“A Strange Conclusion to a Triumphant War”: Memory, Identity And
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“A STRANGE CONCLUSION TO A TRIUMPHANT WAR”: MEMORY, IDENTITY AND THE CREATION OF A CONFEDERATE KENTUCKY, 1865- 1925 by ANNE ELIZABETH MARSHALL (Under the Direction of James C. Cobb) ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the development of historical memory in Kentucky after the Civil War between 1865 and 1925. At the outbreak of the war, Kentucky first remained neutral, then joined the Union war effort. After the war, however, white Kentuckians appeared to remember the state’s Civil War role as a Confederate state. They embraced the Democratic politics, racial violence, and Lost Cause all associated with the Confederacy. They built Confederate monuments in greater number than Union ones, and seemed to forget about their Union loyalties. While white Confederate memory dominated the historical landscape of post- war Kentucky on the surface, a closer look reveals and active political and cultural dialogue that included white Unionists, Confederate Kentuckians, as well as the state’s African Americans, who from the last days of the war, drew on Union victory and their part in winning it to lay claim to the fruits of freedom and citizenship. Rather than focussing exclusively on short-term political and economic factors, this dissertation looks at the long-term cultural practices of Kentuckians through which they recalled the Civil War, as well as how and to what end these groups employed their memories of the Civil War in the sixty years following the conflict. INDEX WORDS: Kentucky, Civil War, Confederate identity, African Americans, Reconstruction, historical memory “A STRANGE CONCLUSION TO A TRIUMPHANT WAR”: MEMORY, IDENTITY AND THE CREATION OF A CONFEDERATE KENTUCKY by ANNE ELIZABETH MARSHALL B.A., Centre College, 1998 M.A., University of Georgia, 2000 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 ANNE ELIZABETH MARSHALL All Rights Reserved “A STRANGE CONCLUSION TO A TRIUMPHANT WAR”: MEMORY, IDENTITY AND THE CREATION OF A CONFEDERATE KENTUCKY by ANNE ELIZABETH MARSHALL Major Professor: James C. Cobb Committee: Kathleen Clark John Inscoe Bryant Simon Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2004 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Though the experience of writing a history dissertation is meant to be a solitary one, mine has been anything but. Since I began to conceive of this project over six years ago, I feel as though I have been in constant conversation with mentors, professors, colleagues, academic observers, history buffs, thinkers, and well-wishers. There are too many to name, but I will try anyway. I wish to thank the archivists who helped me unearth all of scattered information regarding Kentucky’s identity: the staff at repositories around the state, including University of Kentucky Special Collections, Betsy Morelock at Kentucky State University. I would especially like to thank the good folks at Filson Hisorical Society: Mark Wetherington, Jim Holmberg, and Shirley Harmon, who made my Fellowship experience there so productive, rewarding, and just plain enjoyable. I am indebted to several excellent and committed professors at Centre College who originally sparked desire to pursue an academic career: Michael Hamm, Elizabeth Perkins, Clarence Wyatt, and Milton Reigelman. I will always seek to live up to their example Ashley Buren, Isabelle Renot, Jennie Reid Samoska, Gina Strangis Hubbard, Alissa Saufley, and Hannah Saufley O’Leary are great old school friends who have offered unwaivering moral support throughout high school, college, and grad school. My tenure in graduate school has been made utterly bearable by the exceptionally decent, interesting, and group of friends I have made over the years. Rebecca Scales, John Walker Davis, Jennifer Gross Davis, Leslie Miller, Ivy Holliman, Keira Williams, Gil Lenz, Robbie Luckett, Margaret Mockbee, Bruce Stewart, Jennifer Roady-Lawson, Justin Nystrom, Ichiro v Miyata, John Hayes, Judkin Browning, Libby McRae and Mark Huddle have all made a difference in my work and my life. As friends and sage academics, Steve Soper and Susam Rosenbaum offered great meals, companionship, and professional advice. Within the history department, Laurie Kane kept me apprised of deadlines and saved me from my own absentmindedness again and again, and as graduate coordinator, Michael Winship helped me secure financial support throughout my time at Georgia. A group of brilliant and productive scholars in the department made themselves available for consultation and moral support, including Michael Kwass, Laura Mason, John