dents, and all the beautiful in the higher and better life is peculiarly manifested by his constant devotion to a Men's Bible Class in the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, where for twenty years he has been found every Sunday morning from October to June expounding the Scriptures. His outdoor exercise and recreation is golf.

The history of Kentucky, to say nothing of the Nation, could not be truly or fully outlined without referring to the life and public services of Justice Harlan. "His fame, like a mighty river, will grow wider and deeper as it rolls downward." And while his name will always hold place with the great men of his race and will likewise be honored and revered "whenever constitutional liberty shall exist on earth," yet the true glory belongs to Kentucky, for he sprung from her soil and was trained and nurtured in our midst during the formative period of his life.

As Kentucky has but one living Justice of the Supreme Court so she and the South have but one living Lieutenant General of the Confederate Army. There are mushroom imitations of that rank found here and there, who sprang up after the storm of war had passed, but these may be passed over without further mention. General Buckner won his high rank by gallant and meritorious service in actual warfare and bears it today modestly, as becomes a soldier.

Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner was born April 21, 1823, in the house at Glen Lily, Hart county, Kentucky, in which he today resides. He was the son of Aylette Hartswell Buckner, who was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, January 13, 1793, and of Elizabeth Ann (Morehead) Buckner, born in Kentucky August 9, 1801. General Buckner's father was brought to Kentucky by his parents at an early age and spent his long and useful life in this state. The military ardor of the son was a direct inheritance from the father, who as a volunteer soldier joined the army under General Harri

Vol. I-35.

son, and was with that officer at the battle of the Thames.

General Buckner received his primary education in academies at Hodgenville and Hopkinsville, and received his appointment to West Point, in June, 1840, from the Hon. Philip Triplett, of Owensboro, then the member of Congress from the district in which the young student's father resided. General Buckner pursued the regular course after admission to West Point and graduated in 1844, being at once commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 6th United States Infantry. Two years later found the young officer in Mexico, where he participated in the siege of Vera Cruz and subsequently in the battles of Cerro Gordo, San Antonio, Churbusco, Molina. del Rey, Chapultepec, Garita del Bela, and in a skirmish at Amazoque, ending his splendid service in that struggle by assisting in the capture of the City of Mexico. He was painfully wounded at Churubusco, August 20, 1847, and was brevetted as First Lieutenant for gallantry at that battle. A short time later, September 8, 1847, he received another promotion to brevet Captain.

The war with Mexico having ended, he returned with the army to the United States and was ordered to West Point as Assistant Instructor in infantry tactics remaining there for two years. In 1850, he was promoted to First Lieutenant in the line, his brevets in Mexico being honorary, not giving him active rank in accordance therewith. In 1851, he was in command at Fort Atkinson in the then turbulent and dangerous Indian Territory where his soldierly conduct won him promotion to Captain in 1852. Ordered to New York City, he was in the Subsistence department until 1855, when he resigned from the army and retired to private life, residing for some time in Chicago, during which time he was on the staff of the Governor of Illinois, and when the trouble with the Mormons in Utah caused the sending of an armed force there under command of

Returning to Kentucky in 1860, the young officer was appointed Inspector General of the State Guard with the rank of Major General. By means of camps of instruction, he formed the State Guard into a compact body of young men fit for any service on the field. In the War Between the States, many of these young men as officers in the Federal or Confederate armies, won high distinction. In 1861 General Buckner was in Washington and, by reason of his military education and experience in actual warfare, was tendered by Mr. Lincoln a commission as Brigadier General in the Federal army which he declined. In September, 1861, having cast his fortunes with the South, he was appointed a Brigadier General and for a time was in command of all the Kentucky troops in the Confederate service. Subsequently he was ordered with his command to Fort Donelson to reinforce the commands of Generals Pillow and Floyd, then threatened by the army under General Grant. Elsewhere in. this volume is related the story of the flight of Pillow and Floyd, and of the self-sacrifice of General Buckner who, true soldier that he is, refused to seek personal safety in flight, but remained with the army and when his gallant troops were worn out with constant fighting which he shared, he surrendered to the overwhelming forces of General Grant who, in the old army, had been his friend but whom the exigencies of war had made his enemy. Sent to Fort Warren in Boston harbor, General Buckner remained a prisoner of war in solitary confinement for eight months. Being exchanged, he was at once promoted to a Major Generalship in recognition of his gallant service at Fort Donelson. Ordered to report to General Bragg at Chattanooga, he was placed in command of a division of General Hardee's

