OHIO VALLEY HISTORY VALLEY OHIO Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. A Collaboration of The Filson Historical Society, Cincinnati Museum Center, and the University of Cincinnati. VOLUME 16 • NUMBER 3 • FALL 2016 VOLUME • NUMBER 16 3 • FALL 2016 Ohio Valley History is a Submission Information for Contributors to OHIO VALLEY STAFF David Stradling Phillip C. Long collaboration of The Filson University of Cincinnati Julia Poston Editors Nikki M. Taylor Thomas H. Quinn Historical Society, Cincinnati LeeAnn Whites Texas Southern University Joanna Reeder Museum Center, and the The Filson Historical Society Frank Towers Dr. Anya Sanchez Department of History, University Matthew Norman University of Calgary Judith K. Stein, M.D. Department of History Steve Steinman of Cincinnati. University of Cincinnati CINCINNATI Carolyn M. 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Page composition: Michael Adkins, Ertel Publishing Postmaster, send address changes to Filson Historical Society, © Cincinnati Museum Center and The Filson Historical Society 2016 1310 S. Third St., Louisville, KY 40208. Volume 16, Number 3, Fall 2016 A Journal of the History and Culture of the Ohio Valley and the Upper South, published in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, by Cincinnati Museum Center and The Filson Historical Society. Contents 3 Race, Slavery, and Freedom in the Ohio River Valley during the Civil War Era Jonathan W. White 6 Black Hoosiers and the Formation of an Antislavery Stronghold in the Central Ohio Valley Mark A. Furnish 28 Telling Testimony Slavery Advertisements in Kentucky’s Civil War Newspapers Timothy Ross Talbott 48 “At Liberty to Take Possession” How Cincinnati Riverboat Law Turned “Have-Nots” into “Haves” during the Civil War Era Matthew Axtell 72 Collection Essay Letters of Black Soldiers from Ohio Who Served in the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantries during the Civil War Katie O’Halloran Brown 80 Review Essay What Happened to Kentucky? Gerald J. Prokopowicz 84 Review Essay Reconsidering Battles and Leaders in the Ohio Valley’s Civil War Stephen Rockenbach 89 Book Reviews 106 Announcements on the cover: African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters (c. 1863-1865). LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Contributors Matthew Axtell received his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2002 and his PhD from Princeton University in 2016. He is currently employed as the assistant counsel for Environmental Law and Historic Preservation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C. He has published a number of articles concerning slavery, the environment and the role of law. Mark A. Furnish received his PhD in U.S. history from Purdue University in 2014. He is presently assistant researcher at the Frederick Douglass Papers Project, at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. He is working on a book manuscript entitled “A Rosetta Stone on Slavery’s Doorstep: Eleutherian College and Lost Antislavery History of Jefferson County, Indiana.” Gerald J. Prokopowicz is professor of history at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He is the author of Did Lincoln Own Slaves? And Other FAQ about Abraham Lincoln (2009) and host of over 350 episodes of Civil War Talk Radio (www.impedimentsofwar.org). Stephen Rockenbach is professor of history at Virginia State University, where he teaches courses in American history, military history, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. He is the author of War upon Our Border: Two Ohio Valley Communities Navigate the Civil War (2016). Timothy Ross Talbott has his MA in public history from Appalachian State University. He is the associate director of Education, Interpretation, Visitor Services and Collections at the Pamplin Historical Park and National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Petersburg, Virginia. 2 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY Race, Slavery and Freedom in the Ohio River Valley during the Civil War Era he Ohio River valley is one of the