century were Clay, Marshall, and Menefee.
[Illustration: Thomas F. Marshall.]
Wherever Thomas F. Marshall, a native of Kentucky, lifted up his voice,
he entranced all with his profound logic, flight of fancy, stinging
satire, and beauty of language. Had his powers of self-control been as
great as his genius, learning, and eloquence, no position in the dizzy
heights would have been beyond his reach. But his brilliancy, his worth,
and his work were all obscured by that dreadful blight, intemperance.
Mr. Marshall's tribute to another orator and statesman, Richard H.
Menefee, is pronounced by all to be one of the most graceful and
eloquent passages in our literature.
Born in obscurity, rising rapidly by his own energy and eloquence, at
twenty-three Menefee was the commonwealth's attorney. At the bar his
success was phenomenal. In the state legislature and in the United
States Congress, where he served one term each, he, from the first, was
recognized as a student and a statesman surpassed by none. His strength
of character, his courage of conviction, his surpassing eloquence,
brought praise from all. When at the height of fame, when men eagerly
sought his counsel, and throngs hung upon his words, consumption closed
his brief but brilliant life in his thirty-second year.
[Illustration: Richard H. Menefee.]
KENTUCKIANS IN TEXAS AND MEXICO
Among the volunteers that flocked to the support of Texas when she threw
off the yoke of oppression there were many hundred Kentuckians. However,
our state was not aggressive about the annexation of the new republic,
which all saw might lead to war with Mexico.
After the annexation, General Zachary Taylor, an adopted Kentuckian, was
sent with troops to protect Texas, and soon war began. When Kentucky
called for thirty companies, one hundred and five were organized.
At Monterey some of our bravest fell, among them being Major Philip N.
Barbour. General William O. Butler was among the number severely
wounded. In honor of their bravery on this battlefield, the Kentucky
legislature passed complimentary resolutions on the Louisville Legion,
and presented swords to General Taylor, General Butler, and the widow of
Major Barbour.
At the bloody battle of Buena Vista, where General Taylor had nearly
five thousand men, one fifth of the troops were from Kentucky. The
Mexicans had a force more than five times the number of the Americans,
still the victory was ours. As the killed and wounded were eighteen per
cent of the enlistment, Kentucky paid dearly for the glory won.
Among the fallen were Colonel William R. McKee, Lieutenant Colonel Henry
Clay, oldest son of the great statesman Henry Clay, and Adjutant Vaughn.
When many, who had given their lives for the cause, were reinterred at
Frankfort and a fitting monument was erected, on it was inscribed this
quotation from the immortal elegy, "The Bivouac of the Dead," by our
soldier-poet, Theodore O'Hara:
"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo!
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few;
On Fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead."
CLAY, THE GREAT COMMONER
In Hanover County, Virginia, April 12, 1777, was born Henry Clay, the
"Millboy of the Slashes," who in after years became the idol of our
state, and one of the most notable figures in the entire Union.
Left fatherless at the age of five years, his teaching and training
devolved upon his mother. So well did she perform her part that much of
her illustrious son's greatness may rightfully be ascribed to maternal
influence.
At the early age of twenty-one Henry Clay became a member of the bar at
Lexington, and it was not long before his genius, his eloquence, and his
versatile powers made for him a name that will ever endure.
[Illustration: The "Millboy of the Slashes."]
He served the state of his adoption in the lower house of the state
legislature for several terms. Part of that time he was speaker of the
house, in which position the zeal, energy, dignity, and decision
characteristic of him distinguished his every act. Later he was elected
representative to the lower house of the United States Congress, was
re-elected several times, and during the entire time was Speaker of the
House, having received the very high and unusual compliment of being
thus chosen on the first day he appeared as a member of that body.
He served as a valuable member of the commission which met at Ghent,
Belgium, to arrange the treaty of peace between this country and Great
Britain in 1814.
[Illustration: Henry Clay's Home, "Ashland."]
He served with marked success in the United States Senate; his great
genius, his high patriotism, his boundless energy, and fiery eloquence
so swayed the people that more than once civil war for a time was
averted, sections were reconciled, and he won the title of the "Great
Pacificator."