Morrow, Paul Sutter, and Pamela Voekel. I also had the support and the attention of a great committee: Kathleen Clark, John Inscoe, Bryant Simon, and James Cobb. As my dissertation director, Dr. Cobb has always offered, in his own reserved way, his time, his advice, and sophisticated insights. Most of all, in his breadth of knowledge and intellectual sophistication, he has served as a great example of how a scholar can be at once both great and humble. I will always seek and appreciate his guidance. Tammy Ingram has been a great friend who is always good for company, intellectual discourse, and many, many laughs. Alex and Eleanor Macaulay, and their children Eliza and Lee have been the source of great friendship and laughter. Whether in the many lessons about South Carolina history I learned from them, or planning how to spend our imminent shared Georgia Lottery winnings, my friendship with the Macaulays has been one of the best things about my time in graduate school. Bryant Simon and his wife, Ann Marie, and their two children, Benjamin and Eli have become dearest, life-long friends. As a scholar, Bryant has taught me what it means to be a great historian and writer, and most importantly how to care for people from the past, just as he and his family have taught me what it means to care deeply about people around me. vi I am so very lucky to have had a loving and supporting family throughout this long endeavor. My parents-in-law, Barb Giesen and Phil Giesen have offered continual interest and encouragement. My sister, Jennifer, an accountant, has offered moral support and assurance that one day, I too might become “financially solvent.” My parents Jan and Bill Marshall have supported me in more ways than I can count. As historians, librarians, research assistants, proof- readers, and money lenders, they have selflessly given me more assistance than anyone could ever deserve. Most of all, through countless educational “vacation” excursions, which I hated in my youth, they planted an appreciation of and respect for history upon which I continually draw. For this, and because I will be eternally grateful for all they have ever done for me, I dedicate this dissertation to them. That brings me to Jim Giesen. As a fellow historian, best friend, and life partner, he inspires me everyday. Even as I devote my life to uncovering the past, he serves as a constant reminder to appreciate the present. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................iv LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................ix INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 “A MARKED CHANGE IN THE SENTIMENTS OF THE PEOPLE”: SLAVERY AND CIVIL WAR IN KENTUCKY, 1862-1865 ................................................12 2 “THE REBEL SPIRIT IN KENTUCKY”:THE POLITICS OF READJUSTMENT, 1865-1877...........................................................................................................41 3 “WICKED AND LAWLESS MEN”: VIOLENCE AND CONFEDERATE INDENTITY, 1865-1885 ....................................................................................79 4 “WHAT SHALL BE THE MORAL TO YOUNG KENTUCKIANS?”: CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL ACTIVITY IN THE COMMONWEALTH: 1865-1895”............. 122 5 “TWO KENTUCKIES”: CIVIL WAR IDENTITY IN APPALACHIAN KENTUCKY, 1865-1915.................................................................................. 174 6 “A PLACE FULL OF COLORED PEOPLE, PRETTY GIRLS, AND POLITE MEN”: LITERATURE, CONFEDERATE IDENTITY, AND KENTUCKY’S REPUTATION: 1890-1915............................................................................... 209 7 “A MANIFEST AVERSION TO THE UNION CAUSE”: WAR MEMORY IN KENTUCKY, 1895-1925.................................................................................. 237 viii EPILOGUE ............................................................................................................................ 284 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................... 291 ix LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 2.1: Scene from Confedrit X Roads ................................................................................70 Figure 3.1: Watterson Cartoon from Harpers Magazine.......................................................... 110 Figure 6.1: State seal of Kentucky as it was revised by a cartoonist after the Goebel assassination, Minneapolis Journal, February 1, 1900............................................. 212 Figure 6.2: Newspaper Coverage of Night Riders, from Lexington Leader, February 24, 1908 ..................................................................................................