Cassius Marcellus Clay: Firebrand of Freedom , and: Proud Kentuckian: John C. Breckinridge, 1821-1875 , and: The Civil War in Kentucky (review)

Abstract

264CIVIL WAR HISTORY Cassius Marccllus Chy: Firebrand of Freedom. By H. Edward Richardson. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1976. Pp. 154.) Proud Kentuckian: John C. Breckinridge, 1821-1875. By Frank H. Heck. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1976. Pp. 172.) The Civil War in Kentucky. By Lowell H. Harrison. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1975. Pp. 116.) Kentucky of the Civil War era is the order of the day in these three excellent Bicentennial Books from The University Press of Kentucky . AU are by authors with superb credentials, and taken together , the reader is treated to a blend of Kentucky history almost as satisfying as that other potent blend from the Bluegrass State. Although these three volumes meld together as nicely as bourbon and mint, the life of Cassius Marcellus Clay possesses the keenest flavor. H. Edward Richardson, an English professor at Louisville, has written with admirable simplicity and humor of one of the most fascinating characters ever to grace Kentucky's past. What are we to think of a man who proposed marriage while picking hickory nuts, narrowly avoided a duel on his wedding day, drove a rejected suitor to suicide, used a bowie knife to fight numerous bloody duels, survived capture in the Mexican War, thrived as a vocal abolitionist in a slave state, brought a bastard son back from his Russian diplomatic post to live with his family, and at age 84 married the 15 year old daughter of tenant! Yet, during all this, Clay accomplished the founding of Berea College and facilitated William Seward 's purchase of Alaska. Richardson's conjecture regarding Clay's love life with a Russian ballerina is of keen interest. Frank H. Heck, Matton Professor of History (emeritus) at Centre College, gives us a life of John C. Breckinridge in shan) contrast to that of Cassius M. Clay, yet a reader of these two books will begin to understand the deep divisions in Kentucky's ante-bellum society . Breckinridge was left fatherless in 1823, and his mother shunted the family around among various strong-willed relatives. Her son emerged as a lawyer with deep self-understanding and in possession of a great gift for conciliation. By 1850 he had become a leading proslavery spokesman even though his uncles, Robert and William, were staunch emancipationists. Indeed, these two joined with Cassius M. Clay in 1849 to organize the "friends of Emancipation " in hopes of electing delegates to Kentucky's third constitutional convention. Heck adequately portrays Breckinridge becoming the nation's youngest vice president in 1856, and reveals the confusion of the 1860 presidential race after which candidate Breckinridge and other states' righters fled Kentucky slightly in advance of pursuing Union troopers. General John C. Breckinridge served the CSA. in six major BOOK REVIEWS265 campaigns, gradually developing into a competent military leader. He demonstrated this in his victory over a stronger Union force at the battle of New Market. The author gives good coverage of Breckinridge 's military career. After Appomattox, Breckinridge was on the Union's mostwanted list. There is a fascinating account of his 1,000 mile flight by foot, horse, and boat across defeated Dixie and on into Cuba. He returned to Lexington in 1869 following President Johnson's amnesty proclamation, re-entered law, calmly accepted the new nation , and died in 1874. By this time, paradoxically, many Kentuckians believed they had fought on the wrong side in the Civil War. "It has been said with considerable truth that Kentucky joined the Confederacy after the Civil War was over," (p. 108) and Professor Lowell Harrison of Western Kentucky University explains the meaning of that statement and much more in The Civil War in Kentucky. Harrison adds this work to his earlier books on John C. Breckinridge and George Rogers Clark. He believes that "the 1862 invasion of Kentucky was the high-water mark of the Confederacy in the West" (p. 57). The author gives an unusually balanced view of General Braxton Bragg's role in this affair, assigning him his mistakes, "but blame for his failure to concentrate his forces for the decisive battle in Kentucky must be accorded in large measure to Smith, Polk, and Hardee, who...