AWEUNIVERy/4 ^lOSANCElfx^ ^5^UIBRARYQ^^ ^^ILIBRARYQ^. '^•^OJIIVOJO^ ^^OJIIVJJO^ ^WEUNIVERS/A -^^Aavnan^ ^ so '%03nV3-3O'^ AWEUNIVER5//, A>;lOSANCEl% O ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^OFCAIIFO% ;,OFCAIIFO%. .^,OFCA1IFO% ,^WEIJNIVER% "^CAavaaiH^ "^^Aavaaii^ ^j:?i3dnvsoi^ ^lOSANCElfji> DO so '^/5a3AiNn-3Wv \/S01^ %a3AINn-3WV ^OF-CAIIFO% ^OFCAIIFO% c-j .^WEUNIVER%. '^smmm'^ AWEUNIVERi-/^ ^lOSANCEtfjv. -s^^lLIBRARY^^ ojo^ '^.i/ojnvjjo^ ";,OFCAUF0% CO ^OFCAIIFO^. AWE11NIVER% ^^ A\lOSANCElfj> o so ^lOSANCElfx^ %a3AINn3WV^ -^lllBRARY^Jc. ^^ ^OFCALIF0% ^^AHvaan-^^ THE STORY OF THE STATES THE STORY OF KENTUCKY EMMA M. CONNELLY Illusiratioiis by L J Bridgmait BOSTON D LOTHROP COMPANY WASHINGTON OPPOSITE BROMFIHLU STREET Copyright, 1890, BY D. LoTHROP Company. Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston, U.S.A. PREFACE. The Story of Kentucky is no less exact history because of its somewhat romantic air. Where a character hitherto unknown in history is introduced, it has always been drawn from real life, with only such unimportant changes as name, residence, and the occasional borrowing of incident from the lives of others among the great crowd of " unknown and unsung." And, in a certain sense, are not these as much a part of their times and country as those whom ambition and self-assertion, as often as excep- tional merit, have served to bring into prominence ? There are shadows ; but none unwarranted by the truth as I have seen it, and none questioned by the two historical authorities who care- fully examined the manuscript and proofs — one a literary mem- ber of the State Historical Society at Louisville, the " Filson Club." I had no thought of writing a Preface : it seems a rather per- sonal, egotistic proceeding; but, since I am requested to write one, I might as well speak the thoughts that are in my mind, and express my pleasure in the recent renewal of literary inter- est in Kentucky, even though that means a good deal of criticism, just and unjust. Since the passing away of the pic- turesque pioneer with his tales of adventure, Kentucky seems to have presented little temptation to the poet, dramatist and story-writer. And the flying tourist scans the uninviting fields along his way — ( especially certain sections of Eastern Ken- tucky) — in cherished ignorance of the fact that he sees no more of the real Kentucky than he sees of great cities under similar circumstances. The typical Kentuckian is scarcely less averse to the railroad as a feature of his landscape than Ruskin, and is far more active in keeping it out. His home is not on the highway, but hidden away among clustering forest trees. 550034 PREFACE. Usually it is the shiftless and unthrifty who stand staring at the train. To the distinguished writer (equally loved in this State as in others ), who wonders why this •' stately land " has " not yet produced a crop of men to match " ; and who suggests that "more than fertile soil is needed to produce great men," I would like to say that, in most things, it takes more than a passing glance to detect unusual force — especially mental force — and more than ordinary stress to discover it. Though a contented people make no remarkable record, the men and women of Kentucky contribute more than is realized to the progress and prosperity of their country. Be not deceived. This Commonwealth, standing serene and unpretentious amidst the august group of Sister States, wears Heaven's smile, even down to the outermost hem of her wood- land borders; the dignity of independence, the simple grace of strength is in her poise ; she is no mean member of the National Household. Not so rich as some, yet carefully clothing and housing not only her own poor, but the stricken of other less favored lands. Not so learned as some, yet with far-reaching glance and active brain, quick to see favorably and to decide justly. Less fluent in speech than action ; less ready to dream of noble deeds than to do them ; with willing hands, unenvious heart, and "ample, flowing, hospitable ways"; "stretching out her hands" to rich as well as poor; in her tongue the law of kindness — surely " strength and honor are her clothing ; and she shall rejoice in time to come." e. ^. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE PIONEER II 1774-1775- CHAPTER 11. IN THE BEGINNING 37 1775- CHAPTER HI. THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY ...... 65 1777-1781. CHAPTER IV. THE STATE OF KENTUCKY ...... 88 1784-1794. CHAPTER V. THE LITTLE CLOUD . . . . . . . II3 1794-1803. CHAPTER VI. BREAKING THE ROD OF BRITISH POWER . . . I38 1805-1826. CHAPTER VII. "the FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT " .... 165 1830-1850. CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. *' FRATRICIDAL WAR " l88 1850-1862. CHAPTER IX. CRUEL WAR . . . . . . . . . 211 1862-1864. CHAPTER X. CLOSE OF THE WAR ....... 233 1864-1865. CHAPTER XI. WITHOUT SLAVERY . . . . . . . 253 1866-189O. CHAPTER XII. AFTER MANY YEARS . 277 1890. THE CHRONOLOGICAL STORY 297 THE people's COVENANT 325 BOOKS RELATING TO KENTUCKY 333 INDEX 335 ILLUSTRATIONS. Building the stockade Old Fort Boonesborough. Initial Through the wilderness " The struggle was short and fierce " " A little hungry, ain't ye ? " Daniel Boone. Initial " My gran'sir wus a English Juke " Betsey Calloway's ruse The torture-post George Rogers Clarke. Initial Ambushed .... Dolly " How could we stick on .'' " John Filson. Initial Office of the Kentucky Gazette . Cabell's cottage Desolation .... John Brown — Kentucky's first deleg The Grave of Daniel Boone Shooting for a wife . Seeking for light A Kentucky girl of 1800. Initial Ashland, the home of Clay A watery wooing Lafayette in 1824 George D. Prentice. Initial . The Court House porch . Picturesque Kentucky " To write poetry became the fashion General Robert Anderson. Initial Brother against brother Initial Frontispiect II 15 25 31 36 41 49 59 65 69 75 83 88 92 100 109 "3 117 123 133 138 142 151 159 165 169 175 183 188 192 ILLUSTRA TIONS. "The Dark and P.loody Ground " Reconnoitering ..... General John C. Breckenridge. Initial The birthplace of Abraham Lincoln "Silently and in the night they stole away Cruel War .... The old Capitol. Initial . After the battle Henry Clay: The Great Kentuckian In the Post-office Wing of the new Capitol, hiitial Among the mountains In the Cumberland Mountains . Thoroughbred .... In the Ulue-Grass Country. Initial Near Frankfort In the Mammoth Cave Cornelia : A typical Kentucky girl of 1890 '97 207 21 1 215 221 229 ^ZZ 237 243 249 253 256 263 ^Th 277 281 28s 293 THE STORY OF KENTUCKY CHAPTER I. THE PIONEER. T was in the fall of 1774. The first omi- nous rumble of the American revolu- tion was just begin- ning to be heard; people were growing restless and migratory, and Edmund Cabell, the son of a well-to-do Virginia gentleman, ran away from home. His purpose was to join himself to Lord Dunmore's army in its expedition against the Indians gath- ered in force at PittsburQ^, Youns: Cabell was only nineteen ; he was the tliird son, and not the favorite ; hence he felt himself justified in taking his fortune into his own hands. He was by no means handsome or graceful ; he — -w. . 12 THE PIONEER. had neither the easy address of his father nor his two elder brothers. He cared little for dress, and despised the formalities of the society by which he was surrounded. His brilliant father considered him dull, and rarely ever mentioned his name except to make some sarcastic remark on his appearance. His dainty mother, a descendant of those wandering cavaliers, the refugee courtiers of the unfortunate King Charles's court, often wondered plaintively why so much blue blood made so poor a showing. Even his English tutor, seeing him reading at random instead of studying his lessons, and spend- ing his leisure in hunting and hobnobbing with backwoodsmen and adventurers, had no thought of the noble ideal of life, the heroic longings, hidden beneath that rugged exterior. And his lively brothers would have greeted any expression of his high-flown aspirations with shouts of derision. Yet he was not one to pass through life un- noticed, nor to pass anywhere without comment. Not that he wished to attract the attention which to him meant criticism ; but there was a real strength in the irregular physiognomy of this Vir- ginia lad that was bound to make itself felt. This could be seen by one who carefully studied the noticeable face with its large aquiline nose, its prominent cheek bones, and the keen, resolute THE PIOXEER. I 3 gray eyes, in which not unfrequently shone a hostile light. Edmund considered himself as hardly used by his own family as well as by Fate. But his crowning misfortune resulted from a sudden and strange infatuation conceived for one of Lord Dunmore's lovely and accomplished daughters. A keen ob- server of human faces, he was not long in discover- ing himself an object of secret amusement to the smiling Lady Augusta. He saw that even she was helping to make him a subject of ridicule to the crowd. With a heart bursting with mortifica- tion and rage he turned his back on all the gay company gathered about his father's home, rushed to his room, and hastily packing a knapsack, that night rode after the army. And as he galloped off he registered a vow never to come back until he had become a great and distinguished man. The war was soon over, and Lord Dunmore leading his little army toward home, leaving the Indians apparently humbled and willing to live in peace with their white neighbors. But Cabell staid behind ; he had not yet distinguished himself; his vow was not yet redeemed. He remained that winter at Fort Pitt, spending the most of his time in hunting. Through the winter he heard a good deal about a beautiful country down the Ohio, where the tall and stately forests were 14 THE PIONEER. almost free from the undergrowth which so much interfered with the hunting around Fort Pitt. The spirit of adventure took possession of him. A party of surveyors, who had been sent out by the Governor of Virginia to survey the lands granted to soldiers in the war against the French, had brought back wonderful accounts of the new country, Daniel Boone and his brother had spent many months there hunting, and had now gone back with the intention of settlinor in this new region. Simon Kenton, a young man who had taken active part in the Dunmore war, had told such wonderful tales of the "cane-land " where the turkeys were so plentiful, and of the "salt-licks" where the deer and elk came in great droves, that everybody was wild to go to "Cane-tuck-ee." In their treaty with Lord Dunmore, then Gov- ernor of Virginia, the Indians had relinquished all claim to this beautiful country. It had been for generations their choice hunting-ground ; there Northern and Southern tribes had met in conflict, and over its fair expanse had been fought so many fierce battles that it was called the " dark and bloody ground." None dared to settle in that murderous re2:ion lest the o^hosts of the slain braves should take vengeance upon them. Since the treaty a company of white men, having no fear of the ghostly warriors that were said to guard it. THE PIONEER. 15- had, under the management of Judge Henderson of North Carolina, purchased of the Cherokees, for the sum of ten thousand pounds, the greater portion of the country called " Cane-tuck-ee," and had now gone on to take possession. Cabell went with none of these parties ; but, on rrfs.. ^^I^'^r-:::^!^ Xfl Mdernes^ .<* the tenth of April, 1775, in company with an old hunter for whom he had formed a friendship, he set out for the " hunter's paradise." " Old Mon- mouth's " early ambition, long quenched in the morass of easy things, quickly revived under con- tact with Cabell's vivid energy ; and the old 1 6 THE PIONEER. hunter's experience in wood-craft was of great ad- vantage to the young man. They carried blankets, a buckskin over-jacket for protection against rain, a small quantity of bread, and a good supply of ammunition. No one cares how " Old Mon- mouth " looked ; but Cabell, who was tall and muscular, wore a dark-blue hunting-shirt with a belt at the waist, buckskin breeches, with leggins buttoned closely from the knee down to his stout boots, and a dark, narrow-brimmed hat of the fashion worn in those days. All through the rugged country of Western Vir- ginia they kept well together ; but after they had crossed the Big Sandy River and advanced farther and farther into the beautiful and luxurious country beyond it, the spirit of daring grew upon them ; they forgot all about the Indians and began to relax their usual vigilance. One day, starting in pursuit of a wounded deer, which led him a long chase before it fell, Cabell discovered that he was beyond the hearing of his companion. He called aloud ; he fired his gun ; but all in vain. There came neither answering shot nor shout. After a fruitless searching of several anxious hours, hunger drove him back to his quarry. He skinned and flayed the deer and car- ried away with him meat enough to serve for several meals ; then, after several more hours of THE PIONEER. I 7 wandering, he gave over the search as night came on, struck a fire, roasted his meat, and ate a hearty meal. Wearied with the fatigues of the day, he wrapped himself in his blanket, threw himself upon the ground and slept soundly until morning. As soon as he had breakfasted he resumed the search for his companion, but with no better success. He had lost the trail. The second niofht, as he was about to strike a fire, the tinkle of a bell fell on his ears. Hastily gathering up his possessions and moving cautiously in the direction of the sound, he came upon a horse grazing in an open space. Cabell's feelings at this sight are more easily imagined than described. He knew that when Indians were bound upon any desperate expedition they left their horses behind — belled, if possible, as an assistance in finding them when needed again. The savages, he concluded, had doubt- less captured his friend the old trapper and were now not far away ; for aught he knew they might, at this very moment, be lurking in the shadowy woods about him. He keenly felt the peril of his position. But, though young and inexperi- enced, his courage did not desert him. He crept into a thicket close by, and drawing together the branches behind him, lay down to await develop- iV' THE BEGINNING. Indians threatened her with his tomahawk, when she tore off bits of her dress and scattered along the way. The two younger girls only sobbed, and said their prayers and tried to keep pace with their cruel captors. We can imagine the despair which these poor girls felt as they hastened through the interminable forest. Could it be only a few min- utes ago, they thought to themselves, in the sombre religious strain of those sombre days, that they were laughing and singing so gaily on the spark- ling waters, blissfully unconscious of the immortal souls within them, now in such imminent peril of the Judgment ? When Daniel Boone and the rest of the hunters returned from the hunt they found the fort in a great commotion ; Mrs. Boone and Mrs. Calloway were weeping for their lost ones, and every one was thinking his turn might come next. Preparations for the pursuit were made at once. Every man in the fort desired to go, but Colonel Boone would have only eight. In an expedition where quick- ness and silence were indispensable it would not do to take too many ; for, as soon as the Indians found themselves hunted down, they would scalp their captives and take to the woods. All acknowl- edsfed the truth of this, and looked around in eao^er expectancy to see who were most likely to be chosen for such delicate duty. IN THE BEGINNING. 55 In the pause Samuel Henderson stepped forward and said quietly but with an air of determination, " Whoever goes or stays, I am going." Boone looked at him, but said nothing. Then two other young men, John Holder and Flanders Calloway, came out boldly and declared they at all hazards, would go, too. Boone did not talk much, but perhaps saw all the more for that ; and he probably reflected that the expedition would lose nothing by enlisting these brave young fellows whose hearts were in the enterprise. At any rate, they were included in the party. Colonel Calloway went, of course, and also Colonel Floyd — from whose pen we have by far the most graphic account that has been preserved. They travelled all that night and the following day, finding now and then a bit of muslin or a broken switch, or the print of Betsey's shoe in the buffalo path which the Indians sometimes travelled. Betsey had refused to change her shoes for mocca- sins as they had forced the other girls to do. At last they saw a gentle smoke curling in the air; the captors had kindled a fire to cook some buf- falo meat. Boone took the lead, motioning to the others to keep utter silence. They crept cautiously forward, screening them- selves behind a clump of bushes. The three girls were there, alive, but sadly worn with fatigue 56 IN THE BEGINNING. and distress. The two younger girls lay sobbing with their heads on Betsey's lap. She was trying to comfort them, though there could have been but little hope in her own heart. She had a red handkerchief tied over her head, having probably lost her bonnet along the way. One of the party, seeing only the red kerchief and the round, sun- browned cheek, lifted his gun and was about to administer a crushing blow upon poor Betsey's de- fenseless head, when Henderson caught his hand, with such a look of mingled fury and horror as the blundering hunter must have remembered for many a day. Just as they were taking aim the Indians saw them and sprang away, leaving all their knives, war-clubs and tomahawks behind them. Four of the kidnapers were shot, only one escaping to tell the tale. But who can describe the joy of the three forlorn captives at this unexpected deliverance from death, or from a life worse than death ! All the bright- ness and beauty came back to the world. And on their return the thirty miles they had traversed seemed scarcely more than ten. Nothing is told us of that homeward journey, but we can well believe that the elders kindly trudged along in front, or fell to the rear, and gave the three youthful couples a fair chance for sym- IN THE BEGINNING. 57 pathetic confidences ; for in due season came three merry weddings attended with all the pomp and circumstance possible in a howling wilderness. And young Cabell derived more pleasure from the festivities than he had from many a stately Virginia marrias^e-feast. In the midsummer days — after the marriage of Samuel Henderson and Elizabeth Calloway, by Squire Boone (the brother of Daniel, and a sort of amateur Baptist preacher) — George Rogers Clarke returned from Virginia, bringing with him five hundred pounds of powder. This he had extorted from the Legislature for the defence of Kentucky; for by this time the forests were full of Indians, seeking Yankee scalps, for which the British had offered rewards. " I told the Virginia folks," said Clarke, " that Kentucky would wait a reasonable length of time and then look elsewhere for assistance. I told them that a country that was not worth defending was not worth having." France had planted a chain of colonies along the Mississippi River from the lakes to the gulf ; Spain hoped to achieve the Mississippi Valley. Either of these powers would gladly have taken Kentucky under her wing. But, though neither Congress nor Virginia took any notice of her appeals, except to say what she should not do, 58 IN THE BEGINNING. Kentucky determined to rely upon herself. She decided to stand alone ; to fight her own battles ; to make her own laws. All the settlers were now gathered into the two fortified stations of Boones- boro' and Harrodsburg. Many had fled ; some, as Colonel Floyd warned them, " to die on the way, like cowards." Cabell, who by the advice of his father, had pur- chased a thousand acres of land, decided to remain in Kentucky. As the Virginia laws at that time gave all the landed estate to the oldest son, it was considered a lucky thing that Edmund had such a knack at providing for himself. He deemed it his duty to remain on "his property," and he was not ill-pleased with his lot. He had become greatly attached to Boone, and the two Hendersons and Colonel Floyd were men of intelligence and refine- ment. Clarke was now at Harrodsburg; so was Logan, an attractive, brave and resolute man ; he had maintained a station of his own until anxiety for the safety of his family induced him to remove them to Harrod's Station. As for Kenton, he was wherever the fighting was thickest. But amongst these pioneers there were also many worthless vagabonds whose coarseness and vulgarity were hard to endure. There was Tuggs, for instance ; he and Cabell had mutually shunned each other since their first encounter. To do IN THE BEGINNIXG. 59 Cabell justice, it must be admitted that he had exerted himself to be civil whenever they met. One morning as Cabell was cleaning his rifle, he saw Tuggs coming rather hurriedly toward the fort. He looked so pale and excited that Cabell called out, " Anything wrong, Tuggs ? " "A rattlesnake bit me," he panted, "jest es I was goin' to shoot the finest buck ever you seed." "Where ? " exclaimed Cabell eagerly. "Jest down back o' the woods yander. If you hurry you'll git one, certain. There's a hull drove uv em. Deer were now exceedingly scarce around the fort. Cabell looked at Tuggs earnestly. " You look pale, Tuggs ; can't I do anything for you } " " No ; I know what to do fur it. You hurry down thar or you'll lose that thar deer." Could it be that Tuggs was going to die, that he was so un- usually gracious ? Had the poison already be- gun to take effect ? Cabell started off at a quick pace, but could the torture post. 6o IN THE BEGINNING. not refrain from glancing back. Tuggs was still sazins: after him as if more concerned for the sue- cess of the deer-killing than for the cure of his danQ:erous wound. Cabell hurried round the woods, but saw no deer. While stealing lightly among the trees, glancing keenly about for signs of game, he heard a slight noise behind him, and suddenly two Indians sprang out of the bushes and covered him with their guns. He sprang at once behind a tree, and levelling his gun, first at one and then the other foeman, for a few minutes held them at bay. He had just made up his mind to shoot one and knock down the other when suddenly he was seized from behind by two more who had stolen upon him in the rear. His hands were quickly bound and he was dragged rapidly through the woods. Tuggs had betrayed him. When they had gone about ten miles they came upon four horses grazing in an open space. Cabell's captors fastened a long rope around his waist; then they mounted and dragged him after them by the halter, laughing at the ludicrousness of his en- forced march. As they rode quite rapidly Cabell was compelled to run with all his might; leaping great stones, rushing through streams, torn by brambles, panting loudly, thinking every moment to fall and be shot, but still running. At last they halted ; Cabell sank down ex- IN THE BEGINNING. 6 1 hausted. The Indians gave him food and water and then began to question him in broken English, calling him "foolish boy " for not calling aloud for his friends at the fort. "• Do you take me for a squaw? " he asked, glar- ing at them. He knew too well the fate reserved for him : to be tortured for their amusement until utterly wearied and then to be burned at the stake. " Kill me now," he demanded. " Til not be dragored another step." They understood his looks and gestures better than his words. After a short powwowing among them Cabell was placed on the horse of the young- est, who ran alongside, holding the halter. They went on as rapidly as before for ten or twelve miles further; then the young Indian began to pant. Cabell, touched by his seeming self-sacrifice, offered to dismount and take his turn at running. The Indian looked at him suspiciously, but as- sented, and he was allowed to run all that day. At night he was bound tightly down to the ground. His feet were fastened to stakes and his arms pin- ioned to a stout stick placed across his breast. Escape was impossible. All through that long night, as he looked up at the moon and stars and wondered that they looked the same, he sought comfort, or at least forgetfulness, in the precious promises of a loving, omnipotent Father. Did he 62 IN THE BEGINNING. lose faith in that love ? O, no ! He only repeated : " He that believeth . . . hath everlasting life." He had now arrived at that dreadful door before which every one must stand ; through which no one need pass but once. If it should be his fate to go now — it was well. Nevertheless there is always in the heart of the brave man the wish to live. Another day's travel brought the party in sight of an Indian village. Here they halted and gave vent to the shrill scalp-halloo. A crowd came tear- ing out with shrieks and yells to meet them. Cabell was stripped, a long double line was quickly formed, and through this he ran, naked, and beaten with clubs and thorny switches. His generosity in the matter of walking did not, as he had hoped it might, make any difference in his treatment. Fortunately for Cabell, just as he was nearing the goal there was another scalp-halloo ; and hastily fasteninor him to a stake with stout thonos of buf- falo hide, the whole party rushed off with fierce yells of delight. The whole afternoon was devoted to the torture of these new prisoners, who bore the cruelties with a fortitude unsurpassed by even the Christian martyrs. " And thousands have suffered and died like this," thought Cabell, who was forced to witness the terrible scene. At length they ceased to shrink from the fire brands and appeared to be praying, and at last fell forward insensible. IN THE BEGINNING. 63 One of the prisoners — held in reserve, possibly, for another occasion — was bound to a small tree and left for the night. They seemed to have for- gotten Cabell, whose air of impenetrable calm con- cealed a depth of horror unfathomable. He was cold and hungry, but these indeed seemed minor afflictions compared with those he had been forced to witness. As soon as it was dusk Cabell began to work at the ropes with which he was bound. After a few desperate tugs, to his great joy the cords slipped over his wrists ; his hands were free. By midnight all the knots were untied. Wrapping a blanket about him he stepped lightly over the sleeping guard, gathered up a knife, two guns and a corn-pouch ; then he cut the cords of the other prisoner. Silently and cautiously the two crept into the woods and made off as fast as their feet would carry them. As Cabell was now an ex- perienced woodsman they had no trouble in find- ing their way. From the distance and direction he had come from Boone's Station, Cabell knew they could not be far from Point Pleasant, and accordingly bent his steps in that direction. The fugitives ran all that night and until noon next day; then, completely exhausted, they hid themselves in a thicket and slept until night. The abundance of wild grapes in the woods, and the 64 IN THE BEGINNING. parched corn in the pouch, kept them from starv- ing. At sunset next day they arrived at the Point Pleasant settlement in rather a pitiable condition, the costume of both including but one suit. Eliot, Cabell's companion, had generously divided his own with his deliverer. Eliot proved to be a great talker as well as a skillful Indian fighter. He lived at Fort Wheeling, he said, where they had been annoyed for a long while by the depredations of various tribes, notably the Mingoes. In endeavoring to recover some stolen horses, a small party of settlers had succeeded in killing a Mingo chief and several of his war- riors. Not being expert woodsmen they had lost their way in the wilderness; there they were soon captured. The cruelties Cabell had witnessed were in retaliation for the loss of their slain warriors. When Cabell heard all of his comrade's story he could not wholly condemn the Indians. The whites, too, had been unnecessarily cruel. They had come to consider the Indian as fair game; they had hunted him down as remorselessly as though he were a wild beast. Even the remembrance of his sufferings could not shut out from Cabell's mind the logical results of continued injustice upon a barbaric nature. CHAPTER III. THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. "\HOUGH now fairly on his way home, Cabell hesitated to present himself before h i s high-toned relatives in his dilapidated garb. He drew for himself a harrowing picture of his coming in from the woods — tattered, beggarly, hungry and way-worn. In fancy he heard the derisive mirth with which the gay company usually assembled beneath his father's expansive roof greeted the returning prodigal. And the Lady Augusta ! she, too, perhaps, would be there, more lovely and more impertinent than ever, a wit- ness of this forlorn home-coming. No ; another such wound as that he would not risk. He accompanied Eliot to Wheeling. Here he lingered for some weeks, working to procure such Yet yearn- 65 clothes as its meagre market afforded. 66 . THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. ing thoughts of his own people, so near at hand, stirred within him. It was a long battle, but affec- tion at last won the victory over pride. The middle of November found him on his way home. Eliot took him in his canoe as far as Fort Pitt ; but Cabell did not tarry there long. The call " To arms ! " had swept away his few friends at that place. Even " Old Monmouth " had disappeared. With a last heroic effort he had enlisted in the army of freedom. It is easy to enlist, but once a soldier there is no going back ; and in due time Cabell's old friend descended into history as one of the units in the official report of the battle of Long Island — " one thousand lost." Cabell reached his old Virginia home the second week in December. Instead of the anticipated brilliant assembly and the cold reception, he found a serious family group dressed in homespun cloth- ins: but little better than his own. Better still, he found a welcome as warm as he could wish. The old order of things was completely changed. When Cabell left home nothing was used in the house that had not come from England. Now indulgence in London luxuries was deemed disgraceful. To- bacco sheds were turned into corn-cribs ; all pro- visions that could be spared were sent to the American army. Many of the slaves had joined the British and it was now the fashion to work. THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 67 We may well feel serious when we say good-by to our friends and go away for an extended absence. We are certain to find them strangers on our return. Cabell's brothers were both officers in the militia — fine, manly fellows, Edmund thought them, sur- prised at his feeling of affectionate pride. They seemed equally pleased with him, and were eagerly interested in all his adventures. He was now an extensive land-owner and, as in England only aris- tocrats possessed real estate, he was naturally regarded as a person of importance. The whole family united in giving him a minute account of the war. Seven Massachusetts men had been shot down on Lexino^ton Green while en^aeed in a peaceable militia drill. Was that to be borne } Then came the battle of Bunker Hill ; the capture of Ticonderoga and of Crown Point; the king's re- fusal of the humble petition of the colonies ; the appointment of George Washington, a Virginian whom they all knew, as commander-in-chief of the New England army (and he had justified Mr. Adams' high estimate of him, they said, by keeping the British penned up in Boston all winter) ; — then came the glorious victory at Charlestown, followed by that dreadful defeat on Long Island; and then the terrible winter, when the depressed and retreat- ing army left a trail of bloody footprints on the frozen ground, as they fell back before the well- 68 THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. provisioned British army. The mercenary rich, said Cabell's narrators, were daily going over to the enemy — preferring the sacrifice of their country to the loss of a few dollars. His father, Colonel Cabell, was not especially pleased at having to pay so much for the privilege of selling his tobacco in England, yet he did not think the demands of the king unreasonable. England ought to be repaid the seven million dol- lars which the seven years war with the French and Indians had taken out of her treasury. Still, if the British ministry wanted the debt paid, they were making a great mistake in tying the colonies' hands rather than giving them a better chance to make the money. William Pitt, America's best friend, had declared that the colonists had no right to make even a nail except by permission of England ; and Lord Dartmouth would have hung for piracy any one of them who dared to print a Bible. New England, of course, being dependent on her com- merce and manufacture, suffered most. When the port of Boston was closed, then even the independ- ent Virginia land-owner began to see that there was little hope of comfortable relations between the two countries so long as the colonies were ruled by a Parliament that neither knew nor cared anything about their rights or needs. The one thine which Colonel Cabell resented THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 69 with all his might, was the continued importation of convicts to America to serve out their sentence and then be turned loose on the country — as if America were a penal colony. " A strange father, indeed," he declared, " would he be who would empty the deadly refuse of his own land upon that AMBUSHED. of his children." Yet no one thought of making the king responsible for the persecutions of his cruel ministry, urged on by the hated Lord Dart- mouth. That the English people sympathized with their ill-used American cousins, they well knew. As for Lord Dunmore, Colonel Cabell thought 70 THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. none the less of him that he had done his duty like a brave and spirited man and remained to harass and retard the rebels all he could. It would have suited these same rebels much better if Lord Dun- more had run away as had some of the other royal governors. In the two weeks of his visit, Edmund obtained a thorough view of the situation from his father's standpoint. He politely declined his brother's offer of a lieutenancy in the militia company of which he was colonel ; spending the most of his time with his mother and her young lady visitors, who were sewing and knitting for the soldiers. Edmund had gained much in manliness as well as spiritual grace from the difificulties and hardships of his frontier experience ; but he had lost some- what, too. He had been so long accustomed to the freedom of the forest that even the ordinary forms of civilized life had become irksome to him. His youthful awkwardness had merged into an austere dignity and reserve calculated to impress even his own family with great expectations of future dis- tinction. It was scarcely a surprise to them when he announced his intention of joining the disheart- ened little band on the banks of the Delaware ; though it seemed strange that the son of a wealthy planter should be willing to accept the humble position of a private soldier. THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 7 1 That this younger son of his old friend made a favorable impression on General Washington we infer from the fact that Edmund Cabell was in- cluded in the two thousand four hundred " picked men," who, three days later, crossed the Delaware in a driving storm, their boats in imminent peril on account of the floating ice, and fell upon the carousing Hessians at Trenton, capturing one thou- sand men. It was Christmas night, and so cold that two of the men were frozen to death. This, with the two killed in the fight, was the extent of the loss. A brave beginning,^ Sergeant Cabell. For a brief season, there was fighting and victory and praise of men — even Frederick the Great complimented the American general. But defeat soon came again, and the restrained movements of a terribly inadequate force ; spring, summer and autumn went by, and no chance for even a fair fight. Then the dreadful winter at Valley Forge ; Congress complaining — itself meanwhile faring sumptuously every day — that the half-starved little band did not annihilate the British army; blaming the hard-pressed general, and trying to put the swaggering Gates in command ; even his own offi- cers findino: fault with Washinorton's manaQ:ement and intimating that they could have done better. Through all the starving and freezing, the criti- cism and complaint, young Cabell stood firm in 72 THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. his allegiance to his general ; gaining slowly but steadily in rank and popular esteem. Then came another turn in the tide ; the young King of France, catching the enthusiasm of the gallant Lafayette, sent over the much-needed supplies of men, money and other munitions of war. At last the English people demanded peace for their sorely-tried kin- dred, and the long struggle came to an end. But the country was still in a sad condition. For seven years war had ravaged the land. Towns had been burned, crops destroyed, the treasury drained, and the spiritual tone of the people lowered. The British still held Charleston, Savannah and New York; war might be resumed any day. The States hung but loosely together. The favorite toasts in the army were : " Cement to the Union ;" "A hoop to the barrel." The soldiers, whose families had suffered for food and clothing, while they fought for their coun- try, now demanded payment for their services; but Congress, which throughout the struggle had sat there at Philadelphia quibbling and quarrelling, said there was nothing to pay. The soldiers, who knew how much rich land was lying fallow across the AUesfhanies waitincr to be tilled were justlv in- censed at this; for a while it was doubtful whether this country was to be a free republic or a monarchy, with George Washington, or a younger son of King THE CO UNI- Y OF KENTUCKY. -] ^ George, or one of the Bourbons as king. But Washington persuaded Congress to arrange for the payment of the impoverished patriots, some of whom had sunk their patrimony in their country's cause, and harmony was restored. Many of Virginia's soldiers were paid in Ken- tucky lands; the long struggle of this valorous little province for independence having resulted only in her recognition, by the mother State, as the " County of Kentucky." For several years after the close of the war lona: trains of emio-rants miorht have been seen movino- throuq-h the wilderness in that direction. Young Cabell had changed a good deal in tastes and looks. He had sickened of rudeness and crude- ness, and was now one of the most elegant officers in the army. His youthful ambition was at last real- ized. He was a distinguished man. But Lord Dunmore and his beautiful dauQ^hters were not there to see. Long ago they had shaken the dust of a rebellious and stiff-necked country from the soles of their shoes, and sailed across the sea to Ens^land. In the meantime a warfare even more bitter had been going on in Kentucky. Early in 1777 oc- curred the long siege of St. Asaph's, when for three months Logan and his fifteen men defended the fort against one hundred Indians. The cruel murder of Cornstalk, the great Shawanese chief, in 74 THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. June, 1777, while on a peaceful mission to Captain Arbuckle, at Point Pleasant, had served to intensify the hostility of the Indians throughout the West; and almost daily Kentucky soil was the scene of bloodshed and violent death. In February, 1778, Daniel Boone and thirty other men were captured at the Blue Licks where they were making salt. In June came the attack on Boonesboro' by Du Quesne, with his twelve Cana- dians and four hundred and thirty-two Indians. Boone had escaped captivity, and after a walk of one hundred and sixty miles in four days, arrived just in time to take command of the garrison, which had only twenty-two men ; he conducted the nine days' siege to a successful termination with the loss of but two men to the enemy's thirty-seven. In the spring of 1779, Colonel David Rogers lost the greater part of his command in a battle nearly opposite Cincinnati (then a wilderness). Only ten out of the forty or fifty escaped and these reached home through untold suffering. In July of the same year occurred Colonel Bowman's fiasco at Chillicothe, by which he secured one hundred and sixty horses at the sad cost of nine brave soldiers. Meanwhile, Colonel George Rogers Clarke had distinguished himself by the conquest of Kaskaskia and Vincennes, the principal British strongholds in the west. In the summer, Colonel Byrd, with DOLLY. THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 'J -J one thousand Indians and Canadians, retaliated by an attack on Ruddle's and Martin's Stations ; in these affrays numbers of men, women and children were butchered by the Indians. Colonel Clarke replied by a counter-stroke, and with nine hundred and ninety-eight men destroyed the two Indian vil- lages, Piqua and Pickaway. He also cut down the standing corn, that the warriors might be com- pelled to remain at home and provide meat for their families. Little time was given to corn-planting in 1779, and notwithstanding serious disadvantages, the in- crease in population was so great during that year, that the price of grain during the winter rose from fifty to one hundred and sixty-five dollars per bushel ; man and beast alike suffered from hunger. In 1780, Kentucky, still a province of Virginia, was divided into three counties; Jefferson, named for the governor, who always seemed to have had a warm place in his heart for the neglected out-post ; Fayette, in honor of America's ardent friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Lincoln, for General Benjamin Lincoln, a brave officer in the Revolution. That same year the towns of Louisville and Lex- ington were established; one named in honor of the young king of France, whose adoption of the cause of liberty was to cost him so dear, the other a yS THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. tribute of respect — and the first — to the now revered Massachusetts patriots who inaugurated the Revolution. In 1 78 1, during General Clarke's absence, a for- midable body of Indians entered Kentucky. They destroyed a large amount of property, depopulated settlements, and killed or captured over a hundred people. A detachment of Clarke's force under Colonel Laughrey, while passing a sand-bar on their way down the river, was suddenly attacked from both sides and almost annihilated — losing one hundred and ten men. Meanwhile Fort Jefferson, which the year before had been established near the mouth of the Ohio, was holding at bay with only thirty men, twelve hundred painted warriors After a three days' sieo"e re-enforcements reached them, the assailants were put to flight, and the isolated fort abandoned. Fort Nelson, the most formidable fortification in Kentucky, was begun at Louisville during the fall of this year. Early in 1782 hostilities commenced with in- creased fury. In March was fought the battle of Little Mountain, one of the fiercest on record ; in that border fight the combatants fought man to man, until a fourth of their number had fallen. On the sixteenth of August occurred the terrible battle of Blue Lick in which one hundred and eighty- THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 79 two horsemen, rather than bear the reproach of being called cowards by a reckless comrade, rushed into a suspected ambush, and nearly half of them were slaughtered. Boone escaped, bearing off his wounded son, who died on the way. Netherland, previously suspected of cowardice, returned when beyond danger to defend his friends who were still in the river. Reynolds gave up his horse to the wounded Captain Patterson ; he was captured by the Indians, but finally made his escape, and was rewarded for his self-sacrifice with two hun- dred acres of land. In this battle the flower of Kentucky fell. Many widows and orphans were left unprotected ; — twenty-three widows attend- ing court at Logan's Station at one time to administer on their husbands' estates. Emboldened by their success, the Indians be- came even more active in assault than before. Men were shot down while hunting; families were mur- dered while asleep, and a general sense of insecurity prevailed. This however resulted in weeding out from the population the cowards and the weak- lings who fled the fearful country, until only men of courage and resolution remained. Kentucky bore her part in the Revolution, but the end brought her neither peace nor inde- pendence. Her bitter warfare with the savages continued ; a vast wilderness lay between hor 8o THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. and her seat of government, and left her almost lawless. The spring of 1784 again found Edmund Cabell journeying toward the wilderness, but this time he went accompanied by a long train, including three hundred people. Many trains had passed that way during the preceding year; the population of Kentucky had increased in twelve months from twelve thousand to thirty thousand. The passage upon the Ohio had become more dangerous than the journey by land. Cowardly captives had been used as decoys, their cries of distress bringing the whites to their rescue and to their own captivity or death. The caravan has paused for the noon lunch. There is Cabell in his uniform of blue, looking more important, but no less sensible, than of yore. He is engaged in conversation with a roughly- dressed, middle-aged man, whose pale, finely-chis- eled features wear an indefinable look of cruelty. The incongruity of the delicate face and fierce expression both interests and irritates Cabell. It is like an exquisite painting of an unworthy sub- ject. His name is Westlake, and he claims to be descended from a noble English family. He is of no occupation and ranks little higher in Cabell's estimation than his friend, the peddler, that moon- faced man seated on a log near by, who during THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 8 1 the intervals in their journeying, drives a thriving trade among the emigrants. But the real object of Cabell's interest, possibly, is the daughter, who at present is roasting a piece of venison before the fire. The girl is young and pretty, like a lovely flower one finds unexpectedly in the woods. More interested in the fine young officer than in her cookery, the girl, in turning to see if he is observing her, suddenly drops the steak into the ashes. "Dolly!" shrieks her father, whose thoughts are bent upon his dinner, "just see what you've done ! " And he struck her fiercely. Dolly threw her apron over her face and began to sob, unmindful of the burning meat. " Pick it up," cried the man with an oath. " Yesterday you burnt the potatoes, to-day it's the meat. Who could stand such a creature ! " and he added a few more oaths. " The man is possessed I He is not responsible," thought Cabell, whose longing for easy relations with his fellow-creatures often induced unwarrant- able leniency, and usually ended in unwarrantable harshness. Indeed, the fierce eyes and white face had a wild look. Cabell hurriedly took his leave. . There were several army officers in the party. There were gentlemen, educated and uneducated ; there were rouohs — some claimins^ hio^h descent, others claiming no descent at all. There were 82 THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. COWS and horses; oxen, mules, pigs, pack-horses and covered wagons. Day after day the long train crept slowly through the wilderness, like a huge serpent crawling toward its lair. Daily Cabell paused for a few words with West- lake and his friend Scraper the peddler, who was evidently wooing Westlake's fair daughter. As evidently he was regarded with more favor by the father than by the pretty Dolly. The girl's only hope of the future had been to marry the peddler and go on all her days cooking for him and her father; but now she began to have vague visions of an indefinite holiday with nice dresses, a rose- embowered cottage and (for nothing seemed im- possible to this masterful young man whom every one seemed to obey) perhaps even real glass in the windows. As these fine fancies did not tend to improve Dolly's culinary efforts she was occasion- ally soundly cuffed for burned meat and potatoes and so life had its shady streaks. Cabell disliked Westlake even more than he did Scraper; soon he began to distrust him. "Did you ever happen to meet a man by the name of Tuggs ? " Westlake asked him one day. " He went to Kentucky in '75, I heard." "Yes," returned Cabell, and not caring to make a confidant of this man, added ; " I knew very little about him," THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 83 " A cousin o' mine knowed him," said Westlake, with a sly glance. " Thought him a purty smart sort o' feller, too." As Dolly's liking for Cabell increased, that of her father and the peddler seemed to diminish, until at length the false harmony of the uncongenial group was broken by a trivial disagreement. " It's cur'us," Westlake said one day as they sat on a log — Westlake, as usual, smoking a pipe — " it's cur'us what rediklous notions some o' yo' book-men git into they heads. 