The Blue and the Gray

 Blue and Gray

        After the Civil War ended in 1865 the South suffered through a period of Reconstruction and an invasion of "carpet-baggers." At some point in time the surviving veterans of Ohio County who had served with the Union Army and with the Confederate Army (the Blue and Gray) began having a joint reunion.  Hearts had softened and these men forgave those on the other side and became friends.  I have been unable to determine exactly when the Ohio County joint reunions started  but I think it was September 29, 1885, the twentieth anniversary of the end of the War, although it could easily have started earlier.

          Apparently these joint reunions were taking place all over the nation, with perhaps the earliest being in Vicksburg, MS in 1874 where they formed as association known as “The Order of the Blues and Grays.” Another joint reunion was held in Elizabeth, NJ in 1875.  These joint reunions continued until at least 1920 – at that time an actual participant in the War would be have been about 75 years old.  There was a Blue & Gray Reunion in Gettysburg in 1938 (the 75^th anniversary), at which time an actual participant in the War would have been in his early to mid 90’s.  It is thought that most veterans of the Civil War were gone by 1950, although one Union veteran from Minnesota lived until 1956, and one Confederate veteran lived until 1959, although there is much dispute about whether some men that claimed to be Civil War veterans were actual participants or not.

            In any event, at “Blue and Gray” reunions, veterans of both sides made conciliatory overtures, enjoyed the hospitality of former enemies and celebrated their collective American identity.  Attended by the hundreds and thousands, reunions of all kinds evoked powerful sentiments and became fertile ground for the construction of Civil War memory.  Certainly, the veterans themselves gained a lot of satisfaction from these reunions, but the service they provided to their united nation in fostering reconciliation and promoting reunion between the two armies was also extremely important.

          I am including a few clippings from the Hartford Herald and Hartford republican about some of these reunions:

September, 1885:

14 October 1885, Hartford Herald:

30 Jun 1893, Hartford Republican:

25 June 1897, Hartford Republican:

14 June 1907, Hartford Republican:

18 June 1909, Hartford Republican:

Slavery in Ohio County 1850-1870

Ohio County (KY) Slaves, Free Blacks, and Free Mulattoes, 1850-1870

          Ohio County was established in 1798 from a portion of Hardin County, and was named for the Ohio River. The county ran along the Ohio River before it was divided into additional counties. The Green River is one of the borders of Ohio County. Hartford is the county seat, and is located on the Rough River, a tributary of the Green. The land was part of a grant that Gabriel Madison received from Virginia, and Fort Hartford was one of the first settlements in the area.

          The 1800 county population was 1,223, according to the Second Census of Kentucky: 1,069 whites, 151 slaves, and 3 free coloreds.

          The population increased to 10,919 by 1860, according to the U.S. Federal Census, excluding the slaves.

          Below is the number of slave owners, slaves, free Blacks and free Mulattoes for 1850-1870.

1850 Slave Schedule

·                                 327 slave owners

·                                 865 Black slaves

·                                 268 Mulatto slaves

·                                 40 free Blacks

·                                 9 free Mulattoes

1860 Slave Schedule

·                                 320 slave owners

·                                 825 Black slaves

·                                 547 Mulatto slaves

·                                 20 free Blacks

                        9 free Mulattoes

[The Emancipation Proclamation took effect January 1, 1863.  The 13^th Amendment to the Constitution was passed by Congress January 31, 1865 and ratified by the States on December 6, 1865, and slavery was abolished.]

1870 U.S. Federal Census

·                                 1,190 Blacks

·                                 132 Mulattoes

·                                 About 42 U.S. Colored Troops listed Ohio County, KY, as their birth location.

Source: Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

Brownsville Affair [Texas] - 1906

 Brownsville Affair [Texas] - 25th U.S. Regiment

In 1906, the 25th U.S. Regiment [Colored] was stationed at Fort Brown, TX; it included 20 servicemen from Kentucky. Soon after the men arrived at the Fort, tensions ensued between whites in Brownsville and the soldiers. On August 13th, a bartender was killed and a police officer wounded; the men of the 25th Regiment were blamed for both. President Theodore Roosevelt had 167 men dishonorably discharged from the service.

In 1970, author John D. Weaver investigated the incident and found that the men of the 25th Regiment were all innocent; he published his investigation in The Brownsville Raid. As a result of Weaver's book, the U.S. Army conducted an investigation into the Brownsville incident and also found that the men were innocent. The Nixon Administration reversed President Roosevelt's 1906 order, and in 1972, the men of the 25th U.S. Regiment were given honorable discharges (but without back pay).

In December 1972, an article was placed in the Lexington Leader seeking the descendants of the 20 men from Kentucky. Below are the names and birth locations of 19 of the men.

·                                 Pvt. Henry W. Arrin, Pembroke

·                                 Corp. Ray Burdett, Yosemite

·                                 Pvt. Strowder Darnell, Middletown

·                                 Musician Hoytt Robinson, Mt. Sterling

·                                 Pvt. Samuel Wheeler, Clark County

·                                 Pvt. Richard Crooks, Bourbon County

·                                 Pvt. Edward Robinson, Mulborough

·                                 Pvt. Benjamin F. Johnson, Fayette County

·                                 Pvt. Charles Jones, Nicholasville

·                                 Musician Joseph Jones, Midway

·                                 Pvt. Thomas Taylor, Clark County

·                                 Sgt. Luther T. Thornton, Aberdeen

·                                 Corp. Preston Washington, Lexington

·                                 Pvt. Charles E. Rudy, Dixon

·                                 Pvt. William VanHook, Oddville

·                                 Pvt. August Williams, Hartford

·                                 Pvt. Stansberry Roberts, Woodford County

·                                 Pvt. William Smith, Lexington

·                                 Pvt. John Green, Mulborough

For more see Brownsville Affair in Wikipedia; Brownsville Raid of 1906, at The Handbook of Texas Online; and "Descendants of cleared Black soldiers sought," Lexington Leader, 12/05/1972, p. 2B.

Source: Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

African American Schools

 African American Schools in Ohio County, KY

        In 1878, there was a bill in the Kentucky Senate to authorize the building of a colored school in District 1 of Ohio County [source: Journal of the Regular Session of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, December 1877, p.764]. The bill was said to have passed due to the Democrat vote, according to the article "Colored voters remember..." in the Hartford Herald, 08/01/1877, p.2. The school teacher at the Hartford Colored School in 1880 was Joe C. H. Taylor and the school year began in September [source: Hartford Herald, "The colored school...," 09/01/1880, p.3]. Prof. McDowell from Bowling Green, KY was the teacher at the Hayti Colored School [source: "Prof. McDowell," Hartford Herald, 09/10/1884, p.3]. In 1886 there were 11 colored schools in Ohio County, according to the Kentucky Superintendent Report, and by 1899 there were 8 school districts reported in the article "Statistics" in the Hartford Republican, 06/02/1899, p.3.

        In 1892, there was an investigation by the Hartford Herald on behalf of the colored schools and the colored teachers who had not received their pay. The newspaper reviewed the bookkeeping of the Ohio County school superintendent and determined the colored teachers were owed their pay [source: "In case a suit is brought..." and "Cowering beneath the Herald's revelations" both in the Hartford Herald, 10/26/1892, p.2] The debate about the disposition of the colored school fund became a political disagreement between the Democrats and Republicans as to which had done more for the Negro.

        Other schools in Ohio County included Rockport Colored School in District 9 with P. A. Gary as the teacher [source: "Report," Hartford Republican, 11/17/1893, p.4]. The Sulphur Springs Colored School teacher was Samantha Bracken during the 1893-94 school year [source: "Program," Hartford Republican, 01/19/1894, p.2]. There was a colored school in McHenry as early as 1894 when Miss Charlotte Eidson was the teacher [source: "McHenry Colored School," Hartford Republican, 01/19/1894, p.1]. L. W. Smith was the McHenry school teacher in 1904 [source: "The Guess candle," Hartford Herald, 01/20/1904, p.3].

        In 1940, the Negro teachers in Ohio County were Delois Eidson, Kenneth Eidson, William C. Jackson, Mittie K. Render, and Ethel Tichenor [source: U.S. Federal Census]. The first schools to be listed as integrated were  Beaver Dam Elementary and High School; Hartford Elementary and High School; and Wayland Alexander School, all on p.147 of the Kentucky School Directory, 1962-63. 

·                                 Bruce School [source: Kentucky School Directory, 1961-62, p.883]

·                                 Hayti School

·                                 Hartford School

·                                 McHenry School

·                                 Rockport School

·                                 Sulphur Springs School

Source: Notable Kentucky African Americans Database

Barclay Shoulders

 Barclay Shoulders

Barclay was born 17 April 1895 in Centertown, Ohio County, the son of John William Shoulders and Martha Francis Southard.  Barclay married Fannie Fisher and they had four daughters.  He served in the U.S. Army during WWI, serving with the 336^th INF, Co. K., from 5 October 1917 to 25 Feb 1919.  Barclay survived WWI and the 1918 pandemic, but died at a young age in a mining accident.  I think the article below is incorrect as to his age - in 1922 he would have been age 27.

WWI Draft Registration

Hartford High School - 1922

 Hartford High School - 1922

Henderson County

 Part of Henderson County was once a small part of Ohio County. At the time of the transfer the border of Ohio County extended to the Ohio River.

Susannah L. Taylor

Susannah L. Taylor

            Susannah “Susan” E. Leach was born 22 Jan 1803, the daughter of Leonard S. Leach and M. C. Skinner.  Susannah was one of nine children and out-lived all of her siblings.  Thomas Jefferson was President when she was born. Susannah lived through the War of 1812; the arrival of the railroads in Kentucky; the siege of The Alamo in 1836;  the war with Mexico and the Gold Rush in 1848;  the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination; the inventions of the typewriter, the phonograph, and the telephone; the first Kentucky Derby in 1875; and the invention of electric lights.  Susannah died 29 Aug 1883 in Ohio County.

            She married Richard C. Taylor, a Presbyterian minister, on 8 April 1834. Richard died about nine months before Susannah.  They had ten children: Septimus, Christina, William Henry, Mary Jane, Rebecca, Nancy Caroline, Leonard, Hugh, Elizabeth, and Josephine.

Hartford Herald - 1881

Hartford Herald June 8, 1881

A Visit to Pine Knob.  May 29th, 1881

Editor Herald:

            After some time spent in walking company with Mr. E. Rowe, we arrived at the grand scenery. There stood the rocks almost straight up towards the heavens, 80 or 100 feet high - with pines scattered here and there, seemingly without anything to support them but rocks. A little further on we found a cave or house made by the rocks projecting over some 60 or 80 feet.

            On a flat rock we found where the Indians had mortars some 18 or 20 inches deep. Near this rock house is a good spring of cool water where we rested and took dinner which we had taken along with us. After resting we climbed a large hill

where we found the graves or John Brown and son. On these grave stones were the following Inscriptions:

 

John Brown was born : October 17, 1776,

and departed this life May 21,1848.

 and

P. H. Brown was born November 18, 1816,

And departed this life February 1,1848.

            The ground around the graves was at one time in cultivation, though at this time it is in the woods, and a lonelier place I have never seen.

            At the foot of the hill and below the spring is the dwelling of the sleepers just mentioned. I have been told that the way the old man come to his death was from a pistol ball fired by his son. The old man had climbed up to the window and shot at his son whilst he was in bed and missed his aim whereupon the son drew a revolver and shot his father dead. I saw the window the old man fell dead from. The house was a good log one of its day and is creditable at this time. I feel at this time that I am well paid for my walk as I have got back and am resting. W.

Note: Pine Knob is east of Hartford in neighboring Grayson County, located about two miles north of Caneyville. John Brown was a famous outlaw that was known as Dock Brown. Dock Brown and his gang terrorized Grayson County and surrounding counties from about 1841 till his death in 1848. There is a book titled, Dock Brown, The Outlaw of Grayson County, that was written in 1876 by Colonel William R. Haynes. 

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McHenry   June 1, 1881

           Having for sometime had a desire to know something of the life led by the coal-digger, I this morning, in with a goodly number of miners, boarded the first “train” and were soon whirled from the outer world to the inner, which was strangely new to me. I must confess that strange sensations passed over me as we were being conveyed from the light and life without to the almost impenetrable darkness within, and had it not been for the jest and song of the miners who were with me my courage would without doubt have forsaken me, but their indifference was my inspiration, and we were soon, without exception, a gay party. We stopped at the "lie way" and changed cars for the "fourth north," where we were soon landed without mishap. Here, after a short rest, we commenced a short tour of that portion of the mine. We found the miners in their rooms busily engaged with pick, drill and shovel in dragging from hidden coffers the great wealth of Kentucky. In a reclining position, their shoulders resting on the coal, they will pick patiently for hours in making a drilling, and then the main part of the work is done. It is a hard life, but the men on the whole seem to enjoy it. They work hard till "snack time," and men assemble in groups, eat, drink and make merry by song and jest.

             After being conducted around for a while and becoming thoroughly mystified with the devious windings of the rooms and entries I was seized with an unaccountable desire to stand erect once more, and being Impossible in the Render mines we made preparations to leave. After being shown the main entry we were placed under the care of the driver, on the rear of whose car we were directed to hold, which we did like grim death and were safely conducted to the blessed sunlight, which we hailed with pleasure while we breathed again the free air of heaven. Our thanks are due the miners and drivers alike for courtesies and kindness shown us during our short sojourn with them.

            Quite an accident occurred in the McHenry mine on Thursday, the 2^nd inst., by which Lee Fisher was disabled. He was mining a “standing shot" when a huge block of coal fell unexpectedly on his right shoulder crushing it and the arm. His injuries, however, are not thought to be serious.          

            Dr. V. M. Taylor has disposed of his house and lot to Dave O’Bryan and will attend a course of lectures in Louisville the coming term. Doctor and his amiable lady will be much regretted, and their return and permanent establishment in our midst will be eagerly looked forward to.

            Prof. Hodlel of  Evansville, is giving a series of  lessons in penmanship. The Professor is a through master of the science and should be liberally patronized.

            Considerable excitement is rife in regard to mad dogs and we hope that it will continue until every yelping cur in the two towns has been killed.

            The work at the two mines is still good, though the operators declare their intention of reducing the price for digging per bushel one-half cent, and a strike is imminent.

            Married, at the residence of bride’s parents in Hamilton, on the 25^th ult., Mr. Smith of Taylor Mines, and Miss Harlan. May joy, peace and prosperity attend them.