StoriesFromthePast.com

Category: U.S. Civil War

  • American Slavery in Kentucky

    American Slavery in Kentucky

    In honor of Martin Luther King Junior Day and my current home state of Kentucky, I have chosen to share a Kentucky story from Documenting the American South‘s collection of North American Slave Narratives.

    Living in Northern Kentucky, the lap of the Underground Railroad, has been an eye-opener for me. Since moving here I have learned that Kentucky has the unique distinction as the land where the civil struggle between the Union and Confederate states reaches much deeper than North vs. South.

    American Civil War Divisions at the beginning. Border States are in light blue.
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USA_Map_1864_including_Civil_War_Divisions.png

    Kentucky was a slave state before the Civil War, but it never fell to Confederate control. In fact, it was the first of the four “border states” between North and South to succumb to Union control. Because the commonwealth of Kentucky had both a Union and a Confederate constitution, the struggle between the opposing forces reached not only into neighborhoods, but into the very hearts of families where brother fought against brother, and cousin against cousin. In fact, Kentucky’s most infamous family feud, Hatfields vs. McCoys, is said to have begun over family members fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War.

    Isaac Johnson, 1844-1905 

    Some families were even further divided by race. Isaac Johnson’s autobiography, Slavery Days in Old Kentucky. A True Story of a Father Who Sold His Wife and Four Children. By One of the Children, is the story of a child born into a family with a white father and a black mother. Isaac’s family began in the traditional sense with a mother and father living as a happy family in nearly every sense but one: Isaac’s parents were never married, and even though they lived as husband and wife, Isaac’s mother, Jane Johnson, was actually Richard Yeager’s slave.

    Yeager had originally desired nothing more than a simple family life with his common-law wife and their four boys, but he eventually gave in to the social constraints bearing down on him and made the fateful decision abandon pretense and sell off Jane and her children. Isaac’s oldest brother, Louis was nine and Isaac was seven years-old at the time.


    The auctioneer continued his cry for bids and Louis was at last sold for eight hundred dollars. By this time we had taken in the situation, and it seemed as though my mother’s heart would break. Such despair I hope I may never again witness. We children knew something terrible was being done, but were not old enough to fully understand.

    Johnson, Isaac. Slavery Days in Old Kentucky. A True Story of a Father Who Sold His Wife and Four Children. By One of the Children.

    Isaac’s youngest brother was just two when he was separated from his father, mother, and older brothers for two hundred dollars.

    Following his separation from his family, Isaac went through several owners and even made a couple of unsuccessful attempts to escape. His second escape attempt was met with the torture and murder of his fellow slave and good friend who was blamed for inciting the attempted escape.

    It was the Civil War that offered Isaac his third escape attempt leading to his freedom. He found refuge with a Union regiment marching through Kentucky, and eventually enlisted in the First Michigan Colored Infantry which became part of 102nd United States Colored Regiment. Isaac stayed with his regiment until the war ended.

    Upon war’s end, Isaac’s desire to see his final master amidst the destruction of his livelihood as as a slave owner led him to return to Kentucky one last time. He found his former master paralyzed and bedridden, but despite his debilitation, the master was happy to see his former slave. He welcomed Isaac as an old friend, telling him that he was the first of his slaves to leave and the first to return. He even offered Isaac a job with wages if he were to stay. Isaac. of course, could not forget the murder of his friend, and turned down the offer.

    Despite his service to the Union, Isaac believed he would never be free until he left the States behind, so he moved to Ontario, Canada where he married Theodocia Allen. Isaac did finally return to the States, albeit just across the St. Lawrence river from Canada. Isaac stayed as a free man with his wife and seven children in Waddington, New York, where he worked as a stone cutter and mason on Waddington’s Town Hall.

    Isaac eventually moved a little further west along the river to Ogdensburg where he could stay in full view of Canada. His memoirs, Slavery Days in Old Kentucky, were completed and printed in Odgensburg in the hopes that he would one day be reunited with his mother and brothers. Isaac’s heartbreaking closing words are thus:
     “In order that my relatives may know where to find me, in case this little pamphlet should fall into their hands, I give my Post Office address: . . . (pg. 40).”

