{⋆★⋆} BG Duke, Basil Wilson

Basil Wilson Duke​

Born: May 28, 1838

Birth Place: Scott County, Kentucky

Father: Captain Nathaniel Wilson Duke 1806 – 1850

Mother: Mary Pickett Currie 1813 – 1847

Wife: Henrietta Morgan 1840 – 1909

(Buried: Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky)​

Children:

Captain Basil Wilson Duke Jr. 1862 – 1940​

(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)​

​

Thomas Morgan "Tommie" Duke Ballou 1863 – 1905​

(Buried: Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky)​

​

Calvin Morgan Duke 1869 – 1942​

(Buried: Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky)​

​

Captain Henry Hunt Duke 1871 – 1941​

(Buried: Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California)​

​

Julia Blackburn Duke Henning 1875 – 1961​

(Buried: Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky)​

​

John Duke Unknown – 1866 – (Sec. C Lot 17)​

​

Mary Curie Duke Matthews 1866 -​

Education:

1853 – 1854: Attended Georgetown College​

​

1854 – 1855: Attended Centre College​

​

1858: Graduated from Transylvania University law school​

Occupation:

1858 – 1861: Attorney in St. Louis, Missouri

Civil War Career:

1861: Served in Morgan's Cavalry as 2nd​ Lt.​

​

1862: Wounded during the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee​

​

1862: Lt. Colonel in the Confederate Army Cavalry​

​

1862 – 1864: Colonel in the Confederate Army Cavalry​

​

1862: Participated in Morgan's Christmas Raid in Kentucky​

​

1862 – 1863: Trainer of Mounted combat for Morgan's Raiders​

​

1863: Participated in Morgan's Ohio Raid​

​

1863: Captured during the Battle of Buffington Island​

​

1863 – 1864: Prisoner of War kept in Union Army Prison​

​

1864 – 1865: Commander of Morgan's Raiders​

​

1864 – 1865: Brigadier General in the Confederate Army Cavalry​

​

1865: Served as guard for President Jefferson Davis​

​

1865: Present at the last Confederate War Council in Abbeville, South Carolina​

​

1865: Surrendered in Washington, Georgia​

Occupation after War:

Attorney in Louisville, Kentucky​

​

Chief Counsel & Lobbyist for Kentucky, Louisville, & Nashville Railroad

​

1869 – 1870: Member of Kentucky State Assembly​

​

1875 – 1880: Commonwealth Attorney in Kentucky​

​

Helped found Louisville, Kentucky's Filson Club​

​

1904 – 1909: U.S. Commissioner of Shiloh National Military Park​

Died: September 16, 1916

Place of Death: New York City, New York

Cause of Death: Arteriosclerosis, amputation

Age at time of Death: 78 years old

Burial Place: Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky

 

[donna]

One of my favorites from Civil War and after. A book I am still trying to buy is his "History of Morgan's Cavalry.". I have his autobiography.

 

[Pollaco]

He started out as a private in Morgan's Lexington Rifles. He eventually rose through the ranks and succeeded his brother-in-law and commanded Morgan's old brigade. It was remnants of this brigade that escorted Jefferson Davis and the treasury after the fall of Richmond.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

His grave at the Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. The John Hunt Morgan Family Plot.

 

[farrargirl]

One of my favorites from Civil War and after. A book I am still trying to buy is his "History of Morgan's Cavalry.". I have his autobiography.

Here are some of my favorites re: Gen. Duke and Morgan. These are free and assesible through archive.org.

This one, also by Duke is a really great read. Here's the Table of Contents, and a good anecdote from this book:

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy Birthday Brig. General Basil Wilson Duke! Salutes remembering General Duke on his birthday.

 

[Pollaco]

More than one of the newspaper articles states that he married Gen. John Morgan's daughter, it was his sister wasn't it?

 

[gentlemanrob]

More than one of the newspaper articles states that he married Gen. John Morgan's daughter, it was his sister wasn't it?

