EDITORS PmL1P D. JORDAN, PHD. CHARLES M. THOMAS, Pa.D. Miami University Ohio State University ANNALS OF AMERICA VOLUME V ANTE-BELLUM KENTUCKY t ""'•",!. ' .. .\, ~; ' ~ , ~ .. ~ - ' V ~ ~ • l"-4 >tr.> • l"-4 ;::$ 0 ~ ANTE-BELL UM KENTUCKY A Social History, 1800~1860 By F. GARVIN DAVENPORT Transylvania College Oxford, Ohio The .Miasiaaippi Valley Presa 1943 COPYRIGHT, 1943 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY l>R!ss All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form except by a re­ viewer who may quote brief passages in a re­ view to be printed in a magazine or newspaper. Printed in the United State$ of America To Dr. and Mrs. Lewis Henry Hightower EDITORS' FOREWORD From the time that Dr. Thomas Walker penetrated the Cum­ berland Gap and gained a vision of the fertile land that lay be­ yond to modem days when each year the Bluegrass country is the cynosure of thousands of eyes, Kentucky has had an en­ viable history. Daniel Boone, Henry Clay, the Lincoln family, and Rafinesque all gave color to the state's story. Professor Davenport is well qualified to interpret the social and intellectual history of Kentucky during the dramatic first sixty years of the nineteenth century. For years he has investi­ gated the daily life of the common man and the ease and luxury of the aristocracy; he has studied the growth of education and penal institutions; he has written the story of science and of medicine; and he has searched for and brought to light much of the literature and music of ante-bellum days. The result is an attractively written, sound narrative based upon careful research among ne,vspapers, public documents, and personal papers. Professor Davenport's book throws new light not only upon one of the most dramatic periods in the nation's history, but also upon the State of Kentucky. P.D.J. C.M.T. IX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author is deeply indebted to a number of people and or­ ganizations for assistance rendered during the preparation of the manuscript. Much of the research was made possible by a grant­ in-aid from the Social Science Research Council. The actual re­ search work was hastened by the splendid cooperation of Mrs. Muriel Drell of the University of Chicago Library, Mrs. Mary T. Moore and Miss Elizabeth Coombs of the Kentucky Li­ brary, Western Kentucky State Teachers' College, Miss Ludie J. Kinkead and Mr. Otto A. Rothert of the Filson Club, Mrs. Jouett Taylor Cannon of the Kentucky State Historical Society Library, Mrs. Charles Norton and Miss Roemol Henry of Tran­ sylvania College Library, Miss Mabel C. Weaks of the New York Public Library, and the staffs of the Lexington Public Library, The University of Kentucky Library, and the Louis­ ville Public Library. Numerous individuals have made private collections available and in this connection Mr. L. V. Hagan, Jr., of Austerlitz, Kentucky, deserves special mention. Valuable suggestions were made by Professor Frank Owsley of V ander­ bilt University, Professor Thomas D. Clark of the University of Kentucky, Mr. Charles Staples and Mr. Samuel M. Wilson of Lexington, and numerous friends within and without the historical profession. Thanks are due to Mr. Winston Robert Stubbs of Transylvania College for his patience while listening to many revised sections of the manuscript. Finally the author is very grateful to the following people for their careful and critical reading of the manuscript in whole or in part: Professor William C. Binkley of Vanderbilt University, Professor J. Huntley Dupre of the University of Kentucky, Brigadier General Fred W. Rankin of Lexington and Washing­ ton, D. C., Mr. Winston Coleman, Jr., of Lexington, and my wife, Katye Lou Davenport. Lexington, Kentucky July 7, 1943 . X1 INTRODUCTION Social life in Kentucky in the days before the Civil War was much more complex than one might expect in a region that was fundamentally agrarian. Perhaps the most interesting feature of Kentucky's history in this period was the rapid development of cultural interests. From a shadowy beginning in the days of the American Revolution the state had developed into an impor­ tant outpost of civilization by the turn of the century with towns such as Danville and Lexington exhibiting substantial residences, educational institutions, race tracks, a theater of sorts, and an intelligentsia that made up in caliber what it lacked in numbers. During the next half century social and intellectual growth continued and ambitious efforts were made to keep abreast of national movements in science, religion, education, literature, and the arts. It is to be remembered, however, that this progress did not affect all Kentuckians in equal degree, and that thousands of men and women in the isolated mountain region, in the more remote lowland rural areas, and on the squatter lands along the Ohio, were not influenced at all. The same observation may be made with