June, 1850, the cemetery was solemnly dedicated. The business houses of the city were closed, and an immense procession, composed of the Masonic bodies, Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance, societies of Transylvania University, and citizens in carriages and on foot, proceeded to the cem- etery. An opening prayer, by the Rev. Dr. Miller, of the Methodist Church, was followed by an ode, composed for the occasion by Professor P. S. Ruter, of Transylvania University, and concluding with this stanza :
"O thou God ! our Friend and Father ! May the names these grave-stones bear, When we all shall rise together, In thy Book of Life appear."
The dedication sermon was by R. J. Breckinridge, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, and the closing prayer was delivered by Rev. E. F. Berkley, of the Episcopal Church.
Under the management of Superintendent Bell, the Lex- ington Cemetery has grown more and more lovely each succeeding year, until now, in point of beauty, it has no superior in the United States. There many brave Confed- erate and Federal soldiers sleep their last sleep, and there repose a host of Kentucky's greatest and best children.
Judge Aaron K. Woolley was one of the victims of the cholera of 1849. He was born in New Jersey, and, after completing his education at West Point, settled in Lexing-
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1848-49.
ton, and married a daughter of Robert Wickliffe, Sen. He represented Fayette in the legislature in 1834; was for some time judge of the circuit court, and also professor in the law college of Transylvania University. He was a good lawyer and a fine speaker, possessed of a strong, clear intellect, and gifted with fine conversational powers. He died aged about fifty years.
1
363
POPULATION.
1850.]
CHAPTER LXVIII.
Population-New Constitution-County Court-B. F. Graves -R. Wickliffe, Jr.
THE population of Lexington in 1850 was seven thou- sand nine hundred and twenty.
The constitution framed by the convention of 1849, was approved by the people of Kentucky at the May election of 1850, and, in June following, the convention reassem- bled, and proclaimed the present constitution to be the fundamental law of the state. The population of Fayette county at this time was twenty-two thousand seven hun- dred and thirty-five. In 1850, Benjamin F. Graves became county judge, being the first judge elected in Fayette under the present constitution of Kentucky.
Judge Graves was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, February 16, 1802. His father, John C. Graves, a Vir- ginian, was one of the earliest settlers of this county, having immigrated to it in 1781. In early life, Judge Graves was engaged in the hat, fur, and tobacco trade. He was fre- quently elected a member of the city council. While serving in this capacity, a subscription was asked of the city for Transylvania University, and by him was made the proposition that the University should give the city fifty- five scholarships. The proposition was carried, and there are to-day numbers of young men in this and adjoining states, who, through his instrumentality, were enabled to fit themselves for the positions of honor and trust they now occupy .*
The best index to his character is the fact that he commenced the study of law at the age of forty, per-
*Sketch.
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1850.
severed under many discouragements, and in due time was admitted to the bar. In 1859, he was elected mayor of Lexington. He has been four times elected judge of the county court, and if he completes his present term, will have been judge for sixteen years. Judge Graves is a man of no ordinary ability and character. Fayette county will never have a more faithful judge.
Judges County Court .- 1850, B. F. Graves; 1854, B. F. Graves; 1858, C. D. Carr; 1862, C. D. Carr; 1866, B. F. Graves; 1870, B. F. Graves.
Robert Wickliffe-son of Robert Wickliffe, Sen., the able pioneer land lawyer-died August 29, 1850, at the early age of thirty-five. R. Wickliffe, Jr., graduated at Transyl- vania University, studied law, represented Fayette in the legislature, and was charge d'affaires to Sardinia from the United States. He worked hard at his profession, and became a good lawyer and an effective speaker, but excelled as a scholar, being specially accomplished in the ancient and modern languages. Mr. Wickliffe was a man of un- usually fine personal appearance. He was summoned to the great beyond in his early manhood, when his life seemed most full of promise.
365
RAILROADS.
1851.]
CHAPTER LXIX.
