Download KENTUCKY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

Reconstruction & Post-War Period
KENTUCKY AFTER THE CIVIL
WAR
Before the War
Slavery had been a fact of life in Kentucky
The thought of it being “threatened” (because
of all the turmoil over new territories being
added) caused the Legislature in 1849 to
write a very pro-slavery article into the new
Constitution
Before the War
Two “Kentucky events” demonstrated differing
attitudes about slavery:
1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1852 Stephen Foster, “My Old Kentucky Home”
“My Old Kentucky Home” original
lyrics:
Verse 1:
The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky
home
'tis summer, the darkies are gay,
the corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the
bloom
while the birds make music all the day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor
all merry, all happy, and bright.
By'n by hard times comes a-knocking at the
door,
then my old Kentucky home, good night.
Chorus:
Weep no more, my lady,
oh weep no more today.
We will sing on song for the old Kentucky
home,
for the old Kentucky home far away.
Verse 2:
They hunt no more for the 'possum and the coon
on meadow, the hill, and the shore.
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon
on the bench by that old cabin door.
The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart
with sorrow where all was delight.
The time has come when the darkies have to part
then my old Kentucky home, good night.
Chorus:
Verse 3:
The head must bow and the back will have to bend
wherever the darky may go.
A few more days and the trouble all will end
in the field where sugar-canes may grow.
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
no matter, 'twill never be light.
A few more days 'till we totter on the road,
then my old Kentucky home, good night.
Before the War
By 1860 Kentucky had become the center of a
national political debate
Two native Kentuckians ran for President 1860:
Abraham Lincoln (Republican)
John C. Breckinridge (Democrat)
Winner of KY: John Bell (Constitutional Union)
(Lincoln won less than 1% of the state’s vote)
During the War
The Kentucky legislature did not vote to secede
from the Union, but neither did it vote to
raise troops to support the Union. Instead,
the state declared neutrality. But this
neutrality did not last long. Because Kentucky
was a strategic border state dividing the
South and the North, it was occupied by both
Union and Confederate forces. In 1861 and
1862, Kentuckians at home saw a number of
battles and skirmishes.
During the War
By the end of 1862, Confederate forces had been
run out of the state. However, the destruction
caused by war was not over for Kentuckians.
From December 1862 to January 1865, famous
Confederate raids by John Hunt Morgan, Nathan
Bedford Forrest, Quantrill, and "Sue" Mundy
destroyed Union supply depots, bridges, and
county courthouses. Kentucky also experienced
a period of lawlessness in 1864, when
"Bushwhackers" -- small bands of unruly soldiers
from both sides -- looted small towns and
robbed local farmers of produce and livestock.
During the War
When President Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation in January of 1863, all slaves in the
Confederacy were legally set free. Because
Kentucky remained in the Union, slaves in this
state were not free. Lincoln declared in 1864 that
any slave who enlisted in the Union army would
be given freedom as well as the freedom of his
family. A flood of Kentucky slaves rushed to
Camp Nelson to enlist. Soon, the camp became a
recruitment center for "colored" troops, as well
as a refugee center for their families.
During the War
In 1863 General Ambrose Burnside declared
martial law statewide. Often “rebels” were
tried at random, and sometimes executed.
Southern sympathizers were treated so harshly
that some Union-favoring citizens turned
against their own war effort.
During the War
Military Occupation during the War caused
many Kentuckians to turn toward the
Confederacy in their sentiment, especially
after the War.
General Stephen Gano Burbridge was
appointed by President Lincoln “military
commander” of Kentucky in August 1864
During the War
Burbridge enforced martial law in Kentucky,
ordered Confederate “sympathizers” to have
their property confiscated, arrested
deported, or even executed.
Burbridge also ordered the banning of books,
interfered in local elections, and even fixed
the price of hogs (“Great Hog Swindle”).
During the War
In February 1865 Lincoln removed Burbridge
from command, but he had become “the
most hated man in Kentucky” and had
profoundly damaged Union loyalty in the
state.
After the War
Although Kentucky was a slave state, it was not
subject to military occupation during the
Reconstruction Period. It was subject to
the Freedmen's Bureau and a congressional
investigation into the propriety of its elected
officials. During the election of 1865, ratification
of the Thirteenth Amendment was a major
political issue. Kentucky eventually rejected the
Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth
Amendments. Democrats prevailed in the
election, and one of their first acts was to repeal
the Expatriation Act of 1862, thus restoring the
citizenship of Confederates.
After the War
So, Kentucky slaves were legally freed when the
13th Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States was ratified in 1865. But
Confederate sentiment was still high in
Kentucky after the war. The legislature failed
to ratify either the 13th Amendment; the
14th, which extended equal protection of the
law to blacks; or the 15th, which gave African
Americans the right to vote.
After the War: FEUDS
Kentucky became internationally known for its violent feuds,
especially in the mountains. They pitted the men in
extended clans against each other for decades, often using
assassination and arson as weapons, along with ambushes,
gunfights, and pre-arranged shootouts. Some of the feuds
were continuations of violent local Civil War episodes.
Journalists often wrote about the violence, using
stereotypes that city folks had developed about
Appalachia; they interpreted the feuds as the inevitable
product of profound ignorance, poverty, and isolation, and
perhaps even interbreeding. In reality, the leading
participants were typically well-to-do local elites with
networks of clients who were fighting for local political
power
After the War: Gilded Age
The Gilded Age saw the emergence of a women's
suffrage movement. Laura Clay, daughter of noted
abolitionist Cassius Clay, was the most prominent leader. At the
same time a prohibition movement began, which was challenged
by the distillers (based in the Bluegrass) and the saloonkeepers
(based in the cities).
Kentucky's hemp industry declined as manila became the world's
primary source of rope fiber. This led to an increase in tobacco
production, which was already the largest cash crop of Kentucky.
Ravages of the Civil War afflicted Kentucky into the Reconstruction
era. People attempted to repair communities destroyed by a
broken economy and a death toll of approximately 11,000
soldiers, though politics still divided many relationships. Despite
attempted neutrality, warfare wounded the land and society, and
Kentucky again became "dark and bloody ground."
A Confederate Kentucky
“One might have guessed that the way
Kentuckians would remember the way would
have approximated the divisive manner in which
they fought it. By the 1870’s, however, the
contrast between Kentuckians’ war-time
sympathies and post-bellum sympathies was
marked. In the decades following the conflict,
with amazing accord, white Kentuckians elected
five governors who had sympathized with or
fought for the Confederacy….
A Confederate Kentucky
“…They cheered in the streets in 1877 when the last
Federal troops left the South, removing the final
vestiges of Reconstruction. They built
Confederate monuments, published sectional
periodicals, participated in veterans’
organizations and historical societies, and
produced literature that portrayed Kentucky as
Confederate, while seemingly leaving the Union
cause and the feats of its soldiers largely
uncelebrated.” Creating a Confederate Kentucky,
by Anne E. Marshall, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill,
2010, p. 2
Civil War Vocabulary
 chief cook and bottle washer -