'Tother day I heard one o' them officers a-beatin' Jim Ferr}^ down that the worl' turned round everyday. Ha! ha!" " Turned round ! " exclaimed Cabell with a stare. " Yes, sir ; turned round ! I like to died a-laughin'." "Well, it does." " Turn round } " with a smile of pity. " Turn round ! " with an omi- nous glare. " Anybody with three grains o' sense knows better'n that. Can't I see? How could we stick on the under side.'' Any man that b'lieves such "now coui.u we stick oin?" 84 THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. trumpery's an idiot." And angry red spors began to flare out on the white face. Cabell retreated in good order, thereafter refraining from exposing himself to such attacks. One moonlight night, as he hurriedly passed Westlake's wagon, he heard Dolly softly call his name. " You mus'n't mind what pap says," and her voice trembled slightly, " he's so cross to me ; and I hev to stand it, day in an' day out. I git so tired sometimes. I'm most ready to die," and she began to sob. The curly head, thrust out at the torn place in the wagon-covering, locked very pretty in the moon- lieht. Poor child ! Hers was indeed a thankless servitude. He said a few kindly words and passed on, neither dreaming how soon she was to be re- leased from the hated "servitude." The very next day while hunting alone in the woods Westlake was shot by a wandering party of Indians. No one, not even Scraper, knew anything about Westlake's previous history or his destination. Dolly knew that her " Uncle Jeems " had a home ready for them somewhere, she did not know exactly where. The dead man was buried, Dolly was placed in the care of a family who were going to Harrodsburg, and the party moved on. When Cabell reached Boonesboro' he found the tract of land he had purchased from Henderson THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 85 and Company occupied by another party, who said he had bouo^ht it of a man named Tus:ors. As Tuggs could not be found, the only alternative was to sue the man in possession. Already courts of justice were established, and there were numerous attornies who had all they could do, too, in settling land claims. The Virginia land-of^ce system which permitted settlers to locate on any unoccupied lands and settle their own boundaries, kept up a perpet- ual legal warfare, some ot which has endured even to the present day. As a rule they were an order-loving people, in- heriting political tastes from generations of law- makers. They kept up a fair show of government, though every man was a law unto himself, and Public Opinion ruled over each with an iron rod. Very few of the settlers of 1775 remained. Colonel Floyd, the attractive, well-bred gentleman, brave Captain Estill, Squire Boone, the intrepid hunter-preacher — each had been killed by the Indians. Also the Reverend John Lythe of the Episcopal church. Colonel John Todd, and numer- ous other highly-esteemed citizens. There still remained the generous, kindly Harrod, the reso- lute Daniel Boone and the dauntless Kenton. Clarke, too, was there ; but his early brilliancy had faded. The failure through no fault of his, of his expedition against Detroit, had lost him the fickle 86 THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. popular favor. This was always his greatest stim- ulus, and after his discharge from the service in 1782 a sense of injustice and wrong seemed to weigh upon his mind, helping to sap his energies and diminish his resolution. From this time for- ward he took but little part in the history of the Kentucky people. The vast tide of emigration which had set in at the first note of peace in 1781 served to push the pioneers more and more into the background, until finally nearly all were swept out of the State. Cabell sold his military land-grant and bought a tract near Lexington. This had grown to a town of nearly a thousand inhabitants. He had brought two slaves with him, and at the earliest oppor- tunity he bought two more. After the glory of the battle-field and the chase, hoeino^ corn was intolerable. He built a large log-house of four rooms with a long hall running through the centre, roofed with hand-made walnut shingles. In the fall he went over to Harrodsburg and married Dolly Westlake, whose " Uncle Jeems " had never turned up. Dolly wore a cottonade dress and a white ker- chief which was fastened around her neck with a gorgeous green glass pin. It was her best; she would have worn more finery if she had possessed any. Far from appreciating Cabell's delicacy in THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKY. 8y appearing in the usual hunting garb of buckskin trousers and flannel shirt, Dolly was grievously disappointed that he did not wear his gorgeous vel- vet coat, embroidered satin waistcoat, lace ruffles and silver shoe-buckles. And when he preferred to spend the evening of his wedding-day talking with Colonel Harrod and other old acquaintances, instead of going to the feast and dance given in honor of the occasion at the biQ:2;est house in the town, Dolly was almost offended. It did seem a little odd, it must be confessed; even the calm-faced moon and stars looked down in wide-eyed amazement at this serious young bride- groom sitting by the fire, talking over political mat- ters with a lot of old men while his bloominor bride o went to the marriage-feast with the rejected suit- ors — for Dolly had been very popular at the station. The following day Dolly was taken to her new home. The windows had small panes of greenish glass in them ; roses were growing against the sides of the house, and the housekeeping began. CHAPTER IV. THE STATE OF KENTUCKY. HE first History of Kentucky was written by John Filson and published by James Adams of Wilming- ton, Delaware. It ap- peared in 1784. The map accompanying it was a remarkable pro- d u c t i o n considering the few facilities and the many dangers attending the collection of material. This map has been re- published in the Duerrett's Life of John Filson.* Upon it appear the towns of Louisville, Lexington, Danville, Bardstown, Harrodsburg, Boonesboro', Greenville, Leestown, and over forty " stations." Lexino:ton and Danville were the leadinor towns in wealth and culture ; Harrodsburg came third, and fourth in importance, Louisville, located on two thousand acres granted by the royal Government to * The Life of John Filson, by R. T. Duerrett (Louisville, 1884), was the initial number of the Filson Club Series of publications on Kentucky History. THE STATE OE KENTUCKY. 89 John Connolly for services in the French and Indian war, and "escheated " by a Lexington jury because of the owner's activity in the English service. It had then barely two hundred inhabitants. Four years after the publication of his history, the chequered career of Filson was brought to an untimely close by the inevitable tomahawk. He had just assisted in founding the town of Cincin- nati, and bad named it Losantiville. Starting to join a surveying party, he disappeared in the woods never to return. In 1785 a convention met at Danville, firmly re- solved on separation from Virginia. The members were all men of intelligence, well-instructed in legis- lative lore and they prudently referred their rather truculent resolutions to another and laro:er conven- tion, by which, in due time, they were confirmed. It was well they had resolved on patience as well as persistence, for six years passed away before Virginia could see her way clear to grant a separa- tion. And Congress was too busy wrangling over the Constitution to heed the little colonv knockinsf at its doors. In this Constitution, Kentucky, though an un- recognized fragment, was as deeply interested as any of them ; like the others she had her doubts. The penurious objected to the regular collection of taxes ; the lawless feared interference with their 90 THE STATE OF KENTUCKY. personal liberty ; only the better class recognized in the law a friendly wall, shutting out the evil-doer. But the chief objection was that it condemned State independence. Why put themselves into the hands of a scheming set of politicians, who, for aught they knew, might manage to sit perpetually.? Jefferson, Kentucky's best friend, only half ap- proved it, men said. Hadn't the very men who framed this new code of laws fought over it themselves ? Who knew what tyranny it might hold 1 Franklin, it had been hinted in New York, was in his dotage ; Randolph, though an adept in pulling down, had never been conspicuous in build- ing up. Hamilton and Madison were visionary young upstarts, and Washington — a fine soldier doubtless, but no politician ! A standing army, indeed ! Only tyrants had need of standing armies. What do those Eastern people care for us, any way } Kentuckians argued. Hadn't John Jay proposed to barter away for twenty-five years the right of navigation of the Mississippi in exchange for a favorable commercial treaty with Spain ? The Mississippi is ours and the Government ought to demand from Spain its free navigation. Is it a craven fear that Spain will unite with England and whip the Americans } or is it mere indifference to the vital interests of the West, that holds them back } Either was THE STATE OE KENTUCKY. 9 1 equally bad in the eyes of a Kentuckian. In her long isolation and self-dependence Kentucky had grown even more Democratic than Virginia. In 1786 a treaty of peace brought a slight lull in Indian depredation. Of this treaty there are num- erous conflicting accounts. General George Rogers Clarke, General Richard Butler and Col. R. H. Parsons joined in the negotiations, and by their skill and courage, it is believed, averted a bloody war. General Clarke bore the leading part. But the murder of an Indian by a vicious white man put an immediate end to all friendly relations between the races ; the old barbarities were re- sumed. Throughout '87 and '88 ceaseless enmity and warfare ensued. Scarcely a day passed that there was not some new tale of horror to relate. It is easy for the inhabitants of this peaceful, luxurious land to sit in judgment on the pioneers who bought the land with their blood and with the blood of their best beloved. Beside the dismal and depressing task of subduing the earth — break- ing the thick turf, felling vast forests, hewing paths through impenetrable thickets with only the rudest weapons, the body sustained by the coarsest food and clad in the roughest clothes — there was the ever-present dread of sudden death. For the In- dian's favorite method of warfare was to steal in at the serenest hour and let none escape. 92 THE STATE OF KENTUCKY. " You should not have driven the Indian away from his lands,"' says the righteous judge of to-day. " When he smote you on one cheek, you should have turned the other. Poor fellow ! He was only avenging the murder of his brother by some white man, according to the traditions of his race." .sl-U. ^Ml^ ^.M '^;^Sa^ ^-' ^"PKey^irrt: Printing j-jouse'^ ^ in Kentucky- ^ Office of I \ J -es5,^ electors ; the latter holdins: office " durinsf good behavior." This was, we ai'e told, a necessary provision against the action of local prejudice in legislative settlement of land titles ; Kentucky was " shingled over with title-deeds over-lapping each other, and occasioning continual feuds over boun- daries," a legal warfare as fierce as that of rival Indian tribes over the great hunting ground. The State Constitution was merely an adaptation of the United States Constitution to the needs of the country, with a few additional clauses, such as a provision for " keeping separate Church and State " H3 114 THE LITTLE CLOUD. by rendering ministers of the gospel ineligible to office. There was an act "prohibiting the intro- duction of slaves into the State as merchandise ; " also one recommending provisional measures for emancipating slaves " under the limitation that they shall not become a charge on the county in which they reside." Even then many of these people whose patri- mony consisted largely in slaves, were seriously considering the practicability of gradual manumis- sion. Long ago they had discovered the sinister character of this institution bequeathed them by their fathers. There was no reference to public education. People of means had private teachers, or sent their sons and daus^hters to Eastern schools. The poorer class sent to the small " day school," where the three r's, " readin', ritin' an' 'rethmetic," were taught. In 1794 "Mad Anthony Wayne" and his " legion," among whom were one thousand six hun- dred mounted Kentuckians under General Scott, swept over the Indian territory. They burned villages, destroyed provisions, killed men, women and children, and planted impregnable fortresses in the very heart of the red-man's country. It was the hardest blow the savages had yet received ; there was nothing left them but to ac- THE LITTLE CLOUD. II5 knowledge themselves defeated. In 1795 seven tribes whose hostility had been kept alive by the English, entered into a treaty of peace with Gen- eral Wayne at Greenville, Ohio, agreeing to bury the hatchet forever. Even the hardest heart must find somethinof in- expressibly sad in the picture, involuntarily sug- gested to our minds, of this humbled, defeated peo- ple gathering up the fragments of their household treasures and slowly journeying westward, only to be driven, again and again, toward the setting sun. Soon the old pioneers, the great " Indian fight- ers," began to move westward, too. In 1797 (this date seems the most probable among the number given by various writers) Daniel Boone left Ken- tucky. When Cabell heard that his old friend was going away, he rode fifty miles to bid him good-by. " It's gittin' too crowded here," he said, w'hen Cabell remonstrated with him. " There's good huntin' over on the Missoury, and nobody there but old hunters like me. I love the woods. There's too many clearin's, and too many settlers quarrelin' over the land, and too much law. Their ways ain't my ways. I want elbow room." The truth was, a sheriff had come and told Daniel Boone that he must move ; the land he was living on belonged to somebody else. He ad- dressed a memorial to the Legislature setting forth Il6 THE LITTLE CLOUD. his claim to the land ; but there was a defect in the title and the Legislature could discover no way to remedy it. Yet if any one had earned a title to Kentucky, it was Daniel Boone. He had given his two sons, had suffered captivity and untold hardships, and spent the best of his life in her de- fense ; services which money could neither obtain nor repay. Yet there was not one foot of her oTound he could call his own. That was why Kentucky was "getting too crowded for him." In 1845, however, Kentucky generously donated to Boone all the land he needed — six feet in the Frankfort cemetery. That he occupies at the present day. Logston, also, soon found the settlements grow- ing too thick, and moved to Illinois. In 1799 Ken- ton went to Ohio to live. All left poor. In 1824, when Kenton returned, old and destitute, he was received by the Legislature with the respect and honor due one of the heroes of the pioneer times, and a pension of twenty dollars a month was voted him. In 1803 very few of the party of 1775, besides Cabell, remained. Long ago Colonel Henderson had returned to his home in North Carolina, whence, in 1785, he had "gone to his own place." Harrod had been found dead in the woods in 1793, THE LITTLE CLOCD. I 17 murdered, probably, by the Indians. Colonel Calloway had fallen in the same way, while hunt- ing alone in the wilderness. Cabell had sold his farm near Harrodsbur"; and bouo^ht another near Lexinoton. He had married again ; a gentle, but resolute and clear-headed young woman. He had built a grand house, modelled — - -r, lilt ii'lIM-^- 1 he Orevve r^^iUt-ort ( (emeCery ' -f A • 1 R ®^ 1 M cxnitl I \ ooTie . ( , PhoU t,)K^Kcr»t after the EnQ[lish manor-house, and surrounded by a large park of forest trees ; and though he kept clear of political oflfice — perhaps because he cared nothing for office — he became one of the leading men of the State, whose opinion was sought by all parties. Il8 THE LITTLE CLOUD. Released from the jDerpetual fear of death, the country increased rapidly in wealth. In 1802, Michaux, the distinguished French naturalist, " found nowhere in Kentucky a single family with- out plenty of meat, bread, milk and butter for food. The poorest man had always one or two horses, and it was very seldom a planter went on foot to see his neighbors." The wealthy families began to live more luxuriously, and, notwithstanding their eminently democratic principles, the craving to be thought of aristocratic lineage (a weakness not con- fined to crude civilization) began to manifest itself in its own peculiar way. Of the little town of Louisville it was written : " There is a circle, small 'tis true, but within whose magic round abounds every pleasure that wealth regulated by taste can bestow. There the ' red- heel ' of Versailles may imagine himself in the very emporium of fashion, and, whilst leading beauty through the mazes of the dance, forget that he is in the wilds of America." The French Republic at this time commanded the strongest sympathy of the people of Kentucky. When the treaty with Spain — the enemy of France — was announced, even though it gave to Kentuck- ians the lonq--coveted riq-ht to the navio^ation of the Mississippi River, the news, it is said, was received with " a burst of fury that knew no bounds." The THE LITTLE CLOUD. 1 19 people regarding it " a base desertion of an ancient friend struggling with a host of enemies." In the meantime a tempting offer from the King of Spain had been under private consideration by some of the leading politicians of the State. For a small extension of his boundaries over the limit fixed by the United States, his Majesty offered them the Mississippi and one hundred thousand dollars to be used in securing the good will of the people. Also a good deal of artillery and other munitions of war. Judge Sebastian, of the court of appeals (who was secretly receiving a pension of two thousand dollars a year from Spain), was sup- posed to be the leader in this intrigue, though recently it has been discovered that Wilkinson, then stationed at Detroit and still holding his mili- tary command, was more deeply involved than even Sebastian. But the treaty overturned all their plans ; and the unraveling of the Burr sensation, three years later, brought both men to trial. Judge Sebastian was invited to resign his seat as judge of the court of appeals, and from that time lived in retirement. General Wilkinson was more expert in covering up his tracks ; only recent examination of the archives of Spain make it certain that he was, for many years, in the pay of both governments at the same time. I20 THE LITTLE CLOUD. Judge Innes of the United States court, Colonel Nicholas and Colonel Murray, all men of high stand- ing, were also involved in this deplorable intrigue. These, with the lesser figures who have escaped mention, managed to free themselves from blame. And, indeed, they were less blamable than appears at the present day. The tie binding the States together was then new and regarded with not un- natural doubt and distrust. Their indignation had been deeply stirred against the alien and sedition laws recently enacted by the Federal Congress which threatened the precious personal freedom — of thought, of speech, of pen — for which they had fought so long. In their strong disapproval they had adopted the famous Resolutions of 1798, written by Jefferson and pre- sented in the Kentucky Legislature by John Breck- enridge, making void any act of the general Govern- ment interfering with personal liberty or authoritv of the State. This was the beginning of the great question of nullification and secession — the little cloud no bigger than a man's hand, which was to grow and deepen and at length break into that fearful storm, the great Civil War. While her father and his compatriots were thus engaged, Augusta Cabell was quietly pursuing her studies in the Viro-inia town where her o-rand- THE LIITLE CLOUD. 12 1 parents lived, and preparing herself to take her part in life ; what part she knew not. Over this preparation, both mental and social, her grand- parents kept careful watch. Augusta was to be a great lady ; to take a prominent place in grand his- toric scenes. They had made up their minds to part with her only for a brief visit home on the completion of her studies, after which she was to return to them and become a distingfuished fieure in the elegant society of the East. But — The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley. On the thirteenth of July, 1S03, this tall young lady of sixteen, fair, lithe and strongly built — look- ing, with her natural dignity of deportment, more like her crrandfather Cabell than ever — sat on the deck of an Ohio River barge, watching the pictur- esque hills go by. She was traveling under the care of an old friend of her grandfather's, General Bowles, who unfortunately had been ill almost con- tinuously since their embarkation at Pittsburg. There w^ere no steamboats on the Ohio then, nor until 181 1. Although John Fitch of Bardstown had invented his steamboat in 1785 it was many years before he could secure any aid in bringing his invention into use; and b\' that time James Rumsey and Edward West, both Kentuckians, had secured 122 THE LITTLE CLOUD. patents for their steamboats and were ready to di- vide the honors and the profits of the invention with him. " How much nicer this is than traveling by- stage," Augusta remarked to the young man beside her. " And so much faster. Three weeks from Wihnington to Pittsburg, and only eleven days from Pittsburg to Louisville." " I wish it was the other way," said her compan- ion. " That it was two more weeks to Louisville instead of two more days." " What! and have poor General Bowles sick two more weeks .f* He says it is the river that makes him ill." It was only a rude sort of ark, loaded witli live- stock and groceries, with but poor accommoda- tions for passengers; but to these two young peo- ple this gentle gliding along the shining stream, with a moving panorama of delightful scenery before them, was a charming experience. Only nine days before Mr. Melville Keith, with his habitual air of careless ease, had stepped on board the boat and into Augusta's life. He discovered in General Bowles an old and valued friend of his father, and that gentleman was glad enough to transfer his fair young charge to the care of so courteous and gen- tlemanly an acquaintance. And most faithfully had he fulfilled the trust ; there was no denying that. THE LITTLE CLOUD. 125 " I am afraid papa won't be there so soon," said Augusta. " He was to meet me at Louisville, you know." " Then," said Mr. Keith firmly, " I shall go with you to Lexington. General Bowles might be very ill on the way." He had told her all about his own family, who lived in Pennsylvania, on the historic Brandywine ; and she had given him brief glimpses of her own home-life. She had told him, too, how her own mother had been murdered by the Indians ; and how dearly she loved her step-mother. " Papa had made up his mind never to marry again," she said, " but one Christmas he was at Nora's father's (I call her Nora, too) and there were a lot of wild young men there ; and they were all drinking egg-nog and apple punch. And her father had promised that the one who made the best shot should marry his daughter. He was a stubborn old fellow and Nora knew she would have to do just as he said ; and she was dreadfully frightened. Papa saw it, and determined to save her. He beat them all ; and her father was greatly pleased. Papa was intending to give her back her liberty, even though it would have offended her father, until he found that the next best shot could claim her. She has a beautiful face, but papa did not care for that. It was the beautiful soul back of it that he cared about." 126 THE LITTLE CLOUD. "Yes," assented the young man, rather absently. Although quite ill General Bowles went all the way home with Augusta and her maid. And Mr. Melville Keith went along to take care of the whole party. He was hospitably received and for some davs remained a afuest of the house. Three months afterward we find him still at Lex- ington, received everywhere as an honored guest. He was a fluent conversationalist, had a humorous way of relating an anecdote that made him wel- come in any company, and was always faultlessly dressed. His elegant rufifles, his embroidered waist- coat and his perfectly fitting coats were the admira- tion and the despair of young men less fortunate in their taste and tailor. He was a frequent guest at Colonel Cabell's house, but did not find the ready favor in the Colonel's eyes that he found in the daughter's. " Why don't you like Mr. Keith, papa? " Augusta asked. " He is well-bred, well-connected and good- humored ; what more could you ask } " " His manner and his dress are both rather too fine for a young man with no visible means of sup- port," said the Colonel, whose own dress was sufifi- ciently elaborate ; consisting of a dark cloth coat ornamented with brass buttons, short trousers fas- tened at the knee, and lonfj silk stockinjjs. His low-cut shoes had silver buckles, and the long queue THE LITTLE CLOUD. 127 behind was tied with a black ribbon. This change in the style of his dress was due more to the taste of his wife than to his own. Her father, notwith- standing his convivial habits, had always been cere- monious and conventional in dress and manners. Her own dress, and that of her step-daughter, was more simple, consisting of plain stuff gowns with cambric frills at the neck and on the sleeves. " Do you regard his cousin. General Wilkinson, in the light of a recommendation .'' " inquired her father ; but his smile was rather serious. "Everyone — except you, papa — likes General Wilkinson," returned Augusta quickly. " And you.'^ How long is it since I heard you say that every one who approached General Wilkinson retired with a smirch on his character ? " " Well, I don't like General Wilkinson — an un- scrupulous man, who thinks by knocking dowr, others he elevates himself. Mr. Keith isn't at all like him. He would rather help others than him- self." " Yes, he carries that a little too far." Then, after a pause, he resumed: "I was hardly fair to General Wilkinson the other day when I made him entirely responsible for the public neglect that has befallen General George Rogers Clarke." " But he gloats over it," interrupted Augusta, "and as long as he can manage affairs himself he 128 THE LITTLE CLOUD. will hold a position of honor while General Clarke pines his life away in obscurity." " Wounded pride and a sense of self-condemnation because of his complicity in Genet's wild scheme — that audacious French minister, you know, who planned to seize all the Spanish possessions along the Mississippi — have helped to unnerve and de- press General Clarke," Colonel Cabell replied. " But a sign of interest from the people he has served so faithfully would rehabilitate him, and rekindle the old fire of patriotism. Sympathy and appreciation are what the really loving spirit of the man is starving for; but he will never receive them from this generation. When a hundred years or so have passed, perhaps a big stone may be raised to his memory. Meantime his life is wasting away in lonely brooding over his wrongs." Augusta was never happier than when she could induce her father to talk about the statesmen and governments, the people and affairs, about which he knew so much and she knew so little ; and Mrs. Cabell, too, listened with interest, though each kept busy with her needle-work. We catch only slight glimpses of the women in the histories of that far- off time. We are told that there were looms and spinning-wheels in almost every house ; not many feminine hands were ignorant of spindle and dis- taff. Idleness had not then come into fashion. THE LITTLE CLOUD. 129 " What does all this ado about the Spanish Gov- ernment mean, papa?" Augusta next inquired. " Is Congress going to declare war against Spain ? " "The speeches of Senators Breckenridge and White certainly mean war. The cruel treatment which American prisoners — arrested on the merest suspicion of disloyalty — receive from the Spanish Government, is considered sufHcient grounds for war. There will be no permanent peace until the United States has purchased from Spain all the territory along the Mississippi. There can never be any congeniality between a despotic old mon- archy and an enthusiastic young republic." " How foolish men are to be always wanting to fight ! Is there no way to adjust matters without killing each other .f* Because that rapacious little Bonaparte is snatching at everything that doesn't belong to him and, like a great ugly dog, beating down all the little nations around him, he is thought a great man ; but to my mind he is no better than a cruel, selfish beast. Though the law provides no punishment for the wholesale murderer, he is morally guilty, and some day will suffer the penalty of his crimes." Mrs. Cabell, whose training had been wholly domestic, sometimes wondered at her step-daugh- ter's keen interest in political movements and affairs of nations; but to Colonel Cabell, who re- 130 THE LITTLE CLOUD. membered the political atmosphere of his father's house, where such men as Jefferson, Madison and Randolph were frequent guests, it was not a mat- ter of great surprise. " Some day, perhaps, the world will learn to rule by good statesmanship rather than by blows," re- turned her father. " Now that Napoleon is First Consul we shall see whether he is a great man or not." " What is the good of fame, after all ? " inquired Augusta with an air of dissfust. " Don't we call our negroes and our dogs Caesar and Pompey } But, about the Spanish war; Mr. Keith has joined a company of riflemen who are planning to make a furious descent on that old rascal of a Morales, at Orleans, where he has cut off the navigation of the Mississippi again." " All talk ! The Kentuckians are always prepar- ing to make a furious descent on somebody. Poor Philip Nolan ! but for his rash defiance of these same treacherous Spanish he might have been alive now to serve his country which he loved so well. We have no right to make war without the per- mission of Congress ; and the war party is as yet in the minority." Her grandparents were urging Augusta's return to Virginia, but she pleaded a wish to learn some- thin;e, attractive well- I40 BREAKING THE ROD. equipped home of the agreeable Keiths speedily became a popular rendezvous ; and, almost ere the honeymoon was well over, Augusta was called upon to shoulder her coveted responsibilities and enter upon an unexpected career as hostess to an ever- growing crowd of guests. None knew of the patient care, the tireless energy demanded of the charming hostess to keep the domestic machinery from some- times running: down ; of the thousand druds^eries which filled the hours between morning calls, two o'clock dinner and evening receptions, which the customs of the day demanded. Mrs. Keith was not learned in book lore, but she knew by reputation almost every leading statesman in the United States. When Aaron Burr first made his appearance in Kentucky in 1805, she was well- acquainted with his previous history. She knew just why he had lost the re-nomination as Vice- President with Jefferson ; why Hamilton had de- feated his election as governor of New York ; and how he had fought and killed his enemy. And she hated Aaron Burr. But, so much stronger is per- sonal sympathy than mere intellectual prejudice, that, after one deep glance into the impressive dark eyes Augusta remained from that time forth one of his warmest friends and defenders. In Lexington, Louisville and Frankfort, as was ahvavs the case wherever he went, Burr was dined BREAKING THE ROD. 14 1 and wined. There as every where he was followed by damaging stories. Enthusiastic friends gathered around him ; envious enemies stabbed him in the back. Brilliant and self-confident, yet fatally lack- ing in integrity, Burr always found popular favor easy to catch but very hard to hold. Yet he never found out why it was that the envy and dislike incident to notoriety staid by him while the love and friendship seemed always to take their flight. Soon the Western World, a newspaper pub- lished in Frankfort, began to denounce Burr as a traitor who was planning to seize Louisiana, Texas and Mexico — possibly, even, to overthrow the United States Government. Evidence accumu- lated rapidly; and on November 3, 1806, Colonel Joseph Hamilton Davies, attorney for the United States, appeared in court at Frankfort, charging Burr with designs against the Government. " It is all the spite of the Federalists," was the Democratic verdict. Henry Clay, upon receiving an explicit disavowal " on his honor " of any design against the peace of the country, undertook Burr's defense. Immense crowds gathered to hear the sharp, impassioned debate which ensued between the two noted rivals ; this ended at length in a unanimous acquittal of the accused. A grand ball was given in his honor, followed by one in honor of the defeated Colonel Davies. 142 BREAKING THE ROD. But his triumph was only temporary; the half- truth in his declaration of innocence, like that upon which sin entered into the world, failed him in the crucial hour. Finding the scheme a failure, General Wilkinson, Burr's confidential friend, assumed, in the eyes of the world, the attitude of saviour of his country. He '<(^:i'rlt^r^- 4\h\A tKe.Kome of -^ V Menry Claiy. J\]ea.r J ^exincc ton ^ ixy. proceeded to denounce the man who had trusted him, exaggerating his scheme into a gigantic con- spiracy to overthrow the Government. Burr's sec- ond trial, at Richmond, Va., in 1S07, though it re- sulted in his acquittal, left him an outlaw with an indelible stain upon his name. BREAKING THE ROD. 143 Yet, minute examination into the history of that time reveals the fact that Aaron Burr was not the only unlucky would-be imitator of the " Little Cor- sican." That arch plotter of Europe was then en- gaged in stirring up hatred and strife among men and nations for the attainment of his own ends, seizing every thing he could lay his hands on, to the admiration of a gaping world. His example bred imitators. Burr's ambition, the conquest of Mexico and the freedom of Texas, had been, and was afterward, cherished by many another less suspected man, without a thought of blame. Other Kentuckians beside Mrs. Keith felt a deep interest in Aaron Burr, and followed his subsequent career of alternate success and failure — the former always transient, the latter invariably lasting — w^ith keen interest and commiseration. Even in the great capitals of Europe, his social success, his financial embarrassments, and the unfailing courage and fortitude with which he met each new disaster, held the attention of even his bitterest enemies. People and parties filled the public interest almost exclusively in those days. The newspaper, with its pictures of life in its most intense phases, was, in the Gfeneral estimation, about as much literature as any reasonable man need desire. And even the newspaper was only a makeshift in default of actual observation. Legislative halls and court- 144 BREAKING THE ROD. rooms were always crowded. From thence flowed an eloquence as luxuriant and acceptable as the milk and honey of Canaan to the hungry Israelites. Frequently these eloquent debates ended, after the chivalrous fashion of France, in a duel. In 1808 Henry Clay and Humphrey Marshall, not con- tent with skirmishing in the Capitol, went out to shoot at each other in the field. Both were wounded but not severely. This was not Henry Clay's last duel, though he never failed to express his abhor- rence of the custom which, in some portions of the country, no man with any regard for his reputation dared ignore. During this year, and 1809, just eight months apart, there dawned upon this ancient Indian battle- ground two figures destined to play a leading part in their country's history — Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln. Born in the Kentucky wilder- ness, they were all unremarked, transplanted to other soils, there to become the heads of the two afreat adverse factions that rent their native State in twain. In 181 1 the first steamboat descended the Ohio. A great comet was blazing in the sky and a consid- erable earthquake shook the earth. Ignorance is superstitious and many of the unsophisticated set- tlers along the river banks held the steamboat responsible for both the natural disturbances. BREAKING THE ROD. 145 In this same year Kentucky was called on for help in the Indian war in the Northwest; in the bloody battle of Tippecanoe Colonel Joseph Ham- ilton Davies, the distinguished attorney, and many other brave Kentuckians lost their lives. For a long time there had been talk of war with England. The Mother Country had never seemed to realize that Columbia was free. She continued to tyrannize over her by land and by sea ; but especially the latter. She closed not only her own ports but those of France and Spain against Ameri- can ships ; she seized unprotected trading vessels, confiscated their cargoes, and forced their crews to work her own vessels. Throughout the country all Americans who had within them a spark of human feeling were stirred by the wrongs of the American seamen, thousands of whom had been impressed into British service and hundreds of whom, as even Cobbett and Lord Collingwood confessed, had died from hard service and neglect. In four years two thousand American seamen made application through the American minister for release. Only half the number se- cured their freedom ; as many more hopelessly sub- mitted through ignorance of any means of redress. Many anxious looks were cast toward Congress, where a bitter war of words was raging. Josiah Quincy, in his hatred of the " French tiger," as he 146 BREAKING THE ROD. called Napoleon, resisted every suggestion of war with England for fear of interfering with her subju- gation of France ; Henry Clay, who thought only of his suffering countrymen, " invoked the storm with a voice of power," crying, as when the ques- tion of claiming Florida had been under discus- sion, " Sir, is the time never to arrive when we may manage our own affairs without fear of insult- ing his Britannic Majesty? Is the rod of British power to be forever suspended over our heads ? " Kentucky, who cannot at any period of her his- tory be accused of a preoccupation with her own little interests too deep to be aroused to a deter- mined resistance of any tyrannous invasion of the rights of others, w^as with all her heart for war. Even Melville Keith, seldom deeply stirred, was aroused almost to eloquence. " Talk of war ! " he exclaimed with thrilling fervor. " All empty words. Don't I know 'em ? What do our congressmen care for the suffering seamen so long as they can sit comfortably in their seats and draw their salaries ! " Nevertheless, Henry Clay succeeded in arousing the nation to resist once more the tyranny of Great Britain. War was declared May 18, 181 2. In this war Kentucky troops bore a conspicuous part. A detachment of Kentuckians, under General Win- chester, participated in the woful tragedy of the River Raisin, in which the humanity of the gen- BREAKING THE ROD. 147 eral in marching to the defense of an unprotected Michigan town, led to his capture by the Indians, and the merciless butchery of the most of his men. Four thousand Kentuckians, under command of Governor Shelby, took part in the battle of the Thames. In this battle Colonel Johnson, with his Kentucky horsemen, made the opening charge, killing Tecumseh, the commander of the Indians, and winning the battle. This victory ended the war in the Northwest. At a later day two thousand Kentuckians, under General Hopkins, marched against the Kickapoos, but failing to find them, marched back again in high disgust. Other Kentuckians were with General Jackson in the South, fighting the belligerent Creeks, who, notwithstanding Georgia's compact with the United States to extinguish them, objected in a particu- larly troublesome way, to being extinguished. In December, 18 14, when the proud British squadron of fifty sail with eight thousand well- equipped soldiers, fresh from a splendid victory over the " French tiger," swooped down upon New Orleans, two thousand two hundred and fifty Ken- tuckians, under General Thomas, hurried to the defense of the Crescent city. Some of these were drafted, some were volunteers. Among the former was Melville Keith. It is not always the heroic who go to battle. 