Yes his sister but we must remember the newspapers sometimes don't get everything 100%.

 

[Pollaco]

I think I read somewhere that one of his wounds was in his back. He was not running away but charged through the Union line and the federal soldiers turned and fired.

 

[Pollaco]

According to the book "Who Was Who in the Civil War", the Confederacy had 2 Basil Dukes. The General Basil Wilson Duke that we all know about. Then there was Basil C. Duke, a physician who was medical director for the District of Abington, Department of Southwestern Virginia under command of General Humphrey Marshall. This doctor was recommended for a brigadier generalship.Whether he accepted or was ever commissioned by the Senate, I'm not sure. And they were possibly related as they were both from Kentucky.

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy weekend Birthday Brig. General Basil W. Duke! Salutes remembering General Duke on his birthday weekend.

 

[Pollaco]

I often wondered who decided and how Duke was decided on to be Jefferson Davis' escort.

 

[OldSarge79]

I often wondered who decided and how Duke was decided on to be Jefferson Davis' escort.

While heading south from Abingdon, Virginia, Duke's Brigade found Jefferson Davis at Charlotte, NC, and offered their services as escorts. Davis accepted.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

I often wondered who decided and how Duke was decided on to be Jefferson Davis' escort.

Believe it was Breckinridge's decisions.

Four or five skeleton brigades of cavalry (including one under B-G Duke) accompanied Davis and his cabinet fleeing from Richmond for much of their route through Virginia, the Carolinas and into Georgia. Breckinridge, as Confederate Secretary of War (appointed Feb. 6, 1865), was responsible for all the forces guarding Davis and his entourage on the move.

On May 2, at Abbeville, SC, a Confederate council of senior officials met. Consequently, Breckinridge, who was in charge of Davis's escort as well as the remainder of the Confederate Treasury in transit too, ordered Duke and his command to take over custody and control of the Confederate Treasury funds in transportation. Duke reluctantly accepted and carried out this appointment over the next three days until reaching Washington, GA , on May 4/5. On May 4/5, Duke transferred what was left of the Confederate Treasury to a Confederate Treasury official, Micajah Clark.

Apparently, immediately after May 4/5, Breckinridge directed Duke to march with two or three hundred of his men over the next two or three days, in an attempt to divert the attention of numerous Federal cavalry in the vicinity from the direction that Davis's route had taken. At the end of this period, Duke and his small command surrendered to Federal cavalry at a small place called Woodstock. (Davis was captured in Irwinville, GA, on May 10).

Perhaps the strength of the connection between Breckinridge and Duke can be demonstrated, when later it was Basil Duke who led the funeral procession for Breckinridge's burial at Lexington Cemetery, KY, in 1875.

 

[ErnieMac]

Another sister in law, Catherine Morgan married Confederate Lieutenant General A. P. Hill.

 

[donna]

Saw General Duke mentioned today. A great soldier and probably General Morgan's best friend besides being his brother in law. I recommend his books. There is much insight into times with Morgan and other aspects and people of the war. A General overlooked but very accomplished.

 

[USS ALASKA]

Anniversary Bump

Promotion

15 Sept 1864

Basil Wilson Duke promoted Brigadier-General PACS 19 September 1864 to rank from 15 September 1864.

CONFEDERATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OF BELGIUM
General Basil Wilson Duke
Lowell H. Harrison
Professor of History
Western Kentucky University

A modest man, who was content to serve quietly and efficiently in the shadow of his glamorous and illustrious brother-in-law, Basil W. Duke has seldom received the credit he merited for his Civil War leadership. Yet he was one of Kentucky's finest soldiers in the Civil War, and he was one of the most capable Confederate officers of his rank. His excellent books and articles on the war have helped obscure his contributions, for in them he gave himself less than full credit, and his works have been used extensively by later historians of that conflict. It is time, therefore, to look anew at the civil career of General Duke.

Full article here,

http://chab-belgium.com/pdf/english/Basil%20Duke.pdf

Please use above link.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA