Major and Captain Monroe, CSA - Brothers In Arms

From Confederate Veteran 4(10), 1896, pg.343

Secretary of State

Thomas B. Monroe

Term of Office	August 30, 1859 - October 1, 1861
Party	Democrat
Governor during his term of Office	Gov. Beriah Magoffin
Education	University of Louisiana
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth C. Grier
Children	1 son
Parents
Residence	Kentucky (Lexington, Fayette County)
Occupation	Attorney; Newspaper Editor
Birth Date	7/3/1833
Birth Place	Kentucky (Frankfort, Franklin County)
Date of Death	4/6/1862
Place of Death	Mississippi (Burnsville, near Shiloh)
Cause of Death	Killed at a battle near Burnsville, Mississippi
Place of Burial	Kentucky (Frankfort Cemetery); originally interred on the field of battle by Union soldiers
City Offices Held	Elected Mayor of Lexington, Kentucky.
Military Service	Civil War (4th Ky. Infantry, CSA)
Note	Monroe's father, Judge Thomas Bell Monroe, Sr., served as Kentucky's Secretary of State from September 1823 to September 1824 during the administration of Gov. John Adair. Monroe, Jr., was commissioned Major of the 4th Ky Infantry, CSA, during the Civil War. He died on the battlefield near Shiloh, Mississippi.
Historical Firsts	Appointed Secretary of State in 1859, Monroe (age 26) was the youngest person to occupy the office since statehood.

Thomas B. Monroe, Jr., was the fourth son of Judge Thomas Bell Monroe, Sr. He was born on July 3, 1833, at Frankfort. He was educated at the University of Louisiana while his father was a professor there. In 1849, he settled in Lexington and began the practice of law. In 1856, he became editor of the Democratic newspaper, the "Kentucky Statesman". In 1859, he was elected mayor of Lexington. In 1860, he endorsed states’ rights and the presidential candidacy of fellow Kentuckian John C. Breckinridge.

Monroe was appointed Secretary of State in September 1859 in the administration of Governor Beriah Magoffin, becoming the youngest person to ever occupy the office. He served as Secretary of State until October 5, 1861, when he resigned his office to serve as Major of the Fourth Kentucky Confederate Infantry. He was killed at an engagement at Burnsville on April 6, 1862, and was buried on the field of battle by Union soldiers. After the war, he was reinterred in the Frankfort Cemetery next to his brother Captain Ben Monroe.

Monroe married Elizabeth C. Grier of Philadelphia on November 15, 1859. She was the daughter of Justice Robert C. Grier of the United States Supreme Court. The couple had one son.

References:

"Biographical Encyclopedia", (1878), page 548;

Ed Porter Thompson, "History of the Orphan Brigade", (1898), pages 458-66.

From KY Secretary of State website: http://apps.sos.ky.gov/secdesk/sosinfo/default.aspx?id=36

Gravesites at Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, KY. Photos by Confederate Kentuckian.

Elizabeth Temms - Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, KY

 

 

Elizabeth Temms, b. Unknown, d. 1864

Renovated headstone, Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, KY

The story of Elizabeth Temms from Confederate Veteran, Oct. 1915

 

 

 

 

Other photos from Cave Hill Cemetery. Courtesy of Confederate Kentuckian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



First Battle of Cynthiana, KY

The following two pages are from Mrs. L. Boyd's, "Chronicles of Cynthiana" published in 1894.

Photos from Cynthiana, KY and Lexington, KY courtesy of Confederate Kentuckian.

Execution of Cpt. William F. Corbin, 4th KY Cavalry, CSA

All pictures and text above from, "A Short History of the Soldier-Life, Capture, and Death of William Francis Corbin, Captain Fourth Kentucky Cavalry" by DeMoss, 1897

Full text of the above work can be found free here: https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofso00demo

Headstone picture from: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kycampbe/captaincorbin.htm (Accessed 10/21/15)

Gov. George W. Johnson, KY, CSA

 

George W. Johnson (May 27, 1811 – April 8, 1862), was the first Confederate Governor of Kentucky. While serving as a volunteer civilian aid to Generals Breckenridge and Trabue during the battle of Shiloh he had his horse shot out from under him. Gov. Johnson insisted on being sworn in as a private in the 4th Kentucky Infantry despite his advanced age and lame arm. On the second day of the battle he fought valiantly but died as a result of his wounds.