14^ BREAKING THE ROD. The sluggish blood, too, craves excitement. Storms agitate little pools as well as mighty oceans. Nor does valor always represent patriotism. No one fought more fiercely for his country than Benedict Arnold — before he betrayed her. Mr. Keith answered his country's summons with a thrill of valor such as he had never before ex- perienced. Well for Augusta that she had a cour- ageous heart and did not shrink from hard things, for as we advance along the journey of life the lug- gage is apt to accumulate ; sometimes, indeed, in a sudden avalanche. There were now five children, requiring continual service, watchful care and thoughtful training. The eldest was a beautiful boy but exceedingly willful and hard to manage. His parents often wondered over him, he was so unlike the others ; but they were proud of him and unwilling to relinquish to his Q:randfather the entire care of him that Colonel Cabell had frequently requested. Ferdinand's remarkable beauty was not an un- mixed source of joy to his grandfather, who had seen it thirty years before in the wilderness — flam- ing into ungovernable rage over a burnt potato. It was the Westlake strain. He knew that the praise and indulgence which the boy received at home made the worst sort of training for an inordi- nately selfish nature. He would have relieved his BREAKING THE ROD. 1 49 daughter of this heavy responsibility, but Ferdi- nand refused to " bury himself in the country." Mr. Keith said he should not be forced to go against his will, and Augusta could not find it in her heart to oppose her boy's father, who was now going away, perhaps to be shot by the British. The battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 18 15. Sir Edward Packenham com- manded the British troops, who were composed chiefly of " the fierce and hardy veterans of the Peninsular War." General Andrew Jackson led the Americans. The Kentucky troops, who arrived just three days before the battle, travel-worn, half- famished, many of them ill from unwholesome food and water — played a leading part, both in the victory on the eastern bank of the Mississippi and in the defeat on the western. General Thomas, expecting his troops to be fur- nished with arms and clothing on their arrival, had hurried them away with what they happened to have at starting. But the Federal Government had made no such provision, and the duty of supplying the deficiency fell upon the heavily-burdened citi- zens of New Orleans. This they lost no time in doing, so far as lay in their power; but, so scarce were army supplies, that many were compelled to go into battle with the old muskets and fowling- pieces they had brought from home. 150 BREAKING THE ROD. Throughout the fierce conflict on the eastern bank, two lines of Kentuckians and two of Tennes- seeans occupied the front, alternately, as their pieces were discharged. "Stand to your guns! Don't waste your ammunition ! See that every shot tells!" was General Jackson's continual cry. And that was why the brave British soldiers lay so thick before their lines. " They forgot they were not shooting at turkeys," said Marshal Clausel, " and tried never to throw away a shot." A priv^ate letter, from Ensign David Weller to his brother Samuel at Bardstown, Kentucky — written in camp fi.ve days afterward, says : " The battle began at daylight and lasted two hours, and the Almighty was pleased to give us the victory. Dear Samuel, I have for once seen the enemy com- pletely scourged. Their loss was two thousand killed, wounded and taken ; ours trifling in com- parison — say, ten or twelve." (Official report: British loss, 1929; American 13.) " They attacked us on our right and our left, but all to no purpose. Also our works across the river; and by the French giving way on the right, they got complete posses- sion of our works and spiked the cannon. General Jackson sent three hundred of us Kentuckians, and on the next morning we retook the place without opposition, and that evening marched back again. The opinion is the enemy is about to re- A VVATEKV WOOING. ^c'C J^agC I35. BREAKING THE ROD. 153 treat, but if they should be fool enough to attack us again, we'll serve them the same as before. Our company will no doubt be noticed in the offi- cial letter, as it was in the centre and hottest of the battle. About fifty prisoners were taken by our company. The red-coats lay thick enough to walk clear of the ground before our company." But, alas for Kentucky's valor on the western bank! There "a weak detachment" — amoncr whom, sad to relate, was our friend Melville Keith — demoralized by sickness and fatigue, threw down their old fowling-pieces and fled ; though our brave young ensign from Bardstown kindly omits the fact from his interesting communication. In the first place, an attack was not expected on the western bank, and General Mors^an's force of eight hundred and twelve men, all militia, includ- ing about one hundred Kentuckians, armed with " old muskets having common pebbles instead of flints in the locks," had been hurried forward with- out rest or food the night before and hastily formed into line just as the enemy came in sight. When Tessier's French troops fled into the swamps, the whole English force made a dash at the Ken- tuckians, who, seeing they were about to be hemmed in, fired one volley and left — notwith- standing the fierce discharge of abuse from their commander which followed them. 154 BREAKING THE ROD. Yet while the fashion of war continues, it is the soldier's duty to stand fire. If he has scruples against standing up to be shot at, it is his duty to settle them before enlisting. Poor Keith might as well have died at his post, for three weeks after- ward a young Kentuckian sat down to a task far more depressing than fighting the British with old fowling-pieces — that of relating to the far-aw^ay wife the story of Melville Keith's last illness and death. The strain of military discipline, united with the uncongenial climate, unwholesome food and the mortification of failure, soon exhausted the enfeebled current in Keith's veins : and so, like many other Kentuckians, he had fallen after the struo:sfle was over. He was sincerely mourned by the wife and five children. With less of selfish regret, perhaps, that he had been a loving friend rather than a mere provider for their material wants. But affec- tion and sympathy are more precious possessions than food and clothes. So while Augusta wept, she thanked God for the sunny companionship which had brightened her way for awhile — that memory was a dearer, holier inheritance than vast estates. Henry Clay was one of the commissioners se- lected to negotiate peace. Alexander of Russia had offered his services as mediator between the BREAKING THE ROD. 155 belligerent powers, but Great Britain preferred the American plenipotentiaries. Years afterward, Louis Philippe while King of France, was called on to disavow the forcible im- pressment of the American seamen by the English. It was, however, a responsibility which he court- eously declined, for during his exile and when a passenger on an American ship to Havana, he had himself witnessed one of these very impressments. The close of the war left the country in great financial distress, with an inflated paper currency, a heavy debt impending and no public credit. Kentucky's efforts for relief were more energetic than successful. We are told that she " exhausted the follies it was possible for a developing com- munity to commit," but that she wisely "profited by her painful experience." The Legislature of 181 7-18 chartered forty inde- pendent banks with an aggregate capital of ten million dollars, permitting them to redeem their notes with paper of the bank of Kentucky, then in good credit, instead of silver or gold. This remedy of the relief party was found to be worse than the disease. Kentucky has always been proud of her brilliant lesal talent. In the bitter warfare which now raged between the relief party, which had flooded the country with worthless paper, and the anti- 156 BREAKING THE ROD. relief part)-, which condemned the reckless relief- act as unconstitutional, her active, wide-awake law- yers took a prominent part. The leaders of the first party (having a majority of the people on their side) were John Rowan, George M. Bibb, Rezin Davidge, Solomon P. Sharpe, William T. Barry and other eminent lawyers, who advocated the authority of the people to enact remedial laws. With the anti-relief party were Robert Wick- liffe, George Robertson, afterward chief-justice of Kentucky, Chilton Allen, John J. Crittenden and a majority of the bench and bar ; with them, too, were nearly all the mercantile class and the better grade of farmers. It was the old question of State rights and the power of the majority. Hitherto " the people " had ruled with an iron rod. But the three judges of the court of appeals — who, Mr. McClung declares, " in simplicity and purity of character, in profound legal knowledge, and in Roman-like firmness of purpose, have seldom been surpassed " — came to the rescue ; by steadily adhering to their belief that the relief-act belonged to that class of acts prohibited by the Federal Constitution as " impair- ing the obligation of contracts," and by maintain- ing their decision against the tempest of rage which surged around them, they held the Ship of State from quite going to pieces. But their firm- BREAKING THE ROD. 157 ness occasioned an uproar. Was it possible that these three quiet, unobtrusive individuals could thwart the will of the all-powerful " majority " ? Monstrous ! The three judges were summoned before the legislative bar and required to give an account of themselves. These memorable three were, John Boyle, who had risen from obscurity to a seat in Congress, had declined an appointment by Presi- dent Madison as Governor of Illinois, and had been made chief-justice of the appellate court in 1809 (which place he held for sixteen years); William Owsley who had been school-teacher, county-sur- veyor, deputy-sheriff, member of the State Legis- lature and finally judge of the court of appeals (twenty years afterward elected governor), and Ben- jamin Mills, beginning in his youth as president of a college in Washington, Penn., several times mem- ber of the Legislature, and at last judge of the appellate court — a position held during "good behavior." For all the combined eloquence of Rowan, Bibb and Barry, the Legislative vote failed to convict them, and the three immovable jurists remained on the bench. Then followed a renewal of the battle more fierce than before, in which Mr. McClung describes the excited debaters as " denouncing each other with fierce and passionate invective " for 15^ BREAKING 2 HE ROD. three days, protracting their debates until far into the night, while an occasional clap or hiss was heard from the excited audience. A new court was organized — a bill to that effect having readily passed both houses — with William Barry as chief- justice, and John Trimble, James Haggin and Rezin Davidge as associate judges. The old court continued to sit. It was recog- nized by the majority of the bar as the true court, though many went over to the new court, and de- clared the old one void. The " relief party " now became known as the "new court party," and al- though they had the favor of Governor Desha and a majority of the House, the quiet persistence of the old court judiciary in what they believed to be the right at last won them the victory. In 1826, the act creating the new court was repealed. The old judges who had devoted three years to the maintenance of the Constitution, were voted their salaries during the time of their enforced pro- scription and all the acts of the new court were annulled. In this long contest Kentucky began to understand herself and her limitations ; and from this time has fully acknowledged her allegiance to and dependence upon the National Government. In February, 1825, there was a great hubbub in Frankfort. Bands were playing; processions, in all the splendor of new and highly-decorated uni- BREAKING THE ROD. 159 form, were marching through the streets; for the great hero and friend of American Liberty, the gallant Lafayette, was come to town. Napoleon had called him a noodle: but Napoleon was nobody now, only a fat and garrulous man who had lost his chance of being a hero. Jefferson had said that Lafayette " had a canine appetite for applause ; " but he had helped to turn the tide of popular favor America's way when her cause seemed almost lost, and it did not become those who had profited by his generous action to pick him to pieces. The gallant Marquis had been received every- where with lively demonstrations of welcome. Con- gress had voted him two hundred thousand dollars and a township of land ; innumerable fu- ture presidents had been named " Marcus D. Lafayette," and everywhere there was a ball in his honor. In those days every- thing wound up with a ball ; if people talked too lonsf there was certain to be a quar- rel, so they danced instead, wisely. l6o BREAKING THE ROD. Young Mary Keith had dreamed of the great warrior as a stately old man with noble brow and piercing eye, and as she entered the crowded ball-room with her mother, she glanced eagerly around, scarcely seeing young Peterson, from Louisville, who sprang eagerly forward to greet them. "Where is he ?" she exclaimed. " Who ? " inquired Peterson coldly. She had not even seen his elaborate new evening costume on which he had spent so much time and money. " Who, the Marquis ? There he is," and he pointed, with rather a malevolent smile, to a little flippant- looking old man who was bowing and smiling and chattering away to the dense crowd that sur- rounded him. Was that the noble, distinguished " guest of the nation " ! Mary turned away with a pensive smile which seemed to say that life, though quite a fine thing, still lacked a good deal of perfection. After that glance at the hero young Peterson did not find it such a dii^cult matter to command her attention. And had the Marquis asked her to dance, I fear he would have received a reply similar to the one Louis Philippe received many years before from a Frankfort girl, who, un- willing to wound the feelings of a rustic admirer whom she had just refused, declined to dance with the prince. I\Lary had always liked Stanley Peterson — though BREAKING THE ROJ). l6l his father was a pork-packer and his grandfather — nobody knew who. But what mattered it, after all, about one's ancestors? The spirit of evil is no respecter of persons; and noble houses have their black sheep, too. Who, for instance, could be more unlike her noble grandfather Cabell than her eldest brother, Ferdinand ? That grandfather — the hero of the family beginnings in the deep Kentucky wilderness — was dead, and Ferdinand was the head of the house. But, though a brilliant and scholarly fellow, Ferdinand, with his extravagance and dissipation, had about ruined the family finan- cially. Under his administration the vast Cabell estate had melted away until there remained only the homestead and a few of the old family ser- vants ; their daily living depending on the two energetic, industrious younger sons. Lafayette had visited Frankfort before when the place was little more than a canebrake. The sim- plicity of the early settlers was doubtless all the more charming to the young Frenchman because of their familiarity with the artificialities of the first capital in Europe. Certainly one of his compa- triots lost his heart here — vouncr Beaumar — and for the sake of his Kentucky bride, turned his back forever on the Old World. A twelvemonth afterward Stanley Peterson sat in his father's office, making himself agreeable, long 1 62 BREAKING THE ROD. after closing-up time. " I see Henry Clay has at last induced Congress to acknowledge the indepen- dence of Greece," he remarked. " But for him South America would never have been recognized. General Bolivar, it is said, revives the patriotism of his soldiers by reading them Clay's eloquent appeals in their behalf." " Yes," said the old gentleman, always pleased with the praise of his favorite, " Henry Clay is always on the noble side of every question ; foremost in every movement that reflects honor on his country." " As for that duel with Randolph," continued the son, "he. was forced into that." (Quite frequently the young men of Louisville settled their quarrels with swords or pistols for two, in a retired spot on the other side of the Ohio.) " Forced ! " exclaimed the elder sternly. " No man is forced to make a target of himself or to attempt to commit murder." " If it is right for nations to massacre each other on account of a difference of opinion, it is right for individuals," said the son, who was a chip of the old block. " It is merely a question of wholesale or retail." The father's reply was still more decisive, but the son wisely returned to the more agreeable theme. " Mr. Clay favors the copyright law," he resumed. " He says the literary period of a nation is its BREAKING THE ROD. 1 63 golden age." (Young Peterson secretly contem- plated the publication of a volume of poems as soon as he should have the time to arrange them.) " Well, it's about supper time," said the old gen- tleman, quite aware of the perturbation beneath all this conversational glibness. " By the way, father " — in an easy, off-hand man- ner — " I am going to be married next month. I thought I'd better tell you now." " Who is it ? " frowning portentously. " It's the widow Keith's eldest daughter, Mary. A lovely girl, and as good as she is beautiful," with gathering defiance. " Has she got any sense } " " Plenty of it ; and courage, too. She said you would object because they are poor now, but she wasn't afraid of you. She said you had too much sense not to make the best of a bad bargain." The old man smiled grimly. " Well, if she is anything like her mother she'll do. As for her father, Keith was a charming fellow, but he had no business tact. In fact, I think he had some fool notion that buying and selling were low. Now his daughter is glad to marry a pork-packer's son. But her grandfather Cabell — you seldom see such gen- tlemen these days. He was offered about every office in the power of the State, but always refused. Was even talked of for Governor. Lived more 1 64 BREAKING THE ROD. like an English lord than like a farmer. Splendid farm ; superb horses, and about fifty likely negroes — but I suppose it's all gone into Ferdinand's crop of wild oats. That's the sort of life I want to live some day." The country life was the ideal life in those days. Lawyers, physicians, merchants, politicians — all were struggling toward the time when they could retire to a principality of about fifty colored souls, and a thousand acres of blue-grass pasture, dotted with Q-razing: herds and horses of the bluest blood. This was the sort of life to which Henry Clay has- tened at the close of each session of Congress. CHAPTER VII. THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT. U C H has been said and written, in a face- tious way, about the belligerent character of the Kentucky peo- ple. In the first place, only a hardy and high- spirited race could have overcome the difficulties and d a n - gers incident to the settlement of Kentucky. The pioneer had inherited from his English ancestry that same peremptory, masterful spirit which has helped to give John Bull the dominant power in the world; a tendency which a generous admixture of Scotch and Irish blood has not tended to diminish. After their long-continued warfare with the In- dians it was impossible that people of their tem- perament and experience should settle down at once to entirely peaceful pursuits. Conflict had 165 1 66 ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT." become habitual. The cultured class adopted the premeditated and ceremonious style of homicide prevalent in France — the duel; a fashion which the law-maker endeavored to check by making the participant in a duel inelligible to oflfice. Those of smaller pretentions used less punctilio. Often whiskey, which was more freely used then than now, was almost wholly to blame. In 1838, at the Gait House in Louisvile, — a hotel pronounced by Charles Dickens as equal to any in Paris, — an affray occurred which is a fair sample of what whiskey and bravado could do in those days. Judge Wilkinson of Mississippi, accompanied by his brother and friend, stopped at the Gait House on his way to Bardstown, where, in a few days, he was to be married to an accomplished young lady. His brother ordered a suit of clothes of Mr. Red- ding, a fashionable tailor of Louisville, depositing one hundred dollars in payment. He wore the coat away, but soon returned with the judge and his friend. The coat, it seemed, was all wrong. A quarrel ensued, which resulted in a fight, inter- rupted by the bystanders in time to prevent blood- shed. An hour afterward. Redding, accompanied by his brother-in-law, John Rothwell, went to the Gait House to obtain their names for indictment. The quarrel was resumed in the bar-room. Red- ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIG HIV 1 67 ding offering to " whip the three of them if they would lay aside their dirks." " I will not fight with a man of your profession," returned the judge, "but if you interfere with me I will kill you." A few more words and the bar-room was converted into a battle-ground. Besides the Mississippians' dirks there seems to have been no weapons more dangerous than a cane and a "cow- hide " whip. When the room was cleared, two of Redding's friends were to be found mortally wounded — John Rothwell, his l^rother-in-law, and Meeks, a bar-keeper. The trial, held at Harrodsburg on the plea that an unprejudiced jury could not be obtained in Louisville, was listened to by about one thousand men and two hundred ladies — or, in the language of the local reporter: "the fair enchantresses who hold the magic wand over man's happiness in this sublunary sphere" — "two thirds of whom were distinguished for great beauty." Traces of their influence are discoverable throughout the trial, in many an extraneous peroration. Hon. John L. Bridges presided. A brief rcsiime of the facts of the case were given by the youthful prosecuting attorney, Mr. Edward Bullock, and the law bearing on it briefly stated. No law, he de- clared, could excuse a man for resenting b}' the murder of his enemy a blow from a "cowhide 1 68 ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHTS whip" or a cane — the weapons used by Rothwell and Meeks. He was followed by Col. Wm. Robertson, "a polished gentleman of the old school, with ruffled shirt, starched frills, gold-headed cane, and the studied sauvity of a courtier." The colonel de- clared that the man who " allowed another to whip him and live, was eternally disgraced ; an object of scorn and loathing ; " both the judge and his friend Murdaugh, he declared, " stood justified by every principle of divine, natural and municipal law." " God forbid that a jury should ever be found in this country to condemn a man for killing one who made so felonious and unwarrantable an attack on himself or his brother." If they had acted otherwise " never afterward could they have looked society in the face; nor would they have received the countenance of any honorable man." In conclusion he deplored the growing practice of employing hired counsel in criminal cases. The learned gentleman who was to receive one thou- sand dollars for his services (Hon. Ben Hardin) must have undertaken to convict, if he could, whether the accused be innocent or guilty ; and he invoked the sympathy and aid of the " lovely beauty" by which he was surrounded. His speech occupied fully an hour. The Hon. S. S. Prentiss of Mississippi, followed ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHTS 169 in a lengthy effort " ot transcendent eloquence " frequently interrupted by bursts of applause. " What ! a man whom he had known for years as the soul of honor, guilty of a base and cowardly assassination. Perish the thought ! " The de- fense included, besides Mr. Prentiss and Colonel THE COURT HOUSE I'ORCH. Robertson, Judge Rowan and John 15. Thonip.-on (both United States senators), Samuel Daviess, Chas. M. Cunningham, C. M. Wickliffe and James Taylor (whose will in 1853 included real estate in Kentucky and Ohio valued at four million dollars). The Hon. Ben Hardin dex'otcd two hours and a I 70 " THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NLGIIT. " half in the afternoon to the prosecution and the same length of time on the following morning. " In this country," he said, "experience has taught us that a change of venue is sought, not to obtain justice but to evade it ; to thwart and embarrass the prosecution, and multiply the chances of elud- ing the responsibility of the law." He questioned the "high character" of a "judge" who knocks down a tailor with a poker because there is a shade of fashion lacking in the collar of a coat. Such free use of personal liberty to avenge private quarrels was indicative neither of courage nor brav- ery. " In New England you can get no man to fight a duel ; but when they have been called into the field for the protection of their country, show me where men have been more prompt to rush upon the bayonets of their country's invaders. Sir, courage and bravery belong to the respecters of the law, which, in a civilized community, pro- tects every man's rights." In conclusion, he begged them not to "stigmatize their country by proclaiming these guilty men innocent and free of crime." Judge Rowan, in closing the defense, declares that " the man who is attempted to be cowhided, not only may but must, if by any possibility he can, kill the man who attempts to degrade him." This he called "a law of Kentucky instinct which ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT." 171 none are so ignorant as not to know, and few so dastardly as to deny its injunctions." Mr. Hardin, who had " engaged to take the life of the accused for one thousand dollars," he compared to "a turbid and muddy stream of large volume, emanating from the fetid marshes of exuberant avarice." The changes were so rung on the influence of that one thousand dollars, its corrupting power was so magnified and distorted by the whole of the de- fense, that the jury, in horror of the murderous one thousand dollar influence, unanimously pro- nounced the accused " Not guilty." Ah, well, judge and jury, counsel and accused are now, it is likely, gone to their own reward, where eloquence, nor pride, nor money, nor station can neither avail to excuse actual guilt, nor to dis- tort and blacken innocence. And now, we are told, the "one thousand dollar power " is not so potent. Kentucky was then, as now, distinguished in ora- tory and the profession of law. Lexington and Bardstown were especially noted for the eloquence and ability of their lawyers. The Clays, the Breck- enridges, the Johnsons, the Wickliffes, the Hardins, all have a national reputation. It was Judge Duvall, a pioneer Bardstown lawyer, who furnished for Washington Irving the interesting character of " Ralph Ringwood." Political matters were still of as serious impor- IJ2 ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT.'' tance as in the days of the " Old Court " and the " New Court " conflict, and of the struggle between the " Relief " and " Anti-relief " parties. The " Old Court" party had drifted into the National Repub- licans, generally known as the Clay party. This, in 1832, received the name of Whig. The " New Court " party became the Democratic-Republican, or Jackson party, now known as Democratic. There were few movements of national impor- tance in which Kentucky remained inactive. The slavery question was now assuming threatening pro- portions. Much of the wealth of the State consisted in slaves. Some of these were inherited ; others were purchased — oftentimes out of pure pity for the unhappy chattel on the block. Yet to many of the Kentucky people, with their, great love of freedom, slavery was as obnoxious as to the people of the North. As early as 1804 a society led by six Bap- tist ministers, was organized for the emancipation of slaves. The Baptist Association declaring it " improper^ for ministers, churches or associations to meddle with emancipation, or any other political subject," the " Emancipators," as they called them- selves, withdrew and organized " The Baptist Lick- ing Locust Association," or " Friends of Humanity." There is no account of insurrection among the slaves of this State until 1848 (about the time the French mob was surging through the Orleans palace ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT." 173 and Louis Philippe escaping through a back door). In that year fifty-five slaves under the guidance of a party of Abolitionists, set out for freedom across the river. Thirteen escaped, the rest were cap- tured; and the leader of the Abolition party, who had received stolen goods in payment for his services, was sentenced to twenty years' service in the penitentiary. This evidence of discontent revived the interest in the emancipation question. In 1853 sixty- three colored people, emancipated for the purpose, left Louisville for Liberia, on the western coast of Africa. The following year forty-four were sent from Kentucky and in 1855 fifty-two more were sent. At this time sales of negro men arc recorded at ^1,378, $1,295 and $1,260. In 1856, when the Liberia scheme had proved a failure, on account of the unhealthfulness of the climate, emancipation meetings were held, and delegates appointed to a convention called for the purpose of amending the Constitution and providing for the gradual emanci- pation of slaves. New York had emancipated hers gradually; in 1840 Rhode Island and Connecticut had only a few ; New Jersey had three hundred, and Pennsylvania about sixty-four. Why should not Kentucky pursue the same method } Hitherto slavery in this State had not been pro- ductive of any serious discontent. A " hard mas- I 74 •• THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT. " ter " would have received the same condemnation here as in the free States. Few Kentucky slaves had availed themselves of the system of emancipa- tion known as the " Underground Railroad." This was a plan organized by the " Abolitionists," a small but active band of whom had established regular stations for the accommodation of fugitives, and en- gaged conveyances along a regular route to the far- away land of freedom. Mr. Coffin of Cincinnati, who liberated thousands in this way, was called the President of the " Underground Railroad." Although she had lost few of her slaves by the " Underground Railroad," Kentucky resented this method of " slave-stealing " as lawless and dishonor- able. Nor was it less distasteful to the majority of the Northern people. Even those who considered slavery wrong, preferred to attend to their own affairs rather than stir up the South and start a war ; and they put some of the Abolitionists into jail as disturbers of the peace. Yet there was a vague dislike of slavery abroad in Kentucky. *' Papa," said little Henry Clay Peterson, one day, "let's set Aunt Becky and all our people free." " What for } " asked his father in surprise. " Well, Aunt Becky's hand is all burnt, dreadful, and she wouldn't have to get dinner, if she was free. And Uncle Ned out on the farm has got the rheumatiz. ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT.' 177 and he isn't very well, nohow. But he has to go out and work in the cornfield, any how ; and, papa, he gets so little of the corn." " We all have to work, Harry," said his father. Nevertheless he, too, felt the same prejudice against the inequalities of slavery that Harry had expressed. The admission of Louisiana to the Union had greatly strengthened the slave-power in the country, so that, when Missouri, the remaining portion of the French purchase, sought admission in 18 18, Con- gress hesitated long, debating the wisdom of accepting her with her slave-supporting consti- tution. For nearly three years the two parties wrangled fiercely over this portentous question, which, Jefferson says, " awoke him like a fire-bell in the night, from dreams of security." It was finally decided that Missouri should have her way, but that henceforth slavery should be re- stricted to the territory south of a certain central line. In 1835, Texas, aweary of her long and futile struggle against the Mexican powers, presented herself at the door of Congress asking to be taken into the Union. The annexation of Texas meant war, as well as the extension of slavery ; and Henry Clay, with the most of his party, opposed her ad- mission ; as much on account of an extension of " the national evil," as of her feud with a friendly I yS " TJ/I£ FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGH2\ " power. In this way he lost the support of Kentucky, who was in strong sympathy with Texas. For nearly ten years Texas fought for freedom and a place in the Union; and at last (May, 1845) was taken under Columbia's protecting wing. An army under General Zachary Taylor of Louisville — who had fought Indians for thirty years, at the bidding of the Government — was ordered to her defense. This was " old Rough and Ready," beloved as much for his bluff honesty as for his readiness in the service of his country ; though that service was oftentimes in opposition to both inclination and judgment. Then there came a call for volunteers; Kentucky was asked for two regiments of infantry and one of cavalry; three thousand men. In less than a week fifteen thousand responded ; ten thousand more than could be accepted. The Louisville Legion, commanded by Colonel Ormsby, a regiment of infantry under Colonel W. R. McKee and Lieu- tenant-Colonel Henry Clay. Jr., and a regiment of cavalry under Colonel Humphrey Marshall were ac- cepted for service ; also, by special order of the war department, Captain John S. Williams' company. General Taylor was ordered into the very terri- tory under dispute. His first victory was at Palo Alto ; this was quickly followed by that of Resaca de la Palma. After the battle of Monterey there " THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT. " 179 was a second call for volunteers. It was privately eiven out how many would be wanted, and the two regiments of infantry required were filled some weeks before the requisition was received, so there was no chance for competition. On February 22, 1847, occurred the terrible battle of Buena Vista, in which General Taylor's little army of four thousand five hundred were opposed by Santa Anna's twenty thousand. " You are sur- rounded and cannot avoid being cut to pieces," said Santa Anna, looking down on the little band with contempt. " I give you one hour in which to sur- render." " General Taylor never surrenders," retorted old " Rough and Ready." His position in the narrow pass of La Angostura, with precipitous mountains on either hand and a labyrinth of impassable gullies on one side was almost inaccessible. All that day the battle went on in fitful, ineffective charges by the Mexican troops. Many of the Americans were fighting their first battle. When night threw her veil over the horrible scene, the shivering soldiers dropped down on the rocks to rest, while to make night hideous the howl of the jackal mingled with the groans of the wounded. Next morning at dawn the battle was resumed, the Mexicans having gained a position on the hill- side in the night. Many brave Kentuckians had l8o ''THE FIKE-BELL JN THE NJGHT.'' fallen. Col. W. R. McKee and Henry Clay, Jr., fell like heroes at the head of their men. What thoughts of home and loved ones must have swept through the minds of these poor soldiers as they lay dying on the stony ground. Was not glory dearly bought at such a price .f* The American loss was reported as seven hun- dred and twenty-three, the Mexican, two thousand. Once, it is said, this handful of untrained fron- tiersmen was actually defeated, but in their igno- rance of military law, fought on until victory was won. Santa Anna's army was in full retreat; Gen- eral Taylor's mission was accomplished ; Texas was free. But General Scott, to whose relief on the very eve of battle General Taylor had sent a large portion of his troops, pushed on into the enemy's country, taking town and fortress, until Santa Anna, the patriotic Mexican general who had fought and conquered Spain, was forced to sue for peace. The object of Burr's ambition was achieved; Mexico was at the disposal of the United States. The loss and cost of this war to widen our bounda- ries was just half that of the seven years of Revo- lution. News traveled slowly in those days. Kentucky, where it was known that General Taylor had parted with his veteran troops jus-t before the battle, awaited the result in deep anxiety. Some months afterward ''THE FIRE-BELL IN TLfE iXIGHT.'' l8l the dead heroes of Buena Vista were brought home and buried in the beautiful Frankfort Cemetery, which Anthony Trollope declared the loveliest he had ever seen ; and the poet soldier, Theodore O'Hara, pronounced above them that inspiring benediction, " The Bivouac of the Dead." Not far away from the tall shaft commemorating the heroism of the Buena Vista soldiers, may now be seen the grave of this same Theodore O'Hara, who fought through the civil war and died in 1867. In the same neighborhood is the tall monument erected to the memory of Colonel Richard INI. Johnson, hero of the " Thames " and Vice-President of the United States, who faithfully served his country for a half century or more ; and near by is the column erected by Kentucky "to her brave and noble son, Philip Norbourne Barber, who fell at the head of his command at the storming of Monterey." Standing high upon the cliff, clothed in majesty of towering pine and hemlock, the forest of marble shafts from time to time erected here, in honor of military bravery, imparts to this picturesque ceme- tery an air as martial as that of " Fame's eternal camping-ground," of which O'Hara speaks. Ken- tucky has never been found wanting when military service was needed by her country. Many soldiers of the Mexican War took part also in the s:reat civil war. Besides Generals Thomas 1 82 ''THE FIRE-BELL JN THE NLGHT^ L. Crittenden, William Preston, John C. Brecken- ridge, Humphry Marshal, Walter Whittaker, Lovell H. Rousseau, William T. Ward, E. H. Hobson, James M. Shackleford, John H, Morgan and John S. Williams, there were many others who. served on one side or the other in the civil war. At the next presidential election (1849) General Zachary Taylor was made President. A slave- holder, and yet, like Clay, favoring gradual emanci- pation, his indefinite attitude on this question, while it won him the popular vote, served to alienate ardent partisans on either side. Even his son-in- law, Jefferson Davis, refused to vote for him. There were at this time in Kentucky, many men of brilliant ability and many women of excep- tional grace and intelligence. In Lexington lived Joel T. Hart, the poet sculptor. Of him Henry Clay said, " He has more versatility of talent than any man I ever met." In Frankfort were John J. Crittenden, United States Senator, and afterward Attorney-General for both Harrison and Fillmore. In Louisville was Tom Marshall, whose ready wit and attractive personal qualities have come down to us in many an anecdote and jeu d' esprit^ and George D. Prentice. In 1830 Prentice had estab- lished the Louisville Journal ; it became one of the most popular and celebrated newspapers in the land, and its accomplished editor was justly es- " THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT. ' l«3 teemed as one of the most conspicuous journalists of America. By this time the loom and spinning-wheel were banished from good society, and the tinkle of the piano was heard in the land. The literary and artistic forces began to assert themselves in the hitherto silent feminine world ; a new type made its appearance in Kentucky — the literary young lady. Amelia B. Welby, Sophia H. Oliver, Rebecca Nichols, Mary Elizabeth Nealy, Eulalie Fee Shan- non and many other musical feminine voices, made themselves heard through the columns of the Louisville Journal, whose editor, as gallant as he was gifted, welcomed each new candidate with a very flattering pen. Genius burst forth from many an unexpected quarter. To write poetry, good or bad, or moonshiny prose for the public prints, became quite the fashion. But the real name was rarely given ; that was alto- gether too bold. The elder people groaned over this new order of things, and -fl'^-'^'^ I 184 ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHTS sighed dolorously over the days of tedious patch- work, of the homespun blanket and counterpane. What had the modern girl to show for all her precious years of youth and strength, but a head full of nonsense ? The Petersons were still in Louisville ; pros- perous, enterprising, successful ; a power in the social world. No thread of homespun ever found its way into their elegant home. Fortunately, Grandma Peterson had accidently dropped a spark from her tallow candle into the closet containing all the precious product of her youthful toil, and failing to discover it in time, the whole mass was converted into ashes ; hence, in preferring the lighter fabric of the mills, there was no danger of wounding her feelings. It was a period of much sociability and merry- making. The Petersons kept open house all the year round. Mrs. Peterson, like her mother, was noted for her cleverness, her good-humor and her skill in entertaining company. But the eldest daughter, Cornelia, with all her advantages of beauty, brains and breeding, failed to achieve any marked social success. The same constitutional shyness and reserve which, in his youth, had driven her great-grand- father, Edmund Cabell, into the wilderness where through toil and hardship he attained a spiritual ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT.'' 1 85 strength and self-reliance such as few achieve, had descended upon this tenderly-nurtured daughter of affluence, whose every wish was gratified as soon as expressed ; whose every want was supplied by eager hands. The same intellectual activity, too, which had set the Virginia youth to writing his prayers in the wilderness, characterized the s:randdauo:hter. The new caprice of venting one's surplus mental ener- gies through the public prints, furnished the rest- less brain with an occupation ; and soon every one was wondering who the light and airy " Thistle- down " of his morning Journal could be. No one thought of the " proud, cold " Cornelia Peterson ; who found the freedom of her disguise so fascinating, and the stimulus of praise so agree- able that she soon began to think, " I will write a great book, and help the poor world to be good and happy." Like all Kentuckians she had studied her Bible faithfully; had read Shakespeare, and certain of the old English authors — and she felt wise in her day and generation. But her book encountered a colder, less gracious audience in the professional critics ; and the un- favorable words that greeted it so deeply wounded the sensitive author that the volume was sup- pressed. In glancing over the inoffensive little book (possibly the only surviving copy) one is con- 1 86 ''THE FIRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT:' strained to wonder where her censor found material for such scathing condemnation. Honest, earnest and, in a day of unusual artificiality, singularly true to human nature, all through it you can feel that the happy author is thanking God for this little " something to do." At least she is saying, " I am not that atom which He needed not to build creation with." You can see, too, that it was not wounded vanity that stopped the song, but a feel- ing of the futility of her work. Had she lived a little longer (she died abroad the following year, aged nineteen) she would have realized how little a sharp review mattered; how little, indeed, her work mattered save as a means of training and discipline. She would have learned to receive all criticism, even the most intolerant, with generous kindliness, remembering that we are all — even critics — but mortal, and happily not all able to see alike. " Thistledowns " was not the first book suppressed by a Kentucky author because of supersensitive- ness to criticism. In 1816 John M. Harney, whose "Echo and the Lover" had been widely copied, suppressed the book because of harsh criticism of his " Chrystalina," and ceased to write. There were manv other sweet sinsrers whose voices were first heard through the columns of the Louis- ville Journal. Besides the tender verses of George ''THE FJRE-BELL IN THE NIGHT" 187 D. Prentice, thrown off in the scant leisure of a crowded life, there were William O. Butler, whose " Boatman's Horn " had resounded throughout the land, William Ross Wallace, Fortunatus Crosby, Thomas H. Shreve, George W. Cutter, Sallie M. Bryan, Rosa Vertner Jeffrey, Mattie Grififith and many others. The other Kentucky papers did not cultivate fine writing to such an extent. CHAPTER Vlir. 'fratricidal war. E have seen that the intellectual bias of Kentucky has always been political rather than literary; and that GENERAL , .11 KA^DERbON. ^^^ 1-ecognized, almost fro m the first, the magnitude of the slav- ery problem. In the State Emancipation Convention which met in 1850 we find slave-hold- ers earnestly discussing the question, " Which would be better for the slave?" With freedom comes responsibility and care and sometimes want. There are bitter, desolate journeyings through the wilderness, and hopeless murmurings after the flesh-pots of Egypt. Not only the South, but a majority of the North, shrank from the responsibility of turning loose upon the country a great mass of ignorant, shift- less people. Gradual emancipation seemed the iSS ''FRATRICIDAL WAR:' igg only solution. And the convention demanded the insertion into the new Constitution of a clause giving the Legislature "complete power to perfect a system of gradual emancipation." Soon afterward the inscription, " Under the auspices of Heaven and the precepts of Washing- ton, Kentucky will be the last to give up the Union," was placed upon the block of Kentucky marble which the State contributed to the Wash- ington monument. Yet although Kentucky favored the gradual emancipation of her slaves she was not inclined to let them be snatched away by the Abolitionists. Could not she be trusted to manasre her own affairs } Now and then a freed slave returned to his master and begged to be taken back. Was not that, they argued, sufficient proof that slavery, after all, was not so bad } What did those meddlesome Aboli- tionists know about either master or slave } It was only because they had no slaves themselves ; the discomfort and loss of their meddling would all fall upon the South. How many of these same "philanthropists" were willing to buy a slave and set him free } How many would become responsi- ble for the support of the emancipated after they were free } Down with the Abolitionists ; they were fanatics and incendiaries, all of them, ready for a theory to sweep the South with flame! 190 ''FRATRICIDAL WAR." Yet even in Kentucky " the theory" had taken root. Cassius M. Clay and many others Hberated their slaves and boldly advocated immediate abo- lition. Slavery, so long a thorn in the flesh of the political body, was beginning to threaten its life. The enactment of the " Fugitive Slave Law," com- pelling the Northern people to assist in the recov- ery of runaway slaves, served to intensify their aver- sion to slavery; while the forcible seizure of their slave property roused the South to a more bitter resistance. At the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, allowing slaves into any territory that desired it, regardless of the limitations fixed by the Missouri Compromise, each party began to realize that active measures were necessary to save itself from a per- petual minority. Then there was a race to see which could first fill up the territories. The North, having more emigrating material on hand, came out ahead; in 1858 Kansas was ready to come into the Union with a non-slaveholding constitution. In 1854 the eminently respectable Whig party had adopted the irresponsible title of " Know-Noth- ings " and instituted a general crusade against for- eigners. In August, 1855, at the election of Gov- ernor Morehead and other State officers, a riot occurred in Louisville in which twenty-two people were killed, twenty houses burned, and a great deal ''FRATRICIDAL IVAR." 191 of property destroyed. By such lawless proceed- ings the Know-Nothings lost caste and became gradually submerged in the Republican party. Presidents Polk and Buchanan had each depre- cated any interference with slavery; but neither seems to have been entirely satisfactory to his party. At the next presidential election both par- ties split in two ; the Southern Democrats nomi- nated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky (then Vice-President), who believed that slavery ought to be admitted into the territories ; the Northern Democrats, who held by the old Missouri Com- promise, nominated Stephen A. Douglas — who by this time had repented of his Kansas-Nebraska bill. The radical Republicans nominated Lincoln, who believed that slavery was doomed ; and the Conservatives John Bell. Abraham Lincoln, born in the Kentucky wilder- ness, was elected. The Union went to pieces. The old flag was torn down at Fort Sumter; the South Carolina flag floated in its place ; and Presi- dent Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men to put down the rebellion. Jefferson Davis, also the son of a Kentucky farmer — esteeming slavery of more advantage to the South than was the Union — was elected President of the Southern Confederacy. Armed soldiers sprang up, flags, new and old, fluttered — the war was here! 192 " JRA TRJCJDAL WARr At the first note of war, some one has said, every Kentuckian was on his feet. Perhaps so, for Ken- tuckians are apt to be impulsive. And it is all the more to their credit that the most of them sat down again — to consider whether either the wrongs of the " persecuted South " or those of the i^r^^wn >; t^ (7- BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER. "outraged Union" justified the slaughter of her best citizens. Each State had entered the Union fully fore- warned that there was absolutely no divorce. " Can a State leave the Union if dissatisfied.