Convinced of his duty, Henry Clay was conscientious in discharging it,
and when he thus lost the highest office in the gift of the nation he
uttered the memorable words, "I would rather be right than be
President."
He did not need this office to confer honor on him; he would have
conferred honor on the office.
His fame was world-wide. His service as a statesman, his power as an
orator, his courage as an antagonist, his cogency of reasoning, his
untiring efforts as a peacemaker, spread from ocean to ocean and even
beyond the seas. When he was laid to rest at his beloved Ashland, high
potentates, distinguished persons, and the great common people alike
bowed their heads.
KENTUCKY IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES
From Kentucky cabin homes came the two men who were destined to be the
political leaders in the greatest conflict that ever shook our
continent.
In 1808, Jefferson Davis, who became the President and idol of the
Confederacy, first saw the light in that part of Christian County that
was afterwards erected into Todd.
In 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the war President of the United States, was
born in that part of Hardin County that afterwards became Larue.
The gifted Kentuckian, Henry Clay, had by his pacific measures postponed
war, but it was not to be averted. When it came, our governor, Beriah
Magoffin, attempted neutrality, and refused to raise troops for either
army. From many homes, however, went soldiers to each side; friend was
arrayed against friend, brother against brother, and father against son.
The hour of patriotism, danger, and privation had come. When the first
gun in the war was fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, a native
Kentuckian, Major Robert Anderson of the United States army, commanded
the garrison.
On our soil both Confederate and Federal forces were raised. Various
towns were occupied and fortified by soldiers, at some places under the
Stars and Bars, at other places under the Stars and Stripes.
The boys that wore the gray entered Kentucky and fortified themselves at
Columbus and Hickman under Major General Leonidas Polk, and at
Cumberland Gap under General Zollicoffer. The boys in blue, acting under
orders from Brigadier General U.S. Grant, invaded the state at Paducah.
General Albert Sidney Johnston of Kentucky took command of the
Confederate "Central Army of Kentucky," and under his orders General
Simon B. Buckner fortified Bowling Green.
At Wildcat Mountain, near London, a bloody conflict took place, General
Zollicoffer leading the Confederates, and Colonel T.T. Garrard and
General Schoepff the Federals. The Confederates, being outnumbered,
withdrew, after a loss to each side.
At Sacramento, Colonel Forrest defeated a company of Federals two days
after Christmas, 1861.
Early the next year General Zollicoffer and General George B.
Crittenden encountered General Thomas at Mill Springs; reenforcements
came to the Federals, the gallant Zollicoffer fell, and the Confederates
were forced to retreat.
At Big Hill, in Rockcastle County, the Federals were defeated; at
Richmond the Confederates were again victorious, while at Munfordville
they were repulsed.
At Augusta a bloody battle between Colonel Basil Duke's men and the home
guards under Dr. Joshua T. Bradford resulted in another victory for the
Confederates.
In the severe battle of Perryville, where 25,000 Federals, under General
A. McCook, met 16,000 Confederates under General William J. Hardee, the
Federal loss was more than four thousand and the Confederate, one
thousand less. This was one of the most desperately contested battles of
the war.
[Illustration: Gen. John H. Morgan.]
That daring Confederate cavalryman, General John H. Morgan, the "Francis
Marion" of the Confederacy, captured Glasgow, Elizabethtown, and the
blockhouses at Muldraugh's Hill, where he tore up the railroad track.
Colonel Cluke defeated the Federals at Mount Sterling, destroyed
railway trains, and captured supplies.
At Bardstown, Maysville, Tompkinsville, Cynthiana, and Paducah, the two
sides met in deadly conflict. At the latter place the daring Confederate
cavalryman, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, entered with his troops.
Here also General A.P. Thompson, while gallantly leading his troops in a
charge on Fort Anderson, fell pierced by a cannon ball.
At Murfreesboro, Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Donelson,
Shiloh, Baton Rouge, Stone River, indeed, on almost every battlefield,
Kentucky courage was tested and never found wanting.
At the close of the crucial conflict more than thirty thousand of the
flower of our Kentucky manhood had fallen, and thousands more were
crippled.