 



 

 

 

From the "Proceedings of the Convention Establishing Provision Government of Kentucky', 1863

 

 

 

Letter from Governor Johnson to Confederate President Jefferson Davis petitioning for admission to the Confederate States of America. It was granted and Kentucky became the 13th star in the Confederate National Flag and the Confederate Battle Flag.

 

 

 

 

 

Gravesite of Governor Johnson. Georgetown Cemetery, Georgetown, KY.

 

 

 

 

Midway Kentucky CSA Martyr Monument

"Butcher" Burbridge

"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." - Order 59, Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge, USA, July 16, 1864.

Story about the incident in the Victora, TX newspaper the Victoria Advocate, Dec 9th, 1876

Kentucky Ordinance of Succession

Whereas, the Federal Constitution, which created the Government of the United States, was declared by the framers thereof to be the supreme law of the land, and was intended to limit and did expressly limit the powers of said Government to certain general specified purposes, and did expressly reserve to the States and people all other powers whatever, and the President and Congress have treated this supreme law of the Union with contempt and usurped to themselves the power to interfere with the rights and liberties of the States and the people against the expressed provisions of the Constitution, and have thus substituted for the highest forms of national liberty and constitutional government a central despotism founded upon the ignorant prejudices of the masses of Northern society, and instead of giving protection with the Constitution to the people of fifteen States of this Union have turned loose upon them the unrestrained and raging passions of mobs and fanatics, and because we now seek to hold our liberties, our property, our homes, and our families under the protection of the reserved powers of the States, have blockaded our ports, invaded our soil, and waged war upon our people for the purpose of subjugating us to their will; and

Whereas, our honor and our duty to posterity demand that we shall not relinquish our own liberty and shall not abandon the right of our descendants and the world to the inestimable blessings of constitutional government: Therefore,

Be it ordained, that we do hereby forever sever our connection with the Government of the United States, and in the name of the people we do hereby declare Kentucky to be a free and independent State, clothed with all power to fix her own destiny and to secure her own rights and liberties.

And whereas, the majority of the Legislature of Kentucky have violated their most solemn pledges made before the election, and deceived and betrayed the people; have abandoned the position of neutrality assumed by themselves and the people, and invited into the State the organized armies of Lincoln; have abdicated the Government in favor of a military despotism which they have placed around themselves, but cannot control, and have abandoned the duty of shielding the citizen with their protection; have thrown upon our people and the State the horrors and ravages of war, instead of attempting to preserve the peace, and have voted men and money for the war waged by the North for the destruction of our constitutional rights; have violated the expressed words of the constitution by borrowing five millions of money for the support of the war without a vote of the people; have permitted the arrest and imprisonment of our citizens, and transferred the constitutional prerogatives of the Executive to a military commission of partisans; have seen the writ of habeas corpus suspended without an effort for its preservation, and permitted our people to be driven in exile from their homes; have subjected our property to confiscation and our persons to confinement in the penitentiary as felons, because we may choose to take part in a cause for civil liberty and constitutional government against a sectional majority waging war against the people and institutions of fifteen independent States of the old Federal Union, and have done all these things deliberately against the warnings and vetoes of the Governor and the solemn remonstrances of the minority in the Senate and House of Representatives:Therefore, 

Be it further ordained, That the unconstitutional edicts of a factious majority of a Legislature thus false to their pledges, their honor, and their interests are not law, and that such a government is unworthy of the support of a brave and free people, and that we do therefore declare that the people are thereby absolved from all allegiance to said government, and that they have a right to establish any government which to them may seem best adapted to the preservation of their rights and liberties.

Source: Official Records, Ser. IV, vol. 1, p. 741.

Adopted Nov 20, 1861 in Russellville, KY by a ‘Convention of the People of Kentucky’