^" asked New York, hesitating before committing herself to " FRA TRICIDAL WART 1 93 the bonds. " Never ! " was Madison's reply. " The Constitution cannot provide for its own overthrow." It is " We the people of the United States," not " We the States." Kentucky was sincerely attached to the Union. Long ago she had settled what she would do when this crisis should arrive. She had chosen for her motto: " United we stand, divided we fall." Even though she believed that a State had a right to nullify the acts of Congress she did not believe that a State had any right to withdraw from the Union. Neither had she any wish to fight over the mat- ter. She said : "I do not believe in this war. And although I have no wish to give up my slaves, I would even do that rather than leave the Union, or enter into a long and bloody contest." In Ken- tucky, where every man formed his own opinion independently, this war meant an array of brother against brother, of father against son. Was it any wonder then, that she did not believe in it? Socially and commercially she was more closely allied to the South. Her domestic and business relations were almost entirely with the South. On the other hand she was deeply indebted to the North in educational matters. Her teachers had been mainly from the New England States; many of them were able men and women who afterward V 194 ''FRATRICIDAL JVAR." attained brilliant eminence in law and politics, in literature and science. Considering herself in no way responsible for this " fratricidal war," Kentucky decided to remain neutral and, if possible, act as mediator between the belligerents; earnestly offering her services to effect "a just and honorable peace." Clay, whose influence was not alone for his own day and generation, was no more; and Webster, whose deep devotion to the Union had made patriot- ism the fashion — he, too, had gone ; who was there to take their places and keep the Union together.? " The War of the Rebellion," says General Sickles, who was in Congress just before the war, "was caused by the whiskey. . . . The fights, the an- gry speeches were whiskey . . . Nervous ex- citement seeking relief in whiskey, and whiskey addins: to nervous excitement. If the French As- sembly were to drink some morning one half the whiskey consumed in one day by that Congress, France would declare war against Germany in twenty minutes." We do not hesitate to quote this now, for whiskey is no longer the fine fellow he then was. In these better days the whiskey drinker has to steal away with his bottle like a thief in the night ; and liquor selling is left to the foreigner as a disreputable calling. We know, too, that there were many, even then, who did not touch it. ''FRATRICIDAL WARr 195 If anything could have peaceably settled the question of slavery the Crittenden Compromise should have done so. This "olive branch " was offered by John J. Crittenden of Frankfort who for more than forty years had faithfully served his country as governor, senator and attorney-general. It guaranteed the continuation of slavery not only in the slave States but in the District of Columbia, in all territory south of the central line, and in any territory north of it which desired it. Every facil- ity for the recovery of fugitive slaves or their value was offered ; and any act of the free States conflict- ing with the fugitive slave act was declared null and void. But although Senator Crittenden com- manded the respect of the whole country, as much on account of his purity of character as of his intel- lectual ability, his compromise met with little favor outside his own State. In June, 1861, a "border State convention " met at Frankfort. It was composed of leading men in Kentucky and Missouri who announced their de- termination to maintain the Constitution and pre- serve the Union, but to take no part in the war. The Governor, with the approval of the Legisla- ture, had (May 16) refused to furnish troops " for the wicked purpose of subduing sister States." This attitude was, in a meeting at Louisville, indorsed by such men as 1 Ion. James Gutherie, 196 ''FRATRICIDAL WAR." Hon. Archibald Dixon, Hon. John Young Brown, Judge Bullock, Judge Nicholas and other promi- nent Union men. The State Guards, composed of fifteen thousand men, were placed under the control of a military- board of trusted citizens, presided over by the Governor ; and one million dollars provided for arm- ing and trainino^ the militia — "neither arms nor militia to be used against the Government of the United States, nor the Confederate States, unless in the sole defense of Kentucky." General Simon Boliver Buckner was appointed Inspector-General of the State forces. We all have our shabby pages. We try to be heroic and are only ridiculous. But there can never be anything ridiculous in a wish to refrain from war — chief of the three great national calamities, "war, pestilence and famine." The time will come when the heroism of war will suffer the same shrinkage and depreciation that has befallen the heroism of single combat, so glorified by classic and scriptural chroniclers. The State declared for peace and the Union ; but each citizen decided for himself. Kentucky had been settled by soldiers. Her lands had helped to pay the war debt of the Revolution. It was hardly possible that these sons of soldiers, whose fathers had borne a heroic part in every struggle in which THE DARK AND lU.OODV CRDl'ND. " FRA TRICIDAL WAR." 1 99 their country had been engaged, should sit idly by while their brothers fought and died. Yet the hearts of the fathers and mothers were very sad, for youth is adventurous; with intelligence and a sympathetic nature it is easily moved by popular oratory. "The Kentuckians come slowly," said a Confederate recruiting agent, " and require about three speeches a day. When thus stirred up they go, almost to a man. Since I have found that I can't be a great general I have turned recruiting agent and sensation speaker." By such means as these, by promises of money, or of glory — and these failing, by the hated draft — material for war, which, too frequently, marks the "glorious " eras of hisfory, is obtained. In the meantime extreme partisans were slipping away to either side. It is still a debated question which side first violated the neutrality of the State. It matters little, since as early as July General William Nelson had a Federal camp in Girrard County (CaiTTp Dick Robinson) and Colonel Withers had recruited a Confederate regiment in Kentucky, holding his rendezvous at Camp Boone, Tennessee. President Lincoln, though he promised to make no war on Kentucky, unless she made war on the United States, declined to remove the small United States garrison at Covinijton ; and President Davis would only promise " to respect Kentucky's 200 '' FRA'J'RICWAL WARr neutrality so long as the people of Kentucky maintained it themselves." Even this half-hearted promise was broken at the first opportunity. " Go home, raise cotton and make money," a Southern statesman had said to his people, " the border States will attend to the war." But Kentucky approved less and less of the war. The vote of the State showed a two thirds majority for the Union ; but she believed that there was no need of fiorhtinsf ; that the South, if let alone, would soon see the error of her way and return of her own accord. In August the Governor wrote to President Lincoln request- ing the removal of the Federal troops, expressing his aversion to war and his wish to save Kentucky from becoming a battle-field for the contending parties. The President declined, saying that the force " consisted exclusively of Kentuckians in the vicin- itv of their own homes, and was raised at the urgent solicitation of many citizens." Although Kentucky had repeatedly declared her determination to remain peaceably in the Union, neither North nor South seemed able to compre- hend how^ she could do so and yet keep clear of the quarrel. Her sincerity was questioned by both sec- tions. As her geographical position, as well as her known military ability, or temperament, made her good-will a matter of importance, for awhile a fair "FRATRICIDAL IFAR." 20I show of respect for her wishes was maintained upon either side. ^The^^Confederates, although actively _engagedjn_recruiti ng throughout the State, confined their permanent encampments to Tennessee soil. General Anderson, commander of the Federal mili- tary department which included Kentucky, kept his headquarters at Cincinnati, and General Rous- seau, also a Kentuckian, had his recruiting camp across the Ohio, on Indiana soil. September the third the Confederate forces under General Polk of Tennessee moved into Kentucky and took possession of Columbus, situated on a high bluff commanding the Mississippi River for five miles — afterward known as the " Gibralter of the West." Immediatelv the Le2:islature hoisted the United States flag over the Capitol, and de- manded the withdrawal of the Confederates as vio- lators of the neutrality of the State. They refused unless the Federals at "Dick Robinson" also with- draw. The Federals refused, reiterating the Presi- dent's words, that "it was not a very large force and consisted exclusively of Kentuckians, placed there at the solicitation of Union-loving people, merely for the defense of the State." September the fifth Governor Magofifin proposed to the Legislature to borrow money for the pur- pose of keeping Kentucky clear of the invading armies. The House took no action on this propo- 202 '' FRAl'RICIDAL WAR." sition, but voted seventy-one to twenty-six to order the Confederate forces encamped on Kentucky soil to decamp ; and the governor was requested to call out the militia " to expel the invaders." Their resolutions were vetoed by the governor on the ground that the Union troops were not in- cluded. However, he notified Governor Harris of Tennessee of the presence of a large Confederate force, in direct defiance of Kentucky's neutrality. Governor Harris promptly responded that he was confident they were there without the consent of President Davis and that he had telegraphed a request for their withdrawal. Mr. Davis, in turn, telegraphed General Polk, " The necessity justifies the action ; " and wrote him, later, " We cannot permit the indeterminate quantities, the political elements, to control our actions in cases of mili- tary necessity." On the morning of the sixth General Grant — who also had had his eye on Columbus — with two regiments and a battery, entered Paducah, forty miles above on the Ohio. He issued a proclama- tion assuring Kentucky that he came to defend her against their common enemy; that she might "pur- sue her usual avocations without fear, as the strong arm of the Government was there to defend her." September the fourteenth General Zollicoffer telegraphed Governor Magoffin that, as the Federal ''FRATRICIDAL WARr 203 forces, in defiance of Kentucky's neutrality, had established camps in the central and other portions of the State, he had taken possession of the three long mountains in Kentucky. If the Federal forces would withdraw, those under his command should be withdrawn. In fact, Kentucky's neutrality was hopelessly shattered; her fair land, once the bone of fierce contention between rival Indian tribes, was now / the object of a contest no less bitter ; a contest that | bade fair to keep up her reputation as a " dark and bloody ground." On September eighteenth the Legislature re- solved that the Confederates must be expelled ; that the Federal troops were assembled for the purpose of preserving the peace ; that General Anderson, a native Kentuckian, be requested to take instant command, with authority to call out volunteers for the purpose of expelling the in- vaders; and that the State forces must be placed under command of General Thomas L. Critten- den. The Governor vetoed these resolutions as a direct infringement of the neutral attitude they had chosen. Yet after they were passed, he lent his assistance in putting them into execution. The arrest of Col. R. T. Durrett and ex-Governor Morehead at their homes in and near Louisville (September 18) led to a general exodus of " South- 204 '' FKAl'RICJDAL WARr ■ ern sympathizers " from the State. Among these were John C. Breckenridge (ex- Vice- President), Hon. William Preston (ex-Minister to Spain), W. N. Haldeman (Editor Louisville Courier), the Mon- roes, the Marshalls, the Johnsons, the Clays, and other prominent secessionists. Governor More- head and Colonel Durrett were, without warrant or legal authority, arrested as suspected rebels. They were taken to Fort Lafayette in New York Har- bor, and afterward to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, where they were kept for months in close confinement. Linumerable other arrests were made all over the State. General Anderson issued an order (October 7) in which he " regretted that arrests were beins: made on the slis^htest and most trivial grounds." He requested civil and military authori- ties not to make any arrests " except where parties were attempting to join the rebels, or were engaged in sivina: aid or information to them ; and in all cases the evidence must be such as would convict before a court of justice. Many, he said, had been "arrested while quietly remaining at home, and others had been taken out of the State — all contrary to his wish." He urged a " discontinuance of these ill-timed and unlawful arrests." The severe duties of his position proving too great a strain on General Anderson's failing ''FRATRICIDAL IVARr 205 strength, General Sherman soon afterward suc- ceeded to the command at Louisville. He issued an order (October 31) saying: "The removal of prisoners (except spies and prisoners of war) from the State — without giving them an opportunity for trial by the legal tribunals of their country — does not meet with my approval ; " and he directed that they should be " examined and dealt with ac- cording to law." .General Buckner and the most of the State Guards had left the State early in September and enlisted in the Confederate service. On the eighteenth General Buckner, by order of General Albert Sidney Johnson — a native Kentuckian now in command of the Confederate forces of the Mis- sissippi Valley — seized several railroad trains and with about four thousand men advanced into Ken- tucky and took possession of Bowling Green. Here, by the middle of October, his force had increased to twelve thousand. Extensive preparations were made by the Federal troops for the defense of Louisville ; and the Leg- islature passed a bill calling for forty thousand volunteers for the defense of the State. A few weeks previous one million dollars had been appro- priated to raising and arming troops; two million dollars more were now added for the same pur- pose. Generals Thomas L. Crittenden, Burbridge, 206 " FRA 7 RK J DAL U'ARr Walter Whitaker, Ricliard Jacob, John Harlin, Price, Kelly, Croxton, and many other prominent Union men, had taken service in the Federal army. Hitherto the North had seemed so averse to war that it was not believed by Kentucky people that the contest would continue long. The second war with Great Britain, and the Mexican war, both of which had been generally condemned in the North, had been fought mainly by the South and West. But both parties were now thoroughly roused, and in the general upheaval, Kentucky's neutrality was soon swallowed up, and swept away upon one current or another. General Zollicoffer had marched upon Barbours- ville and taken possession of the Union forces there, issuing an order promising protection to every citizen not found in arms against the Con- federacy. Cumberland Gap was fortified; Colum- bus and Bowling Green put in a position of defense. Meanwhile General Sherman, at Louisville, was vainly endeavoring to awaken the Federal Govern- ment to a realization of the fact that the State was fast being appropriated by the Confederate Army. Two hundred thousand men, he declared, were necessary for the campaign in the southwest. McClellan on the left, with a frontage of less than one hundred miles, had one hundred thousand men; Fremont on the right, with the same line " FRA TRICIDA L I FAR." 207 of defense had sixty thousand; while he, with over three hundred miles of frontier, had only eighteen thousand. By the first of January (1862) General Buell, at Louisville — having superseded General Sherman in November — had discovered that "the great power of the rebellion in the West is arrayed on a line from Bowlins^ Green to Columbus." By persistent urging from President Lincoln and General Grant Major-General Halleck was induced to make a demonstration aofainst the enemy, which was begun about the middle of Jan- uary. Brigadier-General AlcClernand, with five thousand men, " pushed a reconnoissance up to Columbus ; " Brigadier-General Smith marched a stronij column to Callo- way; while Foote and Grant, with three gun- boats, ascended the Tennessee River to Fort Henry. The only result of this expedition was that it furnished Grant with the informa- tion of the enemy's strength and weakness necessary for the bril- liant operations against Fort Henry and Fort KLCONNOlTtRINC. 2o8 '' FRATRICIDAL WARr Donelson which he begun a few weeks after- ward. The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, flowing; almost side by side, furnished easy access from the Mississippi to these two forts, which stood midway between Columbus and Bowling Green, a little southward, across the Tennessee line. Every one knows the story of the capture of these two forts (February 6 and February i6, 1862) and the pluck of the two Kentucky commanders, Tilghman and Buckner. They held the forts until their superiors and the other officers, and many of the men had made- their escape ; then they surrendered to General Grant. The Confederate power in Kentucky was hope- lessly shattered by this defeat. General Johnston immediately abandoned Bowling Green, and two weeks later General Polk removed his forces from Columbus. Meanwhile numerous skirmishes had taken place throughout Kentucky, Colonel Garrard at Camp Wild Cat, near London, was attacked October 2i^J_^;^ by General ZoUicoffer, with seven regiments and a battery. General Schoeff, who had just reached the camp with six regiments and Wolford's cavalry, assumed command of the Federal forces and after two engagements drove the Confederates away. The Confederate loss was reported as thirty killed ''FRATRICIDAL JIAR." 209 and about one hundred wounded ; the Federal loss, twenty-two killed and wounded. Colonel John S. Williams, of Cerro Gordo fame, occupied Pikeville at the head of the Big Sandy River, with a Confederate force of one thousand men. General William Nelson set out with tliree thousand men to dislodge them, sending Colonel Apperson with nearly half the force round by a circuitous route to the opposite side of Pikeville for the purpose of catching the Confederates be- tween two fires. But Colonel W^illiams, aware of his intention, harassed them with sharp skirmish- ing around to Pound Gap, his rear guard leaving Pikeville as Nelson entered it. A desperate fight of over an hour ensued, which resulted in the de- feat of the Confederates; thirty killed and a num- ber taken prisoners. Federal loss, six killed and twenty-four wounded. January 19 a battle had been fought at Mill Spring, Eastern Kentucky, General Zollicoffer and General George B. Crittenden commanding the Confederates and General Thomas and Colonel Garfield the F'ederals. The result was uncertain until General Zollicoffer was shot by Colonel Speed Fry, whom he had mistaken for one of his own officers. Upon this the Confederates retreated, leaving their camp supplies and twelve pieces of artillery. The loss in this engagement was about 2IO '' FRAT/aCIDAI. IVAA'." six hundred. The larger part of this loss was borne by the Confederates. After the fall of Fort Donelson came the terrible battle of Shiloh. Though fought on Tennessee ground its effects were grievously felt throughout Kentucky. The close of this bloody battle left one thousand three hundred of her brave soldiers dead upon the field, six hundred and eighty of whom were Confederates. Among these were General Albert Sidney Johnston, the brightest star of the Confederacy, Major Thomas B. IMonroe, Jr., and Colonel George \V. Johnston, who had been elected " provisional governor " by the Confederates while at Bowlins: Green. The total loss of the two armies was about ten thousand each. But then, some glori- ous names were won on the field of Shiloh ! Five days after this battle, slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia; one million dollars appropriated by Congress to colonizing any who might wish to leave the country; and one million dollars to pay loyal owners the value of their slaves — the only slaves liberated by Congress who were paid for. No action was ever taken on the bill recommended by President Lincoln and passed by both Houses of Congress (July i8), appropria- ting two hundred million dollars for emancipating and colonizing the slaves in the border States, The border States made no motion of acceptance. CHAPTER IX. CRUEL WAR. John RRFCKIMRinriF T is History's part to depict only the heroic features of War. If all the truth were told of scenes witnessed by people living within its bloody circle — the dis- gusting details of -J senseless cruelties, of pitiless barbarities — the glory of war would be so tarnished and be- draggled, that no self-respecting nation would be found willing to subject its people to so great a calamity. Generations to come will, with amaze- ment and horror, look back upon this time, when governments had power to drive men from their homes to kill and be killed. What famine or pes- tilence ever swept off so many strong men in so short a time as at the battle of Shiloh.'' Twenty thousand in twenty-four hours — and almost noth- ing gained. 212 CRUEL WAR. The Federal forces had possession of Kentucky; but the principal gate was left wide open, and soon the rebel flag: was flutterino; back and forth throu^jh Cumberland Gap. Kentucky was too inviting a battle-o-round to be lono- abandoned. Her fertile fields served both armies as a convenient source of supplies. With her ten navigable rivers she presented greater facilities for transportation than could almost any other State. Railroads might be destroyed, but the rivers were always there. In midsummer of '62 John Morgan started on his series of " raids." He captured towns, took food and clothing, cut telegraph lines and sent off false messages ; he burned many houses, destroyed bridges and created a panic throughout the coun- try. At Tompkinsville he defeated a detachment of Federal cavalry, killing four men and taking nineteen prisoners, including the commander, Major Jordan. At Lebanon, he captured Colonel Ab. John- son and his force, and burned the warehouse con- taining sixty thousand dollars' worth of United States stores. On the seventeenth of July he captured Cynthiana, defeating Colonel Landram's regiment and the home guards, and taking about four hundred and twenty prisoners; sixteen Fed- erals and fourteen Confederates were killed, and forty wounded on each side. Paris, Mr. Collins tells us, surrendered without CRUEL WAR. 213 resistance ; the Confederate troops remained there all night, but were hurried away the following morning by the approach of General Green Clay Smith, with over one thousand two hundred men. Morgan now hastened back to Tennessee, having in three days, with a loss of only ninety men, "cap- tured " seventeen towns, paroled one thousand two hundred regular troops, and destroyed over a million dollars worth of Government property. On the approach of Morgan, General Boyle of Louisville, who had command of the provost guards in Kentucky, issued an order that " every able- bodied man take arms, and assist in repelling the marauders; every man who does not must remain in his house forty-eight hours, or be shot if he leaves it." Horses were taken without ceremony, and business almost entirely suspended. General Boyle had made himself extremely unpopular with " Southern sympathizers " by requiring them to take an oath promising to assist in putting down the rebellion — the penalty of violation, death — or else be sent to a military prison. He also fitted up quarters for " disloyal females." The work of arrest was prosecuted with such vigor that all the available space in prisons and penitentiaries was soon appropriated. The oath was duly administered to all who would take it, and who could furnish bonds of from five thousand dollars to twenty 214 CRUEL WAR. thousand dollars, with approved security. This done, the prisoners were released. " Raids " now became the order of the day. The Confederates took the horses and cattle of the Union men; the Federals the horses and cattle of the Southern men ; the soldiers of both sides took everything they could eat, drink, or wear, wherever they could find it. Trying times were those ! Little regard was had for private property of any description. Then, in August, came the first demand on the slave-holders for all their able- bodied negro men to use in repairing roads, and other Government labor. This was understood to be only the beginning of a general emancipation. The inevitable was at hand. In the latter part of August a fierce engagement took place between an advance detachment of Kirby Smith's forces and a portion of Gen. Wm. Nelson's army, under General Manson. In this the Federals were put to rout, with a loss of three hundred killed and three thousand five hundred prisoners. The Confederate loss was two hundred and fifty killed and five hundred wounded. Gen- eral Bragg entered Kentucky, September 5. He first encountered the Federals at Munfordville — three thousand five hundred men under General Wilder. After several skirmishes the Federals sur- rendered and were paroled. At Glasgow he issued CRUEL WAR. 215 a proclamation, September 18, offering the citi- zens " peace and protection." With Kirby Smith's force of ten thousand men, General Heth's nine thousand, and John Morgan's cavalry, Kentucky was pretty well occupied by Confederate forces. For six days General Heth threatened Cincin- 7«'W f ^^N^i-r Hodgensv.iie.kyJ jTresiclant Jbincoln. nati, waiting meanwhile for General Bragg; but General Lew Wallace, who held comriiand of the militia there, gathered such a formidable force to meet him, that General Heth withdrew to Florence. Innumerable skirmishes were occurring all over the State between the Confederates and the Home 2l6 CRUEL WAR. Guards. The most desperate of these took place at Augusta, September 27. Colonel Basil Duke's regiment, with about three hundred and fifty cav- alrymen, undertook to cross the Ohio at Augusta, about forty miles above Cincinnati. Here they were opposed by a force of one hundred and twenty-five Home Guards under Colonel Joshua Bradford, who were stationed in brick houses. A block or two of these houses were burned before the Home Guards surrendered. Colonel Duke's loss was thirty-nine, killed and wounded. Among the killed was Wm. Courtland Prentice; a sad blow to his father, the editor of the " Louisville Journal," who had re- mained true to the Union even though both of his sons were in the Confederate Army. While General Bras^o- loitered alons^ oratherino: provisions for his half-famished army. General Buell swept past him into Louisville. On the fourth of October Bra^o: beo;an to concentrate his forces at Lexington. The political elements gathered at Frankfort to inau2:urate a successor to their un- fortunate "provisional governor," who fell at Shiloh. Richard Hawes of Bourbon was duly elected ; but his occupancy was unexpectedly curtailed, for in the midst of his inaugural address Buell's forces began to fire upon the town. General Bragg, finding it impossible to hold Kentucky against the strong Federal force which CRUEL WAR. 217 had gathered to oppose him, began a retreat, neces- sarily slow, on account of the heavily-laden pro- vision wagons which he had collected in Kentucky. On the eighth of October Buell's forces attacked the Confederates at Perryville, about forty miles south of Frankfort. For four hours " the severest, most desperate battle ever fought on Kentucky soil," raged. Of the twenty-five thousand Federal troops — under Generals Alex. McCook, Lovell H. Rousseau, Jas. S. Jackson, Chas. C. Gilbert, Robert B. Mitchell, Phil H. Sheridan and Albin Schoepff — over four thousand were lost. Of the fifteen thousand Confederates, under Generals \Vm. J. Hardee, Leonidas Polk, Wm. S. Cheatham, Simon B. Buckner, and Richard H. Anderson, three thou- sand five hundred were lost. Perceiving that re- inforcements had arrived. General Bragg hurried away, leaving his dead unburied. Both Bragg and Buell were severely blamed by their respective governments ; the one for not seiz- ing Kentucky and holding it; the other for letting the invading army get away, and especially with so much booty. Criticisms and fault-finding were going on all over the country. " The disloyalty of Kentucky " was freely discussed by both sec- tions. General Boyle at Louisville issued still more rigorous orders; and the business of confis- cation was begun. Southern sympathizers were 2l8 CRUEL WAR. forced to pay for property taken by the Confederate troops and " guerrillas." Horrible cruelties, too, were practised. At Cumberland Ford, in the southern part of the State, sixteen men, charged with being " bushwhackers," were hung by Con- federate pickets ; and in ^Kockcastle County, nine Confederate soldiers were hunor in retaliation. Besides John Morgan's Cavalrymen, there were numberless bands of " oruerrillas " dashino^ over the country. They captured small detachments, took whatever they wanted, and destroyed camps, bridges, and railroads. Kentucky farmers usually owned from two to a dozen good saddle horses — and the "raiders" helped themselves liberally to fresh horses at the nearest stables. Although they managed to escape any heavy engagement, there were some serious skirmishes which helped to thin their ranks. Colonel John Dills, with his company of mountaineers, captured seventy-five Confederates and a number of wagons. Maj. Wm. McKinney put to rout forty at Calhoun, capturing twenty-five horses and killing two men. General Ransom defeated Colonel Woodward's force at Garrettsburg, killing sixteen and taking forty or fifty prisoners. Numberless other skir- mishes occurred. And then came the great four- days battle at Stone River, Tennessee, in which General John C. Breckenridge and nearly all the CRUEL WAR. 219 Kentuckians in the Confederate Army were en- gaged. According to Mr. Collins, one thousand two hundred Kentuckians fell in that battle — nine hundred and eleven Federals and two hundred and eighty-nine Confederates. In January, 1863, President Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation. Thereupon a number of the Kentucky officers in the Federal army re- signed. Governor James F. Robinson (acting in place of Governor Magoffin, who had resigned), Hon. Chas. A. Wickliffe, General John W. Finnell and others, endeavored to adjust matters with the President so that loyal Kentuckians might not suffer such a heavy loss without some compensa- tion. It prov^ed to no purpose ; the time for such an arrangement had gone by. In the beginning of the war, the Government had solemnly promised that slavery should not be disturbed. The war, so the North had emphatically declared, was to be a war for the Union, and not for abolition. On this understanding many slave- holders of the border States, who had no wish to give up their slaves, had enlisted to put down the rebellion. Soon, however, the slaves were decided "contraband of war." They were put to service to dig and hew for the Federal army; in the second year of the war, they were enlisted as soldiers ; and now they were declared free. 220 CRUEL WAR. AlthouGfh anxious to conciliate his friends of the "border States," to whom his proclamation meant such heavy loss, the President said he " would rather die than take back a word of it ; " and he urged upon the Kentuckians the advantages of his scheme for the gradual emancipation of their slaves. But it is hardly to be expected that people who are to lose thousands of dollars by a measure, should see it in the same light as those who will lose nothing. Neither could they then see that it was really the rebellion of the Southern States which had destroyed slavery. Could the United States Government cherish an institution condu- cive solely to the aid and comfort of its enemies — especially an institution which it despised and considered a blot upon its otherwise spotless character '^. The "border States" were not included in the emancipation proclamation ; but even the slaves understood that their day of bondage in these United States was about over, and stood not upon the order of their going. Silently and in the night they stole away, solitary or in small family groups. Many a Kentucky household awoke in the morning wondering at the strange silence throughout the house. No warm breakfast awaited them ; no fires anywhere ; the kitchen was cold and tenantless. What ! even old Mammy gone } Even rheumatic CRUEL WAR. 223 old Uncle Ned ? Poor, foolish old souls ! and the master and mistress smiled pityingly, even in their consternation at the unwonted tasks that lie before the deserters, for they knew how hard the long, rough road through the wilderness would seem to the ease-loving African natures. Sad times followed for both master and slave. Many cuts and bruises and burns for the tender hands toiling at the new tasks in the kitchen. Many a hungry day and cheerless night for the helpless freedmen who had turned themselves out into the wide, wide world of which they knew so little. Morgan took his leave of Kentucky, January the first, leaving his camp-fires burning at Lebanon, while the Federal troops were waiting to attack him in the morning; but Captain Thomas Hines still remained with his scouts, destroying railroads, burning Government stores, and "capturing" what- ever he could. And in February, Colonel Roy S. Cluke's regiment galloped over the State on the same destructive mission. The military authori- ties, who were now ruling the State with a rod of iron, hit upon the device of compelling Southern sympathizers to pay for the property thus de- stroyed ; and the homes of many inoffensive peo- ple were confiscated to repay losses for which they were in no way responsible. Soldiers presided at 2 24 CRUEL WAR. the poles, and almost daily, tyrannical orders were being issued. " As it was," says Professor Shaler, " thousands of Union men, who had given their property and their blood to the cause of the Constitution, feel- ing that the laws and privileges for which they were fighting were in danger, by the action of the Federal officers, lost heart and their interest in the struggle. They had supposed that they were fight- ing, not for the victory of armies, but for the main- tenance of the laws ; for the welfare of the country, and not for the supremacy of a political party that appeared to be willing to destroy the Common- wealth if it stood in the way of its purposes." But there was no resistance made to this harsh military rule, except in words. One pathetic incident connected with Morgan's first raid — one of a thousand as pathetic — may be recorded here. As Morgan approached Louis- ville one of his young soldiers turned aside for a moment to snatch a kiss and a blessing from the loving mother at home. The happy moments flew swiftly by ; just as the final farewell was spoken a party of Federal soldiers was seen approach- ing. In a moment the young cavalier was on his swift-footed horse and away. Over the fence and down the highway sped the fleet thorough- bred ; but the blue-coats were close on his heels ; a CRUEL WAR. 225 sharp command, the flash of a half-dozen muskets, and the bold rider fell from his saddle, dead ! A few moments more and the mother receives her darling back again, a calm smile upon his face; and the soldiers, who had " only done their duty," rode away. Early in June, Morgan returned to Kentucky with about three thousand men. There were sev- eral sharp engagements — one at Tebb's Bend on Green River in which Colonel Orlando Moore with four hundred men, and a loss of only thirty, de- feated six hundred of Moro-an's men, killinor and wounding eighty-two ; another at Lebanon, in which Lieutenant-Colonel Hanson defended the town for seven hours, until overpowered and burned out by Morgan's cavalry ; the Confederate loss here was twenty-live killed and thirteen wounded ; the Fed- eral, five killed, and one hundred thousand dollars worth of military stores destroyed ! There was still another at Bardstown in which twenty-six Federals, ensconced in a barn, held out a day and night, only surrendering at the approach of Mor- ofan's artillerv. After these and numerous smaller skirmishes, Morgan's entire force passed over into Indiana. From thence they crossed to Ohio, pillaging and destroying wherever they went, find- ing reckless enjoyment in the consternation and panic which this brief taste of war created. 2 26 CRUEL WAR. Meanwhile a day of reckoning was fast approach- ing; fifty thousand Ohioans were hunting them down. And at last, after twenty days of almost incessant riding, Morgan, finding himself sur- rounded by militia, and fenced off from the river by gun-boats, surrendered to General Shackleford at New Lisbon. Of his two thousand men only three hundred escaped into Virginia. Six months afterward. General Morgan and six of his Captains, Thos. H. Hines, Jacob C. Bennett, Ralph Shelden, Jas. D. Hockersmith, Gustavus S. McGee, and Sam. B. Taylor dug their way out of the Ohio penitentiary where they had been confined, and escaped into Kentucky; here Taylor and Shelden were captured and returned to the penitentiary. Twenty-six of Morgan's men who had been sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, escaped by digging a tunnel under the fence surrounding the barracks. This remarkable raid was said to have been made for the purpose of diverting attention from the Confederate movements in Pennsylvania. But, after the desperate three-days battle at Gettysburg, in which the Confederates lost thirty-six thousand men, Lee and his army were forced to retreat. Then came the dreadful battle of Chickamauga; a victory which only exasperated, because it could not be followed up with the final crushing blow which mio-ht have made it of some use. After that CRUEL WAR. 227 battle, we are told, the old fire died out of the Con- federates ; they fought on desperately, but without hope. Harry and Edmund Peterson, like many other Kentucky brothers, had gone separate ways. At the first demand for troops to put down the rebel- lion, the impulsive Edmund had avowed his sym- pathy for the "poor, abused South." The air was full of battle. Company after company slipped away to one side or the other. Harry joined a company of Home Guards. His uniform was blue, and very becoming. " Are you going to fight the South } " his brother asked. " I would fight any one who attempted to destroy this Union — which our fathers fought and died to establish." " A Union of tyrants and slaves ! " cried Edmund. "Yes; there are tyrants and slaves in it," re- turned Harry, regretfully. "Perhaps you will set yours free.'*" Edmund next remarked. " I may; yes, I think I will," was the reply. A few days afterward Edmund made his hasty adieus and rode away to the South ; to_fight for liberty — for the whites — but slavery for the blacks. And soon his brother's company was or- dered into the field, to keep the Confederates at bay. Then the father and mother, left alone in the 228 CRUEL WAR. great gray house set in the midst of verdant past- ures, to which they had retired in the hope of spend- ing their green old age in peace, saw that peace had flown forever from their lives. It was a hard lot, but no harder than that of many of their neighbors. What wonder that the Union-loving fathers of Ken- tucky were so often loath to go into the field — to fight their sons and brothers and cousins, whose call had come from the South instead of the North ? Harry Peterson never went into battle without feeling a vague dread lest he should see the face of his brother among the enemies whom it was his duty to fight. But as time went on and he neither saw nor heard of Edmund, he concluded that his brother was in another part of the country, and ceased to look for him. After the victory of Chicka- mauga, the Confederates had been driven from Chattanooga, and then from " Lookout Mountain " and finally — wearied out by a long day's contest on " Missionary Ridge," pressed closer and closer by fresh Federal troops — they were forced again to fly. Harry Peterson was with these fresh troops when the Confederate lines began to break and the volleys grew fainter and fainter. Among the last to fly was an oflicer whom he had noticed before — alwavs urorino; on his men. His gray uniform was covered with dust, his face begrimed with the smoke of battle. He was evi- CRUEL WAR. 229 dently wounded ; one more shot would probably finish him. Peterson fired that shot and had the satisfaction of seeing his enemy fall. By the time he had reached his victim the last gray-coat had vanished. Some unfathomable instinct caused him to stoop and look at the face more closely. The fantastic light of the dying day fell full upon it. Suddenly he turned cold and began to tremble. He pushed back his enemy's hat and looked more closely at the face. " Edmund !" The dying man looked up, but there was no springing light of affectionate recognition in his glance. A squad of soldiers passing by called out in loud, triumphant tones: " Victory! Come on! come on ! and get your ,; share of the glory.'' j Glory ! and his only brother dying at his feet ! Victory ! and he had just murdered one whom he would have died to save from harm. " Edmund," he called persuasively. " Don't you know me, Edmund ? It's Harry." " I know," he mur- mured, with an effort, CRUEL WAR. 2 30 CRUEL WAR. " I know. That last shot — finished me. I am dying." " O no, Edmund ! " he tried to speak cheerfully, " I hope not. Let me see where you are wounded." " No use," panted the dying man. " Let me go in peace." " O, Edmund ! this will break mother's heart." " Tell her I was not afraid. I have done my best. I fought faithfully for the right — as I saw it. If I have made a mistake, God knows it . . . and he is merciful. He was always quicker to forgive — quicker to excuse fault — than his disciples. He knows our weakness — our fallibility." " Edmund," Harry's voice was hoarse with grief and pain, " it was I who killed you ! I never once thought of you ; I had looked for you so long. If we could only change places how happy I should be." " Never mind, Harry. I know you wouldn't have harmed me for the world if you had known it. You only did your duty. A sad chance of this cruel war which might have been mine, just as well. Promise me you will never let them know it at home. It would make it so much harder for them — dear old father and mother! " His breath came shorter and shorter ; his words s^jrew more and more indistinct. At length he looked up piteously in his brother's face. " O, Harry!" — a gasp or two more and all was over. CRUEL WAR. 231 When the men came with stretchers to carry off the dead and wounded, they found Peterson bend- ing speechless, motionless, as if paralyzed, over the body of a dead Confederate ofificer. When it was known that it was his brother they said : " Poor fellow ! " and then began to laugh and joke about death and the grave, and tell humorous anecdotes, and speak facetiously of " handing in their checks." War is a terrible hardener. Carnage and blood- shed, brutality and rapine, had become common and humorous themes. Nothing was too horrible to be made the subject of jest and merriment. The three years of war had done their work of de- moralization. Pity, sympathy and tenderness were well-nigh extinguished from hardened hearts. To say" they fought like devils " was the highest, most acceptable compliment vou could bestow. The best soldier was the one who killed the most men. The happiest general was the one whose slain were counted by the thousands. Shouts of joy went up as the paie faces opposite them went down. But it was a " glorious war." The man who tried to keep out of it was called a coward, and it was said, " If he had one spark of honor he would be fighting for his country." Women, reading of the "" glorious victories," and seeing the gallant troops on parade^ in their gala dress, were smitten with ad- miration for the work of slaughter, and sacrificed 2 32 CRUEL WAR. their jewels, and denied themselves books and all means of culture, that they might help on the " sacred cause." And almost daily thousands of souls went into eternity with murder in their hearts ; for the nation was smitten with an awful madness. A season of moral darkness had come upon our country, in which the very lights of heaven seemed to flicker and grow pale. A time of mourning, and of hideous rejoicing over death. A period of commercial stagnation, when the factories were silent because their workers had gone off to fight one another; when residences, store-houses, stables and barns were emptied by marauders, and earth's treasury ministered more to the destruction of life than to its preservation ; when there was more money made on musketry than on grain. In the great upheaval the lowest class came to the top. Burglaries by armed men were of com- mon occurrence. Travelers were robbed and often- times shot down on the highway. Peaceable citizens were mobbed and "burned out " for their " Union " sentiments, or arrested and thrown into prison for "sympathizing with the South." In the hitherto prosperous State of Kentucky the question. What shall we eat and wherewithal be clothed .f* became one of serious import. CHAPTER X. CLOSE OF THE W A R. cfTKeOU C* apifcol^ LTHOUGH no great battles were fought in Kentucky in i864_it was for that State the most trying year of the war; probably the severest in loss of life and certainly the most destructive t o prop- erty. Besides the loss of slaves by conscriptiouj and the confiscation of property by military order, there was a continual drainage by raiding guerrillas. These pests, who were at the last disowned and hunted down by both parties, swept over the State like a fire, or a plague of locusts. At no time during the year was the State entirely free from them. They seemed to regard the fattening herds and ripening grain of Kentucky as legitimate spoil. They plundered both parties alike and had no real connection with either army. 233 2 34 CLOSE OF THE WAR. One of the most exasperating injustices of the war was holding " Southern sympathizers " respon- sible for outrages committed by the guerrillas, who claimed to be Southern soldiers. As there were no regular Confederate troops in Kentucky at this time, there was no opportunity for disprov- ing this assertion; and the first week in January Governor Bramlette issued a proclamation holding the " Southern sympathizers " responsible for all guerrilla raids, requesting military commandants to " arrest at least five prominent rebel sympathiz- ers for every loyal citizen taken by the guerrillas, and to hold them as hostages for the safe and speedy return of the loyal citizen." Where there were disloyal relatives of guerrillas, they should be the chief sufferers. " Let them learn that if they refuse to exert themselves actively for the assist- ance and protection of the loyal, they must expect to reap the just fruits of their complicity with the enemies of our State and people." A former Fed- eral officer himself, Governor Bramlette must, have had implicit confidence in the military authorities, or he would never have entrusted them with un- limited authority over the personal liberty of citi- zens — leaving the selection of the victims to their discretion. At least, we may venture to suggest that, in reversing the Scriptural order, and visiting the CLOSE OF THE WAR. 235 iniquities of the sons upon the fathers, the Gover- nor transcended his authority. As the gu errilla ^nds _were jTiade_up mainly of refugees from othei^ Stat es^, few of the Kentucky fathers had to suffer in consequence of this order. A little farther on we find Governor Bramlette, as well as other prominent Unionists, resisting the conscription of negroes. When Federal ofiRr ^^prs began to recruit negro_irsii«i^iJJ^sgJtfiJi^^fe3Bd.fe^»i«^^ AFTER THE BATTLE. jected; and still later he refused General Hunter. In 1862 he had made repeated earnest appeals to the border States to favor compensated emancipa- tion, to avert the necessity for military emancipa- tion. ''They declined the proposition; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of 238 CLOSE OF THE WAR. either surrendering the Union or of laying a strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter." By this the action had not lost, but gained one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen and laborers. The Kentuckians, though not placated, made the best of the situation; and Governor Bramlette's next proclamation advised the people to submit quietly to the enrollment, and " trust the American people to do us the justice which the present Con- gress may not do." The President promised the Governor that no enlistment of negro soldiers should take place, " unless Kentucky failed to fur- nish her quota of white men." Kentucky's quota was filled but, in three months, we are told, over twelve thousand negroes were taken out of Ken- tucky and enlisted elsewhere. In July there was a demand on the State for five thousand additional troops for which a draft was ordered, but postponed " in view of the scarcity of labor and the fact that the citizens have so patriotically responded to the late call." Only a few counties failed to make up their quota without draft. The Adjutant-General's report shows that Ken- tucky had sent at this time about sixty thousand men into the Federal service. " Kentucky," Pro- fessor Shaler tells us, " furnished her full quota of troops for the Union army almost without boun- CLOSE OF THE WAR. 239 ties, and practically without a draft." Although her vote in i860 was only one hundred and fifty- one thousand the State furnished one hundred and seventy-six thousand Federal soldiers, besides the eleven thousand colored troops. At least fifty thousand were in the Confederacy. It is asserted that "the tabulated measurement of United States volunteers during the Civil War show that Ken- tucky and Tennessee soldiers exceeded all others in height, weight, circumference of head and chest and ratio of weis^ht and stature." The chief military events of the year were Forrest's attack on Paducah, defended by Colonel Hicks with six hundred men, which resulted in the defeat of the Confederates, after two days of battle and a loss of about one hundred men on either side ; and Morgan's destructive raid through the central portion of the State. — Morgan entered Kentucky June i, via Pound Gap. With two thousand four hundred men he galloped over the State, capturing in succession. Mount Sterling, Paris, Cynthiana and Williams- town. He tore up railroads, destroyed Govern- ment property and seized money and horses. Three regiments of mounted infantry, under Colonel John Mason Brown, Col. C. S. Hanson, and Col. David A. Mims attacked the raiders at Mount Sterling and after a desperate fight in which Morgan 240 CLOSE OF THE WAR. lost nearly four hundred men, killed, wounded and prisoners, and the Federals about eighty, the Confederates fled to Lexington. Here they seized ten thousand dollars from the Branch Bank of Kentucky, robbed citizens right and left, and re- tired to Fort Clay. Two days afterward they attacked Cynthiana, burned two hundred thousand dollars worth of property, and, intercepting a train, captured General Hobson and five hundred Fed- eral troops. At daylight the following morning the same force which had defeated them at Mount Sterling overtook them near Cynthiana and after an hour's desperate fighting, put them to flight. Three hundred of the raiders were killed and wounded, four hundred were taken prisoners and Hobson and his men released. The Federal loss was one hundred and fifty. Finding: the Federal force too strono: for him Morgan returned to Tennessee. He was surprised and surrounded at a private house near Greenville, September 4, and shot while attempting to escape. His methods of warfare have been seriously ques- tioned by military leaders, but personally he was loved and respected as a kind and upright gentle- man. That the Federal troops pursued the same methods, though not to such an extent, is well known. An order issued by General Burbridge September 14 says that he " is pained to learn that CLOSE OF THE WAR. 241 in various portions of his command, squads of Federal soldiers, and companies of men styling themselves ' State Guards,' ' Home Guards,' ' Inde- pendent Companies,' etc., are roving over the coun- try, committing outrages on peaceable citizens, seizing without authority their horses and other property." ^^artialJa^LJa^s proclaimed in the State July 5,! on account of " the prevalence of Confederate and guerrilla raids;" and from that time until 1865,1 more and more strino^ent orders were issued ; until the exasperated people finding their civil govern- ment overthrown, and the tyranny of military law| unendurable, in desperation appealed to the Presi- \ dent. A heavy tax was imposed on the State, ' sufficient to arm, mount and pay five thousand troops for the Federal Army, notwithstanding that the Legislature had appropriated five million dol- lars for that purpose. Produce could be sold only to specified agents and at their prices. Horses, were taken, " to be paid for when the owners should prove their loyalty." Women whose husbands or sons or brothers were in the Confederate Army were arrested and sent either to prison or to Canada. Soldiers presided at the polls and directed the elections to suit their own preferences ; and men were shot down for small offences, and without even the ])retence of a trial. 