tucky and had the honor to receive the surrender of a large force of Federals at Munfordville, the county seat of Hart county and within a few miles of his boyhood home. He was present with his division at Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862, and participated in the severe struggle which marked that battle as the greatest ever fought in Kentucky. On the retirement of General Bragg from Kentucky, General Buckner was ordered to the command of the Department of Southern Alabama with headquarters at Mobile where his skill as an engineer did much toward perfecting the defenses of that city. In May, 1863, he was in command of the Department of East Tennessee and Western Virginia with headquarters at Knoxville. He participated as a corps commander in the great battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20, 1863, in which struggle it has been stated that the percentage of killed and wounded as compared to the numbers engaged on the two sides, was greater than that of any other battle of the war. In the spring of 1864, General Buckner reported to Lieutenant General James Longstreet and was ordered to join the Army of Northern Virginia. In September, 1864, he was promoted to be a Lieutenant General and assigned to the command of a corps in the Trans-Mississippi Department where he was at the conclusion of the war. Receiving orders from General Kirby Smith, his superior in rank, to "disband the troops under his command," General Buckner declined to obey the order but going under a flag of truce to New Orleans, he arranged for their surrender on the same terms as had been granted to General Lee.

For some reason, never stated, the autocratic Secretary of War, Stanton, refused permission to General Buckner to return to Kentucky. He thereupon took up his residence in New Orleans and was connected with the press of that city as an editorial writer for three years. General Grant coming into the

Presidency, set aside the despotic order of Stanton and General Buckner returned to his home and was editor of the Louisville Courier for a time previous to its consolidation with the Journal.

Induced thereto by the urgent appeals of many of his former comrades and many friends in civil life, General Buckner became a candidate for Governor of Kentucky. His entrance into the contest was at too late a date as many who would cheerfully have supported him had he announced earlier, found themselves pledged to other candidates. General Buckner's close friend, J. Proctor Knott, received the nomination and was chosen Governor at the succeeding election. Four years. later General Buckner was again a candidate and was nominated and elected Governor of Kentucky. There were those who, while his ardent friends, feared that a man trained as a soldier and more familiar with the camp than with civil affairs, might not be successful in the direction of the affairs of the state, but these were soon relieved of their fears for the able soldier at once demonstrated that the rights of the people were safe under his guiding hand. The legislature which was in session soon after he became Governor, poured bill after bill upon his desk, many of which were destined never to find their way to the book of statutes. No bill was too small to escape his watchful eye; no cunningly devised scheme to enrich its promoters ever secured his approval. He was a veritable sentinel on the watch tower of the state. Veto after veto stopped the progress of bills which were for the benefit of the few and against the real interests of the many. The hand which so long had held a sword, now grasped a pen and the principles set forth in his messages as those which he would unswervingly maintain, were those of a civilian and those messages, as was frequently said at the time, might have been written by a lawyer who had had long service on the bench. Men who had doubted the wis

dom of his election, hastened to assure him of their admiration for his administration and the watchful care with which he scrutinized every subject demanding his attention. Political opponents as well as personal and political friends, hastened to do him honor.

Upon the wall of his home at Glen Lily today hangs a handsomely engrossed copy of resolutions adopted by a non-partisan meeting of the leading men of Louisville assembled to pay the Governor the honor which was his due. So far as is known, no such honor has ever come to another Governor of the state. These resolutions are as follows:

"Louisville, Kentucky, April 13, 1888.

"A mass meeting of the citizens of Louisville was held at Masonic Temple on Friday afternoon, April 13, 1888, pursuant to a resolution previously adopted by the Board of Trade.

"Mr. R. A. Robinson called the meeting to order and nominated Mr. John E. Green as chairman, and Mr. Green was unanimously elected. Mr. John W. Buchanan was chosen by the meeting to act as Secretary and a large number of leading citizens of Louisville were designated as Vice Presidents.

"Col. John Mason Brown offered the following:

"This meeting of the citizens of Louisville assembled without regard to political affiliations, disclaiming all partisan feeling and speaking as free citizens of a free-Commonwealth, have the right and duty to speak in commendation of an upright, vigilant and conscientious public servant, and hereby tender their public recognition to Governor Simon Bolivar Buckner for the fearless and faithful manner in which he has within the forms and spirit of the Constitution and the obligations of his oath of office, prevented a mass of injurious legislation from ripening into binding statutes. They especially recognize that signal protection to the interests of the city of Louisville and its