More than forty thousand Kentuckians followed the fortunes of the
Confederacy. Among them were: General Albert Sidney Johnston; Lieutenant
Generals Simon B. Buckner and John B. Hood; Major Generals John C.
Breckinridge, William Preston, and George B. Crittenden; Brigadier
Generals John Hunt Morgan, Humphrey Marshall, Ben Hardin Helm, Basil W.
Duke, Roger W. Hanson, Lloyd Tilghman, John S. Williams, George B.
Hodge, Thomas H. Taylor, Henry B. Lyon, Adam R. Johnson, and Richard S.
Gano.
More than one hundred thousand of the white men of our state and eleven
thousand negroes enlisted in the Federal cause. Among the former were
numbered: Major Generals Thomas L. Crittenden, Cassius M. Clay, Don
Carlos Buell, William Nelson, Lovell H. Rousseau, and Thomas J. Wood;
Brigadier and Brevet Major Generals Robert Anderson, Richard W. Johnson,
Stephen G. Burbridge, W.T. Ward, Walter C. Whittaker, John T. Croxton,
and Eli Long; Brigadier Generals James M. Shackelford, James S. Jackson,
Green Clay Smith, Speed S. Fry, Jerry T. Boyle, Edward H. Hobson, T.T.
Garrard, L.P. Watkins, and W.P. Sanders.
Of the Kentuckians engaged we can truly say no braver men were found on
either side; no better citizens have helped to develop our state since
the conflict closed. Now only a few veterans are left on either side.
Most of them are
"Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the judgment day;"
so let all unite in
"Love and tears for the blue
Tears and love for the gray."
WHY SOME CITIES WERE SO NAMED
When a baby is christened we at once wonder why it was so named,
especially if the name be a new or odd one. When we hear a new name for
an invention we begin to look up the etymology of the word to see why it
is so called. So it is with places, for there is a reason for their
names being what they are. Take the beautiful capital of the blue-grass
section of our state, and we find an interesting romance concerning its
origin. In the year 1775, when
"The first oath of Freedom's gun
Came on the blast from Lexington,"
a party of hunters, while in camp on one of the branches of the Elkhorn,
learned that the first battle between the British and Americans had
taken place. To commemorate the important event they called the place of
their encampment Lexington. William McConnell, Francis McConnell, Alex
McClelland, John McClelland, David Perry, and Charles Lecompt came down
the Ohio in a large canoe as far as the mouth of the Kentucky, thence up
that stream to the Elkhorn region, where they explored and made some
improvements, between April and June of 1775.
Another party--Joseph Lindsay, William Lindsay, Patrick Jordan, Garret
Jordan, and John Vance--explored the country and made some improvements
in the vicinity of the present site of Lexington, and Joseph Lindsay,
here, at the spring, built an "improver's cabin" and raised the first
corn and beans in that country.
Lexington was not permanently settled until a few years later, by
Colonel Robert Patterson and others.
In the summer of 1773 two parties from Virginia came down the Ohio River
to explore the rich lands of Kentucky. One of these made the first
survey and settlement at what is now the metropolis of our state. In
August, Captain Thomas Bullitt laid off a town at this site, which was
occasionally visited by different persons. No permanent settlement was
made until in the spring of 1778, when General George Rogers Clark
brought a few families and left them on an island near the Kentucky
shore, which was called Corn Island from the circumstance that the
settlers raised their first Indian corn there. In the fall of the same
year, after Clark had captured the British posts that had served as the
fountain head for the Indian incursions, the settlers felt more secure
and removed from the island to the mainland. In 1780 the legislature of
Virginia passed an act to establish the town of Louisville at the Falls
of the Ohio, naming it in honor of Louis XVI of France, whose troops
were at that time aiding the Americans in their fight for liberty.
In 1780, on the Kentucky River, where our capital now stands, a party,
among whom was Stephen Frank, on their way from Bryan's Station to the
fort at Lexington to secure salt, encamped and were attacked by the
Indians. Two were wounded, and Frank instantly killed. In memory of
Frank the place was ever after called Frankfort.