242 CLOSE OF THE WAR. The violent measures of General Burbridge, and other military men, excited revolt even among the strongest friends of the Union. So out-spoken was their disapproval that many prominent Union- ists were arrested, and some of them banished to the Confederacy. Among these were Paul Ship- man, one of the leading editors of the Louisville Journal, Lieutenant-Governor Jacob, General John B. Huston, and Colonel Frank Woolford. Some of the tyrannical orders were revoked by the President ; and, at the request of the Governor for a military commission composed of "good, brave, just and fearless men " to inquire into the iniquities perpetrated by Federal officials in the western district of Kentucky, General Speed. Smith Fry and Colonel John Mason Brown were appointed to investigate and pronounce judgment on the offenders. In consequence, General Eleazer Paine and other officers were removed. And in February, 1865, General John M. Palmer was appointed to command in Kentucky instead of General Burbridge. General Palmer revoked the tyrannical trade regulations ; he restored the liberty of the press. (The people of Kentucky, Mr. Collins tells us, " with only one twenty-seventh of the population of the United vStates were paying one sixth of the direct revenue." ) Banished loyalists were allowed XHK GREAT KEMUCKIAN. {Henry Clay a! th'.rty-five.) CLOSE OF THE WAR. 245 to return : Confederate soldiers who were willing to swear allegiance to the United States were promised pardon : a tighter rein was drawn upon the military forces, and the fetters of the civilians were relaxed. The guerrillas were hunted down with such determined energy that the most des- perate companies were broken up, and their lead- ers executed — among these the notorious Sue Munday (Jerome Clark), a young man of twenty, whose girlish beauty had led to his being mistaken for a woman. The Confederate troops under Major Walker Taylor united with the Federals in hunt- ing down the gruerrillas. In February the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was rejected by the Legislature. The Governor's message suggested that " as England, in the Act of 1833 abolishing slavery, appropriated twenty million pounds to compensate the owners, our Government would surely not be less just ; espe- cially if the assessed value of 1864 ($34,179,246) be accepted by the State — the valuation of i860 being three times that sum. Resolutions were offered urging an earnest effort to obtain compen- sation for the slave-property, but were rejected by the majority. The Kentuckians certainly under- stood that slavery was at an end, although they refused to express any approval of the manner of its extinction. 246 CLOSE OF THE WAR. The Southern horizon had steadily darkened and narrowed, until now very little of its territory remained unoccupied by Federal troops. The Confederate armies, depleted by continual battle, numbered only one hundred and seventy-five thou- sand men, to the one million Federal troops. ' \ General Lee was a man of invincible courage, ^ I but he knew when he was conquered. On the ninth of April, 1865, he surrendered the remnant r,^ ) of his army, less than twenty-eight thousand men, at Appomattox Court House, Va. And on the thirteenth the Southerners stacked their guns and covered the heap with their tattered flags, which j some of them bent to kiss in sad farewell. * On the thirteenth also General Joseph E. John- ston surrendered the remainder of his army ; and Federal and Confederate came home together. They came to fight guerrillas and the military tyrants who were not willing to admit that a State containing so many rebels — even though it had held to the Union through immeasurable difficul- ties — was to be trusted with its own government. On the evening of Johnston's surrender President Lincoln requested the band gathered in front of the White House to play " Dixie," saying that he had always thought it one of the best songs he ever heard, and that he considered that it had been fairly captured from the rebels. It was his CLOSE OF THE WAR. 247 last speech ; the following evening he was assassi- nated. There was sincere mourning^ throuohout Kentucky, where he had many warm personal friends. Public ofBces were draped in mourning, and, at the hour of his funeral, long processions marched through the streets. Harry Peterson returned to his home with a heavy heart. The family -circle was broken by death and by estrangement. The house had been stripped by Union soldiers; the finest horses had been "pressed into service" for the Union; the herds had gone to feed Union soldiers; the word " Union " was a sore word to all. His father had been arrested and kept in prison for " sympa- thizing " with the South. All that the household knew of the Federal soldier was to his disadvan- tage. They loved the defeated South all the more for its misfortunes; and disliked the victorious North all the more for its triumph. They received Harry rather coldly. His party was responsible for all their losses. They con- sidered that he had disgraced himself in deserting the traditions of the family. Never before had there been in the Cabell family, in all its various ramifications, an "Abolitionist": for that in the family opinion was what their Federal soldier had proved to be. The Keiths too, had all gone with the South, 248 CLOSE OF THE WAR. To suffer for one's country changes one's feel- ings entirely. To hear the old flag abused, to listen to contemptuous, angry words against the Union, was sometimes hard to endure. But Harry remembered his father's sufferings, past and pres- ent ; he respected his broken health and fortunes, and held his tongue. Trade regulations had ruined the pork business ; the establishment had been sold for almost nothing; only the farm was left. He had neither the experience, strength nor taste for agricultural pursuits, necessary to success in farm- ing. The rich fields were choked with weeds ; the vacant pastures overrun with briers. Harry went to work quietly and determinedly to make the most of the farm. When he had hired what " hands " he could and set them to work, he reopened his law office in the city. His father took little interest in the narrow calculations, the petty economies of this day of small things. The old gentleman found little except discomfort in the new order that had come in. Harry's mother too found it hard to adjust her old tastes and habits to their altered fortunes. The lavish hospitality, easy and pleasant in the slavery days, now became a grievous burden. Yet there was no thought of discontinuing it. What pleasure was there in home and comfort if they could not be shared with friends and neighbors } CLOSE OF THE WAR. ^9 To the right of the Petersons' lived a Confederate colonel who had come home and gone to work to redeem the losses induced by his rebellion — little heavier to him than were those of the Union general on the left. Colonel Marston's uniform was a trifle more dilapidated than General Farlie's; that was about all. Mr. Peterson went over to call on the old general, and found him trying to plow with one of his carriage horses, which, on account of its venerable age, had escaped military service. The old horse who knew as little of the business as the general, and had as little liking for it, was prancing about in high disgust, sometimes jerking the plow over the surface of the ground, sometimes sticking it fast into the soil ; and the general, clinging desperately to the handles of the plow, found himself un- able to manage both B^^/f^^^i^^ffll^^B^^^HilWV horse and plow at the same time. Mr. Peterson did not feel called upon to pay a welcoming call to his Confederate neighbor, but his son did. The colonel had two accom- IN Tin- roST-OKFlCK. 250 CLOSE OF THE WAR. plished daughters ; perhaps it was the remembrance of certain pleasant evenings spent in the society of the two young ladies which induced his forgiv- ing frame of mind. He deserted his office one afternoon and went over rather early, thinking to have a game of croquet. On one side of the drive, that led up to the house, was a rustic spring-house. Here Harry found the two young ladies, with two tubs, trying to do the family wash. " Aunt Ailsie " had fallen ill and Dinah with prospect of double duty had " resigned." The young ladies received him with heis^htened color, not on account of their occupation, but on account of the rather dishevelled condition of their toilette. Sleeves were tucked up, dresses were pinned back milk-maid fashion, and the abundant tresses were huddled rather wildly on top of the shapely heads. He asked if the colonel was at home; and the colonel, when found, glowered at him so suspi- ciously that Harry pretended to be in search of sheep to buy. As the colonel was in sad need of funds and quite anxious to sell all the sheep he had, he immediately became quite friendly. Harry bought the sheep — which he did not want — and drove them home, in a vague effort at placing him- self on a footing with the laundry maids. Harrv's efforts at friendliness were not lost on CLOSE OF THE WAR. 25 1 the colonel's family. The young ladies were quite gracious when, one evening a week or two after- ward, he called again ; especially Aimee. Alice was more reserved. " I would like to bring my friend, Lieutenant Scoville, some evening, if you have no objection," he said as he was leaving; " I think you would like him." Lieutenant Scoville was a New Yorker who had purchased the confiscated estate of a rebel neigh- bor, and was rather too prosperous a man to be popular in this war-scarred community. He had lost nothing ; indeed, it was whispered that he had made money out of the " great trouble." There was dignity and distinction in having suffered for one's country — or at least for one's principles. The man who had dared to make money out of his country's calamities was altogether despicable. " Excuse me," said Alice haughtily, " I would rather not know him." " Alice," exclaimed Aimee, " it isn't fair to blame him for fighting the South. Everybody can't see alike. If you had been brought up in the North you would have believed that the Union was a great thing, too." " I know I should have had better sense. It seems to me any one might sec the corruption and tyranny that arc at the bottom of the Federal Gov- 252 CLOSE OF THE WAR. ernment. It was only to humiliate and impoverish the South that they fought. And I would a thou- sand times rather be the defeated South than the cruel, bigoted North." " There is no stronger Union man than your great favorite, Dr. Breckinridge ; and two of his sons fought in the Union Army," said Aimee. "Yes; but the other two fought on the Southern side ; Dr. Breckinridge himself lost a good deal by the war ; and I don't believe but he was sorry enough about it. Besides we all know that Dr. Breckinridge is a good and noble man." When Mr. Harry Peterson next called at Colonel Marston's he was not accompanied by Lieutenant Scoville. But subsequently Alice met him else- where, and on further acquaintance her opinion of him was modified to that extent that when Harry and Aimee were married, there was a double wed- ding,- in which the other contracting parties were Alice Marston and Lieutenant Scoville. CHAPTER XI. WITHOUT SLAVERY. HE war was over. That is, Kentucky thought it was over. She settled down to resume her plow- shares and pruning hooks in a very peace- ful frame of mind. It had not been her war; she had kept out of it, and fought against it, until all the country began to cry out, " Coward ! " Until all her young, high- spirited sons had slipped away into one army or the other. Until the great storm rushed in upon her, banishing peace and tranquillity, and filling her ears with the cries and groans of her children and her countrymen. Assailed on every hand, had she not held fast to the Union ? And when she found that the fearful contest was inevitable what other State had given more freely of her substance and her service ? Had she not, from the very first, 253 2 54 WITHOUT SLAVERY. shown herself honorable, equitable, in the highest degree trustworthy ? Then, upon what ground could it be declared that, in this land of peace and good-will, a " Freed- men's Bureau " was necessary to secure the ex- slaves their just rights? And, worse still, that the presence of negro troops wa.s required to enforce the laws ? But these were only fair examples of the indignities which, from the very beginning, had been inflicted upon Kentucky; a mere instance of the political tyranny she had been, habitually, called upon to endure. Was she not eminently a loyal State? Had she ever — even under the most ex- asperating circumstances — rebelled against the Government ? No ! Very well, then. When this meddlesome Bureau — this expensive, unwise, utterly useless " Freed- men's Bureau," which sometimes even drew down official rebuke for its " abuse of power " — was. entirely abolished ; when the negro troops were withdrawn ; when justice was really done the State — then should colored citizens be admitted to the civil courts on equal terms with their white fellow-countrymen ; not an instant before. Thus Kentucky reasoned. Through the seven years of the Bureau's continuance this contest between^ its officers and those of the civil courts continued. ) In February, iS66, the Legislature passed an act WITHOUT SLAVERY. 255 rendering invalid an}^ election decided by military interference, and the seats of members so elected were declared vacant. It also politely requested President Johnson to remove the Freedmen's Bureau, claiming to have enacted laws for the colored population " characterized by justice and humanity, suited to their present condition and necessary and proper for their welfare." Further- more, it petitioned for a revocation of the presi- dential order suspending the privilege of the habeas corpus writ. The President declarejiKejitucky: free from mar-_ _tial law, but the Freedmen's Bureau was retained; and the writ of habeas corpiis, which had been sus- pended by Lincoln in 1863, was still withheld, though Kentucky was the only " border State " to which it was yet denied. The_ Fourt een th and Fifteenth Amendments were both rejected by the Kentucky Legislature, which resolved that the people of Kentucky were unalterably opposed to negro suffrage, " whether limited or special, general or qualified ; " and it " most earnestly opposed the extension of such suffrage in any State or territory." The general 'opinion was that the ballot should be withheld from the present generation of freedmen — _who in , their helpless ignorance would become mere tools in the hands of unprincipled office-seekers — and >56 WITHOUT SLAVERY. given to their sons, who would be taught and trained for the high privilege and power of suffrage. During the seven years which the obnoxious Bureau continued its unwelcome interference between the colored people and their employers, Hm°rtg theri°Md.in5- From a^Fictwre bv Pd>bty TK^^m.- fe.of W ^^ over -^^^^ e..r)y settler; ^J^^^^ the State retained her laws limiting the testimony of the negro in the courts, repealing them as soon as the Bureau was abolished. The years brought their changes — in feeling as well as in circumstances — and the real affection existing between the two races dwelling in such close WITHOUT SLAVERY. 257 juxtaposition acted as a strong force in lifting the freedman to a higher spiritual plane. The expenses of the " Freedmen's Bureau " for 1869 are given as one hundred and ten thousand dollars, forty-one thousand dollars of which repre- sented salaries. It secured employment for the shiftless and improvident, and in some portions of the impoverished South, served greatly to lighten the sore burden of educating the illiterate mass of new-made voters, by selling public lands, and appropriating the proceeds to colored schools. Kentucky's system of securing a fund for colored schools was by appropriating all the taxes paid by them to the education of their children. At the State Educational Convention of colored people, February, 1873, the following resolutions were passed, which speak for themselves: Resolved — First: "That we most earnestly request there be no special legislation in the State of Kentucky for colored people ; since it is humiliating to us, detrimental to the finance of the State, and contrary to sound policy. Second : That we sincerely believe that citizens in general of Kentucky are as ready to accord equal school privileges to the colored people of the State, as colored people are to receive those privileges. Third : That it is our aim ever to labor honestly, earnestly, and amicably, to secure equal educational privileges in common with citizens of Kentucky, and with citizens of the United States, and to show ourselves worthy of the same." 258 WITHOUT SLAVERY. In the Southern Educational Convention, in 1877, the following resolution was passed — which also speaks for itself : Resolved, "That, as the educational laws of the several States represented by us make no discrimination in favor of, or against, the children of any class of citizens ; and as those charged with the administration of these laws have endeavored, in the past, to have them carried into effect impartially, so do we pledge ourselves to use our influence to secure even-handed justice to all classes of citizens in the application of any educa- tional funds provided by the National Government." Meantime, as an off-set to the " Freedmen's Bureau," a band of would-be " regulators " calling itself the " Ku-Klux Klan " had sprung up in the South. It was a sort of residuum, or dregs, left behind from the great upheaval and was ostensibly designed for the intimidation of lawless negroes, who, in some localities, had organized a regular system of marauding, which the civil authorities were unable to restrain. At first these " regula- tors," as they styled themselves, restricted their operations to the negro thieves and incendiaries whom their mysterious mummeries were designed to terrorize. But the morals of the white as well as the colored people had become relaxed by their experience of war, and when the evil committed by these self-elected regulators came to over-balance the good they accomplished, the law laid its heavy WITHOUT SLAVERY. 259 hand upon them, and swept away this last vestige of the ills resulting from the war. In September, 1867, these "regulators" were warned by Governor Stevenson that " the Executive could not tolerate any such association of men, but would see that they were brought to condign punishment." The officers of the law and the grand juries were not long in unravelling the Ku-Klux mysteries when once they set about it ; and soon these organized bands of outlaws — the natural product of lawless processes for extinguishing evil — were broken up and dispersed. Although Kentucky spent several years in adapt- ing herself to her changed circumstances, making little progress in material prosperity, she recuper- ated more readily than did any other slave State. At no time had she been too poor to help others who were in need of assistance. This the Legisla- tive " resolutions of thanks " from various othei States will amply attest. Many of the great farms were cut up into smaller^ ones and sold, or let " on the shares " ; frequently to the slaves who had formerly tilled them for | nothing. The country gentleman no longer lived ' like an English lord. A Kentucky farmer was no better now than a lawyer, a doctor, or a merchant. War, like the duello, has fallen into disrepute, in Kentucky as well as in other portions of the rd<5 26o W I THOU 2' SLAVERY. civilized world. Those who saw the war on their own lands have no desire to see it again ; having discovered that its " pomp and circumstance " exist more in the imagination than in the reality. But national politics is still a subject of living interest to the average Kentuckian. Many a plain farmer might astonish Mr. Gladstone with his knowledge of the Irish question and his intel- ligent appreciation of the problem of Home Rule ; or perhaps amaze the great Prince Bismarck with his clear apprehension of the forces required in his manipulation of the German Empire. An easy and convenient method of accounting for everything that is large and national in the tone of Kentucky politics is to ascribe all to the influence of Henry Clay. It is true the influence of that vivid mind endures even to the present day, not only in Kentucky, but throughout the United States. But had the atmosphere and environ- ments of the Kentucky home nothing to do with the moulding and directing of his large and generous nature ? Even the pioneers in their brief respites from fighting the Indians and " subduing the earth " managed to keep watch, not only upon the movements of their far-away Legislature, but also of Congress ; turning an interested eye now and then upon England, whom they had forgiven ; upon Spain, whom WITHOUT SLAVERY. 26 1 they distrusted ; and upon France, whom they admired. Indeed, a little deeper study of local politics — which is far more likely to be corrupt than are the national — would doubtless tend greatly to purify and ennoble American politics. The social South- ern custom, always prevalent, of discussing every- thing tends to promote a healthy mental vitality which the mere book-student lacks ; and, now that large libraries are becoming common, there is no reason why Kentucky should not take her turn in literary supremacy as she has in pioneering, in statesmanship and in material productions. It has been said that Kentuckians buy very few American copyright books ; the truth is, however, that she purchases from Eastern booksellers and con- tributes comparatively little to the support of first-class book-stores within her own pleasant boundaries. As a repetition of the commendations of others is not so reprehensible as complimenting one's self, it may be pardonable to make copious extracts from Mr. Charles Dudley Warner's very interest- ing article on Kentucky in Harper's Magazine for January, 1889. He describes the State as " a great self-sustaining empire lying midway in the Union, and between the North and the South — never having yet exactly made up its mind whether 262 WITHOUT SLAVERY. it is North or South." " In this empire," he tells us, " prodigal nature has brought together nearly everything that a highly civilized society needs ; the most fertile soil, capable of producing almost every variety of product for food or for textile fabrics ; mountains of coal and iron ores and lime- stone ; streams and springs everywhere ; almost all sorts of hard wood timber in abundance. Nearly half the State is still virgin forest of the noblest trees, oaks, sugar-maple, ash, poplar, black walnut, linn, elm, hickory, beech, chestnut, red cedar. The climate may honestly be called temperate. . . . " Kentucky is loved of its rivers. It can be seen by their excessively zigzag courses how reluctant they are to leave the State, and if they do leave it they are certain to return. . . . Kentucky is an old State with an old civilization. It was the pioneer in the great western movement of popula- tion after the Revolution. . . . When the State came into the Union in 1792 — the second admitted — it was the equal in population and agricultural wealth of some of the original States that had been settled one hundred and fifty years. . . . Civiliza- tion made a great leap over nearly a thousand miles into the open garden spot of Central Kentucky, and the exploit is a unique chapter in our frontier de- velopment. Either no other land ever lent itself so easily to civilization as the blue-grass region, or it M^ WITH0U2 SLAVERY. 265 was exceptionally fortunate in its occupants. They formed, almost immediately, a society distinguished for its amenities, for its political influence, pros- perous beyond precedent in farming, venturesome and active in trade, developing large manufactures, especially from hemp, of such articles as could be transported by river, and sending annually through the wilderness road to the East and South immense droves of cattle, horses and swine." Of the blue-grass country he says : " I must confess that all I had read of it, all the pictures I had seen, gave me an inadequate idea of its beauty and richness. So far as I know, there is nothing like it in the world. . . , One may drive a hundred miles north or south over the splendid macadam turnpikes, behind blooded roadsters, at an easy, ten-mile gait, and see always the same sight — a smiling agricultural paradise with scarcely a foot in fence corners, by the roadside, or in low grounds, of uncultivated, uncared-for land." Western Kentucky is very little behind the famous central portion. Bowling Green, Paducah, Owensboro, Hopkinsville and Henderson have each almost doubled in population since the war, increasing with equal rapidity in wealth. The best lands of Kentucky are, of course, high-priced, but in the southeastern portions there were large tracts of indifferent land which the Swiss and 266 W I THOU 2' SLAVERY. German dairy-farmers, cheese-makers and grape- culturists have bought, at from one dollar to five dollars per acre, and transformed into neat, cheer- ful, thrifty settlements. In the eastern, mountainous region, there are a few rich valleys ; but the larger portion of this rugged section of the State, though exceedingly picturesque, with its lovely, wild ravines, glowing with many-hued blossoms, its vast forests of huge, broad-leaved trees, and winding, crystal streams, is of indifferent soil and hard to cultivate. Here two classes are growing up side by side. The larger and better class are of English, Scotch-Irish and German origin ; honest, courageous, kindly. A sombre-minded, liberty-loving people, they kept retreating before advancing civilization, until at last they lodged among the least accessible lands of the country, where they have continued to vege- tate in solemn, self-respecting ignorance, even until the present day ; a hospitable, gentle-mannered peo- ple, yet fierce and reckless when thoroughly aroused. " Many of them," so says Mr. Gilmore (" Edmund Kirke ") — and he knows them well — "bear the names, and have in their veins the blood of statesmen and heroes who will be forever hon- ored in border history; but, alas! the fine gold has become dim, and all their great qualities have been smothered under a mass of ignorance and WITHOUl SLAVERY. 267 superstition that is painful to contemplate. But the greatness is still there. Latent in them are all the materials of a magnificent manhood." Only- religious and literary culture are needed, we are assured, to call it forth. The second class, of which there are only a few in the Kentucky mountains, are a sallow, gypsy- like people, of unknown origin ; idle, vicious, thor- oughly conscienceless, and " far more incorrigible " than either the Indian or the negro. " Whenever you read in the newspapers about those terrible vendettas which have disgraced the countr}''/' says Mr. Andrew Ewing (for many years one of the most eminent lawyers of Tennessee), " you will, on inquiry, find that nine out of every ten of them are traceable to this class or race of men." It was from these that the guerrilla companies which in- fested the country during the war, were composed. " The two classes," to quote again from Mr. Gilmore, " are of very marked and decidedly oppo- site characteristics. One labors ; is industrious, hardy, enterprising ; a law-abiding and useful citi- .zen ; the other does not labor ; is thieving, vicious, law-breaking, and of ' no sort of account ' to his family or to society." Of the first class Boone, Kenton, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Andrew Johnson, Calhoun, Lincoln, and many other famous men, were descended. 268 WITHOUl' SLAVERY. Judge Hargis, formerly Chief-Justice of Kentucky, was one of them. " Education, and the opportuni- ties of civilization," says Judge Hargis, " are the pressing wants of the mountain people. They are truthful and personally honest. In the United States courts they do equivocate ; but even there they do not lie outright. They will not perjure themselves as people elsewhere often do. They try to conceal a fact, perhaps, and talk around a question, but even in a moonshine case, a witness will tell the truth in the main." In the civil war this sturdy, honest people fought for the Union; previous to that time they knew nothing of pistols and bowie-knives. The local war between themselves and the guerrillas which raged at that time, first accustomed them to blood-shed ; and the feuds then created by outrages perpetrated in the name of patriotism, endure even to the pres- ent day. Mr. Warner's method of accounting for their choleric, contentious disposition is both novel and kindly. He says : " In a considerable part of East- ern Kentucky (not, I hear, in all) good wholesome cooking is unknown, and civilization is not possible without that. ... I have no doubt that the abom- inable cookery of the region has much to do with the lawlessness, as it visibly has to do with the poor physical condition." WITHO UT SLA VER Y. 2 69 Kentucky has not been indifferent to the fact that these neglected people are helping to make her history. The question of their uplifting and enlightenment has long been one of serious and earnest consideration with her statesmen and her Christian people. Much good has already been done by missionaries and teachers. But these few mountain counties of Kentucky are only a very small part of an extensive field extending all along the Cumberland and Alleghany mountains, including two million souls, of which not a fiftieth part are Kentuckians. Recent developments of rich mineral resources in this eastern portion of Kentucky — the opening of mines, the establishing of manufactories, and the pushing through of railroads, bringing in enterprise and civilization — are already changing the character of its inhabitants. Yet, without the refining, en- nobling influences of true Christianity, the change can bring them little permanent spiritual good. The value of the coal deposit in Eastern Ken- tucky is exceeded only by that of Pennsylvania. It is easily mined, and the supply equals that of Great Britain. The cannel coal is proved, by ex- perts, to excel in purity and richness the best in Great Britain. A bed of excellent coking coal of one thousand six hundred square miles stretches over Letcher, Pike and Harlan Counties, its pro- 270 WITH0U2' SLAVERY. duct being superior, it is said, to the far-famed coke of Connellsville. As valuable iron ore is found in the vicinity of the coal beds the smelting is done on the spot. The State stretches out in gentle undulations, forming a natural system of drainage, until it reaches the eastern border, where it breaks into the rugged upheaval called, by one of the early adventurers into Kentucky, the Cumberland Mount- ains, in honor of the English Duke of Cumberland. The fertility of the soil, in the richer portions of the State, is inexhaustible ; but a good deal of the land has been worn by careless tillage, though not exhausted beyond redemption. As an example of the State's various agricultural capacities. Prof. N. S. Shaler has given, in his valu- able book. The Commonwealth of Kentucky, a table showing the varied products in which Ken- tucky has, in successive decades, been foremost among the States. In 1840 she was first in wheat; in 1850 first in maize, flax and hemp ; in i860 first only in hemp, but second in many other things ; in 1870 first in tobacco and hemp. " The death- rate," he adds, " is lower than in any other State from which goes forth each year a great tide of the younger people ; and pauperism is almost unknown." A Bureau of Immigration has been established WJTHOUl' SLAVERY. 271 at Frankfort, under the direction of Professor John R. Proctor, State Geologist, who answers with care all questions in regard to the material resources of the State. Since the war, at least three hun- dred thousand dollars have been expended by the State in careful geological examination. This has resulted richly in scientific as well as material discoveries. The numerous mounds, with which some por- tions of the State abound, show that, ages ago, a race of mound-builders once inhabited this region. Professor Rafinesque in his Ancient His- tory ; or. Annals of Kentucky, endeavors to prove that these early inhabitants were people of a superior order of intelligence. But careful re- search has shown that these mound-builders were of the same class and order as the ordinary savage from whom the pioneers had to defend themselves in the first settlement of the country. Mention should be made of the petroleum wells in Eastern Kentucky that have been in operation for years ; of the wide variety of building stone to be found in almost every county — the brown stone having been awarded the highest medal at the Centennial Exposition of 1876; of the fine pottery clays, the value of which is only beginning to be appreciated; the fine white sand of Muldraugh's Hill, from which the finest of glass is manufac- 272 WITH QUI' SLAVERY. tured ; the salt wells ; the natural gas ; and the manifold other rich resources which have recently attracted the attention of so many American and European capitalists. In 1885-86 the mining and manufacturing investments reached $46,707,200. This total was $20,022,200 in excess of Alabama, the most progressive of the Southern States in mining and manufacturing. The census of 1880 ranks Kentucky as the four- teenth State in the Union in the assessed value of property, and the thirty-fifth in the amount of taxa- tion per capita. " Although thirty-four States tax their people a higher amount per capita," says ex- Governor J. Proctor Knott, " only four others appro- priate anything like the same proportion of their revenues to educational purposes." The first railroad west of the Alleghanies was the Lexington branch of the Louisville and Nash- ville road, begun in 1831 and completed in 1835 — running from Lexington to Frankfort, and finished to Louisville in 1851. Now, a perfect network of railroads traverse Kentucky in every direction, making connection with the entire railway sys- tems of the East, the South and the West; several new lines have pushed their way through the long- neglected mountainous regions in the eastern por- tion of the State. A fuller account of the resources and develop- WITHO U2' SLA VER Y. 27 / J meat of Kentucky, and the commercial progress of her chief city may be obtained from The City of Louisville and a .Glimpse of Kentucky, published by the Louisville Board of Trade in 1S87. This volume gives the population of Louisville at two hundred thousand ; the exact figures of the esti- mate are 195,910. The annual death rate per one thousand inhabitants is seventeen — lower than any other city of the same size in the Union. There are one hundred and forty-two churches in Louisville; thirty-three public schools, with over four hundred teachers, and nearly seventeen thou- sand pupils ; four medical colleges, two schools of pharmacy and one of dentistry, besides numerous private seminaries and parochial schools. There are five social clubs, two of which are elegantly established. The Board of Trade and the Commercial Club, occupy handson^ie build- ings, and their twelve hundred members rep- resent considerable wealth and enterprise. The Young Men's Christian Association THOROUr.HHRED. 2 74 W J THOU 2' SLAVERY. has a large and active membership ; it is supplied with libraries, reading-rooms and gymnasium, and has two branches — one for German-speaking citi- zens, the other for railroad employes. There are thirty-eight charitable institutions, hospitals, infirm- aries, asylums, etc. There are also five theatres ; numerous public halls; and two driving parks, besides the celebrated race-course on Churchill Downs. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which removed to Louisville in 1877, is a prosper- ous and justly-celebrated school, numbering among its pupils the representatives of many other de- nominations. It now occupies a new building which cost about three hundred thousand dollars, and grows yearly in fame and prosperity. The Kentucky School for the Blind, under the skillful management of Prof. B. B. Huntoon, has become one of the finest in the country. The superior printing done by its pupils secured for the school the establishment of the Government Printing House, which furnishes books for the public schools for the blind throughout the United States. There is a State University for colored pupils with a theological and a law department attached. The library of the Polytechnic Society which con- tains forty thousand volumes, is open to the public, except when the privilege of removing books from WITHOUT SLAVERY. -'/D the building is desired, when a small annual fee is required. The society has also a free art gallery, and an extensive laboratory. There are an unusual number of extensive private libraries throughout the State ; the historical library of Col. R. T. Durrett being the largest and most valuable in the West or South. The Baptists were the religious pioneers of Kentucky. They still maintain the majority in membership and churches. The Methodist, Presby- terian, Christian and Episcopal churches have each a strong hold upon the State. The Catholics were mainly from Maryland. Bancroft says of them : " Bold, hardy, adventurous and strongly attached to their faith, but tolerant towards those of other denominations, the Catholic emigrants to Ken- tucky proved not unworthy of their ancestors, who had been the first to unfurl on this Western Continent the broad banner of universal freedom, both civil and relicrious." The history of each of these churches is full of interest. It is illumined by some of the strong- est minds and loveliest characters that have helped to transform the fearful wilderness into a smiling garden of civilization. The Lutherans began later, but are growing rapidly in strength and numbers. In Louisville there are two Congregational cliurches and one Unitarian ; also three Jewish, 276 WITHOU'I' SLAVERY. The Freemasons form one of the strongest secular societies in the State. The Widows and Orphans Home established at Louisville is the only institution of the kind in the United States. It is excellently managed and has a national repu- tation. Its building is one of the finest in the city, and furnishes a comfortable abiding-place for many widows and orphans. I have said nothing of the canal at Louisville, the first great engineering work in the United States. It was beo^un in 1826. Governor Clinton of New York took off his coat and trundled the first wheelbarrow of earth. It was completed in 1 83 1 and cost ^800,000. The Government sub- scribed for $300,000 worth of stock, and received in cash and bonds 567 shares and $24,278 more than it invested. The fame of the Kentucky thorough-bred is world-wide. In beauty, strength and speed he is not surpassed even by the " Arab steed " celebrated in song and story. And capitalists in search of charming homes have frequently come from afar to settle contentedly down in the lovely blue- grass pastures, where beauty and utility so agree- ably combine to make life both prosperous and attractive. CHAPTER XII. AFTER MANY YEARS ME rapidity with which Kentucky adapted herself to the new order of things after her slaves were free astonished even her- self. The results of the past decade had T.' z^?'- demonstrated to the entire satisfaction o f all concerned that slavery w^as not only not indispen- sable to any one s comfort, but that it had been one of the greatest barriers to real progress that ever stood in the way of a people, ^ot only has there been an astonishino: increase in manufactures in the State since the advent of freedom ; the re- cent extraordinary developments in coal and iron mining, and the increased immigration of agricul- turists, promise still greater things in the future. Nor has Kentucky's intellectual activity failed to keep pace with her material progress. The strength 278 ''AFTER MANY YEARS." and brilliancy of her newspapers are but the reflection of the intellectual and industrial vigor of the State. Here Prentice lived and worked and made his fame; here the Louisville Journal was regarded as a wonderfully successful newspaper; but, could its editor return to the scene of his former labors he would stand amazed, not only at its increased power and importance and the enormous outlay its pub- lication involves, but also at the rich returns which have helped to make the Courier-Journal one of the richest, as well as brightest, of American news- papers. This unusual prosperity has been largely due to the financial ability of Mr. W. N. Haldeman, as well as to the editorial brilliancy of Mr. Henry Watterson, one of the most conspicuous and influential jour- nalists of his day. Nor is the Courier-Journal the only ably-edited newspaper in the State. There are many other bright journals whose editorial methods exhibit the same independence of thought and opinion that has characterized the Kentuckian from the pioneer times. Beyond the newspaper, Kentucky has usually regarded literature as a pastime rather than a pro- fession. The long list of writers in the past whose fugitive poems and sketches surprise the reader by their strength and beauty, serves to show that the meagerness of her literary record is the result ''AFTER MANY YEARS." 