A Brittle Sword by Richard G. Stone Jr

Author:Richard G. Stone Jr. [Stone, Richard G., Jr.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780813182896
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

7

INFLAMED

BORDERLAND

ALTHOUGH KENTUCKY SOCIETY in the 1850s enjoyed comparative freedom from social lesions, national politics tended in an ominous direction. And in October 1859 John Brown’s abortive plot to touch off a slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, convinced Kentucky’s leaders that they could no longer risk a moribund military system. Modern historians discount contemporary charges that Gov. Beriah Magoffin was a disunionist, but in 1859 he was an unabashed advocate of slavery. “[W]e believe that slavery is a good institution, that as such it has been protected by the constitution,” he told the General Assembly on December 6. Citing the “monstrous doctrines” of the new Republican party, he complained that escaped slaves cost Kentuckians $700,000 annually. Magoffin pressed the legislators to reorganize the militia to combat “insurrection” and uphold the laws: “The Harper’s Ferry affair warns us that we know not at what moment we may have need of an active, ardent, reliable, patriotic, well-disciplined, and thoroughly organized militia in Kentucky.” Brown’s “widespread and hellish conspiracy against the slave states” had spelled out the need for a volunteer company in every county of the commonwealth.

Governor Morehead’s earlier military recommendations to the legislature had been ignored, but Magoffin’s brought prompt action. On 5 March 1860 a new comprehensive law placed all male Kentuckians into one of three militia classifications: volunteer, enrolled, or reserve. The last included both under- and overage men. The “enrolled” militia was nothing more than its name implies: a list of names to be submitted every September to the adjutant general by each county clerk, who would receive one penny per name. All militia districts were to elect colonels and lieutenant colonels for six-year terms, and the law permitted—but did not require—annual musters at county seats.

The meat of the act lay in its wholehearted backing of the “single army corps” of the Kentucky State Guard, as the volunteer component was named. In practice the guard was to be the Kentucky militia, not just a special branch of it. The 1860 measure created an inspector general to “direct and superintend the formation and organization” of volunteer companies; to muster them into state service; to order the election of “all [their] officers”; to examine armories and arsenals; and to require of each county judge careful custody over state-owned arms in his keeping. The inspector general was to drill annually each guard company and to disband unruly ones. To assist this de facto commanding general, the law allowed him four staff colonels, plus a pair of aides who rated lieutenant colonelcies. The State Guard would “be considered as composed essentially of light troops,” with its ceremonies and regulations conforming to those of the regular army. Any active duty would last the duration of the war, insurrection, or emergency.

The inspector generalship went to the principal author of the military act, the 37-year-old Simon B. Buckner. Born in Hart County and trained at West Point, Buckner had practiced law in Chicago and Louisville since resigning from the army in 1855 in frustration over slow promotion.

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