Covington was named in honor of General Leonard Covington, who
distinguished himself at Fort Recovery, 1749. The name of Colonel
Richard Henderson, the head of the Transylvania Company, is perpetuated
in Henderson, or, as it was formerly known, Hendersonville. Bowling
Green, denoting a plat for bowling, probably came from the name found
in Yorkshire, England.
Hopkinsville perpetuates the name of the Revolutionary hero, General
Samuel Hopkins. Owensboro was named in honor of Colonel Abraham Owen,
who fell at Tippecanoe. Ashland gained its name from the vast amount of
ash timber in that region. Maysville bears the name of its founder, John
May. Georgetown and Washington both took their names from our first
President.
The first part of Mount Sterling was named from the many mounds in the
vicinity, the latter from a city in Scotland. Richmond was named for a
city in Virginia, and Shelbyville for our first governor. Smithland was
named for Captain James Smith, the first white man to explore that
region. Catlettsburg and Danville were called respectively from their
founders, Horatio Catlett and Walker Daniel. Lebanon, with its abundance
of cedar trees, was named for the mountain in Palestine, where such
trees abound.
Paris, from the city in France, Versailles, from the royal palace in
that city, and Glasgow, from a city in Scotland, bear transatlantic
names. Eminence from its elevated position, and Eddyville from the
eddies in the Cumberland River near there, bear names descriptive of the
places. Kuttawa, or Cuttawa, the red man's first name for the Kentucky
River, is the only town in the state, besides Paducah, bearing an Indian
name. Carrollton, from Charles Carroll, Franklin, from the great
philosopher, Ludlow, from Israel Ludlow, and Princeton, from William
Prince, its first settler, perpetuate names noted in history, science,
and frontier days.
Cynthiana, for Cynthia and Anna, daughters of the proprietor, and
Elizabethtown, for the wife of Colonel John Hardin, are the only towns
in the state named for women.
Morganfield, for General Daniel Morgan, Nicholasville, for Colonel
George Nichols, and Greenville, for General Nathanael Greene,
commemorate, respectively, three Revolutionary officers. Bardstown,
Campbellsville, Flemingsburg, and Hawesville perpetuate the names of
their founders, David Baird, Adam Campbell, John Fleming, and Richard
Hawes, respectively. Berea is from the ancient city in Macedonia,
Columbus from the great navigator, and Lancaster from a town in
Pennsylvania; Adairville and Morehead from two former governors,
Governor John Adair and Governor James Morehead. Captain Paschal
Hickman, Honorable John L. Murray, Colonel T.D. Owings, and the
Wickliffes are remembered respectively by the towns of Hickman, Murray,
Owingsville, and Wickliffe.
KENTUCKY IN THE FIELD OF SCIENCE
Whether we consider the valuable additions to scientific literature,
note the practical, useful inventions, or record the actual activities
in various scientific lines, many Kentuckians will be found on the
eminent roll.
A Louisville woman, Ellen C. Semple, has given us "American History and
its Geographic Conditions." James N. Baskett, while a novelist, has also
contributed some scientific papers that have won him fame in many lands.
John Uri Lloyd,--both novelist and scientist,--though a native of New
York, was reared in Kentucky. He is a noted chemist and has written much
along his line.
Elsewhere, we have spoken of Kentucky inventors, and also given a sketch
of the great ornithologist, John James Audubon. We are indebted for
facts about prehistoric Kentucky to "Ancient History or Annals of
Kentucky" published as an introduction to Marshall's "History of
Kentucky," by the eccentric naturalist, C.S. Rafinesque. Though born in
Constantinople, he spent seven years as professor of the natural
sciences, and of the French, Spanish, and Italian languages in
Transylvania University in Lexington. It was Rafinesque who, amid all
the privations of pioneer traveling, explored Kentucky in the early part
of the nineteenth century, from Greenup on the east to McCracken County
on the west. He covered nearly the entire area of the blue grass, and
also included in his itinerary the remote counties, Adair, Clay, Harlan,
Perry, Pulaski, and Rockcastle, and located one hundred and forty-eight
sites and five hundred and five ancient remains or monuments of the
Mound Builders.