person capable of doing many
things
sheet-iron crackers -- hardtack
sardine box -- cap box
bread basket -- stomach
greenbacks -- money
graybacks -- Southern soldiers;
lice
Arkansas toothpick -- large
knife
pepperbox -- pistol
fit to be tied -- angry
 has horse sense -- is smart or on







the ball
top rail #1 -- first class
hunkey dorey -- great!
greenhorn, bugger, skunk -officer
snug as a bug -- comfortable,
cozy
sawbones -- surgeon
skedaddle -- run, scatter
hornets -- bullets
Civil War Vocabulary












bully -- hurrah! yeah!
possum -- a buddy or pal
blowhard -- big shot
fit as a fiddle -- in good shape, healthy
uppity -- conceited
scarce as hen's teeth -- rare
grab a root -- have dinner; eat a potato
Jonah -- bad luck
goobers -- peanuts
Sunday soldiers, kid glove boys, parlor
soldiers -- insulting words for soldiers
fresh fish -- raw recruits
whipped -- beaten
 tight, wallpapered -- drunk
 hard case -- tough person
 bluff -- cheater
 jailbird -- criminal
 hard knocks -- beaten up
 been through the mill -- done a
lot
 quick-step -- diarrhea
 played out -- worn out
 toeing the mark -- doing the job