Lincoln of Kentucky by Lowell H. Harrison

Author:Lowell H. Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2011-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Lefty Sue Mundy (Marcellus Jerome Clarke) was one of Kentucky’s most notorious guerillas before he was captured and hanged in Louisville in March 1865. Courtesy of The Filson Club Historical Society, Louisville.

Below, Lincoln may have seen slave auctions such as this one on Cheapside in Lexington during his visit there. This photograph was probably taken in the 1850s. Courtesy of the J. Winston Coleman Photograph Collection, Transylvania University Library.

President Lincoln reads the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet on July 22, 1862. From left to right: Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, Secretary of State William H. Seward, Secretary of the Interior Caleb B. Smith, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, and Attorney General Edward Bates. Based on the painting by Francis B. Carpenter, courtesy of Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Kentucky’s decision to remain in the Union was an embarrassment to the ardent pro-Confederate Kentuckians who had gone south before September or who fled to avoid arrest after the war came to their state. John C. Breckinridge, a member of the U.S. Senate, was one of the most prominent Kentuckians who fled to avoid arrest; former governor Charles S. Morehead was one of the most prominent citizens who did not flee and was arrested in Kentucky. Despite the results of the summer elections in the state, some exiled Kentuckians deluded themselves into believing that the majority in the state were really pro-Southern but were held in thrall by the Frankfort government, backed by the army of the United States. Representatives from thirty-two counties, often self-appointed, met in Russellville on October 29 —30, 1861, to discuss what they could do to remedy their plight. Their leaders included John C. Breckinridge and George W. Johnson of Scott County. After condemning the Frankfort government as being unrepresentative of the people, the convention members decided to appeal to the inalienable right of a people “to alter, reform, or abolish their government in such manner as they think proper.” They called for a sovereignty convention to meet in Russellville on November 18, and they appointed a planning committee to make arrangements.

Henry C. Burnett of Trigg County, the only pro-Confederate elected to the national House of Representatives in the summer election, presided over the November convention, which had some 115 delegates from some 68 counties. George W. Johnson, the key member of the planning committee, took the lead in directing the work of the convention. Appealing to

“the ultimate right of revolution possessed by all mankind against perfidious and despotic government,” the delegates voted to “forever sever our connection with the Government of the United States, and in the name of the people, we do hereby declare Kentucky to be a free and independent State, clothed with all the power to fix her own destiny and to secure her own rights and liberties.” The convention then established a Provisional Government of Kentucky until such time as a permanent government could be organized free of the tyranny of the government in Frankfort.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.