Audubon tells of his first meeting with this great antiquarian, whose
dress, if not fashionable, was at least remarkable. He wore, says
Audubon, "a long, loose coat of yellow nankeen which hung loosely about
him like a sack, much the worse for the many rubs it had got in its time
and stained all over with the juice of plants. A waistcoat of the same,
with enormous pockets, reached over a pair of tight pantaloons, the
lower part of which was buttoned down to the ankles." In this attire,
with a bundle of dried plants on his back, Rafinesque accidentally
approached Audubon and asked where the noted naturalist lived. Upon
learning it was the great Audubon to whom he was speaking, Rafinesque
handed him a letter of introduction in which the writer recommended an
"odd fish" which might not have been described in any published
treatise. Audubon at once asked to be shown the "odd fish," but soon
realized that Rafinesque answered to that name. It was during this
visit, that, in his excitement to secure a new species of bat,
Rafinesque demolished Audubon's favorite violin. His versatility, his
energy, and his achievements stamp him as one of the most remarkable of
men in many lines of thought and activity.
[Illustration: Rafinesque, the Naturalist.]
In the field of medical science, also, Kentucky in both past and
present has been noted. In 1806, Doctor Brashear of Bardstown
successfully performed an amputation at the hip joint, the first
operation of the kind in the United States. In 1809, Doctor Ephraim
McDowell of Danville performed one which was the first of its kind in
the world, and of which Doctor Gross in his "Lives of Eminent American
Physicians and Surgeons of the Nineteenth Century" says, "Had McDowell
lived in France, he would have been elected a member of the Royal
Academy of Surgery, received from the king the cross of the Legion of
Honor, and obtained from the government a magnificent reward as an
acknowledgment of the services rendered his country, his profession, and
his fellow creatures."
"BESSEMER STEEL" IN KENTUCKY
One most important invention or discovery of the nineteenth century was
made by William Kelly, who came from Pittsburgh and located near
Eddyville, in Lyon County, in 1846. Here he operated both the Union and
the Suwanee furnaces, mostly by slave labor, until he conceived the plan
of using Chinese workers, which he secured through a New York tea house.
As these Celestials, with their pigtails, were the first in this
section, they created a great deal of curiosity. Mr. Kelly, having a
special knowledge of chemistry and metallurgy, investigated and
experimented in the manufacture of iron, and concluded that the crude
metal could be converted into steel without fuel; that by placing the
fluid metal in a suitable furnace and forcing powerful blasts of air
through the molten mass, he could produce the desired result.
His veteran forgemen could not conceive of metal being "boiled" by
simply blowing air through it, for it had been their experience that air
blown over its surface chilled it. They knew nothing of the affinity of
oxygen with carbon for producing heat; they had always consumed
quantities of charcoal to secure this greater heat; they had buried bars
of wrought iron in charcoal in a furnace, where, the air being shut off,
the charcoal was slowly burned for two or more weeks. Then the product
was taken out and melted, forming "cast steel." So they were completely
surprised when forcing the currents of air through the mass of iron
intensified it to incandescence and refined the metal.
The experiment was made in 1851 and used by Mr. Kelly advantageously for
many years. Being almost isolated in practically a wilderness, thirty
miles from even the nearest country press, the inventor failed to
advertise and take proper advantage of his invention. In 1855, however,
many of the steamboats plying the Ohio River were using boiler plates
made from iron prepared by "Kelly's air-boiling process." The next year
Henry Bessemer, an iron manufacturer of England, took out a patent for
this pneumatic process, to which his name has been given; but, although
Mr. Kelly was delayed in securing his patent by his attorney, when the
claim was heard by the commissioner of the Patent Office in this
country, it was decided that Mr. Kelly was the inventor and his patent
was at once granted. For many years Mr. Kelly received a royalty on his
interest in the inventions. In time the patents of Kelly, Bessemer, and
Mushet were combined. Prior to this discovery, steel cost five times as
much as iron; now steel rails, wearing four times as long as iron, cost
only a few dollars more per ton. Thus we see the incalculable importance
of another Kentucky invention, for now steel is made directly from pig
iron in about thirty minutes, instead of as formerly in almost as many
days.
KENTUCKY ARTISTS
While Kentucky's sons and daughters have enriched the field of science
by inventions and discoveries, they have not neglected the fine arts.