279 neither of a deficiency in culture nor of limited intellectual power. Among the few who have taken the trouble to fashion their thoughts into the form of a book, at least three repented that they had entrusted to an irreverent public so much of the precious product of their brain, and suppressed their work. To the genial, impulsive Kentuckian, art seems too slow, too tedious and too exclusive a process to be made a serious business of life ; no less does it seem too dependent on the uncertain favor of a fickle public. Yet a few have loved it well enous^h to sit down to the tedious task undaunted by the long array of reproachful faces which seem to look out from the past, as if to say, " We have piped to you and ye have not danced, we have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented." Although we still find few professional men of letters outside the editorial chair, the readers of current literature welcome with pleasure the contri- butions of Bishop T. U. Dudley, of Prof. N. S. Shaler, and of James Lane Allen. Robert Burns Wilson, the poet-artist, has secured public favor in two fields of art. The poems of Harrison Robertson and J. Madison Cawein have also won wide atten- tion ; and we find a critical English audience select- ing for a prize reading one of the well-known poems of H, T. Stanton. The " character studies " of 28o ''AFTER MANY VEAHS." Douglas Shirley show a promising fidelity to nature. Morrison Heady, also, who labors under the double disadvantage of total blindness and deafness, has given to the public some clever and ingenious work. Since the long-ago time when Matthew Jouett — the handsome, popular young lawyer whose " briefs beamed with the faces of his friends " — forsook the profession for which he had been so carefully trained, and went up to Boston to study portrait- painting under the renowned Gilbert Stuart, there have been many artists in Kentucky who have loved Art for her own sake, and who have devoted their lives to the faithful representation of the true, the beautiful, and the good things of life. Much of the dense, danger-haunted forest which lured the pioneers from the comforts of civilization into untold hardship and danger have vanished ; but there yet remain massive forests crowded with grand and impressive trees — the beech, the elm, the maple, the live-oak, and a thousand other varieties, that *' Wag their high tops and make no noise, When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven." And the gently-rolling, blue-grass pastures with their clear flowing streams, their ruminating cattle, their browsing sheep, their groups of splendid thor- ''AFTER MANY YEARS.'' 281 ough-breds, standing beneath the shade of wide- spreading trees — all furnish alluring material for both pen and pencil. It was here that Fuller painted some of his most striking pictures. In this Commonwealth the dignity and sweet- ness of the Christian life is rarely disturbed by the =^ TATl "A j^efc rX\j I^oLert £) \^Al5 on j \ various new schisms and heresies which come and go ; false lights which flare up bravely for awhile, and then go out, leaving their devotees in darkness. Illiteracy which is faithful to its tasks, is far pre- ferable to a godless culture which only creates trouble. Kentucky's immunity from the flood of 282 ''Al^TEK MANY YEARS.'' semi-cultured foreign immigration, which, while it has helped to make the North rich, brought also discord and danger, has been one of her chief blessings. Whiskey distilling is still one of the large indus- tries of the State. Many honorable, conscientious men are engaged in the business ; men who hon- estly believe that in making whiskey they do good and not evil. It is not to be denied that whiskey has oftentimes served a good purpose; and the taxes on whiskey have contributed no little to the enrichment of the United States Treasury. But when we are told that in this American Republic three hundred million dollars are paid annually for drink, and that sixty thousand people every year die drunkards' deaths ; when we count the cost to the country in ruined homes, deteriorated morals and increased pauperism, we are forced to the conclusion that the whiskey curse is one of the most terrible that ever befell a nation. The change in public opinion on this subject has been as great in Kentucky as in other portions of the United States. In 1888 the manufacture of distilled liquors decreased in the State 10,774,254 gallons; the total amount, fermented and distilled, 836,774,977 gallons. Apart from the active pro- hibition movement, the cause of temperance reform has been greatly promoted through social and edu- ''AFTER MANY YEARS.'' 2S3 cational influences; and the growing horror of drunkenness has well-nigh extinguished the drink- ing habit, which, like slavery, must soon cease to obstruct the path of civilization. The public school system in Kentucky, especially in the cities, has attained an unusually high degree of excellence. " Ten years ago," says H. A. M. Henderson, formerly Superintendent of Instruction, " a man in the blue-grass country worth ten thou- sand dollars would as soon have thouoht of sending his children to the poor-house as to a public school. The public school was regarded as a charity de- vised for the education of paupers. But now the wealthiest counties are becomina: the best friends of the public school." The long list of colleges, universities and acade- mies in the State extends beyond the possibility of record here. Her theological seminaries have sent out some of the most eloquent and useful ministers of the times. Her law and medical schools have given to the country some of its most distinguished orators and most eminent physicians. Hospitality is still cherished here as a fine art, though the limitations of the present system of service have tended to restrain the old lavish prodi- gality of the ante hclbim days. The " woman's rights " movement makes scarcely more impression on Kentucky than docs a foreign 284 ''AFTER MANY YEARS.'' war. Although we hear little public mention of Kentucky women, except for beauty and social grace, these are by no means their only, nor their high- est attributes. The fact that there are twenty-five thousand more males than females in the State has tended to keep women out of the professions. Yet the quiet dignity and independence of the true home-bred Kentucky woman has sometimes made her a not unattractive feature even in the busi- ness walks of life. For all his native shiftlessness, and his some- times inconvenient devotion to a " good time," Kentucky would not willingly part with her colored citizen. Beside his service in the field, the factory and the workshop, his musical and oratorical gifts are not to be despised ; they add their share of interest to this unusually picturesque and pleasing State. The recent agitation of the prison reform ques- tion, has not yet induced Kentucky to discard the convict lease system. The old idea that the peni- tentiary is a place for punishment, and not a reformatory, is still cherished here. It is thought only just and fair that criminals — the most expen- sive class of citizens — should repay at least a portion of the enormous sum they cost the Gov- ernment. The prison at Frankfort, though often over-crowded, is kept in tolerably good condition by IN THE MAMMOTH CAVE. ScC page 287, ''AFTER MANY YEARS.'' 287 convict labor ; there is a good library, and religious services are regularly held. But there is not, as yet, that organized effort toward the reformation of the convict, which is possible only through a knowl- edge of his character and needs, and due respect for his riorhts ; for even convicts have their rights. For such as these Christ died. That the inter- ests of society are so closely bound up with those of the criminal makes it all the more needful to convert them, if possible, into intelligent, self- respecting citizens, Kentuckians would consider incomplete a work on Kentucky which made no mention of the great Mammoth Cave. This marvelous " underground palace " is situated in Edmondson County, in the southwestern portion of the State. Bayard Taylor, that indefatigable traveler, admits that there is nothing in nature more wonderful than this cave — not even Niagara. The primitive char- acter of the great log hotel, and all its quaint envi- ronments belonging to a by-gone time, are carefully preserved. The spirit of the ancient regime lingers around the spot, undisturbed by the crowds of visitors who continually come and go. Two routes traverse the cave — one seven miles long, requiring four hours, the other eighteen miles long, requiring nine hours. Both of these the tourist is expected to take. There is but one 288 ''AFTER MANY YEARS.'' entrance. You descend a flight of steps, the guide unlocks a door, when (usually, though not always} a rush of wind accompanied by the whir of bats' wings, blows out all the lamps. After groping a short distance in a sort of twilight the party pauses to re-light their lamps, and soon you enter Audu- bon Avenue, named for the celebrated ornithologist, who for many years made his home in Kentucky. Near by are the remains of the saltpetre works, and also a sort of chapel where the miners used to worship in the old pioneer days. You thread the succession of high-pillared domes, under "arches that swell sublime in lone and dim magnificence," and through "dim, awful aisles," as the poet Prentice describes them, — " With stars and flowers fretted like the halls Of Oriental monarchs — rivers dark And drear and voiceless as Oblivion's stream That flows through Death's dim vale of silence — gulfs All fathomless, down which the loosened rock Plunges until its far-off echoes come Fainter and fainter like the dying roll Of thunders in the distance." Perhaps the most awe-inspiring of these vast, " high-pillar'd " apartments is the Star Chamber, from whose mysterious dome high overhead a thou- sand snow-white gems gleam out, amid the melan- choly gloom. '' Be seated, ladies and gentlemen," says the ''AFTER MAXY YEARS." 289 guide ; and relieving the party of their lamps, he vanishes behind a jutting rock. Soon fleecy clouds begin to float mysteriously across the starry heavens, and you seem to be staring into an infini- tude of sky. Then suddenly the stars go out, and an awful " blackness of darkness " descends upon you. After an interval of appalling silence, the sky begins to light up with a faint glimmer of dawn. The rocks and hills take on a faint yellow light, and a most wonderful imitation of day-break ensues. Then, all too soon, the guide re-appears with your lamps and the gratuitous counsel, " Well, we'd better be gittin' along." At Lake Purity you need to have a care lest you unwittingly stumble in, seeing no water there, so wonderfully clear is it. And so light and exhila- rating is the atmosphere, that a fair walker makes the eighteen miles without orreat fatiorue. A larsre party greatly enhances the interest, while the pict- uresque dress also adds much to the charm of the scene. There are many more grottoes and vast halls ; there are wild depths whose dense gloom even the most powerful magnesium lights fail to illumine; there is an immense conservatory — two miles of flowers which never fade. No need to draw on your imagination for the flowers. There they are above you ; a garden of such perfect lilies and roses and 290 "AFTER MANY YEARS." fuchsias as no other conservatory has ever pro- duced — even the faint yellowish reflection of the stamens inside. There are three rivers and several cascades. As you float down " Echo River" some one in a boat far behind you starts a song, and forthwith the mysterious sprites presiding over these " fretted halls " take up the strain, and a burst of heavenly melody, as of angels singing, floats past you down the stream — vanishing with the gliding water beneath a solid wall of rock. I have mentioned neither the "Corkscrew" nor " Pur- gatory " ; these to be appreciated must be seen. We will take a farewell glance at the Petersons, our representative Kentuckians, who instead of ffoinq; abroad this season have come out to the old country homestead ; the same from which the two brothers went forth a quarter of a century ago to fight for their country — on different sides. The beloved parents of that unhappy time have long since entered into their eternal rest. Harry himself is beo^inninq; to show on his face the record of a life given to earnest thought and patient, kindly deeds. He wonders a little over the keen interest with which his son and dauo^hter read the new novels and poems as they appear in the periodicals of the day. There are no great novels, these days, he says — nothing like "Vanity Fair," or "David Copperfield," or " Jane Eyre." ''AFTER MANY YEARS." 29 1 Nevertheless, he glances smilingly at the two young people bending so earnestly over a great parchment spread out on the library table. This parchment contains the " family tree," over which Edmund and Cornelia have spent much time — patiently tracing the various branches " away back into the dark ages," as Cornelia (who is named for that literary great-aunt whom she never saw) calls the old pioneer times of Edmund Cabell. As all the old Virginia families carefully preserved their family records, the way from the Virginia Cabells back to the cavaliers was plain sailing. The West- lakes were more intricate ; but far back, beyond a generation or two of black sheep, was a strain of deep-blue English blood. " The most aristocratic, and the least respectable branch on our tree," says the young man. " No, Cornelia, I am not going to whitewash that unsound branch ; whitewash is out of fashion ; and, even the Plantagenets, the Stuarts and the Bourbons had their black sheep. James Tuggs and William Cobb Westlake were, I guess, two as worthless people as ever lived. They were anything but aristocrats while they lived ; but you see their high ancestry gives them precedence in the family records." " There we have the advantas^e over the aristo- cratic countries," said Cornelia. " Eminence in art, in science, in literature, or in true Christian 292 ''AFTER MANY YEARS/' refinement, gives a social rank which even the stupid heir to a fortune, or to an aristocratic name cannot claim." Then there was much laughter over the story of a Kentucky girl who, while danc- ing with a titled Englishman, evinced some hesi- tation at pronouncing his title. " I don't like to call you Lord," she explained. " It seems irrev- erent — like taking the name of the Lord in vain, you know." "Call me Ned, then — do," said his lordship. " That is what they call me at home." And the remainder of the evening the young peo- ple were vastly amused, and the proprieties un- utterably shocked at the spectacle of an English nobleman answering sweetly to the name of " Ned." Harry and Cornelia, both graduates of the public schools, have been abroad a year or two. They are interested in art, in sociology, the labor ques- tion and the tariff (though I am sorry to say that Cornelia has never yet attained to the heights and depths of the latter abstruse question); and I think will use wisely and well such gifts as they possess. For all may have, if they choose, a beautiful and noble life. They cherish in proud remembrance that pioneer ancestor who fought for freedom in the Revolution ; and who conquered, not only the savage foes with- out, but that still more dangerous foe within — his own heart. " It is so hard to realize the awful ''AFTER MANY YEARS." 293 difficulties which beset the pioneers," said Harry. " It wasn't near so easy to be good then as now, when goodness is the fashion, and wickedness isn't allowed in good society." " Whenever I think of the pioneers," said Cor- nelia, gazing with a dreamy expression into the far- away tree-tops, " I see plains and grazing herds of buffalo; and the 'salt licks' with the deer and elk licking the flat stones ; and big, big trees, thick and dark and full of fierce animals, and of still fiercer Indians who lurk among the shadows, with gay feathers in their heads, and murder in their hearts, waiting their chance to scalp the white man ploughing in the field." " Well done, Cor- nelia," exclaimed Harry, laughing. " I have no doubt that Daniel Boone himself would recognize your sketch, at once." For a Commonwealth so bountifully endowed by nature, so splendidly equipped for usefulness, we scarcely dare to sug- gest a possible future, 1^ so sure are we that her ^ typical kfntucky girl. 294 ''AFTER MANY YEARS:' progress must extend far beyond the boundaries of our present imagining. But the civiHzation we would crave for our country, would include skill only in that which promotes the purity and happi- ness of man, and would exclude everything that tends to hardness and evil. It is written — the last shall be first. We have seen how the long-neglected mountainous region of Eastern Kentucky, hitherto known only as the home of the vendetta, has suddenly developed into a price- less treasure-house of mineral wealth ; and now the stone which the builders rejected bids fair to be- come " the head of the corner." The time is at hand when the fierce spirits presiding over this ruQfSfed rea:ion must take a lono^ farewell of their precious solitude ; for Civilization has come — to stay. And her long retinue — the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker ; the telegraph, tele- phone, gas and water; the type-writer, the bicycle — faces that way. But Civilization brings better things than idle, useless brooding. Churches where the gospel is preached, and homes where it is lived. Music, pictures, books — through which the great souls of the past speak to the great souls of the future. And for these waiting hills the day of small things is past. Henceforth Kentucky, stand- ing midway between her elder and her younger sisters, calmly assured of not yet having attained ''AFTER MANY YEARS." 295 the full maturity of her powers, looks mainly to this section for the realization of her dreams of future greatness. In 1999, when the capital of the United States shall, perhaps, have been set down in the heart of the blue-grass country; when the healthful breezes blow- ing over the undulating green pastures shall bear away with them the cares of State which crush the life out of our unhappy and much-criticised states- men ; when fair strangers from abroad shall catch somewhat of the peachy bloom of the blue-grass girl — then the foreign plenipotentiaries journeying thither from the Atlantic and the Pacific, seeinsf the length and breadth of this great country — will certainly be moved to exclaim, with the won- dering queen of old, " The half had not been told me." The States will be more closely knit together. Neither East nor West, North nor South, can boast, " I am grreater than thou." And envious monarchies o looking on will be constrained to say, " Behold how beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." THE STORY OF KENTUCKY. TOLD IN CHRONOLOGICAL EPITOME. The known history of Kentucky is comparatively new; not until 1750 can the State be fairly said to have come into historical occupation and jsosses- sion. But long before that date the beautiful stretch of hill and vale that now make up the Commonwealth of Kentucky had a peculiar and stirring story, the real details of which are but dimly known to us. THE ERA OF BEGINNINGS. Prehistoric man made the "blue-grass region" his early home. Thou- sands of years ago he lived his grovelling life as a cave-dweller in Kentuck- ian rock-shelters. Indeed the discoveries made among the caves of Ken- tucky point to an even higher order of intelligence among the Kentucky cave men than is found in other sections. They were agriculturists and vegetarians. They had a certain art in dress and manufacture and easily developed into the later rude civilization of the Mound-builders. The cus- tomary earth-works and effigy mounds that mark the presence of these latter people in other States have been discovered in Kentucky, though not to the extent that tells of settlement and occupation north of the Ohio. In time, however, these gave place to the rival tribes of Indians who for gen- erations disputed for the possession of the rich hunting-grounds of Kentucky and by the continuous conflicts between the northern and southern tribes gave to the beautiful section the ghastly title of "the dark and bloody ground." THE ERA OF DISCOVERY. At just what date the first white visitors came it is not easy to say, but it is fair to presume that the early Spaniards of De Soto's shattered army stood at some time upon Kentucky soil. With that date therefore we may safely begin Kentucky's chronological story : 1543. The remnants of De Soto's troops in descending the Mississippi discovered Illinois and Kentucky. 1584. Sir Walter Raleigh took possession of Virginia for the English Crown. The Charter included Kentucky. 1607. First permanent settlement of the English in Virginia. 1645. Col. Wood explored Kentucky to the Mississippi. 297 298 ERA OF DISCOVERY. 1669. Twenty-three Spaniards in search of silver passed through Ken- tucky. They went as far north as New Yorii. 1670. Capt. Bolt of Virginia visited Kentucky. 1673. Marquette, sailing down the Mississippi, reached the mouth of the Ohio and spent several days there — July 5. Began the trip back — July 17. 1680. Hennepin sailed as far south as the Arkansas River. 1682. La Salle and Tonti with a party of Frenchmen sailed to the mouth of the Mississippi. They stopped for some time at the mouth of the Ohio, and claimed both sides of the river for France, naming it Louisiana. 1684. The " Five Nations " sold to the British a tract of land which included a part of Kentucky. 1730. John Sailing of Virginia, while hunting in Kentucky was taken prisoner by the Illinois. Ransomed after six years. 1739. M. Longueil sailed down the Ohio and discovered Big Bone Lick. French troops sailed down the Ohio to fight the Chickasaws. 1742. John Howard crossed from Virginia and descended the Ohio. 1744. The English purchase of the "Six Nations "" Western Lands" of indefinite extent. 1745. The Shawnees of Kentucky retreated northward to avoid their southern enemies. 1746. French settlement sent 800,000 pounds of flour down the Mis- sissippi to relieve New Orleans. 1747. Dr. Walker crossed the Alleghanies and discovered Cumberland Gap, the Kentucky, Shawnee and Big Sandy Rivers. 1750. Christopher Gist sent by the Ohio Company to explore the banks of the Ohio — September 11. 1751. Christopher Gist reached the Shawnee Town — January 29. Two of Gist's men made speeches in a Shawnee council. — January 30. He returned along the valley of the Kentucky River to the Kanawha. 1754. James McBride passed down the Ohio in a canoe. Left his initials on a tree. 1756. Mrs. Mary Inglis was the first white woman in Kentucky. 1758. Dr. Walker made his second visit. 1765. Col. George Crogan sailing down the Ohio stopped at Shawnee Town and then passed on. 1766. Capt. Harry Gordon (engineer) sent from Fort Pitt down the Ohio. Five men explored a position of the Kentucky country. 1767. John Findlay traded with the Indians in Kentucky. Others went down the Ohio and up the Cumberland. 1768. Treaty of Fort Stanwix by which the Indians granted additional territory to the English — November 5. 1769. Four Virginia men went down the Ohio, down the Mississippi to New Orleans and home by sea. Daniel Boone and others made a hunting trip into Kentucky from North Carolina — June 7. 1770. A party of hunters from Virginia remained so long in Kentucky .as to be called the Long Hunters. ERA OF COLONIZATION. 299 1770-72. George Washington surveyed 2084 acres of Kentucky land for John Fry near Louisiana, and more on the Little Sandy. 1773. An exploring party remained two days near Maysville. They traversed various other sections. Capt. Bullitt of this party laid out the town of Louisville — July 8. Simon Kenton and others made the first trip by land from Northern Kentucky to Western Virginia. Kenton returned in the fall and spent the winter in hunting and trapping. THE ERA OF COLONIZATION. 1774. Capt. Harrod and party laid out Harrodstown (now Harrods- burg) and built some cabins — June. Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner set out to guide a party of surveyors from the Ohio Falls. They made the journey of eight hundred miles in sixty-two days — June 6. Harrodsburg abandoned because of the Indians — July. 1775. A party of thirty with Daniel Boone as guide explored Kentucky. This party dispersed by the Indians — March 25. Plrst fort begun at Boonesborough. Block-houses also built at Harrodsburg and Itoiling .Spring — April I. By the end of April the military force at Boonesborough num- bered sixty men. Land otifice o|5ened by Henderson & Co. Simon Kenton and Thomas Williams raised corn at Kenton's Station — May. Representa- tives met at Boonesborough, agreed upon a government and passed nine laws. This was the first legislative body west of the Alleghanies — May 23. Daniel Boone and some others brought their families to Kentucky — September. Boone's wife and daughter were the first white women on the banks of the Kentucky River. Fort McLellan was built at Georgetown — October. 1776. Leestown built one mile below Frankfort ; also Sandusky's Station. Two agents sent to the Virginia Assembly to seek protection for the set- tlements — June 2. The Misses Callaway taken by the Indians near Boonesborough — July 7. They were rescued — July 8. Virginia estab- lished Kentucky County — December 6. Col. John Todd and party at- tacked and defeated by the Indians near Blue Lick — December 25. Fort McLellan attacked by Indians — December 29. 1777. Blackfish and forty-seven Indians besieged Harrodsburg — March 7. Boonesborough was attacked. Burgesses sent from Kentucky County to the Virginia Legislature — April 15. Logan's Station attacked — May 20. Two hundred Indians made a second attack on Boonesborough — July 4. First court sat at Harrodsburg — September. 1778. Boone was taken prisoner near Blue Licks — February 7. The Indians brought Boone to the Blue Licks where twenty-seven of his men surrendered — February 15. Indians attacked a boat on Salt River — May 25. Four hundred and fifty Indians prepared an attack on Boonesborough. Boone escaped and reached Boonesborough in ten days, having had but one meal in that time — June 10. Major GeorgeRogcrs Clark with 15;; men began a march of one hundred and twenty miles through the wilderness to 300 ERA OF COLOX/ZA /70X. Kaskaskia — June 24. Clark surprised and captured Kaskaskia — July 4. V'iiicennes submitted to the Americans. IJoone and nineteen men went on an Indian expedition to Paint Creek town — August i. Duchesne with eleven Frenchmen and Blackfish with four hundred Indians besieged Boones- borough for thirteen days — September 7. Permanent foundations of Louisville laid. The territory gained by Clark became Illinois County — October. Gov. Hamilton captured Vincennes for the British — December. 1779. Col. Clark with one hundred and seventy men retook Vincennes with eighty-one prisoners, fifty thousand dollars' worth of military stores. Col. John Bowman killed Blackfish and Red Hawk, burnt Old Chillicothe and captured 163 horses. Compelled to retreat with a loss of eight or nine men — May. The Virginia Legislature presented Col. Clark with a sword and his regiment with a grant of land — September. Two hundred Indians attacked Col. Rogers and seventy men near the mouth of the Licking River. All but twenty slaughtered — October. 1780. The "hard winter." Gam.e and cattle frozen. Corn $50 to $175 per bushel (Continental money) — January. Virginia granted land in Ken- tucky for educational uses — May. Col. Byrd (British) with si.x hundred Ca- nadians and Indians took Ruddle's and Martin's stations — June 22. Chil- licothe, Piqua and Loraine, Indian villages, surprised and destroyed by Col. Clark — July. Kentucky Co. subdivided into three counties — November i, 1781. Fort Jefferson besieged for five days by the Chickasawsand Choc- taws. They were driven away with terrible carnage. Great immigration of girls to Kentucky — January 22. 1782. Capt. Estill defeated near Little Mountain after a brave fight — March 22. Capt. Holder defeated near the Upper Blue Licks — August 12. Bryan's Station infested for two days by British and six hundred In- dians. They were repulsed — August 15. The British overtaken by a pursuing party of 182 Kentuckians. The Kentuckians driven back with great loss — August 19. Col. Lochry's party on the way to join Gen. Clark were all killed or taken prisoners — August 25. Gen. Clark with 1,050 men destroyed numerous Indian towns. This ended serious Indian invasions — November. 1783. A district court opened at Harrodsburg. Distilleries built south of the Kentucky River — March. 1784. An informal meeting called at Danville to deliberate on the state of district — February. Nelson County was formed out of Jefferson. First Convention was held at Danville. Separation from Virginia was dis- cussed — December 27. 1785. " The year of the Great Waters." The Mississippi rose thirty feet above highest known water-mark. A second convention addressed Virginia and Kentucky in favor of separation — May 23. The third convention adopted two new addresses to the same effect. Bourbon, Mercer, and Madison Counties formed. A treaty was made with the Indians at Fort Mcintosh — August 8. The Indians stole sixty horses from a station near Limestone — October 26. ERA OF STATEHOOD. 301 1786. Gen. Clark negotiated an important treaty with the Shawnees and the Delawares. Virginia passed the first act favoring the separation of Kentucky — January. Gen. Rogers made a third expedition against the Indians. Nothing was effected. Col. Logan entered the Indian country and destroyed eight large towns — September. The second act of Virginia postponed the separation of Kentucky till January i, 17S9 — October. 1787. Meeting at Danville in regard to the navigation of the Mississippi. Gen. Wilkinson obtained a monopoly of the trade with New Orleans — May. The Kentucke Gazette established by John ISradford at Lexing- ton. The first paper in Kentucky, and the first west of the Alleghanies. — August II. The fifth convention at Danville, decided unanimously for separation on Virginia's terms — September 17. 1788. Mason and Woodford Counties formed. Almanacs, the first in the West, were printed at Lexington. The Virginia convention voted to adopt the United States Constitution. The Kentucky delegation opposed it — June 3. Congress took up the subject of the admission of Kentucky into the Union. Attempts made by the Spanish to induce Kentucky to be- come an independent State — July 3. Sixth convention at Danville. Took no important action — July 28. The seventh convention was held at Dan- ville — November 4. Troops sent to Fort Columbia to protect the settlers. The third act of Virginia favoring separation — December 27. 1789. Eighth convention resolved against the conditions imposed by Vir- ginia's third act — July 20. The fourth act of separation was passed acced- ing to Kentucky's wishes. The first brick house was built in Louisville — December iS. 1790. A boat containing twelve persons taken by Indians near Limestone — January. Indian massacres of small parties of whites frequent — March. Gen. Harmar with one hundred regular troops and Gen. Scott with two hundred and thirty volunteers made a fruitless expedition against the Indians— April 18. The ninth convention accepted the terms of Virginia — July 26. The Kentuckians petitioned Congress to be allowed to fight Indians in their own way — December. THE ERA OF ST.VrEHOOD. 1791. Congress agreed to admit Kentucky as a State— February. Gen- eral Charles Scott and eight hundred mounted Kentucky volunteers burned several Indian towns and took many prisoners. — May 23. Another ex- pedition under Gen. Wilkinson did great damage to the Indians— August I. Gen. St. Clair's expedition against the Indians terminated in a massacre of the white men. There were many Kentuckians in the army.— No- vember 4. The tenth convention was elected to form a constitution — December. 1792. The convention met at Danville and prepared a constitution — April 3. Gen. Shelby was elected the first governor — May. Col. Hardin and Maj. Truman murdered on a peace mission to the Indians — May 22. 302 ERA OF STATEHOOD. Kentucky became a State of the Union — June i. The first Legislature met at Lexington — June 4. The governor's first message delivered orally. Frankfort fixed on as the seat of government— June 6. The first paper mill in the West established — August. The Treaty of Fort Knox. The Senate refused to ratify it — September. Maj. Adair forced to retreat by Little Turtle — November 6. 1793. Numerous Indian depredations — the last in Kentucky — April. Gen. Wayne called for Kentucky volunteers. Got none, because the men had no confidence in the regulars — September. A draft was made — Sep- tember 28. Gen. Scott joined Wayne with one thousand men — October 24. Kentucky Legislature met in Frankfort for the first time. Democratic societies founded at Georgetown, Paris, and Lexington. Gen. Clark ac- cepted a military commission from France — November i. The first line of Ohio Packet Boats put on the river — November 16. Gen. St. Clair issued a proclamation warning citizens not to join in the New Orleans ex- pedition. A line of Ohio packet boats established touching at Maysville — December 7. 1794. Violent resolutions were passed at a Lexington meeting — May 24. Remonstrance of Kentucky citizens to President and Congress be- cause of conduct of England and Spain — June. Unsuccessful attack on Fort Recovery by Indians — July. Gen. Scott joined Gen. Wayne with sixteen hundred Kentucky volunteers — July 26. In one hour Gen. Wayne defeated two thousand Indians and seventy Canadians at Fallen Timbers. Lexington launched the first successful steamboat in the West — August 20. 1795. James H. Stewart began the publication of the Kentucky Herald, the second newspaper in the State — February. Three large lots of laiid were bought for emigrants from Wales — March 5. Treaty with the North- western Indians established peace till 18:2 — August 3. The United States treaty with Spain settled the question of Mississippi navigation. An act was passed obliging every white male over sixteen to kill a certain num- ber of squirrels and crows each year. Daniel Boone removed west of the Mississippi. Kentucky Academy was established under Presbyterian au- spices — October 27. 1796. The Lexington library was established with four hundred volumes. 1797. The office of Falls Pilot, at Louisville, established. The Kentuckv Mirror was established at Washington by Hunter and Beaumont, the third newspaper in the State. 5446 out of 9814 votes favored a new convention to revise the Constitution — May. Thomas Power sent by Corondelet to separate Kentucky from the Union — July 12. Capital punishment abol- ished except for murder in the first degree. Henry Clay came to Kentucky — November. 1798. The Legislature endowed several academies and seminaries — February 10. Second vote in favor of a Convention of Revision — Mav. Frankfort Palladium established; fourth newspaper — .August 9. The fa- mous Kentucky resolutions were opposed in the House by only one man. ERA OF STATEHOOD. 303 and passed the Senate unanimously. The Legislature passed an act calling a convention — November 16. Transylvania University established — De- cember 22. The Guardian of Freedom published at Frankfort by John Bradford and Son. 1799. Convention met to revise the Constitution at Frankfort — July 22. Convention reported the new Constitution — August 17. The High- wayman, liig Harpe, killed. Little Harpe escaped from the State. An attempt to amend the Resolutions of 179S failed — November. Louisville declared a port of entry. 1800. The second Constitution of Kentucky went into effect — June i. A great religious revival began in the vicinity of the Green River — July. 1801. The " Farmers' Library " established, the first paper printed in Louisville — January 7. Camp meeting at Cane Ridge attended by twenty thousand people, three thousand computed to have "fallen and experienced remarkable bodily exercises " — August 6-13. The general court and dis- trict courts abolished. Circuit courts established — November. 1802. The Kentucky Insurance Company chartered with banking powers — Dec. 16. The right of deposit at New Orleans withdrawn by Spain. The Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky formed. Hemp first manu- factured for exportation. 1803. First piano was brought into Kentucky — April. The "New Light " schism from the Presbyterian church. A shower believed by many to be blood fell near the Turtle Creek meeting-house — September 10. 1804. Six Baptist ministers declared for the abolition of slavery. The Baptist Associations reproved them. The " emancipators " whhdrew and organized the " Baptist Licking-Locust Association, Friends of Humanity." 1805. Aaron Burr made his first visit to ls.entucky. The Trappists came to Kentucky. 1806. Eclipse of the sun. Aaron Burr made a second visit. Rev. John Lyle established the first female academy in the West — June 16. liurr indicted at Frankfort, but dismissed by the Grand Jury — December 2. Judge Sebastian convicted of receiving a Spanish pension while on the Su- preme Bench —December 6. Act to buy the first fire engine for Frankfort — December 26. Aaron Burr's acquittal of the charge of treason celebrated by a brilliant ball. 1809. Henry Clay received a slight wound in a duel with Humphrey Marshall, another member of the Legislature— January 19. A retaliatory act forbidding Ohio attorneys to practice in Kentuck" courts. Schism of the " Particular Baptists" — February 19. 1810. , Legislature declared inexpedient the amendment to the U. S. Constitution proposed by Pennsylvania — January 16. Legislature resolved in favor of refusing to recognize the British minister, Mr. Jackson — Janu- ary 22. Bounty of one dollar on wolves under six months old and one dollar and a half for those over six months — January 26. Cumberland Presbyterian church established — February 4. iSii. Mammoth Cave discovered. Lottery authorized to raise ten thou- 304 ERA OF STATEHOOD. sand dollars to improve the navigation of the Kentucky River — January 10. The Legislature established several academies. A great earthquake in Kentucky. Lands granted to encourage iron and salt works — January 31. Lottery authorized to raise five thousand dollars for the road between Mays- ville and Washington. The " New Orleans " sailed from Pittsburg to New Orleans — October 4. Distinguished Kentuckians fell in the battle of Tip- pecanoe — November 7. 1812. The sisterhood of Loretto established in Marion County. Several library associations incorporated. Lottery authorized to raise four thousand dollars for an unsectarian house of public worship in Frankfort. All State and judicial officers and attorneys required to take an oath against duelling. The State divided into ten Congressional districts — February 8. Congress requested to grant ten thousand acres of land in upper Louisiana to Daniel Boone. Gen. Wm. H. Llarrison made Major-General of Kentucky militia by Gov. Scott — June. Two thousand volunteers under Gen. Hopkins on an expedition into the Indian country abandoned their general and returned home — October. Battle of Mississiniway. — December 8. Numerous steamboats put on the Ohio and Mississippi during this year. The Evan- gelical Record and Western Review established at Lexington in 1S12 by Thomas T. Skillman. The first religious paper west of the AUeghanies. 1813. Kentuckians under Gen. Winchester reached the Mauniee — January 10. British were defeated at Frenchtown — January iS. Massacre of the Americans at the River Raisin — January 22, Additional pay offered to volunteers in the Northwestern army — January 29. Gen. Clay reached Fort Megis with three thousand Kentuckians. Part of his force cut their way into the fort. Eight hundred Kentuckians under Col. Dudley killed or taken prisoners — May 5. Failure of second siege of Fort Meigs — July. Fort Stephenson besieged — July 31. Governor Shelby with four thousand Kentuckians reinforced Gen. Harrison and assisted at the brilliant victory of the Thames — October 5. The returning Kentucky troops interred the bones of their comrades massacred at the battle of Raisin — October 15. They were discharged at Maysville — November 4. State House at Frankfort burned — November 25. The Legislature set apart rooms for the confinement of British prisoners — December 8. 1814. Daniel Smith and Samuel J. Mill visited the State for the Amer- ican Bible Society to distribute Bibles, form Bible societies and organize churches. Gen. Harrison resigned his commission — May 14. Henry Clay and others signed a treaty of peace at Ghent — August 6. A very daring and successful raid into the Northwest, made by Gen. McArthur and five hundred mounted Kentuckians — September 20. 1815. Maj.-Gen. Thomas and two thousand five hundred Kentucky militia arrived at New Orleans — January 4. Great victory at New Orleans — Januarys. Great flood on the Ohio River — April 6. Kentucky troops arrived from New Orleans after incredible hardships — May i. Steamboat built at Louisville — October 15. ERA OF DEVELOPMEiXT. 305 1816. Lottery authorized to raise ten thousand dollars for a masonic hall in Russellville — January 29. Church and seminary property and libraries exempted from taxation — January 31. Retaliatory legislation punishing Indiana lawyers for practicing in Kentucky courts — February 10. Legislature gave a vote of thanks to Gen. Adair for his connection with the battle of New Orleans. 1817. Louisville Hospital incorporated — February 5. The Kentucky Legislature proposed an amendment to U. S. Constitution aimed against salary grabs. A severe earthquake shock throughout the State — Decem- ber 12. 1818. P'orty-six independent banks chartered — January 26. Legislature appointed a new board of trustees for Transylvania University — February 3. Gen. Geo. R. Clark died — February 4. Shadrach Penn published the Public Advertiser in Louisville — June 23. Treaty with the Chickasaw Indians for all their claims in Tennessee and Kentucky — October 19. Numerous Kentucky banks suspended specie payments — November 20. 1819. Center College incorporated at Danville — January 19. The initial monthly magazine of the West issued at Lexington, Ky. — August. Legislature memorialized Congress for Christopher Miller, one of Wayne's most trusted spies. THE ERA OF DEVELOPMENT. 1820. Legislature instructed its senators and representatives to vote for the admission of Missouri — January 3. The new State House completed. More than half of the expense borne by private subscription — February 8. Five thousand dollars appropriated to buy books and apparatus for the medical department of Transylvania University — February 14. President Madison and General Jackson entertained by the Masons at Louisville —June 24. President of U. S. requested to negotiate with Great Britain regarding the restoration of fugitive slaves in Canada — November 5. State Library established at Frankfort — November 9. Legislature enacted that all fines and forfeitures be paid over to the treasurers of the county seminaries to promote education — December 25. 1821. The steamboat Post Boy arrived at Shippingport in seventeen days from New Orleans — April 29. Imprisonment for debt abolished — Decem- ber 17. One half of clear profits of the Commonwealth's P>ank set apart as a literary fund. One half of the profits of the Lexington branch for Tran- sylvania University; one third of Harrodsburg branch for Center College; and one third of Bowling Green branch for Southern College — December 18. County courts authorized to erect poor-houses — December 19. U. S. Supreme Court declared the Kentucky claimant laws unconstitutional and void — December 27. 1822. Henry Clay and Benjamin Leigh agreed upon articles of Conven- tion between Kentucky and Virginia. Terrible epidemic (probably yellow fever) at Louisville — November 19. John Symmes sought aid from Con- 3o6 ERA OF DEVELOPMENT. gress in exploring the interior of the earth through the poles. Charter of the Bank of Kentucky repealed — December 5. Lottery authorized to raise twenty-five thousand dollars for a medical college at Lexington. Lunatic a.sylum established at Lexington. Augusta College (I\L E ) char- tered. Deaf and Dumb asylum established at Danville. Lottery auth- orized for draining Louisville — December 7. 1823. Col. James Morrison bequeathed twenty thousand dollars to found a professorship in Transylvania University and forty thousand dollars for a new building — April 23. Severe laws passed against gam-- bling — December 29. 1824. Many Kentuckians emigrated to Illinois and Missouri. A Bo- tanical Garden established at Louisville — January 7. A line of stages established between Maysville and Louisville — April 17. Henry Clay given a public dinner at Lexington — June 17. Mingo Puckshunubbe, chief of the Choctaws, accidentally killed at Louisville. His funeral largely attended — October 13. Great debate on baptism between Elder Campbell and Rev. William McCalla — October 15-23. Frankfort capitol burned — November 4. Legislature invited Gen. Lafayette to pay a visit to Ken- tucky. — November 17. A new Supreme Court established. Roman Cath- olic seminary at Bardstown incorporated as St. Joseph's College. Center College put under the control of the Presbyterian Synod — December 24. 1825. Representatives requested by the Legislature to vote for Gen. Jackson for President. Portrait of Lafayette ordered for the House of Representatives. Steamboat Wm. Penn sailed from Pittsburg to Mays- ville in thirty-two hours. The quickest trip to date — March. Henry Clay burnt in effigy in many places outside the State for voting for J. Q. Adams for President — April. Great fire at Washington — April 22. Gen, Lafayette enthusiastically received all over the State — May. Public din- ner to Henry Clay at Maysville. Ovation wherever he went in the State — May 24. Gen. Wilkinson died near the city of Mexico — December 28. During this year a very exciting contest between the "old" and "new" court. Public meetings held in every county. 1826. The beginning of extensive revivals lasting through four years. The Public Advertiser became a daily, the first west of the Alleghanies — April 4. Duel between Henry Clay, Secretary of State, and John Randolph, U. S. Senator from Virginia, at Washington City — April 8. Robert Trimble appointed Ju ige of U. S. Supreme Court — May. At the Mays- ville Jockey Club races, Jenkins' sorrel mare beat all previous trotting records — October i. A day of thanksgiving, humiliation and prayer kept by the Presbyterians in Kentucky — November 17. Ohio River the lowest ever known at this season — December 14. The "court contro- versy" settled by the repeal of the act establishing the "new court" — December 30. 1827. Twenty thousand dollars appropriated for rebuilding the capitol at Frankfort. Great excitement caused by the Kanawha salt monopoly of Armstrongs, Grant (Tc Co. Public indignation meetings held and " boy- ERA OF DEVELOPMENT. 307 cotting" resorted to — February. Three remarkable halves round the sun visible for several hours — May 17. Steamboat Tecumseh made the trip between New Orleans and Louisville in a trifle over eight days, thus beat- ing the record — June i. Eight thousand people attended a public dinner to Henry Clay at Paris. Rain fell nearly every day for three months July 16. 1828. Five hundred additions in one month to the two Presbyterian churches at Lexington. Henry Clay issued an " address to the public " refuting charges against himself — January. Twenty thousand dollars appropriated to complete the new capitol — February. 1829. John J. Crittenden nominated to U. S. Supreme Court. Senate rejected the nomination. Buckner, Marshall and Underwood successively nominated and rejected — January 2. Twenty thousand dollars appropri- ated for the capitol. Senators and Representatives requested to secure public lands from United States for establishment of schools — January 29. The principal building of Transylvania University burned — May 10. Louisville branch of the Commonwealth Bank robbed of twenty-five thou- sand dollars. No clue — September 17. 