Railroads-Lexington and Danville-Maysville and Lexing- ton-Lexington and Covington.
THE railroad subject interested Lexington and Fayette county in 1851. On the 22d of March, $200,000 was voted to the Lexington and Danville Railroad, and the same amount to the Maysville and Lexington road. The first directors of the last-named road were Henry Waller, J. W. Cochran, F. T. Hord, A. J. January, W. S. Allen, and Christopher Shultz. The first train, from Lexington to Paris, went over this road December 22, 1853. For years no work was done on the Lexington and Maysville road, and the only part of the road completed, viz: from Lex- ington to Paris, was leased and finally purchased by the Kentucky Central Company.
The sum of $200,000 was voted by Lexington and Fay- ette to the Lexington and Covington Railroad, September 6, 1851. The road was completed from Cincinnati to Paris by the fall of 1854, when the first through train from Cin- cinnati arrived in Lexington. This road was advocated as far back as 1841.
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1852.
CHAPTER LXX.
Visit of Scott and Wool-Lexington and Big Sandy Rail- road-Failure and Revival of the Road-John C. Breckin- ridge-Funeral of Henry Clay.
GENERALS WINFIELD SCOTT and Wool arrived in Lexing- ton September 29, 1852, and during their brief stay ad- dressed a large crowd of citizens. This was during the political campaign which resulted in the election of Pierce for president, General Scott being the Whig candidate.
In January, 1852, the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad Company was incorporated by the Kentucky legislature, and the following persons were appointed to receive subscriptions to the capital stock: Robert Wickliffe, Thomas B. Megowan, D. C. Payne, Jacob Hughes, and Thomas Hughes, of Fay- ette county; Joseph H. Richard, A. Trumbo, John W. Barnes, M. R. Conner, and John W. Richards, of Bath county ; B. J. Peters, W. H. Smith, Peter Everett, Joseph Bondurant, and Burwell S. Tipton, of Montgomery county ; George W. Crawford, R. G. Carter, Jackson B. Ward, John N. Hord, and D. K. Wies, of Carter county; William Hampton, John Culver, William T. Nicholls, William Geiger, and Hugh Means, of Greenup county.
The company was organized with R. A. Apperson as president, and on the 18th of September, 1852, the city of Lexington subscribed $150,000 to it. Ground was broken at Cattlesburg, Saturday, November 19, 1853, and the work was proceeded with. In the summer of 1854, application was made by the company for the issuing of the bonds of the city of Lexington for $100,000, which was refused, on the ground that the railroad company had not complied with the conditions of its contract. The company insti- tuted proceedings in the circuit court, which ordered the
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FUNERAL OF HENRY CLAY.
1852.]
issuing of the bonds, which was done July 6, 1854, under protest by the city authorities. Subsequently the company failed, the whole amount was lost, work ceased on the road, and in 1860 it was sold to a few gentlemen for $60,000.
For many years the whole project was substantially aban- doned, but was finally revived under the charter of the present Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad Company, and on the 2d of August, 1869, Fayette county and the city of Lexington each subscribed $250,000 to its stock, the property and rights of the western division of the old company were merged in the new one, work was again commenced on the road in 1871, and on March 2, 1872, twenty years after the chartering of the original com- pany, the first rail was laid on Water street, in Lexington. The road is now completed to Mt. Sterling, and its affairs and prospects are most satisfactory.
General John C. Breckinridge, the vice-president of the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad Com- pany, was born near Lexington, January 21, 1821. He was educated at Centre College, graduated at the Transylvania law school, commenced the practice of his profession in Lexington, and married Miss Birch, of Georgetown, Ken- tucky. He served as major in the Mexican war, has been a member of the legislature, representative and senator in congress, vice-president of the United States, and major- general and secretary of war of the late Confederate States. The brilliant career of this distinguished Lexingtonian, in the forum, in the field, and in the councils of the nation, indicate the rare gifts and great endowments of the man.
