bloody cival war history in KY. mark of the beast

[ky wonder]

thought some of you might enjoy reading about the time when the us government sanctioned the lost of what we all take for granted, freedom
and its primary villain, Gen Burbridge

The Lost Cause

 

[Dennis The B]

Having been raised in the Bluegrass, the 1861-1865 war was dirty for both sides.

Lincoln recognized early on, that one of the keys to defeating the Confederacy, was to insure that Kentucky remained in the Union.

“I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we can not hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland."

He ordered Louisville, Covington, Owensboro, and Paducah occupied to insure that the Ohio river didn't become a natural barrier to the Union supply chain. Later, the battle of Perryville was probably the bloodiest one-time engagement in the Commonwealth's history.

Burbridge certainly was evil (maybe even insane), and at least one of my professors in college likened him to SS commander Reinhard Heydrich.

There was enough blood and crime to go around on each side. What's left out of the article, was the killing that was done by Morgan. Morgan's raiders took very few Union prisoners, and he got as far as Jeffersontown, before being turned back. There's a historical marker at Taylorsville Road and Watterson Trail noting the fighting there, and on out toward Fisherville.

Quantrill and Mosby also gained infamy for their raids in the Commonwealth.

It was not a time of brotherhood, and nobody chanted "Kumbaya".

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Morgan is not a hero in southern Ohio.

 

[doublesharp]

Not a hero in S Indiana either but many give Morgan's raid credit for improving the horse stock. The raiders rode in on fine thoroughbreds but when their mounts wore out they left them and took the inferior draft and farm horses.

 

[opoefc]

My GGGGrandfather and his brother, who were Rev.War vets, migrated to KY from VA. in the 1780s and took up land grants as their Veteran's Benefits. Portions the original grant in Perry County are still in the family ownership today after seven generations. The family cemetery, next to the original homestead ( which is the oldest still occupied dwelling in KY, built in 1787 ) has graves of civil war veterans and their tombstones are about 50 - 50 Union vets and CSA vets, now side by side. Research of the battles of the Regiments listed on the tombstones indicates that sometimes brother fought brother. Executions w/o trials did not end with the Civil War. In the early 20th century, many of the big Coal Companies sent their hired thugs to run off residents from their homes & farms to take over the coal deposits. I have my GGrandfather's Winchester which he used effectively to persuade the hired thug survivors to stay off his property. The non-survivors are still there, but no tombstones to indicate where. Ed.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

This was the first I had heard of this story. I usually remember that history's true story is often not only local, but written in the small print. This is part of the past, but what scares the daylights out of me is that this could easily happen again. Those that say "It can't happen here..." are foolish.
Chilling to the bone.

 

[GatorFarmer]

Shooting prisoners, and even civilians, in reprisal for guerilla operations was considered legal under the laws of war at the time. It remained technically legal for quite some time, and continued to be done at least as late as the Vietnam war "informally". The United States Army was notorious for this sort of thing during the conflict in the Phillipines. At one point orders were issued to kill every male above the age of ten on Samar, though this resulted in a court martial.

Sherman's ideas of total war cast a long shadow, particularly when it came to dealing with irregular forces. Following the Civil War, General Sheridan was sent as observer to the Prussians during the Franco Prussian War. He advised a harsh peace be imposed on France "leave them nothing but their eyes to cry with" and approved of Prussian reprisals against French partisans and indeed seems to have recommended the practice.


Arguably, it worked to some extent, though tended to alienate the local population rather quickly.

 

[wbraswell]

Sheridan's quote was also the policy of his campaign in Tennessee. To say that his principals alienated the locals would be an understated fact.