1830. Tri-weekly packet trade established between Maysville and Cin- cinnati. Company chartered to build a railroad from Lexington to points on Ohio River — January 19. A common school law enacted — January 29. Temperance society formed at Augusta — February 17. Great enthusi- asm over the Maysville, Washington, Paiis and Lexington Turnpike Road company — April. The Turnpike Road Bill passed Congress — May 15. President Jackson vetoed it. Great excitement and public meetings in consequence — May 27. George D. Prentice established the famous Louis- ville Journal — November 24. 1831. Fifteen ballots on three days for U. S. Senator. No choice. Election postponed to next session — January 4, 5,6. State subscription of fifty thousand dollars to the Turnpike Co. — January 15. First rail of the Lexington & Ohio Railroad laid at Lexington — October 22. 1832. The greatest flood ever known on the Ohio River — February. The centennary of Washington's birthday celebrated with great enthusiasm — February 22. A day of humiliation and prayer observed by proclama- tion because of threatened cholera — August 18. Asiatic cholera appeared but did not attack many — October. 1833. The State subscribed fifty thousand dollars more in the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Road Co. The importation of slaves prohibited except when heirlooms and by emigrants. Legislature condemned the South Carolina nullification. Kentucky Colonization Society sent one hun- dred and two freed slaves to Liberia — February 2. Terrible scourge of the Asiatic cholera — May 30 to August i. The Teachers' Convention at Lexington organized the Kentucky Association of Professional Teachers — November 6. A medical college was established at Louisville — December i. 1834. Kentucky Legislative Temperance Society organized — January 14. Kentucky Common .School Society organized — January 28. F'inancial 3oS ERA OF DEVELOPMENT. depression caused by Jackson's war upon the bank — February i. Public meetings at Frankfort and all over the State condemned President Jackson ior his bank policy — April 26. Very injurious frost in Northern Kentucky — April 27. Severe drought — July 15 to September 8. A six-horse wagon drew on the Turnpike three loads weighing respectively 14,469, 14,529 and 15,724 pounds — August. Severe earthquake shock — November 20. 1835. Great enthusiasm over first railway train between Lexington and Frankfort. Time, two hours, twenty-nine minutes. Distance twenty-seven miles — January 25. Another visitation of cholera — July 2. Kentucky annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church declared against any interference with slavery — September 23. 1836. Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Railroad chartered. State a]5propriations made for the improvements of several rivers — February 29. First railroad accident in Kentucky near Frankfort. Three killed and sev- eral injured — March 16. Arsenal at Frankfort burned — March 19. Ken- tuckians assisted at Sam Houston's victory of San Jacinto. Through the summer six hundred Kentuckians left to fight in Texas — April 21. Gov. Morehead called for one thousand mounted Kentuckians to fight in the Southwest. Before August 3 forty-five companies reported, only ten accepted. These were ordered discharged before ready to march — July 16. Kentucky horse, Rodolph, double distanced the Tennessee mare, Rodolph, in four-mile heat — September 21. 1837. St. Mary's College incorporated — January 21. Shelby College authorized to raise one hundred thousand dollars by lottery — February 16. State stock in Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Road increased from $144,200 to $213,200 — February 21. Convention of Kentucky editors at Lexington — February 22. One million dollars of surplus United States revenue deposited with Kentucky set apart for public instruction — February 23. Transylvania Medical School reorganized. General Albert Sidney Johnston wounded in a duel with Gen. Huston — April 29. Run upon the Louisville banks — May 8. All the Kentucky banks suspended specie pay- ments — May 9. Ohio River rose twenty-four feet in twenty-four hours — May 18. Daniel Webster received with greatest enthusiasm all through the State — May 18-30. Public meetings demanded extra session of the Legislature to relieve the money pressure — June. Legislature voted to call a Constitutional convention — December 21. 1838. State Agricultural Society organized — February 3. Frankfort authorized to raise one hundred thousand dollars by lottery, half for schools and half for city water — February 7. Common schools established — Feb- ruary 15. First Superintendent of Public Listruction appointed — February 28. Kentucky banks resumed specie payments — August 13. Great rail- road festival at I>exington — August 27. More fevers than for forty years. Rev. John B. Mahan acquitted of kidnaping slaves — October. Lowest water ever known in the Ohio River. Railroad built from Louisville to Portland — November. 1839. Commissioners appointed to provide more efficient means for cap- ERA OF DEVELOPMEXT. 309 tuning fugitive slaves — January 5. Remarkable debate in the House on the bill to charter a branch of the Southwestern Railroad bank — January II and 12. Paducah authorized to raise by lottery one hundred thousand dollars for seminaries and libraries — February 8. $923,000 appropriated for internal improvements — February 22. Four-mile race at Louisville for fourteen thousand dollars. Wagner beat Grey Eagle — September 30. The Kentucky banks suspended specie payments — October 16. 1840. Louisville College chartered — January 17. Marshall College chartered — January 23. Western Baptist Theological Institute at Coving- ton incorporated — February 5. Celebration of the first settlement of Ken- tucky at Boonesborough — May 24 and 25. Gen. Harrison enthusiastically received in Kentucky — November 16-20. 1841. $618,000 appropriated to internal improvements — February 18. Day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer, because of President Harri- son's death — May 14. Military encampment of twenty companies near Louisville — July 1-4. Maythe and Crouch hung by a mob at Wiiliams- town — July 10. African church at Maysville pulled down by a mob — September 8. Citizens of W^oodford County presented John J. Crittenden at an expense of seventeen thousand dollars with the farm on which he was born — October 7. Vickars and Brown, reformed drunkards, aroused in- tense interest in the temperance cause. Whole communities signed the pledge — December 3. 1842. Beautiful raw silk produced in Somerset — January 10. Leg- islature unanimously passed anti-repudiation resolutions — January 14. Institution for the Blind established at Louisville. Mercantile Library Association chartered — February 5. Henderson College incorporated — February 22. Four hundred and twenty thousand dollars appropriated for internal improvements — March i. Growth of temperance reform move- ment. Over thirty thousand signed the pledge in four months — April. Charles Dickens visited Kentucky — April 6. Banks resumed specie pay- ment — June I. Twelve thousand people attended a public dinner to Henry Clay at Lexington — June 9. A great barbecue was given at Dayton, Ohio, by the Ohio Whigs, to the Whigs of Kentucky as the Whig banner State at the last election. One hundred thousand present — September 29. Ken- tucky synod (Presbyterian) decided that the Bible fixed no rate of interest and counseled obedience to the State law in this matter — October 18. 1843. John Van Zandt forced to pay damages for rendering assistance to fugitive slaves — July 12. John Quincy Adams visited Kentucky. He was received with great enthusiasm — November 14. A great debate upon baptism and other subjects at I-exington. Lasted three weeks. Crowds attended — November 15. The Louisville Democrat established. 1844. Rev. Calvin Fairbanks was sentenced to the penitentiary for fif- teen years for abducting slaves. Louisville Courier established — February 13. General Presbyterian Assembly convened in Louisville — May 16. Greatest flood ever known in the Missouri, Mississippi, Illinois and Red rivers. Great damage -^ June. Kentucky penitentiary burned — August 3IO ERA OF DEVELOPMENT. 30. Appointed as a day of " prayer, praise and thanksgiving" — Septem- ber 26. Miss Delia A. Webster sentenced to two years in the penitentiary for abducting slaves. Pardoned out in seven weeks because of her sex. 1845. Legislature consented to the purchase of the Louisville and Port- land Canal by U. S. — February 10. The 123d Regiment of Kentucky militia sought the abolition of the existing militia system — April 9. The abolitionists at Madison, Ind., made an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the arrest and delivery to Kentucky of a free mulatto who had abducted Ken- tucky slaves — April 25. The "Methodist Episcopal Church South" formed — May 19. Cassius M. Clay began the issue of the True Amer- ican at Lexington — June 4. A meeting of citizens sent a committee to Clay requesting that its publication be stopped — August 14. A general county meeting appointed a committee of sixty prominent citizens to take possession of press and printing apparatus and send it to Cincinnati. It was sent, express paid — August 18. Troops called out in Clay County to preserve order — September 10. The committee of sixty tried as rioters and acquitted — September 18. A meeting of citizens of Mason County de- manded legislation prohibiting abolition publications. Similar meetings in other counties — October 13. Another meeting of Mason County passed stronger resolutions than those of October 13 — November 10. 1846. A colony of colored people sent out to " Kentucky in Liberia " — January 7. University of Louisville incorporated — February 7. Mays- ville College incorporated — February 13. War declared between U. S. and Mexico — May 13. The Loyal Legion, nine companies, offered their services for the Mexican War and were accepted. Louisville subscribed fifty thousand dollars to dispatch troops to the war — May 18. The North- ern Bank of Kentucky at Lexington tendered the governor two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the same purpose. Gov. Ousley called for two regiments of infantry and one of cavalry — May 22. The requisition upon Kentucky for troops was full — May 26. Monterey, Mexico, captured. Louisville Legion displayed remarkable bravery — September 24. 1847. Legislature voted to call a Constitutional Convention — January 9. Kentucky Military Institute incorporated. Major John P. Gaines and Captain Cassius M. Clay and their troops surrounded at Emcamacion and forced to surrender. Imprisoned in the City of Mexico — January 20. Kentucky Female Orphan School incorporated, also Western Military In- stitute. Kentucky Legislature complimented the Louisville Legion and various officers — February 23. Kentuckians did their duty at Gen. Tay- lor's Buena Vista victory — February 22-23. Gen. Doniphan (a Kentuck- ian) defeated the Mexicans at Sacramento — February 28. Chihuahua, Louisville and Frankfort Railroad incorporated — March i. Four new infantry companies raised — March 10. Capt. Williams' company distin- guished themselves at the storming of Cerro Gordo — April 18. Impres- sive services at the burial in the State cemetery at Frankfort of those who fell in Mexico — July 20. Two more Kentucky regiments called for — August 31. The victims of Buena Vista buried in the State cemetery — ERA OF DEVELOTMENT. 311 September 16. The two regiments called for reported for service — Sep- tember 20. Great speech by Henry Clay at Lexington on the Mexican War — November 13. Great damage from floods in the Ohio, Licking, Ken- tucky and Cumberland rivers. State purchased the Lexington & Ohio Railroad — December. 1848. Legislature passed an act to take another vote regarding Consti- tional convention — January 15. Passed a severe law against gambling — January 29. Fifteen thousand dollars appropriated for a soldiers' monu- ment in the State cemetery — February 25. Second lunatic asylum estab- lished. Lexington and Frankfort Railroad incorporated as the successor of the Lexington and Ohio. State a stockholder — February 28. Legis- lature passed resolutions complimentary to a number of her brave soldiers — March i. State voted by a large majority to call a Constitutional con- vention — August 9. The bones of the victims of the Raisin massacre (1S12) were brought to Frankfort and interred in the State cemetery — Sep- tember 30. Patrick Doyle, an abolitionist, sentenced to hard labor in the penitentiary for twenty years for enticing away slaves — October 10. 1849. Legislature passed an act to call a constitutional convention at Frankfort, October i, 1849 — January 13. The Kentucky House of Repre- sentatives passed an unanimous resolution against abolition — February 3. Emancipation meetings at Maysville and Louisville — February 12-13. Gen. Taylor enthusiastically received on his way to Washington — Febru- ary 11-17. Law of 1833 amended, making it lawful to purchase and bring slaves into the State for one's own use — February 24. State Emancipation Convention demanded in the new Constitution : i. Prohibition of impor- tation of slaves. 2. A system of gradual emancipation — April 25. Chol- era again apppeared — May. Large emigration to California — June, July and August. Squirrels ravaged Northern and Central Kentucky — Sep- tember 28. Constitutional Convention met at Frankfort — October r. 1850. Legislature requested the governor to have a block put in the Washington Monument with this inscription : " Under the auspices of Heaven and the precepts of Washington, Kentucky will be the last to give up the Union." — January 24. A sword presented to Serg. Wm. F. Gaines "the boy defender of the glorious banner of the 2d Regiment of Kentucky infantry at the battle of Buena Vista" — February 20. The New Constitu- tion was adopted by a large majority — May 7. Meetings held to indicate the strong Union sentiment — June. Great Union barbecue at Lexington in honor of Henry Clay — Octobor 17. Henry Clay by an unanimous in- vitation addressed the Legislature on the Union — November 15. 1851. An attempt to secure State aid for railroads defeated — February ID. I,aw passed obliging slaves thereafter emancipated to leave the State — March 24. A number of Kentuckians engaged in Lopez's expedition against Cuba. Cholera again appeared — August 15. Kentucky Ulird Institution was burned — September 29. An act passed regulating the re- tailing of liquors. This year many railroads were built. Louisville and Frankfort Railroad completed — December 13. 312 ERA OF DEVELOPMENT. 1852. Augusta College burned — January 29. Henry Clay presented with a gold medal by the citizens of New York — February 10. Cholera in Union County — May. At Eddyville two persons fight a duel by being bled — May 10. Henry Clay died at Washington. Universal sorrow — June 29. Thirty thousand people joined in the funeral procession of Henry Clay at Lexington — July 10. " Stampede " of from fifty to sixty slaves across the Ohio River — September 27. Public meeting at Louisville in regard to the death of Webster which occurred the day before. Memphis and Ohio Railroad begun — October 26. 1853. U. S. Military Asylum located at Harrodsburg Springs — May 8. The Presbyterian General Assembly established a Theological Seminary at Danville — May 26. The prohibitory liquor law succeeded in Boyle and Gerrard Counties. \\\ Muhlenburg the temperance ticket for all county officers was elected — August i. Kentucky's contributions to the " World's Fair" at New York very fine, especially in hemp and tobacco — September 5. Sixty-three more emigrants set out for Liberia — October 27. 1854. Maysville voted against license — January 2. Temperance can- didates defeated at Lexington — January 7. Twenty slaves arrived in Canada from different parts of Kentucky in ten days — January 14. Reso- lutions offered upon the death of Henry Clay — February 9. Legislature presented Henry E. Read with a sword for gallant conduct in the Mexican War — February 11. Much religious interest all over the State — February. Miss Delia Webster first requested, then compelled to leave the State for assisting fugitive slaves — March 12. Four-mile race at New Orleans won by Lexington, a Kentucky horse — April i. Lecomte from Mississippi beat Lexington — April 8. A mob took possession of the streets of Louisville and did much damage, because of the acquittal of Ward of the murder of Butler — April 29. More colored emigrants left Louisville — May i. Cholera again — July 10. Powder magazine at Maysville exploded by in- cendiaries — August 13. Bank failures very frequent — October. 1855. Kentucky horse Lexington won two four-mile races at New Orleans. One against time and the other against Lecomte — April 2. More colored men go to Liberia — May 8. " Bloody Monday " in Louisville. An election not accompanied by violence, bloodshed and house-burning — Au- gust 6. Kentucky Military Institute buildings burned — December 9. 1856. Kentucky Colonization Society sent more negroes to Liberia, most of them set free for that purpose — May. The Covington and Lex- ington Railroad opened — May 9. State Normal School opened at Lexing- ton — September 7. Medical department of the Louisville University de- stroyed by fire — December 31. 1857. Edward Everett delivered his oration on Washington at Louis- ville — May 12. A mob took from jail at Louisville and hung three negroes who had been legally acquitted of murder — May 14. Laying of the cor- ner-stone of Clay's monument at Lexington with Masonic ceremonies — July 4. The Kentucky banks weathered the financial panic. They refused to suspend specie payments — October. ERA OF STRIFE. 313 1858. Gov. Morehead issued a call for volunteers to Utah — March 6. Remarkable revivals all over Kentucky — April. Barker hung by a mob at Lexington for stabbing the city marshal — July 10. Terrible epidemic among the hogs — September 5. Wm. C. Prentice explored the "Bot- tomless Pit," Mammoth Cave — September 11. ''Methodist Episcopal Church South" voted to expunge the rule of the church forbidding "the buying and selling of men, women and children with an intention to enslave them " — October 18. 1859. Maysville and Lexington Railroad opened — February 10. Long- est iron bridge in U. S. (up to that time) built across the Green River. — March 16. Destruction at Newport of the True South, an abolition newspaper — October 28-29. Louisville and Nashville Railroad opened — November 5. Legislature instructed their national senators and represen- tatives to take some measure for the extradition of slaves from Canada — December 16. THE ERA OF STRIFE. i860. Great " Union " meeting at Maysville. Rev. J. G. Fee and others forced to leave Madison County for their anti-slavery teachings. Hog cholera prevailed — January 2. Rev. J. S. Davis, another abolitionist, required to leave — January 21. Institution for idiots founded — February n. All laws prohibiting the importation of slaves into the State repealed — March 2. Law enacted that non-resident free negroes must not enter the State — March 3. Several wounded in Madison County because of the refusal of Hanson, an abolitionist, to leave the State — March 26-27. Most severe tornado ever known in the Ohio Valley — May 21. 1861. Commissioners sent to the Peace Conference at Washington — January 29. John J. Crittenden addressed the Legislature by special invi- tation — March 20. John C. Breckenridge addressed the Legislature — April 2. Governor of Kentucky refused to furnish troops at the call of Lincoln — April 15. Crittenden in a speech at Lexington recommended neutrality — April 17. Union State Central Committee in an address to the people recommended neutrality — April 18. Capt. Joe Desha and over one hundred men left for the Confederacy. Other companies followed. Gov. Magoffin refused to furnish troops to the Confederacy — April 22. Louis- ville raised two hundred thousand dollars for defense — April 25. Railroad trains crowded with people going North — May i. " Mothers, wives, sisters, daughters of Kentucky" flooded the Legislature with petitions to "main- tain inviolate her armed neutrality "—May 8-18. An attempt at an agree- ment as to policy between the two parties in the State unsuccessful — May 10. A regiment of Kentucky troops entered the Confederate Army — May 15. Resolutions of neutrality passed in the House — May 16. Neutrality proclamation of Governor Magoffin warning both United States and Con- federacy to keep off Kentucky soil — May 20. The Senate passed neutral- ity resolutions — May 24. Border Slave State Convention in session at 314 £-KA OF STRIFE. Frankfort — May 27-June 3. Election of members to Congress. Union candidates elected except in first district — June 20. At Camp Boone, eight miles from Clarksville, Tenn., Kentucky regiments assembled for the Confederacy. At Camp Clay, opposite Newport, and at Camp Joe Holt, opposite Louisville, regiments assembled for the Union Army — July 15. Elections to the Legislature resulted in Union majorities. Brig-Gen. Nel- son established Camp Dick Robinson (Federal) in violation of the neu- trality of the State — August 5. Legislature passed its time making reso- lutions of every variety. Has been called the "Resolution Legislature" — September. Confederate troops fortified positions in Kentucky — Sep- tember 3. Federal troops occupied a number of positions — September 5. U. S. flag hoisted on the Carjbitol — September 7. Peace Convention at Frankfort — September 9. States Rights Convention at Frankfort — Sep- tember 10. Both Houses demanded the withdrawal of Confederate troops over the governor's veto. They said nothing of the Federal troops — Sep- tember II. The Legislature demanded over the governor's veto that the Confederate troops be expelled. The governor issued a proclamation to that effect. The publication of the Louisville Courier forbidden by the U. S. Government. Gen. Buckner occupied Bowling Green with Confeder- ate troops and issued a proclamation to the people — September 18. Skir- mish between Home Guards and Confederate troops — September 19. Gen. Thomas assumed command at Camp Dick Robinson. Gen. Buckner blew up the locks on Green River— September 21. Three members of the Legislature arrested by Home Guards — September 22. Gen. Anderson reassured the citizens by proclamation — September 24. The Legislature called for forty thousand Kentuckians for a long term to repel Confederate invasion — September 25. A supplemental act directed the State force to be mustered into U. S. service. Various Confederate sympathizers ar- rested — September 26. Various newspapers suspended — September 27. Skirmishes. The Legislature thanked Ohio, Indiana and Illinois for their assistance against the Confederacy — October i. The Legislature instructed their U. S. senators to resign — October 2. A small body of Federal troops ambushed near Glasgow and routed — October 10. Gen. Sherman assumed command of the Kentucky troops — October 14. Fully forty regiments from other States in Kentucky. Fifteen thousand Kentuckians enlisted — October 20. Seven thousand Confederates repulsed at Camp Wildcat — October 21. Confederates routed at West Liberty and Hazle Green — October 23. A large number of prominent men indicted for treason — November 6. Confederates defeated in the battle of Ivy Mount- ain — November 8. Gen. Buell succeeded Gen. Sherman in command — November 13. A sovereignty convention at Russellville adopted an ordi- nance of secession and arranged for a provisional government — November 18-21. Eleven Kentuckians released from Fort Warren, Boston — Novem- ber 28. Confederate Congress admitted Kentucky as one of the seceding States — December 9. Confederates defeated at the battle of Munfordville — December 17. Federals defeated at Sacramento — December 27. ERA OF STRIFE. 315 1862. Battle of Mill Spring, Gen. Thomas defeated Gen. Crittenden. It was a heavy blow to the Confederates. Numerous skirmishes during the month — January 19. Memorable remark of Rev. Mr. Conway in Boston. " President Lincoln would like to have God on his side, but he must have Kentucky. " — February i. Bowling Green evacuated by the Confederates under Buckner — February 14. The Confederates abandoned Columbus — February 27. Legislature expatriated all who aided the Confederacy — March 11. Confederates successfully surprised by Gen. Garfield at Pound Gap — March 14. Col. Morgan's (Confederate) Cavalry made a very suc- cessful raid — May 11. Gen. Boyle inaugurated a general system of arrest of Confederate sympathizers — June. Gen. Boyle began the arrest of dis- loyal women — July. Gen. Morgan with his rangers made his first extended Kentucky raid, destroying telegraphs, railways, bridges, government ware- houses. Very successful — July 8. Louisville very much in terror of Mor- gan — July 12-13. Morgan gained a victory at Cynthiana — July 17. Two religious papers at Louisville suppressed by military order — July 22. Min- isters arrested all over the State — July 26. A prison prepared at Newport for rebel females. Required to sew for Union soldiers — July 28. Gov. Magotfin resigned — August 16. Negro slaves impressed as laborers into the hcrvice of the government — August 24. Gen. Nelson defeated near Richmond by a superior force of Confederates — August 30. During the month very stringent laws passed against sympathizers with the rebels — August. Paris and Lexington evacuated by the Federals — September i. Versailles occupied by Confederates — September 2. Union men drove the abolitionist Rev. J. G. Fee out of the State — September 12. Mun- fordville surrendered to Bragg — September 16. Beginning of a wonderful and successful retreat from Cumberland Gap by General George Morgan (Federal) — September 18. Federals reoccupied Munfordville — Septem- ber 21. Inaugural ceremonies of the Provisional Government at Frankfort. Four hours later fled from the city — October 4. Greatest battle ever fought in Kentucky at Chaplin Hills near Perryville between Gens. Bragg and McCook. At the close of the day the result was in doubt. Bragg withdrew the next morning. — October 8. Morgan made another raid into Lexington — October 18. Gen. Bragg's inglorious retreat much impeded by snow — October 25. J. Wilkes Booth played a very successful engage- ment at Louisville — November 8. A remarkable all-night march of Mor- gan's cavalry to escape two detachments of Federals. Numerous skirmishes and engagements all through the year in which Morgan's raiders played a prominent part. 1863. The Confederate Congress formally thanked Morgan for his services — January 2. Two companies of Morgan's raiders broke up "in tremendous disorder" a public meeting at Burksville — t'ebruary 12. Col. Cluke's division of Morgan's raiders began another raid into Kentucky — February 18. Battle flags presented to the State by Gov. Robinson — March 2. Union Democratic Convention at Louisville. Some stormy scenes — March 1S-19. A vigorous code promulgated bv Gen. Burn»ide 3i6 ERA OF STRIFE. then in command — April 13. Twenty thousand Kentuckians called for for the defense of the State — May 10. Gen. Burnside ordered wives and families of persons absent with the Confederates to be sent South — May 13. New York World and Chicago Times prohibited by Burnside. Lin- coln revoked the order. — June 2. Morgan's wonderful raid of over one thousand one hundred miles through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio — July. Morgan surrendered near Salineville, Ohio. Numerous small engagements durinw the month — July 26. Two thousand Confederates surrendered at Cumberland Gap — September 9. Gen. Morgan and six of his captains escaped from the Columbus Penitentiary. Morgan and Hines traveled by railroad to Cincinnati, crossed the river in a skiff and succeeded in reaching Tennessee. Kentucky harassed by guerrillas all through the year. 1864. Gov. Bramlette ordered five rebel sympathizers to be arrested as hostages for every Union man taken by guerrillas — January 4. The Legis- lature protested against enlisting Kentucky negroes and asked that all negro camps be removed from the State — February 20. Meeting at Louis- ville of a Border State Freedom Convention. Kentucky University de- stroyed by fire — February 22-23. Maj. Hamilton and one hundred and four other officers returned home after escape from Libby Prison by a tunnel — March 3. Gov. Bramlette called for ten thousand troops at once — May 13. Morgan's cavalry began their last raid — June 2. Great fire in Louisville — July i. President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and proclaimed military law in Kentucky on account of the guerrilla raids — July 5. Twenty-four women and children arrested and sent out of the country — July 18. Gen. Morgan surprised and killed in Tennessee — September 4. Gen. Burbridge crossed over from Kentucky to Virginia. Fought a close battle at Saltville, Va., and then withdrew — October 2. Guerrillas whipped the county judge of Bath County with a strap — October 12. The U. S. draft drove many into the Confederate army — October 27. Great indignation among the farmers at what appeared to be an attempt on the part of the military to force the selling of hogs at reduced rates — Octo- ber. All military orders on the hog question were revoked — November. Controversy by letter between Gov. Bramlette and Gen. Burbridge. Nu- merous arrests and executions during the month — November 9-18. Gov. Bramlette called upon Kentuckians whose slaves had been taken for the army to devote the money received for them to relieving the soldiers' families — November 23. Gen. Burbridge with four thousand men made a second expedition to Saltville, Va. He destroyed the salt works, then returned to Kentucky. During the year few engagements except with guerrillas — December 9. 1865. The Legislature discussed the Thirteenth Amendment proposed to the U. S. Constitution — February. Gen. Palmer succeeded Gen. Bur- bridge in Kentucky — February 10. Agricultural College established — February 22. Guerrilla warfare continued — March. Gen. Johnston sur- rendered to Sherman. Most of the Kentucky Confederates were with Johnston's army — April 26. Gen. Palmer announced the terms of sur- ERA OF PROGRESS. 317 render in Kentucky — April 14. Large public meeting in Louisville at which the governor presided adopted resolutions in memory of President Lincoln — April iS. A funeral procession three miles long April ig. Gen. Burbridge presented with a one thousand dollar sword, belt and spurs by the colored cavalry of Brigades P'ifth and Sixth — April 24. Negro en- listments in Kentucky stopped by the War Department — May 8. Gen. Palmer ordered the arrest of all faro bank keepers — July 8. Southerners claimed unwarrantable military interference at the polls — August 7. Gens. Palmer and Brisbin indicted for abducting slaves — September 2'. Lead ore discovered in several counties. Several oil wells bored December i. Gen. Palmer acquitted of abducting a slave — December 8. Secretary Seward declared the Thirteenth Amendment adopted — December 18. 1866. Cholera prevalent among the hogs ; small-pox among the negroes — January. The seats of numerous members of the Legislature declared va- cant and new elections ordered. " Short Line " begun from Lagrange to Covington — February. The Legislature demanded the instant removal of Wm. Goodloe and Clinton B. Fisk of the Freedmen's Bureau. The guerrilla, " One Arm Berry," tried by a military commission and found guilty of eleven separate murders. Sentenced to be hung, but commuted to ten years' impris- onment — February 10. Legislature passed several acts defining and ex- tending negro rights — February 14. Legislature demanded the revoca- tion of suspension of habeas corpus and the removal of the " Freedmen's Bureau" — February 17. I,arge and enthusiastic meeting at Louisville in- dorsing President Johnson — February 22. Negro hung by a mob at Paris for rape. Gen. Davis of Indiana succeeded Gen. Palmer — March 27. Lynching at Paris of another negro — March 28. More lead discovered — April I. Numerous lynchings in Boyle and Woodford Counties — April. Ten distilleries closed for violation of internal revenue laws — April 26. A number of negroes lynched for atrocious crimes — May. National tobacco fair at Louisville — May 31. Hog cholera very prevalent — July. Guer- rillas plundered a train on the Louisville and Nashville road — November 8. Opening of the iron suspension bridge between Cincinnati and Coving- ton. Numerous lynchings all through the year — December l. THE ERA OF PROGRESS. 1867. The Legislature rejected the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution — January 10. Various lines consolidated and incorporated as the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad — January 19. Louis- ville subscribed one million dollars to complete the Lebanon Extension rail- road to Knoxville — January 26. The Legislature protested against negro suffrage in every form — February 14. The "Regulators" hung Thos. Carrier — February 17. A general amnesty law passed for acts done dur- ing the Rebellion — February 28. Decision in favor of the plaintiffs of the great suit of Breckenbridge vs. Lee, pending for sixty-four years, on which three generations of Kentucky's ablest lawyers were eng.iged — March iS. 3l8 ERA OF PROGRESS. Subscriptions all over the State for the relief of Southern destitution — May 15. Another outrage by "regulators" — June 3. Laying of the corner- stone of an immense bridge over the Ohio at the falls at Louisville — Au- gust I. A grand tournament with nine tilts at Paris — August 2. Hang- ing by " regulators " — August 3. " Regulators " hung two negroes — August 10. " Regulators " hung two white men — August 25-26. Gov. Steven- son authorized the raising of three companies for protection against the "regulators" — October 11. Legislature rebuked the Freedmen's Bureau for exceeding their powers — November 5. A Christmas dinner given at Harrodsburg to Admiral Semmes of the Alabama. Ex-Federals and Con- federates attended. Gov. Magoffin's toast : " The fame of American sol- diers and sailors whether rebel or Federal is the common heritage of the people " — December 25. 1868. The Irish citizens of Frankfort lynched a negro for a brutal crime — January 29. The Kentucky delegation voted unanimously against the impeachment of Andrew Johnson — February 22. Legislature pro- tested against the wrong done Kentucky by Congress in refusing to allow her representatives to take their seats — March 9. A large crowd witnessed the reinterment at Lexington of Gen. Morgan the cavalry raider — April 17. Louisville subscribed one million dollars for the Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad — May 9. Fenians in session at Louisville — May 18. U. S. House admitted McKee to the seat to which Young was elected by a majority of 1479 votes — June 22. Negroes mobbed a negro preacher whom they accused of rebel sympathies — August 3. The Democrat, Jour- nal and Courier were fused into the Courier Journal. Henry Watterson succeeded Geo. D. Prentice as editor — November 8. Four girls (three aged thirteen and one sixteen) recited at Crittenden the whole Bible which they had memorized during the year. 1869. Legislature made punishable by fine prize-fighting and training ; also seconds and spectators of a fight — February 12. Two murderers escaped from jail pursued by seventy-five men, captured and shot — Febru- ary 8. Great temperance reform in Covington. One thousand signed the pledge in less than two months — February 27. Gen. Breckenridge re- turned home after a banishment of eight years. His reception an ovation — March 9. The Legislature rejected the Fifteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution — March 13. " Ku Klux " so-called, attacked Frank Bowen at Clover Bottom — March 16. The Legislature accused the U. S. otificials of having treated Judge Bullitt unjustly in forcing him to leave the State, and of having " insulted the honor and dignity of the Commonwealth of Kentucky" — March 16. Remarkable revival among the Danville ne- groes — ]M arch 21. Decoration of Confederate soldiers' graves — May 20. Dedication of the Confederate monument at Cynthiana — May 26. Seven hundred colored delegates held a State Educational Convention near Louis- ville — July 14. Total eclipse of the sun — August 7. Louisville city authorities gave twenty thousand bushels of coal to the poor — November 16. At Somerset three men were killed and one badly wounded in a fray ERA OF PROGRESS. 319 caused by the whipping of a man by " regulators " — November 20. Legis- lature exempted from taxation all college and seminary property, real estate of lodges of I. O. O. Y and Masons, hospitals, infirmaries, widows and orphan asylums and foundling asylums — December 7. 1870. Henry Watterson delivered before the House of Representatives an eulogy of Geo. D. Prentice, the veteran editor of the Louisville Journal who died January 21 — February i. Celebration of the completion of the Cincinnati Bridge. The Legislature attended in a body — February 18. Nine days debate at Mount Sterling on the subject of baptism — March i-io. Legislature exempted from tolls persons on their way to and from church on Sunday, or attending funerals — March 19. The Fifteenth Amendment declared carried — March 30. Seventy masked men lynched four mur- derers. Several other lynchings during the year — May 13. Six thousand negroes celebrated at Paris the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment — June 10. A couple married in Mammoth Cave — July 27. 1871. " Regulators " continued their outrages. A public citizens' meet- ing called for the interference of the State. The press also condemned them. Public meetings denouncing the refusal of the Legislature to char- ter the Cincinnati Southern railway — February 12-15. -^ negro guilty of stealing sentenced to receive fifteen lashes — February 16. Lieutenant Hugh W. McKee of Lexington, Ky., killed in an engagement with the Coreans. He was the first man to enter their fortress — May 11. Military called upon to quell an election riot at Frankfort, also at Paris and Lex- ington — August 7. Death of Robert Anderson, the defender of Fort Sumter — October 26. Kentucky contributed liberally to the sufferers by the Chicago fire — October. Opening of the enlarged Louisville and Portland Canal — November 20. Two negroes admitted to practice law in the Louisville courts — November 23. 1872. Citizens of Franklin County petitioned the Legislature for pro- tection against desperadoes — January 12. Grand Duke Alexis of Russia visited Louisville and Mammoth Cave — January 30- February i. The Cincinnati Southern Railway bill became a law— February 13. The Cen- tral Kentucky Liebriate Asylum incorporated— March i. Severe legisla- tion against lotteries — March 25. Robt. Bonner's Kentucky colt Startle made a fine record in New York — April 24. Formal opening of the Louis- ville Public Library — April 27. Daring robbery in broad daylight of the National Bank of Columbia— April 29. Meeting at Lexington to inaugu- rate a great university in Kentucky — May 8. Congress appropriated one million dollars to adjust Kentucky war claims. Robert Bonner's "Joe Elliott" made a mile in 2. 15 — June 18. National Industrial Exposition opened at Louisville — September 3-October 12. Peace Reunion at Louis- ville—September 11-12. Mob Law in Washington County because of the county taxation for the Cumberland and Ohio Railroad — September 16. A new denomination, the " Soul Sleepers," built a church — September 20. Horace Greeley, candidate for president, welcomed in Kentucky — September 2\. Discoveries of rich lead and iron ore — October i. Negro 320 ERA OF PROGRESS. riot in Covington — October 12. The epizootic prostrated Kentucky horses — November 8. Three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars distributed in gifts at the drawing for the Kentucky Public Library. Small-pox preva- lent during the year. Lynchings continued. Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad opened from Lexington to Mount Sterling. 1873. Death of General John Morgan's famous stallion " Skedaddle" — January 11. State Educational Convention of colored men demanded for their children equal educational advantages with the whites. Bee cholera proved very fatal — February 18-19. Trial at Georgetown of the famous Harper slander suit resulting in a verdict for the defendant— March 8-14. Robbery of the Falls City Tobacco Bank in Louisville — March 10. Com- promise of the famous "diamond" suit— March 16. Kentucky Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals incorporated — March 22. Cen- tral University incorporated — March 23. Most severe legislation against "regulators" — April II. First Grangers organized — April 20. Frederick Douglass addressed the people of Louisville, white and black, at the anni- versary celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment — April 21. Graves of the Federal dead decorated. Appointed by Congress as a National Me- morial Day — May 30. Grand gift concert for the benefit of the Kentucky Public Library — July 8. Negro riot at the polls — August 4. Second Louisville Industrial Exposition — Sept 2-October 11. Mass meeting of Owen County condemned the Ku Klux— September 15. The first colored high school in Kentucky dedicated at Louisville — October 7. Kentucky raised large sums for the yellow fever sufferers at Memphis — October 25. Excitement against Spain so great that a regiment and several companies offered their services in case of war — November 17. A convention of colored men demanded their share of the Republican spoils. Cholera in some sections. Ku Klux outrages continued — November 25. 1874. One hundred thousand dollars appropriated to extend and im- prove the Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum, one third of the amount for colored inmates " separate and apart " from the white inmates. The Insti- tution for Feeble Minded Children re-established. A general law passed regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors partaking largely of the features of a " local option " law. State Board of Pharmacy established and the practice of physicians regulated. A uniform system of common schools provided for the colored children, but colored children were forbidden to attend white schools and vice versa. 1875. The Kentucky Central Railroad chartered — March 20. Dern- ocratic State Convention met at Frankfort. Declared against Federal interference and local affairs — May 6. Republican State Convention met at Louisville. Declared for a revision of the Constitution — May 13. The people defeated by a large majority a proposition to revise the Constitution — August 2. A State Educational Convention held at Lex- ington for the purpose of creating an interest in the education of the negroes. Surveyors determined the boundary between Ohio and Indiana — November 10. ERA OF PROGRESS. Z2\ 1876. A Bureau of Agriculture, Horticulture and Statistics established. A Fish Commission appointed for stocking the ponds and rivers. Repub- licans held a convention at Louisville to choose delegates for National Con- vention — May 18. Democratic Convention at Louisville for the same purpose — May 25. The Prohibitionists met at Louisville — July 27. 1877. A Convention of Democrats, the largest ever held in the State, declared their belief that Tilden was the lawful president of the U. S. Recommended a peaceful solution of the difficulty — January 18. A con- vention held at Frankfort to consider the subject of the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi River — February. Cincinnati Southern Rail, road opened from Cincinnati to Somerset — July 21. Employes of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad struck at Louisville — July 23. A riot broke out and an unsuccessful attempt was made to fire the railroad offices. Easily put down without the military — July 24. Memphis and Ohio Rail- road consolidated with the Louisville and Nashville — October 9. 1878. Legislature passed an act for calling a Constitutional Convention. A Civil " Damage " act passed enabling family of an inebriate to obtain damages of the liquor dealer. State Board of Health established. The citizens of Fayette County held a public meeting in favor of re-establishing the whipping-post. The House passed a bill to this effect but it failed by one vote in the senate — January. Scenes of bloodshed for many days in Breathitt County where the sheriff was attacked by a mob. Circuit court broken up. A military force sent by the governor — November 29. 1879. Great excitement over the murder of John M. Elliott, one of the judges of the Court of Appeals by Thomas Buford — March 26. Demo- cratic convention met at Louisville — May 2. Republican State Convention met at Louisville. The Legislature voted down a proposition for a con- stitutional convention — April lo. A majority of the people voted down a revision of the Constitution. State Convention of colored teachers held at Louisville memorialized the Legislature on the defects of the common school system. The bee industry in the State almost destroyed by drought — August 27. State Guards which were sent to quell disturb- ances in Breathitt County returned with thirteen of the ringleaders — December. 1880. A Bureau of Immigration was created — April. Cincinnati South- ern Railroad completed to Chattanooga, Tenn. The calling of a Constitu- tional Convention submitted to a vote of the people. A railroad commis- sion created. Gov. Blackburn pardoned numerous convicts to relieve the crowded condition of the prison. Considerable temperance legislation passed. The " regulators " did much damage in several counties. Finally gave themselves up to the civil authorities of their own accord — February 12. The people voted against a constitutional convention — August. 1881. A number of farmers from the Canton Bern, Switzerland, settled near Pittsburg. Laurel County, and named their village Bernstadt. A State Prohibition party organized at Louisville. Common school laws thoroughly revised — October 14. The Elizabethtnwn, Lexington and Big .Sandy Rail- 32 2 ERA OF PROGRESS. road opened to the Big Sandy River. Louisville and Nashville Railroad purchased and absorbed various other lines — November i. 1882. Secretary of the Immigration Bureau sent to Europe to solicit immigration. He was successful. An act passed establishing a superior court to be held in Frankfort. Another vote in favor of submitting the Constitutional Convention question to the people. The Democratic State Convention met at Frankfort — January 11. Kentucky ministers held a temperance convention and resolved for prohibition — February 15. One hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Blue Licks celebrated — August 19. State troops guarding prisoners were attacked by a mob. Several of the troops wounded and many of the mob wounded and killed — October 31. 1883. The Livingston Extension of the Kentucky Central completed to Richmond, Ken. A convention of representative men, irrespective of party, held at Frankfort to organize a movement against illiteracy — April 5. Democratic State Convention at Louisville — May 16. Republican State Convention met at Lexington — May 23. Constitutional Convention de- feated. The Southern Exposition was held at Louisville — August i. An adjourned meeting held. Geological survey of the State completed in its general features — September 20. National convention of colored men met at Louisville — September 24. 