respect to the lower cla~es in the towns where pov­ erty and illiteracy, with all the attendant evils, were prevalent. Kentucky was a land from which sprang many educational institutions which were forced by circumstances to struggle forward with sporadic leaps from recurrent depressions and periods of despair. Against the background of the frontier of 1 800, Transylvania University with its courses in science, lan­ guages, and higher mathematics was something of a curiosity to the average Kentuckian who was not especially interested in book learning. Even the friends of the university did not give it united support. The founders and the small group of patrons could not agree on the purpose and management of the institu­ tion. To some it was to be a symbol of Calvinistic Presbyter­ ianism; to others it was to represent gentility; some regarded it ... Xlll as a storehouse of great truths where young men might be trained in democracy and statecraft. Somewhere in the confusion were a few visionary minds with lofty educational ideas but Transylvania did not attain great­ ness because its leadership was never consistent and public sup­ port was never sustained. If President Holley's impressive aca­ demic program had not been uprooted in r 8 2 7 the subsequent history of Transylvania and the history of higher education in the state would have in all probability followed a more produc­ tive course. In spite of its stormy career, the university granted over 2000 degrees before r 860. The majority of these, of course, were conferred by the virtually independent medical depart­ ment. But even this popular department did not escape the un­ dermining effects of personal feuds and internal dissension. It is indeed an ill wind that does not blow somebody good. Transylvania's troubles became assets to rival colleges and es­ pecially to Centre and the University of Louisville. These in­ stitutions profited by Transylvania's mistakes and grew stronger because of the weaknesses in the Lexington school. There was no unified movement in Kentucky for a public school system. Instead there was opposition and indifference, aristocratic prejudices and political incompetence. But the schools came nevertheless and in appraising them it is only just to recognize the difficult circumstances surrounding their de­ velopment. It is because of the fact that the odds were against them from the beginning that the contributions of educators such as Benjamin 0. Peers and Robert J. Breckinridge stand out as real achievements. They were crusaders in a cause that is never lost nor ever completely won. Kentucky produced other types of crusaders and pioneers, who were anxious to improve the world's storehouse of know­ ledge and to increase the efficiency and improve the health of their fell ow men. These were the pioneers with scalpels and test tubes. Kentucky's scientific interests constituted one of the state's most valid claims to intellectual progress. It was the birth­ place of ovariotomy. It claimed such distinguished doctors as Gross, Dudley and Drake. To be sure, it was also the birthplace of Cookeism, one of the most fallacious therapeutical theories in American medical history, but the spectacular dosing so charac- . XIV tensttc of the Cooke disciples hastened the downfall of the calomel quacks and the mercury doctors. Students of botany, zoology, and paleontology were active in the Kentucky region and while individual contributions were often modest the sum total was impressive. Science was begin­ ning to come to the aid of the farmers which was a significant factor in an area fundamentally agricultural. Of special value \Vas the utilitarian study of the chemistry of soils, minerals, and vegetables and the subsequent experimentation with artificial fertilizers, cover crops, and crop rotation. This movement to bring science to the farm was not original in Kentucky. It was an international movement springing from Germany and Eng­ land and given impetus in the United States by such men as Edmund Ruffin of Virginia and Robert Peter of Kentucky. Reprints of foreign agronomical studies, the American farm journals, and the various state geological reports assisted in dis­ seminating the new scientific ideas. The Kentucky farmers' a~ociations were valuable agencies in the same cause. However, the general picture of agriculture in Kentucky changed slowly. Illiteracy and indifference automatically restricted the use of scientific data. But the new science had arrived; it had its en­ thusiastic disciples and slowly but surely it made new converts. In religious life the Great Revival and the movements that flowed from it overshadowed all other episodes. In the wake of this spiritual revival and emotional upheaval there marched thousands of converts into the camps of the Baptists and Metho- .<lists, giving these two churches a paramount position not only in Kentucky but in the Miss~ippi Valley.