Henry Clay died in Washington City, Tuesday, June 2, 1852. The sad news was at once dispatched to Lexington, and immediately upon its reception the bells were tolled, the business houses were closed, badges of mourning appeared on every side, and all ceased from their usual avocations .* The mayor immediately issued a proclama- tion for a public meeting of the citizens, which was accord- ingly held in the court-house the next day, for the purpose
*Observer and Reporter.
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1852.
of giving expression to their feelings of sorrow for the loss of their distinguished fellow-citizen, to make arrangements for the reception of his earthly remains, and to perform such other acts as were deemed worthy of the occasion.
The meeting was called to order by Mayor E. W. Dow- den, and on his motion, Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley was appointed chairman, and Benjamin Gratz, secretary.
The meeting was opened with an appropriate prayer by the Rev. William M. Pratt, of the Baptist Church. Judge George Robertson then rose and offered some eminently appropriate resolutions, which he accompanied with a brief but eloquent speech, in reference to the great loss which had been sustained in the death of Mr. Clay. The question was then taken, and the resolutions were unanimously adopted.
During the meeting, initiatory steps were taken toward the erection of a monument to Mr. Clay in the Lexington Cemetery, and the following committee was appointed to effect that object, viz : H. T. Duncan, M. T. Scott, Dr. E. Warfield, Leslie Combs, H. B. Hill, John McMurtry, G. B. Kinkead, Richard A. Buckner, J. R. Desha, Willa Viley, John C. Breckinridge.
The committee appointed to repair to Washington and accompany the body home was composed of George Rob- ertson, H. T. Duncan, E. P. Johnson, R. Pindell, D. C. Wickliffe, Henry Bell, James A. Grinstead, H. C. Payne, Thomas S. Redd, Charles B. Thomas, C. C. Rogers, A. Throckmorton, W. W. Worsley, and A. G. Hodges.
Messrs. B. Gratz, M. C. Johnson, E. W. Dowden, H. C. Pindell, J. B. Tilford, J. O. Harrison, W. S. Chipley, S. D. McCullough, William A. Dudley, Thomas G. Randall, F. K. Hunt, E. Oldham, and John R. Dunlap were appointed a committee of arrangements for the reception and inter- ment of the remains.
A resolution, offered by Major S. D. Mccullough, request- ing the ministers of the various religious congregations in Lexington and Fayette county to deliver appropriate addresses on the death of Mr. Clay, at their several places of worship, on the following Sunday, was unanimously
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FUNERAL OF HENRY CLAY.
1852.]
adopted, as was also a motion by Dr. S. M. Letcher to transmit the proceedings of the meeting to Mrs. Clay. The meeting then adjourned.
The body of the illustrious orator was detained in all the larger cities through which it passed, en route to Lexington, that the highest honors might be paid it, and it was not until the evening of Friday, the 9th of July, that it arrived in Lexington, accompanied by the senatorial committee, consisting of Messrs. Underwood, Jones, of Tennessee, Cass, Fish, Houston, and Stockton.
Mr. Underwood, the chairman of the committee, after a brief address, which was replied to by Chief Justice Rob ertson, delivered the body into the care of the Lexington committee. A procession was then formed, headed by a cavalcade of horsemen, preceding the hearse to Ashland. The old home was reached, and the silent mourners moved through the grounds, guided by torches, and they laid him reverently under the roof of the dwelling whose name he had made a household word. 'The Clay Guard, of Cincin- nati, watched all the night through beside his remains.
Long before daylight on the memorable funeral day, Saturday, July 10, 1852, crowds of people poured into Lexington by every avenue to the city. All the roads were opened free to the public, and every hospitality was extended to strangers. Soon the largest crowd of people ever assembled in Lexington was gathered together-so immense, in fact, that it was estimated at one hundred thousand souls .*
At nine o'clock A. M., the funeral escort, composed of the committee of arrangements, committee of the senate of the United States, committees from other states accom- panying the body, committee of the city of Lexington sent to receive the body, the Masonic fraternity, and pall- bearers, formed on Main street, opposite the court-house, under the direction of Marshals John R. Allen, George W. Brand, R. J. Spurr, and E. L. Dudley, and from thence proceeded to Ashland, where a large crowd had already
*Louisville Journal.
