Commissioners battle over Civil War site preservation in Frankfort Kentucky

Belle Montgomery

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Location
44022
Questions flew Monday night as city commissioners said they were caught off guard with the recent construction of a mountain bike trail by Boy Scouts on what some consider to be hallowed Civil War ground.

The topic arose during the public comment period a t the Frankfort City Commission’s work session. Commissioners recently learned of the recent construction of a trail near Fort Hill, which is situated in Leslie Morgan Park and a historic site that some consider a standing ground that preserved Frankfort as the state’s capital.

At one point, commissioners flirted with placing a moratorium on the bike trail, which is being constructed as a Boy Scout project, although City Manager Keith Parker convinced the commission to set discussions at next Monday’s commission meeting.


“We’ve heard one side of the story, and there’s a whole ‘nother side of the story,” Parker said. “… Everybody needs to know that there is a different side to this.”

The topic came to the forefront in the public comment period. John Carlton, who identified himself as an eighth-generation Frankfort resident, reminded the commission about Fort Hill’s place in the history of Frankfort and the nation.

“In 1846, (sic) Morgan’s raiders attempted to capture Frankfort for the Confederacy,” he said. “They had every intent of torching the Old Capitol, the Arsenal and bridges and destroying the Underground Railroad.”


If they had succeeded, Carlton said,...
REST OF STORY: https://www.state-journal.com/2019/05/13/commissioners-battle-over-civil-war-site-preservation/
 
Maybe just a type o but getting the wrong date on the attack (1846) only proves how we're losing knowledge about the war...I just emailed the author of the article :wink:
Yeah, just mistyped 1864. Two members with ties to the 22nd Ky were part of this defense at Fort Hill. It's a nice, quiet walk around a loop of where the fort stood. I have a thread here about Fort Hill. I'll post a link to it.
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/fort-hill.148032/#post-1854989
 
I think it was Colonel Vaughn of the Confederacy that ran a raid into Kentucky and burnt a bunch of county court-houses due to the vote in 1864. A couple of months later, a band of guerillas rode in disguised as yankees and destroyed a wagon train, then systematically 'cat-and-mouse'd' the Federal troops tearing up rail lines, telegraphs, and creating havoc, for about 3 weeks in February. Kentucky has a very colorful history, resenting emancipation, military rule and regulation, and the promulgation of black flag activity against any armed guerillas caught and apprehended. It is a very thorny history to tend to, @Belle Montgomery.
Lubliner.
 
Back
Top