Martyrs Monument in Midway | |
Location | Midway, Kentucky |
---|---|
Built | 1890 |
MPS | Civil War Monuments of Kentucky MPS |
NRHP reference # | 97000663 [1] |
Added to NRHP | July 17, 1997 |
The Martyrs Monument in Midway, located in Midway City Cemetery outside Midway, Kentucky, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 1997, as part of the Civil War Monuments of Kentucky Multiple Property Submission. It honors four Confederate prisoners who were killed due to the standing order of Union General over Kentucky Stephen G. Burbridge, known as Order No. 59, which declared: "Whenever an unarmed Union citizen is murdered, four guerrillas will be selected from the prison and publicly shot to death at the most convenient place near the scene of the outrages." [2] The Confederate prisoners, whose names were M. Jackson, J. Jackson, C. Rissinger, and N. Adams, were executed on November 5, 1864 northeast of Midway, the precise location of which is unknown. This was due to the actions of Sue Mundy, a former trooper under John Hunt Morgan who terrorized Union forces in Kentucky during the later years of the American Civil War. They were buried in shallow graves originally, then re-buried in a Presbyterian cemetery, and finally in 1890 moved to their current location, with the dedication of the Martyrs Monument. [3]
Sue Mundy is said to have twice struck Midway in a span of two weeks, although some scholars believe that it may have just been men under Mundy, and not Mundy himself who participated (the very existence of Sue Mundy is in dispute). On October 22, 1864, six expensive thoroughbred horses were stolen, including one that was unbeaten in competition, named Asteroid. After a ransom was paid, Asteroid was returned to his owner, R.A. Alexander, ten days later. [4] On November 1, 1864, on another raid to obtain horses for Confederate guerrillas, a shootout occurred, and Adam Harper Jr. was killed on his property. General Burbridge ordered four Confederates imprisoned in nearby Lexington shipped to Midway. On November 5, Burbridge had a firing squad of forty execute the Confederates in what was then the town of Midway's "commons", forcing local men to watch the event. The fallen prisoners were then buried in a shallow trench, but on the next day were reburied at the former Presbyterian Church gravesite, where they remained until the establishment of the monument in 1890. [5]
There were two other events during the American Civil War at Midway. The first occurred on July 15, 1862, when John Hunt Morgan had his telegrapher George Ellsworth, aka "Lightning" Ellsworth, send a false telegraph message that Morgan was not in Midway, but instead was going to attack Frankfort, and then threaten Louisville, with a force more than twice what Morgan actually had at his command. The other was on February 2, 1865, when a few of Quantrill's Raiders burned the depot, robbed Midway citizens, and stole fifteen horses. [5]
The monument is a 15-foot-tall (4.6 m) obelisk made of granite. Other monuments to victims of Burbridge's Order No. 59, four in total, are the Confederate Soldiers Martyrs Monument in Eminence, the Confederate Martyrs Monument in Jeffersontown, and the Thompson and Powell Martyrs Monument. [6]
Rest
soldiers
rest
the
warfare
Oe'r
_____
M. Jackson
J. Jackson
C. Rissinger
N. Adams
_____
Shot by order of
Genl. Burbridge
Nov. 5 1864
In Retaliation
_____
Our Confederate Dead.
John H. Morgan was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Morgan never used his middle name of Hunt during the war — it is a post war appellation.
The Battle of Salineville occurred July 26, 1863, near Salineville, Ohio during Morgan's Raid in the American Civil War. Except for the St. Albans (Vermont) Raid, it was the northernmost military action involving the Confederate States Army. The Union victory shattered John Hunt Morgan's remaining Confederate cavalry and led to his capture later that day.
The 5th United States Colored Cavalry was a regiment of the United States Army organized as one of the units of the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War. The 5th USCC was one of the more notable black fighting units. It was officially organized in Kentucky in October 1864, after its first two battles. It was commanded by Colonel James Brisbin until February 1865, when he took over the 6th US Colored Cavalry. His executive officer, Louis Henry Carpenter, commanded the regiment until 20 March 1866.
Stephen Gano Burbridge, also known as "Butcher" Burbridge or the "Butcher of Kentucky", was a controversial Union general during the American Civil War. In June 1864 he was given command over the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where guerrillas had carried out attacks against Unionists. He imposed martial law and was criticized for punitive actions against persons accused of being guerrillas.
Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of the Commonwealth when, in a September 1861 letter to Orville Browning, he wrote:
I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor Maryland. These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us. We would as well consent to separation at once, including the surrender of this capitol.
Louisville in the American Civil War was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the Western Theater. By the end of the war, Louisville had not been attacked once, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby.
Marcellus Jerome Clarke was a Confederate captain who in 1864 became one of Kentucky's most famous guerrillas. He was rumored to be "Sue Mundy", a character publicized by George Prentice, editor of the Louisville Journal.
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The Confederate Martyrs Monument at the Jeffersontown City Cemetery in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, marks where four Confederate soldiers were executed "without cause or trial". Their execution was under Order 59, created by Union General Stephen G. Burbridge, known as "Butcher Burbridge" in Kentucky, which called for the execution of four Confederate prisoners for every unarmed Union citizen killed. The total number of executions performed as a result of this order was fifty. The four soldiers commemorated on the stone were Wilson P. Lilly, Rev. Sherwood Hatley, Lindsay Duke Buckner and M. Blincoe.
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George Dennison Prentice was a newspaper editor, writer and poet who built the Louisville Journal into a major newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Ohio River Valley, in part by the virulence and satire in its editorials, which some blamed for a bloody election day riot in 1855. A slaveholder, Prentice initially supported Unionist candidate John Bell in the 1860 U.S. Presidential election, and after the American Civil War began urged Kentucky to remain neutral. Both of his sons joined the Confederate States Army, one dying in 1862, and Prentice's editorials lampooned Kentucky's military governor, Union General Stephen G. Burbridge. Prentice later opposed Congressional Reconstruction. He wrote a biography of Henry Clay published in 1831, an 1836 poem published in the McGuffey Readers, and a collection of his humorous essays was published in 1859 and revised after his death.
Sue Mundy was a fictional guerrilla character created by George D. Prentice, the editor of the Louisville Journal. Prentice opposed the heavy-handed military rule of General Stephen G. Burbridge in Kentucky during the American Civil War.
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