370
HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1852.
gathered. On the porch, in front of the door of the states- man's old residence, and resting on a bier cushioned with fragrant and beautiful flowers, was the coffin inclosing his mortal remains, and all around it, and upon it, were the floral and evergreen offerings of every place on the route, from the capital of the nation to Lexington. The Rev. Edward F. Berkley, then rector of Christ's Church (Epis- copal), in Lexington, delivered the funeral oration. He was equal to the occasion, and the effort was a splendid one. He commenced his discourse with the following beautiful words : "A nation's griefs are bursting forth at the fall of one of her noblest sons. A mighty man in wisdom, in intellect, in truth, lies in our presence to-day, inanimate and cold, and the voice which was ever raised in behalf of truth and liberty is silenced forever." After the sermon, an address from the young men of Cincinnati was then delivered by the chairman of the committee to Governor Underwood, to be handed to Mrs. Clay.
The concourse was then dismissed with a benediction, and the body was placed in a hearse beautifully decorated with black cloth and crape, surmounted with a silver urn and eagle, and drawn by six white horses. The funeral escort was formed under the direction of the chief marshal, General Peter Dudley, and it, together with the relatives of Mr. Clay, the officiating clergyman, and the assembled multitude, returned to the city, and took their places in the grand funeral procession, which was formed on Main street by the chief marshal, assisted by his aids, H. C. Pindell and W. J. Talbot, and moved to the Lexington Cemetery in the following order, viz :*
Marshals J. R. Dunlap and O. P. Beard. Military in sections of six, in advance of the procession, with reversed arms, muffled drums, colors furled, and draped in mourning. Officers of the Army and Navy of the United States. Chief Marshal and Aids.
*Observer and Reporter.
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FUNERAL OF HENRY CLAY.
1852.]
Committee of Arrangements. Marshal Postlethwaite. Committee of the Senate of the United States. Committees from other States accompanying the body. Committee of the city of Lexington sent to receive the body. Marshal C. W. Kennedy. Masonic Fraternity. CORPSE AND PALL-BEARERS. Pall-bearers.
B. W. Dudley,
Benjamin Gratz,
M. T. Scott,
D. Vertner,
George Robertson,
Chilton Allan,
E. Warfield,
R. Hawes,
Charles Carr,
Garrett Davis,
Roger Quarles, C. S. Morehead.
Family of Deceased, and officiating Clergyman.
Reverend Clergy of all denominations. Marshal C. W. Dudley.
Governor and Heads of Departments of the State of Kentucky.
Committee of cities, towns, and counties of the State of Kentucky. Marshal S. D. Bruce. Mayor and Council of the city of Lexington.
President and Directors of Lexington Cemetery Company. Trustees and Faculty of Transylvania University. Marshal C. D. Carr. Judges, Members of the Bar, and Officers of the Fayette Circuit Court.
Judges of the Superior and Interior Courts of Kentucky and Officers. Judges of the United States Courts and Officers. Members and ex-Members of the Congress of the United States. Marshal Silas Kenney. Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, in sections of six. Sons of Temperance, in sections of six. Marshals R. W. Bush and M. B. Gratz.
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HISTORY OF LEXINGTON.
[1852.
Fire Companies, in sections of six.
Members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Kentucky. Teachers of Schools. Marshal Isaac Shelby. Citizens on foot, in sections of six. Marshals Clifton Weir and R. Todhunter.
Citizens and Strangers in carriages, two abreast. Marshals Robert Bullock and J. Shropshire.
Citizens and Strangers on horseback, in sections of four.
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