1884. Kentucky Central leased the Richmond Branch of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Republican State Convention in Louisville chose delegates for the National Convention. Demanded the enforcement of the constitutional amendments, a "free ballot, a fair count" and protection — May I. Democratic convention at Frankfort chose its presidential dele- gates and declared for a tariff for revenue only — May 7. Livingston Ex- tension was formally opened. I^iquor selling prohibited in certain localities. Institution for colored deaf mutes established. Kentucky Humane Society incorporated. Another act submitting Constitutional Convention to the people. School laws amended and thereby much improved — August 9. 1885. People voted against a Constitutional Convention. Seventy to ninety militia kept on active duty in Rowan County for several weeks dur- ing the summer — August 3. 1886. The Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad leased to the Newport News and Mississippi River Valley Railroad. Legislature again gave the people a chance to vote on the Constitutional Convention. Appropriated one hundred and twenty-two thousand dollars for the com- pletion of the penitentiary at Eddystone. Made gambling a felony — February. 1887. Prohibitionist Convention at Louisville. Among other things ad- vocated a sovereignty convention — March 3. Kentucky Central Railroad Company reorganized as the Kentucky Central Railway Company. The colored Normal School dedicated and opened. The disgraceful disturbances in Rowan County continued — April 23. The Democratic Convention met. Declared against competition between free and convict labor — May 4. The Republican Convention met. Declared for internal improvements and ERA OF PROGRESS. 323 unlimited pensions — May 1 1. The people voted in favor of calling a Con- stitutional Convention — August. 1888. The inhabitants of Pike County, Ky., petitioned the governor for arms and ammunition to defend themselves against attacks from West Virginia. Kentucky State troops were stationed at Pikeville. The trouble began in 1882 in a family feud between the McCoys of Pike County and the Hatfields of Logan County, W. Va. Murders and bloody engagements between armed bands frequent — January. " Honest Dick Tate " (the State Treasurer) suspended from office by Gov. Buckner after twenty years con- tinuous service for defalcation to the extent of two hundred and thirty thou- sand dollars — March 20. Removed from office by the Senate acting as a court of impeachment. The Rowan County disturbances investigated by a commission. Judge Cole severely censured, but allowed to retain his office — March 30. Maysville and Big Sandy Railroad completed. Also Louis- ville, St. Louis and Texas. The Legislature ordered the second election by the people in August, 18S9, on the Constitutional Convention. One hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars more appropriated to the Eddyville Peni- tentiary. Made " Memorial Day " a legal holiday. i8go. Constitutional Convention met at Frankfort — September. A large number of Kentuckians have held political places of honor and responsibility. She has furnished two Presidents of the United States : Abraham Lincoln and Zachary Taylor, and one President of the Confed- eracy : Jefferson Davis. Two Vice-Presidents : John C. Breckenridge and Richard IVL Johnson. Also two Acting Vice-Presidents : David R. Atchison (while Senator from Missouri) and Jesse D. Bright (while Senator from Indiana). Two Secretaries of State : Henry Clay and James G. Blaine (who taught in Kentucky in early manhood and found his wife there). Four Secretaries of the Treasury : Geo. M. Bibb, Thomas Convin, James Guthrie, Benj. H. Bristow. Three Secretaries of War : Jefferson Davis, Joseph Holt, Isaac Shelby (declined). One Confederate Secretary of War : John C. Breckenridge. One Secretary of the Navy : Richard W. Thompson. One Secretary of the Interior : Orville H. Browning. Six Postmaster-Generals : Wm. F. Barry, Montgomery Blair, Joseph Holt, Amos Kendall, John McLean, Chas. A. Wickliffe. Six Attorney-Generals : John C. Breckenridge, John J. Crittenden, Felix Grundy, James Speed, Henry Stanberry and George M. Bibb. Seven Judges of the Supreme Court of the United. States : John Ca- tron, John McLean, John McKinley, Sam. F. Miller, Thomas Todd, Robt. Trimble, J. M. Harlan. Also numerous U. S. Judges and Judges of the Supreme Courts of other States, and one, Lorin Andrews, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Sandwich Islands. 324 ERA OI' PKOGNESS. Two Presidents of the Senate : J. C. Breckenridge and Richard M. John- son, and four Presidents /r^/^w. of Senate: David R. Atchison, Jesse D. Bright, John Brown, John Pope. Six Speakers of the House : Linn Boyd, Henry Clay, John White, James G. Blaine, Michael C. Kerr and John G. Carlisle. She has also furnished many senators and representatives of other States as well as governors. Many of her citizens have been sent on im- portant foreign missions. During her history she has given to the army among others Gen. Taylor (Mexican War), Gen. Anderson (Fort Sumter) and Generals Albert Sidney Johnston, Buckner, Hood, Duke and Morgan (Civil War). THE PEOPLE'S COVENANT AS EMBODIED IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY. [Note : — A Constitutional Convention to determine the question of a thorough revision of the State Constitution was in session at Frankfort, Kentucky, when this book went to press. The epitome here presented is from the Constitution of 1850.] The people petitioned for a separation of the district of Kentucky as a State, as early as May 31, 1785, but they had much to contend with, and it was not till April 19, 1792, that the first Constitution was adopted. There have been three separate Constitutions of the State of Kentucky; the first provided for a Governor to be chosen for four years ; a General Assembly, consisting of a Senate; House of Representatives; and a Supreme Court, styled the Court of Appeals. The second Constitution was adopted on the first of June, iSoo. It created a Lieutenant-Governor, and made an attempt to gradually abolish slavery but without effect. The second Constitution remained in force for nearly half a century, without amendment. On account of a desire for a change in the Constitution, especially with regard to the Judiciary system, a new Constitution was approved and adopted June 11, 1850. This third and last Constitution has remained in use up to the present time, and is composed of a preamble and thirteen articles, each article being divided into many sections. PREAMBLE. We, the Representatives of the people of the State of Kentucky, in con- vention assembled, to secure to all citizens thereof the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty and property, and of pursuing happiness, do ordain and establish this Constitution for its government. Article One concerns the distribution of the powers of government. Section I creates three distinct Departments; the Legislature; the Execu- tive ; and the Judiciary. Section 2 declares that persons belonging to one department, shall not exercise the powers of another. Article Two concerns the Legislative Department. THE CONSTITUTION. Section i. Legislative power shall be vested in a House of Representa- tives and Senate, to be known as the General Assembly of the Common- wealth of Kentucky. Section 2. Time of service of Representatives to be two years from day of general election. Section;^. Elections biennial, and held on the first Monday in August; mode of holding election to be regulated by law. Section 4. To become a Representative one must be a citizen of U. S. at time of election; twenty-one years old; must have lived, the two years preceding his election, in the State, and the last year in the county, town, or city from which he is chosen. Section 5. Counties must be divided into election districts; cities and towns to be' allowed separate representation in the General Assembly, so long as each city or town has a number of qualified voters equal to the ratio then fixed ; and such city or town shall be divided into districts for Representatives and Senators according to the number of Representatives and Senators entitled to such city or town. Sections 6 to 34 provide for the representation in the House and Senate of the voters in the Commonwealth ; the officers of the House and Senate ; privileges of voters; term of Senators — four years; time of meeting of General Assembly — first Monday in November; rules — punishments or expulsion of members; journals to be published weekly; pay of members; clergymen and officers under U. S. not to hold office ; the passage of bills ; credit of Commonwealth not to be given or loaned in aid of corporations. Section 35 declares the objects for which debts of the General Assem- bly may be allowed — to meet casual deficits of revenue not to exceed at anytime five hundred thousand dollars; the State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or provide for the public defense. Sections 37 and 38. No law enacted by the General Assembly shall relate to more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in title. Article Three concerns the Executive Department. Sections i to 14 fix the term of the Governor — four years ; declare that he is not eligible for the succeeding term; that one holding the office must be thirty-five years old, a citizen of the U. S., and must have been a resident of the State for the last six years preceding his election ; that no member of Congress, no officer of the U. S., nor minister of any religious society shall be Governor; that the Governor shall be Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the Commonwealth, and of the militia thereof, except when they shall be called into the service of the U. S. He shall not command, personally, in the field unless advised to do so by a resolution of the General Assembly ; authorize the Governor to fill vacancies in office ; give him the pardoning power ; declare that he may require information, in writing, from the officers in the Executive Department ; provide for con- vening Legislature in certain cases, and for adjourning it in certain cases. Sections 15 to 19 provide for the election of Lieutenant-Governor; he shall be Speaker of the Senate, give the casting vote, shall act as Governor when THE CONSTITUTION. 327 the latter is removed from office, impeached, dies, resigns or is absent from the Senate ; in such a case a Speaker of the Senate is elected and if the Lieutenant-Governor is removed from office of Governor, the Speaker acts as Governor; Provided that, whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of Governor, before the first two years of the term shall have expired, a new election for Governor shall take place. Section 20 declares that the Secretary of State shall convene the Senate for the purpose of choosing a Speaker, when the Lieutenant-Governor, after assuming the office of Governor, shall die or be removed from such office during a recess of the General Assembly. Section 21 declares that the Governor shall nominate, by and with the advice of the Senate, and appoint a Secretary of State. Sections 22 and 23 grant veto power to the Governor. Sections 24 and 25 provide for the contested elections of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor; for the election of a Treasurer, an Auditor of Public Accounts, Register of the Land Office, and Attorney-General. Section 26 declares that the first election under this Constitution for Gov- ernor, Lieutenant-Governor, Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Regis- ter of the Land Office, and Attorney-General shall be held on the first Monday in August, in the year 1851. Article Four concerns the Judicial Department. Section i. The judicial power of this Commonwealth is vested in one Supreme Court (styled the Court of Appeals), the courts established by this Constitution, and such courts, inferior to the Supreme Court, as the General Assembly may, from time to time, erect and establish. Sections 2 to 15 provide for the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals; term of Judges, their removal and salary; how the court is composed ; provide for the Judicial Districts — vacancies — case of change in number of Judges — classification of Judges; for election to fill vacancies — appointment if less than one year for qualifications of a Judge, sessions, where held ; elec- tions ; clerks — term — District Clerks — qualifications of clerks; addi- tional Judge or Judges. Sections 16 to 28 deal with the Circuit Courts. Sections 29 to 41 deal with the County Courts. Article Five concerns Impeachments. Section I. The House has sole power of impeachment. Section 2. Impeachments shall be tried by the Senate, and Senators shall be on oath or affirmation ; two thirds of the members present must concur to convict. Section 3 declares that the Governor and all civil officers shall be liable to impeachment, but judgment in such cases shall not extend further than to removal from office and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Commonwealth. But the party convicted shall, never- theless, be subject and liable to indictment, trial and punishment by law. Article Six concerns Executive and Ministerial Officers for Coun- ties and Districts. 328 THE CONSTITUTION. Sections i to (^ provide for the Commonwealth's Attorneys ; Clerks of the Courts; Surveyor; Coroner; their qualifications and provide for their elec- tions; Sheriff — term — not eligible for second term; Constables — term; officers for towns and cities ; provide for vacancies in offices ; require County Officers to give security for proper performance of their duties. Section lo provides for the appointment of other County or District ministerial and executive officers. Section 1 1 provides for the election of County Assessors and their assistants. Article Seven concerns the Militia. Section i declares that all free, able-bodied, male persons in the State shall serve in the militia when called ; exempts negroes, mulattoes, and Indians from such service ; also those belonging to religious societies whose tenets forbid them to carry arms, but the latter shall pay an equivalent for personal services. Section 2. The Governor shall appoint the Adjutant-General, and other staff officers ; the Major-Generals, Brigadier-Generals, and commandants of regiments shall, respectively, appoint their staff officers ; and commands of companies shall a|)point their non-commissioned officers. Section 3 declares that all other officers shall be elected by persons sub- ject to military duty, within their respective companies, battalions, regiments, brigades and divisions, under such rules, and for such terms, not exceeding six years as the General Assembly may direct. Article Eight concerns General Provisions. Section i declares that all members of the General Assembly, and all other officers shall swear (or affirm) to support the Constitution of the U. S., and the Constitution of the State ; to faithfully perform the duties of the office ; that, since this Constitution was adopted, he has not fought a duel with deadly weapons, nor taken any part in such duel. Section 2 declares treason against the Commonwealth to consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies ; that no person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses, or on his own confession. Section 3 disqualifies any person from office who has offered any bribe, or treat, to procure his election. Section 4 extends this bar from office and suffrage to include any person thereafter convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crime. Section 5 asserts that no money shall be drawn from the treasury except by law; limits appropriations for the support of the army to two years. Section 6 declares that the General Assembly may direct, by law, in what manner, and in what courts, suits may be brought against the Common- wealth. Section 7 declares that the manner of administering the oath of office shall be in accordance with the conscience of the person assuming office, and shall be esteemed by the General Assembly the most solemn appeal to God. THE CONSTITUTION. 329 Sections 8 and 9 declare that all laws in existence in the State of Virginia on the first day of June, 1792, and not repugnant to the present Constitution of Kentucky shall be in force ; and the compact with the State of Virginia, shall be considered as part of this Constitution. Section 10 provides for the arbitration of differences. Section 11 declares that civil officers of the Commonwealth, at large, shall reside within the State ; district, county, or town officers within their dis- tricts, and that they shall keep their offices in such places therein, as may be required by law. Section 12 declares that absence on business of State or U. S. does not forfeit one's rights. Section 13. The General Assembly shall regulate, by law, what deductions shall be made from the salaries of public officers for neglect of duty. Section 14 asserts that returns of elections by the people shall be made to the Secretary of State. Section 15 declares that all elections by the people, and by the Senate and House shall be by viva voce vote ; all dumb persons entitled to suffrage may vote by ballot. Section 16. All elections by the people to be held between six o'clock in the morning and seven in the evening. Section 17 declares that time for entering upon office shall be fi.xed by law. Section 18 declares that members of Congress etc. are not eligible to Gen- eral Assembly — nor to any State office. Section 19 provides that the General Assembly shall direct, by law, how those who become securities for public offices may be relieved of such security. Section 20 declares that dueling disqualifies one from holding office or honor in the State, and any person engaging therein shall be punished. Section 21 gives power to the Governor to pardon after five years from time of offense any person connected with a duel, and to restore him to all his rights, and the oath prescribed in the first section of this article shall be varied to suit the case. Section 22 provides for the appointment of three lawyers, at the first session, after the adoption of this constitution, to revise the statute laws of this Commonwealth so that there will be but one law on any one subject ; for the appointment of three other lawyers to prepare a code of practice for the courts, civil and criminal. Section 23 provides for the election of a President of the Board of Internal Improvement. Section 24 declares that the General Assembly shall provide by law for the trial of any contested election of Auditor, Register, Treasurer, Attorney- General, Judge of Circuit Courts, etc., not otherwise herein specified. Section 25 declares that the General Assembly shall provide, by law, for the making of the returns of the election of all officers to be elected under this Constitution ; and the Governor shall issue commissions to such officers as soon as he has ascertained the result of their election. 33° THE CONSTITUTION. Section 26 provides for the filling of vacancies of all officers under the Constitution. Article Nine concerns the seat of government : The seat of government shall continue in the city of Frankfort until re- moved by law. Article Ten concerns Slaves : Section I declares that the General Assembly shall not pass any laws for emancipation, without payment to owners of slaves. Tt shall not pro- hibit the importation of slaves from other States by immigrants — nor allow emancipation to the prejudice of creditors — nor import slaves as mer- chandise; slaves must be treated with humanity, must be protected and provided for. Section 2 asserts that laws may be passed for punishing free negroes im- migrating to State, or remaining after emancipation. Section 3 provides for prosecuting slaves for felony, but they shall not be deprived of right of trial by Petit Jury. Article Eleven concerns Education. Section i provides for a fund to be ajjplied solely for purposes of education. • Section 2 declares that a Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be elected by the people at the same time with the Governor. Article Twelve concerns the Mode of Revising the Constitution. Section i declares that a convention shall be called for that purpose. Section 2 gives the Convention power to judge of the election of its mem- bers, and to decide contested elections, but the General Assembly shall, in calling a Convention, provide for the taking of testimony in such cases, and for issuing a writ of election in case of a tie. Article Thirteen concerns the Bill of Rights. Preamble — That the general, great, and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized, and established, We Declare: Section i. That all free persons are equal and no e.\clusive privileges are allowed. Section 2. That absolute, arbitrary power exists nowhere in a Republic. Section 3. That the right of property is higher than Constitutional sanc- tion ; that the right of owner in a slave, and its increase is the same as of any property. Section 4. That all power is inherent in the people, and that they have the right to alter and reform the form of government. Section 5. That all persons should enjoy religious freedom, and that no preference should be given by law to any religious societies. Section 6. That no civil rights or privileges are to be lost on account of one's religion. Section 7. That elections shall be free and equal. Section 8. That the right of trial by jury shall be held sacred and in- violate. Section 9. That the freedom of press and speech shall be maintained. THE CONSTITUTION. 33 1 Section 10. That the jury shall determine the law and facts in prosecu- tions for libel. Section II. That seizures and searches shall not be made unlawfully. Section 12. That all prosecuted persons shall have the right to be heard by himself and counsel ; to meet the witnesses, face to face ; to compel the attendance of witnesses in his favor; and a speedy public trial by an impar- tial jury; that he is not compelled to give evidence against himself ; nor can he be deprived of his life, liberty or property, unless by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land. Section 13. That persons shall be tried by indictment, except in cases of navy or army offenses, in time of war or public danger. Section 14. That a second trial for same offense is not allowed. Section 15. That all courts shall be open to all. Section 16. That the General Assembly, only, can suspend laws. Section 17. That excessive bail shall not be required, excessive fines im- posed, nor cruel punishments inflicted. Section 18. That all prisoners shall have the right of bail, except in cases of capital offenses, and the privilege of habeas corpus, except in cases of re- bellion or invasion. Section 19. That imprisonment for debt is limited to cases of fraud. Section 20. That no ex-post facto law, nor any law impairing contracts shall be made. Section 21. That no person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the General Assembly. Section 22. That no attainder shall work corruption of blood, nor, except during the life of the offender, forfeiture of estate to the Commonwealth. Section 23. That estates of suicides shall descend or vest as in case of natural death, and if killed by casualty, there shall be no forfeiture by reason thereof. Section 24. That the people have the right of assembling, and of peti- tioning. Section 25. That the people have the right to carry arms for defending themselves and the State, but the General Assembly may pass laws to pre- vent them from carrying concealed arms. Section 26. That no standing army shall be maintained in time of peace, and the military shall be in subordination to the civil power. Section 27. That no soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war except as pre- scribed by law. Section 28. That there shall be no titles of nobility and hereditary dis- tinctions shall not be allowed. Section 29. That emigration from the State shall not be prohibited. Section 30. That, to guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, everything in this article is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate; and that all laws contrary thereto, or contrary to this Constitution, sJiall be void. 332 THE CONSTITUTION. SCHEDULE. Section i announces that all laws and contracts in force at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, and not inconsistent therewith shall continue. Section 2 declares that oaths may be administered by any Judge or Justice of Peace, until the General Assembly shall otherwise direct. Section 3 asserts that no office is to be superseded by the Constitution ; that the duties of office shall be performed for the term to which elected. Section 4 declares that the General Assembly shall make an apportion- ment of the representation of the State in 1850 ; present division to remain till then. Section 5 declares that all recognizances heretofore taken or that shall be taken before the organization of the Judicial Department shall remain as valid as though this Constitution haa not been adopted, and may be prose- cuted in the name of the Commonwealth ; all prosecutions and penal actions to be treated in the same manner. A SELECTION OF BOOKS TOUCHING UPON THE STORY OF KENTUCKY. The student will find abundant literature bearing upon the history of Kentucky. There are full and exhaustive reports on the physical structure of the country, and numerous well written histories of the people and of the State. The institution of slavery ; the troubles with the Indians ; the border life, and the late war furnish rich material for ex- citing and descriptive story writing. The resources of the State of Kentucky and its general structure, its climate and natural beauties are very fully pre- sented by the many reports of the different departments of the State. There are many histories of the State of Kentucky. A small book by Prof. N. S. Shaler, gives a pleasing account of the State from its earliest settlement. An extensive and careful history is that of Lewis Collins, re- vised and enlarged, and brought down to 1874, by his son, Richard H. Col- lins. The "Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke," by John Filson, printed in Wilmington, Del., in 1784, may be studied with profit. This book is principally interesting for its map, and the personal reminiscences of Daniel Boone. Also a valuable work is " Political Tran- sactions in and Concerning Kentucky," by William Littell, printed in 1816. The " History of Kentucky, including an Account of the Discovery, Settle- ment, Progressive Improvement, Political and Military Events and Present State of the Country," by Humphrey Marshall, is an e.xhaustive work, the first volume appearing in 1812, the second in 1824. Another interesting his- tory is Mann Butler's " History of Kentucky, from its Exploration and Set- tlement by the Whites, to the close of the Southwestern Campaign in 1813." The reader may, with advantage, consult " History of the First Brigade " ( Confederate ), by Ed. Porter Thompson ; " History of Morgan's Cavalry," by Basil W. Duke. William B. Allen contributes a "History of Kentucky, embracing Gleanings, Reminiscences, Antiquities, Natural Curiosities, Sta- tistics and Biogra])hical Sketches of Pioneers, Soldiers, Jurists, Lawyers, Statesmen, etc." An important work is "The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798," by Ethelbert Dudley Warfield, A. M., LL. D. These resolutions 333 334 BOOKS RELATING TO KENTUCKY. were intended as a protest against the unconstitutional action of the Fed- eral Congress in enacting the alien and sedition laws. " An Excursion to the Mammoth Cave," by Robert Davidson, is a carefully written and inter- esting description of the famous cave. Among the stories of adventure are " Pioneer Life in Kentucky," by Daniel Drake ; " Indian Wars of the West," by Timothy Flint ; " Sketches of Western Adventure," by John A. McClurg ; "A Collection of Some of the Most Interesting Narratives," by Samuel L. Metcalf ; "Pioneer Life in the West," by Wm. Person; and "Chronicles of Border Warfare," by Alexander S. Withers. Stories of the war are well told in " Narrative of the Sufferings and De- feat of the Northwest Army, under General Winchester," by William Ather- ton ; " A Journal Containing an Accurate and Interesting Account of the Hardship, etc., of the Kentucky Volunteers," by Elias Darnell ; " History of the Late War," by Robert McAfee ; " A Complete History of the Late American War," by M. Smith. Some idea of the religious life and customs of the people of Kentucky maybe derived from " An Outline of the History of the Church in Ken- tucky," by Robert H. Bishop ; " Historical Sketches of Christ's Church," by Rev. James Craik ; " History of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky," by Robert Davidson ; " The History of Methodism in Kentucky," by A. H. Radford; " Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions of Kentucky," by M. J. Spalding ; and " A History of the Baptist Churches," by John Taylor. Josiah Espy has written a vivid description of a tour in the States of Ohio, Kentucky and Indian Territory. Richard MacNamar contributes a brief account of Shakerisni in Ohio and Kentucky. A. E. Wilson's " Story of Rebecca Boone " is an interesting book. In the line of Historical Fiction, we have " Etna Vandemir," by S. J. Hancock ; and " Wild Western Scenes," by S. B. Jones. On the subject of Slavery in Kentucky, " Ellen," a tale by M. B. Harlan, "Tempest and Sunshine," by M. J. Holmes and " Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe are well worth reading. A romance, illustrative of the first settlers of Kentucky, is prettily told in " Charlemont," and its sequel, " Beauchampe," by W. G. Simms. Edmund Kirk's books should be included among this list ; and, in the three following, one obtains a graphic account of the adventures and sufferings of the early settlers in Kentucky: "John Sevier as Commonwealth Builder"; "The Rear Guard of the Revolution " ; and " The Advance Guard of Western Civilization" — all by Edmund Kirk. A description of the fertility and beauty of the " blue-grass region " in Kentucky, by John Burroughs, will be found in the Century Magazine for July, 1S90. INDEX [For obvious reasons, in this index only the historical names, places and events are treated. The characters that are prominent in the "story" part are thus allowed to retain their own romantic individuality.] Amendment, Thirteenth, The, rejected, 245. Anderson, Gen., commands in Kentucky, 203, 204. Barber, Philip Norbourne, grave of, 181. Bardstown, noted school at, 108; famous paintings at, 109. Blue-Grass Country, The, 265. Blue Licks, Indian attack on, 74 ; battle of, 78. Boone, Daniel, messenger to Fort Pitt, 32 ; his family, 46; his daughter captured by Indians, 52 ; rescues his daughter, 56 ; cap- tured at Blue Licks, 74 ; at battle of Blue Licks, 79; leaves Kentucky, 115 ; treatment of by Kentucky, 116. Boonesboro', 32, 37, 44 ; attack on, 74. Bowman's defeat at Chillicothe, 74. Bramlette, Governor, 234, 235, 238. Breckenridge, John C., 182, 191, 204. Brown, John, first delegate to Congress, 95 ; U. S. Senator, 97. Burr, Aaron, in Kentucky, 140-143. Burr conspiracy, the, 119, 140. BjTd, Col., captures Ruddle's Station, 76. Cabell, Edmund, leaves home, 11; in the Kentucky Country, 16; his prayer, 28; meets Daniel Boone, 35 ; purchases land, 58; captured by Indians, 60; escapes, 63 ; in the Revolution, 70; marriage, 86. Calloway, Betsey, captured by Indians, 52 ; rescued, 56 ; marriage of, ^j. Clarke, George Rogers, in Kentucky, 57 ; at Harrodsburg, 58; brilliant western con- quests of, 74, 75; decline of, 85; neglect of, 127. Clay, Cassius M.. liberates his slaves, 190. Clay, Henry, elected to legislature, 131; de- fends Aaron Burr, 141 ; duel with Marshall, 144; in War of 1812, 146; a peace commis- sioner, 154; feeling toward, 162 ; his rural life, 164; opposes annexation of Texas, 177; loses support of Kentucky, 178. Colored schools and education, 257, 258. Cornstalk, an Indian chief; his promise to Lord Dunmore, 22. Crittenden, John J., 182; offers the "olive branch," 195. Danville, prominence of, 88; conventions at, 89, 95, 97 i a political center, 97. Davies, Col. J. H., his charges against Burr, 141 ; death of, 145. Davis, Jefferson, born in Kentucky, 144; op- poses General Taylor, 182 ; elected presi- dent of Southern Confederacy, igi. Dickens, Charles, in Louisville, 166. Dunmore, Lord, his treaty with the Indians, 14; anxious for peace, 33. Durrelt, Col. R. T., Arrest of, 203. Duvall, Judge, Irving's " Ralph Ringwood," 171. Education (see Religion). Ewing, Andrew, on Kentucky mountaineers, 267. Filson, John, first Kentucky historian, 88; death of, 89. Floyd, Colonel, 58. Fort Nelson built, 78. P'rankfort, selected as the capital, 98; society in, 139; reception to Lafayette, 158; " Bor- der-State Convention " at, 195. Freedmen's Bureau, The, 254, 255, 256, 257. French refugees in Kentucky, 107. Gilmore, Mr. (" Edmund Kirke ") on Ken- tucky, 266. Goforth, Dr., discovers antediluvian relics, 45- Guerrillas in Kentucky, 233. Harrodstown, 32, 44; prominence of, 88. 335 33^ INDEX. Hart, Joel T. , the poet sculptor, 182. Henderson, Judge, purchases Kentucky, 15; his prominence, 34, 38, 58; colonists grum- ble against, 39; his purchase ignored, 47; leaves Kentucky, 116. Horses in Kentucky, 276. Immigration, Bureau of, 271. Indians, relinquish Kentucky, 14, 34; invade Kentucky, 78; hostilities begun, 78-79; ended and renewed, gi ; treatment of, 92; new hostilities, 98; treaty of peace with, 115; in wars of iSii and 1812, 145-147. Johnson, Col. Richard M., grave of, 181. Kenton, Simon, in the Dunmore war, 14; in Kentucky, 58; made captain in Indian wars, 99. Kentucky, purchased of the Cherokees, 1 5 ; antediluvian relics in, 45 ; ignored by Con- gress, 47, Sq; contests over, 57; lands in, paid to Virginia soldiers, 73 ; in the Revo- lution, 74, 79; divided into three counties, 77; first historian of , 88 ; Indian struggles, 91 ; petitions Congress for statehood, 93 ; second convention of, 95 ; " court " and " country" parties in, 96; admitted to the Union, 97; first governor, 98; State gov- ernment formed, 98 ; Frankfort made capi- tal of, 98; intellectual status of, 100; French refugees in, 107, 108; State government of, 113; Constitution of, 113; treatment of Daniel Boone by, 116; condition of in 1800, 118; intrigues in, 119; religious con- dition of, 132 ; Burr's intrigues ir;, 140-143 ; first steamboat in, 144 ; in the Indian wars, 145; in War of 1812, 146-153; financial remedies in, 155; legal talent of, 156, 167, 171; receptions to Lafayette, 158; rural life in, 164; political matters in (1832), 172; anti-slavery society in, 172; in Mexican War, 178-181 ; intellectual life of, 182-183; literature in, 186; in the Civil War, 188- 252; military government in, 225; lawless- ness in, 232 ; martial law in, 241 ; martial law withdrawn, 255; Freedmen's Bureau in, 254, 257 ; change in rural life, 259; natu- ral advantages and beauties of, 261-266; phases of life in, 266-267 ; mineral resources of, 269 ; mounds in, 271 ; mining and manu- facturing resources of, 271 ; taxable prop- erty in, 272; railroads in, 272; resources and development of, 273 ; religion and edu- cation in, 274; the press and literature in, 278; present condition and future possi- bilities of, 294-295. Kentucky Gazette, the pioneer newspaper, 94. " Know-Nothing" riots. The, 190. " Ku-klux Klan," The, 258. Lafayette in Kentucky, 158. Laughrey, Col., defeat of, 78. Legislative Assembly, First, 37. Lexington, established, 77; growth of, 86; prominence of, 88 ; General Assembly meets at, 98; social prominence of, 131. Lincoln, Abraham, born in Kentucky, 144; election of, to the presidency, 191 ; his emancipation proclamation, 219; his posi- tion toward the "border States," 220; his letter to Col. Hodges, 236. Louis Philippe of France at Bardstown, 108. Louisville, established, 77 ; slow growth of, 88; socialconditionof in 1802, n8; "know- nothing" riot in, 190; anti-war meetings at, 195 ; churches and charities of, 273 ; canal at, 276. Louisville Journal established, 182. Magoffin, Governor, his position toward the Civil War, 201 ; resigns, 219. Mammoth Cave, 287-289. Marshall, Humphrey, his duel with Henry Clay, 144. Marshall, Colonel Thomas, his charges against Wilkinson, 96. Marshall, " Tom," 182. Martial Law, 241 ; withdrawn, 255. Michaux, French naturalist, on Kentucky, 118. Military operations in Kentucky in Civil War, 201, 202, 206,208,210, 212,214, 216, 223,237. Morehead, ex-Gov., arrest of, 203. Morgan, John, his raids in Kentucky, 212, 223, 225; his surrender, imprisonment and escape, 226; his later raids, 240. Mound Builders in Kentucky, 271. Muter, Judge, his stand against Wilkinson, 95, 96- O'Hara, Theodore, his tribute to Kentucky soldiers in Mexican War, 181 ; grave of, 181. " Old Monmouth," the hunter, 15. Paducah, General Grant at, 202. Peck, Rev. J. M , on religion in Kentucky, 132. Perryville, Battle of, 217. Petroleum Wells, 271. Political Club, The, 98. Prentice, George D., 183. Railroads in Kentucky, 272. Religion and education in Kentucky, 274, 283. Robinson, Gov. James F., attempts readjust- ment of slavery question, 219. Rogers, Cofonel David, defeat of, 74. mDEX. 337 St. Joseph's College established, loS. Sebastian, Judge, prominent in Spanish intrigue, 119. Shaler, Prof., on military government in Kentucky, 225; on mineral resources of Kentucky, 270. Shelby, Isaac, first governor, 98. Sherman, Gen., commands in Kentucky, ^05. Slavery, agitation against, 172; emancipation, 173; position toward in i860, 188; Lin- coln's emancipation proclamation, 219; contrabands, 219; exodus of negroes, 220 ; enrollment of negroes, 236; Thirteenth Amendment rejected, 245. Steamboat, the first in Kentucky, 144. Taylor, Gen. Zachary, commands in Mexican War, 178; elected president, 182. Thomas, Gen., and his Kentuckians in War of 1812, 147, 149. Transylvania, Colony of (see Kentucky). Transylvania Company, The, purchase Ken- tucky land, 34. " Underground Railroad," The, 174. Virginia land office system. The, 85. Warner, Charles Dudley, on Kentucky, 261, 265, 268. Wayne, Gen. Anthony, leads Kentuckians against Indians, 114. Weller, Ensign David, letter of , 150. Whiskey distilling, 282. Wilkinson, General, his career, 93, 95, 97; in Spanish intrigue, 119; public feeling to- ward, 127; denounces Aaron Burr, 142. Wilkinson-Redding case, The, 166-171. THE STORY OF THE STATES. EDITED BY ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS, The Story of Kentucky is the sixth issue in the proposed series of graphic narrations descriptive of the rise and development of the American Union. No one of the American Commonwealths has a more stirring or picturesque story than Ken- tucky, and Miss Connelly, though treating her theme strictly as a " story," has yet so deftly woven the romance and the reality as to give to her charac- ters a connected individuality and to her record of the growth of the State a practical if picturesque set- ting that instructs while it absorbs and is altogether reliable while being stirring and dramatic. In the production of so comprehensive a series as is this Story of the States, it is as wise as it is necessary to make haste slowly. The American Commonwealths are adding important paragraphs to their story every day, and each story needs to be fully as well as concisely told. Great care is beinQ^ exercised in the selection of writers for the entire series and the expressions of popular and critical approval of the plan adopted are gratefully acknowledged by the publishers. This sixth volume will be speedily followed by the Story of Massachusetts by Edward Everett Hale. The Story of Colorado by Charles M. Skinner and the Story of New Mexico by Horatio O. Ladd will also be among the early issues. THE STORY OF THE STATES. Among the other volumes secured for the series, several of which are already well toward completion, are : The -Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o: The Story d The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o The Story o: The Story o California . Virginia Connecticut Missouri Texas Maryland . Delaware . the Indian Territory Michigan . the District of Columbia Oregon Maine Pennsylvania Kansas Mississippi Florida Alabama . Tennessee . Arkansas . New Jersey By Noah Brooks By Marion Harland By Sidney Luska By Jessie Benton Fremont By E. S. Nadal By John R. Coryell By Olive Thorne Miller By George E. Foster By Charles Moore By Edmund Alton By Margaret E. Sangster By Almon Gunnison By Olive Risley Seward By Willis J. Abbott By Laura F. Hinsdale By S. G. W. Benjamin By Annie Sawyer Downs By Laura C. Holloway By Octave Thanet By Wm. Elliot Griffis The stories will be issued at the uniform net subscription price of $1.50 per volume. Announc- ments of additions to the series will be made in succeeding volumes. Inquiries respecting the series may be addressed to the publishers, D. LOTHROP COMPANY, BOSTON. {Already Published.) The Story of New York, by Elbridge S. Brooks. The Story of Ohio, by Alexander Black. The Story of Louisiana, by Maurice Thompson. The Story of Vermont, by John L. Heaton. The Story of Wisconsin, by Reuben G. Thwaites. Svo, each volume fully illustrated, price $1.50. The initial volumes of this new and notable contribution to American history have been so favorably received that little THE STORY OF THE STATES. doubt can remain as to the need of the series they inaugurate and the permanent popularity of the style adopted for their telling. "Of the series instructively," says the Boston Globe, "one can hardly say too much in praise. In a new field it contrib- utes essentially and infiuentially to the right estimation of national character and of the mission of the future." I — NEW YORK. Every American should read this book. It is not dull history. It is story based on historic facts. " With all the fascinations of a story," says the Journal of Education, "it still remains loyal to historic facts and the patriotic spirit." " A valuable contribution to picturesque history." — Boston Advertiser. " Vivid, picturesque and entertaining." — Mintieapolis Tribune. " To one familiar with the history of New York State this book will be exceedingly refresh- ing and interesting. Mr. Brooks is an entertaining writer and his Storj' of New York will be read with avidity. He is no novice in historic writing. This book will add to his reputation and win find its way into thousands of private libraries." — Utica Press. II — OHIO. This volume has been received with the most enthusiastic approval. No existing work occupies precisely the same field. It is at once picture, text-book and story, Mr. Black's skill in condensing into so brief a compass so much valuable matter, his deft handling of all the varying phases of Ohio's story and his picturesque presentation of what in other hands might be but the dry details of history have secured alike popular recognition and popular approval. " To incorporate within some three hundred pages, even an intelligible sketch of the history of Ohio is something of a literary feat, and to make such a sketch interesting is still more difficult. Mr. Black, however, has succeeded in doing this. . . . His book is welcome and valuable and is well adapted for popular use and reference." — New York Tribune. " One of the warm, lively, picturesque narratives, lighted up with bits of personal, human interest and clear glimpses of a people's every-day life which will closely interest the general reader." — Chicago Times. Ill — LOUISIANA. Mr. Thompson's brilliant and enter- taining outline of the history of one of the most picturesque and romantic States in all the sisterhood of American Common- wealths is full of grace and vigor, yoked to characteristic description and a pleasing presentation of facts. It is, says the Critic, " A wonderfully picturesque account of a land THE STORY OF THE STATES. abounding in interest of every sort : landscapes, hereditary singularities, mixed nationality, legends and thrilling episodes." " The manner in which this story is told by Mr. Thompson leaves little to be desired. . . . He has made an absorbing and stirring, but at the same time most thoroughly practical and instructive book." — Boston Traveller. "There is no lack of fascinating and romantic material in the history of Louisiana without going beyond the barest facts, as indeed Mr. Thompson shows." — The Nation. "An absorbing romance and at the same time a practical and instructive history." — Jour- nal of Education. " Mr. Thompson's prose is full of the fire and spirit of poetry, and the story could scarcely be told better or more interestingly. The writing is free from all prejudices and can be read with a like interest by the people of Illinois and those of Louisiana." — Chicago Inter-Ocean. " The story is picturesque beyond all possibility of greater and more vivid heightening. . . The book is one of great popular interest and it is rarely that a work of historical accuracy is presented in a garb so graceful and alluring." — Newark Daily Advertiser. IV — VERMONT. Mr. Heaton has not only made a clear, entertaining and practical story of the Green Mountain State, but has produced a book that stands, at present, without a com- petitor, no history of Vermont having been published for over forty years. Every Vermont family and every family able to trace its origin to the Mountain Commonwealth should find pride and pleasure in this story. ' A substantial contribution to our historical literature. Mr. Heaton has told his ston,' with spirit and vigor and technical historical accuracy. The book has the charm of a well-written romance and the value of a solid work of historj'." — Chicago Tribune. " A volume that should attract the attention of all lovers of everj' phase of our nation's story and every admirer of sturdy, persistent, devoted and patriotic endeavor." — Cincinnati Enquirer. " Not a page is dull, tedious or other than lucid and lively, so charming is the style and so fluid is the narrative, condensed without being superficial." — Christian Register. " Mr. Heaton's style is manly, unaffected, simple and direct, full of practical purpose lighted with the skill of a humorist." — Louisville Courier-Journal. " It is as readable as a novel — much more so than the average analytical novel of the period — and should be widely read." — St.Johnsbury Republican. V — WISCONSIN. A graphic and practical outline of the beginning and the advance to prosperity of the State of Wiscon- sin — the child of the fur-trader and the coiireur dc bois. Mr, Thwaites' position as Secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society has afforded him unequalled facilities for a correct and interesting narrative, while his intimate acquaintance with every section of his State gives an especial value and authority to his story of this noble Western Commonwealth. clOSANCElfj> sajAiNnmv 3> HIBRARYQ^ )FCA1IF0% AiiVaaiH^ lOSANGElfx % v^ ^OFCAllFO%, ^OFCAIIFO/?^ .^WEUNIVER5■/A ^r^inNV.Qm-^i^ ^>:lOSANGElfj> o u- o 5 J>0 [^ ^lOSANCElfj^ ^QFCA1IF0%, %ivi c^' 3 1 %a3AiNn-3yiV^ "^(^AavHan-^ "^^Aavaan-^ 58 01055 8376 ^^ i I* -n O O li. <(513DNV-S01^ "^v -^IIIBRARYQ^ ^ ^.^ ^llIBRARYac aweuniver% ^lOSANCElfx> Q ^IIIBRARYQ^ -5^ ^ ^oimi^"^ %mmQV^ '^^/smmi'^ %ojiiv>30^ ^ ^OFCAllFO%, ,5.WEUNIVERS/A < ^lOSANCEIf/^ o " ^ ^0F-CAIIF0«