  • Tombstones Don’t Grow on Trees

    Tombstones Don’t Grow on Trees

    That’s because they grow in them.

    At least at the Lindon Grove Cemetery in Covington, Kentucky, that is. The cemetery is named after the grove of Lindon trees that once grew naturally in this part of town, so trees are important here. Lindon Grove is not just a Cemetery. It’s also a city park and certified arboretum. Many of the older and larger trees in the cemetery are marked with plaques designating both species and native origination.

    Of course tombstones aren’t intentionally planted in the trees, but as the trees grow they encroach upon  nearby tombstones, nearly swallowing them. The photograph below is probably the most picturesque I found, but there are a great many tombstones growing in the trees here. Some are still identifiable; others are more tree than stone.

    Tombstone in tree.jpg

    Of all the cemeteries I’ve ever visited, this one ranks among my favorites. It’s not a typical, run-down, Halloween-type graveyard, although it is one of the many I have seen that once suffered from neglect and vandalism. Despite the absence of play equipment, children feel welcome here. I brought my granddaughter with me, and she was just as entranced by the trees, tombstones, and gently rolling landscape as she would have been in a playground.

    curious little girl
    Fascinated by tombstones.

    This particular graveyard sits on the northern edge of the former Confederate States of America. Just two miles away, across the Ohio River, lays the land of freedom for African Americans still in the bonds of slavery. This is Underground Railroad country and a former hotbed of strife where brother fought against brother. Kentucky was the first southern state to fall back in to Union control.

    This particular cemetery does not hide its dark past; it embraces and rises above it. Set up as a public cemetery by a local Baptist Theological Institute, it began as a fully integrated cemetery including a pauper section where those who could not afford a proper burial were buried for free. A veteran’s section includes memorials for all United States’ wars since the cemetery’s establishment in 1843. Black and white, bond and free are all buried here.

    Civil War history is prominent in Lindon Grove. Because Kentucky did not last long as a Confederate State, both Union and Confederate memorials are laid row by row with Union stones facing off against Confederates. A wide pathway separates the two in semblance of the uneasy front line of a battlefield.  Interestingly, and certainly not intentionally, if one looks north towards Ohio, they can see the tips of Cincinnati’s towering skyline above the the war memorials as a reminder that freedom from the bonds of slavery was not far away.

    At Linden Grove, contemporary life is inspired to mingle with the past. Pebbled walkways meander through the park encouraging foot traffic. Historic walking tours through the cemetery are occasionally offered. The serenity of the area is perfect for yoga enthusiasts. There are also picnic tables for a relaxing repast with family and friends. In the warmer months, the cemetery turns into a theater where theatrical performances and movies are provided for family entertainment. And of course the tombstones make great conversation pieces.

    There is so much history here. The cemetery is actually included on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Among the prominent members of the cemetery, are the city’s founders, politicians, soldiers, and every day heroes including slaves, freed slaves, and their free progeny. One memorial marks the grave of B. F. Howard, a black railroad porter, and founder of the first African-American Elks Chapter in Cincinnati, Ohio. Another belongs to Dr. Louise Southgate, a female physician and early women’s rights activist.

    headless angelIt does not take much digging to find information on the many stories that are buried here. After just one visit and a quick Google search I had everything I needed for several blog posts. I could spend days digging through the mounds of historical information available at the Historic Linden Grove Cemetery & Arboretum website, and I could fill the rest of my lifetime telling stories from just this one cemetery. As Dave Schroeder, former director of Kenton County Public Library put it, “. . . If . . . you start writing down the names of some of the folks and look at the dates of birth and death and do a little research, you can learn so much about the community and what it was like at the time period just by taking your stroll through the cemetery.” My sentiments exactly.

    If you try it, let me know! I’d love to share the stories you find.