THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY VOL. 43 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, OCTOBER, 1969 NO. 4 GENERAL WILLIAM PRESTON BY J. FREDERICK DORMAN Washington, D.C. Paper read before The Filson Club, May 5, 1969, on the occasion of the Dedication of the bronze bust of General Preston* The Preston family has been a distinguished one in Virginia and in Kentucky through many generations. The founder, John Preston, came from Londonderry to Augusta County, Virginia, in 1735.1 His descend- ants have played a major role in both military and civic affairs, and not the least of them was General William Preston, whom we are honor- ing this evening. William Preston, who was the third of his name in a direct line and a member of the fourth generation of the family in America, was born on October 16, 1816, at the plantation of his father, Major William Preston, near Louisville.2 His grandfather, Colonel William Preston, had been County Lieutenant, the chief militia officer, of Fincastle and Montgomery counties, Virginia, a member of the House of Burgesses, a soldier of the American Revolution, and one of the founders of Lib- erty Hall Academy which eventually became Washington and Lee University.s His son, Major William Preston, the General's father, was an offi- cer of the United States Army who served in the campaigns under General Anthony Wayne against the Indians in the Northwest. He "F.DITOR'S NOTE: The Filson Club has been given valuable Preston Family papers, •'ome original and som•- co•i•, and a ma&nificent bmnTe bust nf General William Preston: C.S.A. (1816-1887), one of the many distinguished members of the Preston family. The bust is the work of the world famous sculptor Felix W. de Weldon, of Newport, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., who did the beautiful U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington, Virginia, depicting the raising of the Stars and Stripes on Mr. Suribachl, Iwo Jima, in World War II. Of the Preston Family papers the collection of the late Mr. Preston Davie was presented to The Filson Club by Mrs. Davie of New York and Newport. Both Mrs. Davie and Mr. de Weldon were present upon the occasinfi of the dedication of the bust on May 5, 1969. Following the unveiling of the bust and preceding the reading of Mr. Dorman's paper on General Preston, Mrs. Davie and Mr. de Weldon made appropriate and interesting remarks which we are happy to publish along with Mr. Dorman's paper. 301 302 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 43 married Caroline Hancock, whose father George Hancock was a colo- nel in the Revolutionary War and later a member of Congress. Maj- or William Preston died in 1821 leaving his wife with a family of eight children.4 General William Preston was only four years old when his father died. The boyhood years were spent in the vicinity of Louisville. Ac- cording to his nephew, William Preston Johnston, General Preston • . was a splendid horseman and famous swimmer; and living on the banks of the Ohio, often swam across it, not far above the Falls." Johnston also speaks of him during this period as "headstrong and wayward.''5 At an early age he was sent away to school, to Augusta College at Augusta, Kentucky. He also was a student for a time at St•Joseph's College in Bardsrown. He seems to have been a rather typical young student. William Preston Johnston said that " . learning a great deal in a rather desultory manner," he "eventually found his way to New Haven, and later to the Harvard Law School, where he was graduated." He received his LL.B. degree from Harvard in 1838.6 One further quotation from William Preston Johnston about the youthful years may be appropriate: It was always rather a marvel to the writer when and how he got a schol- arship in the classics, as easy, as gentlemanly and as critically correct as need be for a professorial chair. His natural gifts and a certain fire and concentration in study, which marked all his mentality and action, are the only solution? Returning to Kentucky Preston was admitted to the bar at Louis- ville and began the practice of law with the Honorable William J. Graves.s On December 9, 1840, he married Margaret, the youngest daughter of the Honorable Robert Wickliffe of Lexington.9 They were the parents of one son and five daughters. At the beginning of the Mexican War Preston was in command of the Washington Blues, a part of the Louisville Legion. His brother- in-law Jason Rogers was the commander of the Legion. The Wash- ington Blues were incorporated into the Fourth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers on October 4, 1847, and Preston was commissioned lieu- tenant colonel• They joined General Scott at Vera Cruz and he was. at Mexico City from the end of December 1847 until the last of April 1848, a part of that time being on detached service as commander of a train sent from Mexico City to Jalapa. At the conclusion of peace the regiment returned to Louisville where it was mustered out on July 25, 1848, having served slightly over nine months on active duty.1° 1969] General William Preston 303 The next year Preston was elected a member of the Convention which met to revise the Kenmcky Constitution. During its proceed- ings he was active in opposition to the Native American and anti- Catholic views which had gait•ed popularity with many Kentuckians at the time.n In 1850 he was elected one of the three delegates from the City of Louisville to the Kentucky House of Representatives. At the be- ginning of the session, which met on November 4, there was a spirited contest for the office of speaker. Preston voted for G. W. Johnston on the first two ballots. When there was no majority among the sev- eral candidates, Johnston withdrew his name and William T. Ward nominated William Preston for the office. Preston received either seven or eight votes on the next seven ballots and then withdrew his name, switching support to Edmund Wooldridge of Christian County. Finally on the third day, George W. Johnston was again nominated, Preston gave him his support again, and Johnston was eventually elected speaker. There were similar spirited contests for all the other offices filled by the House at that session. Preston was named Chairman of the Committee on Code of Practice which was instructed to prepare a new code of penal and civil law for the Commonwealth. The civil portion of the new code was completed and made law during this session. He was also a member of the Committee on Federal Relations and the Committee on Claims. TM At the next session he was named to the Committee on Education and was Chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations.ta In 1852 he was an elector for the Whig Party from the state at large) 4 He was also at this time elected to Congress by a majority of nearly 2000 in a district which a month before had voted for the Democratic party candidate) 5 On December 6, 1852, William Preston appeared at the opening of the Second Session of the 42nd Congress and was sworn in as a member from the Seventh Kentucky District to fill the vacancy oc- casioned by the resignation of Humphrey Marshall. During th• ses- sion he was selected by the members of his party to make Kentucky's remarks on the death of Daniel Webster. He became involved in a controversy over an appropriation for a Custom House in Louisville which quickly developed into a debate between the eastern and western states over appropriations to be made to further the Atlantic seaboard trade) ° He was re-elected to Congress in 1853 and at the beginning of that session received three votes for the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives. At this session the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was before 304 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 43 the House and Preston was an active proponent of the slavery view- point. He continued his fight for the appropriation to complete the Custom House at Louisville which had not been carried at the pre- ceding session. And in February he .offered a resolution providing penalties for forging land warrants and assignments, which was passed by the House.17 He was not present during the Second Session of the 33rd Congress. In the election of 1856 Preston was defeated by Humphrey Mar- shall, the candidate of the Know-Nothing Party. Partisan feeling ran very high and the notorious Bloody Monday in Louisville resulted from this election.TM In the shifting political alliances of the 1850s, Preston became iden- tiffed with the Democrats. He was chosen as a delegate from the state at large to the Cincinnati convention which nominated James Buchanan for the presidency and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky as his runmng• mate.19 He was urged to mn for Congress in 1858 but, instead, was ap- pointed by President Buchanan as United States Minister to Spain. He accepted the nomination by letter of October 6, 1858, and was unanimouslI( confirmed by the Senate without the usual reference to a Committee.2° His wife's nephew, Robert W. Woolley, was appointed secretary of the legation. Preston set sail from New York on January 8, 1859, landed at La Havre and proceeded overland through Paris and Mar- seille to Madrid, arriving March 4. Five days later he was presented to Calderon-Collantes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and on the 13th the Queen of Spain gave him audience.