A Brief Examination of the Life & Times of LaRue County's Greatest Soldier and Rejected Statesman
by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar
Of an unknown, unverified source, this image is thought to be one of Read taken in Louisville upon his return from Richmond.
Unlike most American men of the 1st half of the
19th century, Henry Read was a man of many varying professions. Craftsman, lawman, lawyer, soldier,
statesman, he was most of all a servant to his community.
Henry English Read was born in what today is LaRue County on
Christmas day 1824 to Lewis and Ailsey Brown Read, Lewis (b. 5 Jan 1787 Fairfax
Co. VA) being a son of Hensley 1755-1825 and Charlotte Kirk Read and Ailsey M. (b.
28 Dec 1793) the daughter of James & Isabella Brown. Typical for the upper South, they were
prosperous “yeoman” planters and slave holders, being amongst the first
inhabitants of the Tonnieville section which had been settled by the families
removing from the early Goodin’s Station along the Rolling Fork River. Lewis and Ailsey Read were early members of
Hodgenville Methodist Episcopal (South) Church, in whose congregation they
raised their children. Lewis was as well
a Whig party political leader in the southern section of what was then Hardin
County. He became active with other
prominent men in proposing and advocating for the separation from Hardin to
create a new county. He was appointed
one of the first justices for the new county, and later became its
Sheriff.
The Reads were married in 1813 and had a large family
consisting of Belinda, James, William Brown, Nathaniel, Julia Ann, Nannie,
Henry English, Charles, Caroline, Lewis, John Mary Jane, and Joshua
Joseph. Of these, William displayed the
earliest aptitude at public service and early on became a successful lawyer. The subject of this sketch, however,
initially shunned such a vocation and instead was apprenticed to become a
blacksmith. The war with Mexico changed
Henry’s path forever. Like many young
Kentucky men swayed by patriotic fervor inspired by the newspapers of the day,
Henry Read enlisted in President Polk’s newly created elite Voltigeurs after
recruiting was commenced 4 March 1847 and joined the one company formed in
Kentucky, serving under Colonel Thomas Patrick Andrews of Washington, D. C.
Serving in the campaign with distinction, Henry displayed his
natural capacity for leadership on the battlefield where he was dangerously
wounded several times yet heroically pressed on until his body could sustain no
more. Afterwards Read, wounded and
basically abandoned by the Armies, made his precarious and dangerous journey
home to Hodgenville alone, arriving as one of our greatest military heroes in
any generation before or since. He would
be recognized by the Kentucky Legislature for his heroism some years
later.
Resolution #4 would be approved 18th February 1854. It read, “Whereas, Henry E. Read, of LaRue
County, late ensign in the regiment of Voltigeurs, under the command of Col. T.
P. (Thomas Patrick) Andrews, during the war with Mexico, performed gallant
services for his country, having been engaged in every battle that was fought
in the valley of Mexico- in all of which he conducted himself as a soldier and
a Kentuckian, bearing aloft the flag of his country, until he fell covered with
wounds under the walls of Chapultepec.
There, Resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,
That the governor of this state be authorized to procure and present to Henry
E. Read, in the name of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a sword, as a token of
the admiration and gratitude of this general assembly for his gallantry and
patriotism manifested in said war.”
Preserved and protected within the Read family by his son John Wesley, this treasured relic was
given to the Filson Club where it remains today. (Acts of the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: Vol. 1, 1854 p. 188)
from The Courier-Journal 13 February 1938
Home again, war veteran Henry Read would forever be slightly
disabled, preventing him from taking up the hammer to the anvil again as a primary
vocation. He instead followed his father’s
lead at last. The 1850 Federal Census
gives us a glimpse of a rather influential household in the newly formed LaRue
County, a proud success for the elder Lewis Read. Family #3 was headed by elder sibling William
Brown Read, 32 years of age, and already a respected attorney, his wife Sarah,
and borders William H. Waide, 37-year-old merchant, and H. M. Rowlett, a rather
prosperous lawyer. The final resident of
the home was William’s younger brother, and Mexican War hero and now Sheriff of
LaRue County, Henry English, then 25. He
had in fact succeeded his own father, Lewis, in that position. Henry’s term as County Sheriff was apparently
peaceful. He submitted the tax returns
for the county through 1852. (Reports
Submitted to Both Branches of the Legislature of Kentucky for the years
1849-1852)
Henry’s developing political ambitions were successfully
rewarded just a few years later in his bid for statewide office when he was
elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives by LaRue County in 1853,
serving in that capacity through 1855. While
State Representative in 1854, Henry married Charlotte C. Doran in LaRue County
on the 30th of May 1854. She
was the daughter of Hart County planter Thomas Doran and his wife Mary who, in
1850, were listed in the Census Slave Schedules as the owners of 16 men, women
& children. The young couple became
parents to sons John Wesley Read (1857) and William Doran Read (2 Feb 1855), as
well as Mary and Thomas who died as infants. (Collins Historical Sketches of
Kentucky: History of Kentucky Vol. 2. P.
457; Daily Commonwealth, Frankfort, KY multiple issues 1853-55, Legislative
Directory)
Years after the conflict with Mexico we find reference to
Read’s first humble profession, the one forsaken for politics and the law. The Congressional Globe (VOL 35; First
Session of the Thirty-Fifth Congress, p. 2138) for 14th May 1858
explains the introduction of “A bill (H.R. No. 257) to increase the
pension of Henry E Read, a citizen of Kentucky, and for other purposes. The bill raises the half pension heretofore
allowed to Henry E. Read, of Kentucky, a non-commissioned officer in the
Mexican War, to thirteen dollars a month.
The second section enacts that the benefits accruing to Henry E. Read,
under and by virtue of this act, shall commence 3 March 1848, and continue for
and during his natural life. It appears
from the report that Sergeant Read entered the army intended for the invasion
of Mexico, in Louisville, Kentucky, in the spring of 1847; that he was in every
battle fought by the American arms from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico; and
until he fell desperately wounded in the abdomen, in the right shoulder and
right arm, at the storming of Chapultepec; that his conduct in every engagement
was that of a truly courageous citizen soldier, until his fall at the storming
of Chapultepec, with the colors of his regiment in his hands, on the 13th
of September, 1847. The committee
further report that Sergeant Read’s profession or calling before he entered the
Army, was that of a blacksmith; and that he has been compelled, by the wounds
received in the defense of his country, to abandon his trade; and that he is
wholly unable to perform manual labor, and is in that condition at this
time. The committee further report that
Sergeant Read was honorably discharged from the service in the city of Mexico,
while in the hospital, where he lingered for seven months, and had ultimately
to find his way home as best he could.
The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with a
recommendation that it do pass.” Page 2165 reports the ultimate passage of
this bill for the relief of Henry English Read.
Ironically, when the Senate was presented with this Bill, Alabama
Senator Clement Clay, with whom Read would one day be a political colleague in
the Confederate government, objected to it.
Hearing the Bill read, however, followed by the personal testimony of
Senator John Burton Thompson of Harrodsburg, Kentucky who knew Read and “how he was shot…all to pieces”, Clay
soon gave in and the Bill was as well reported to the Senate and passed. (The
Congressional Globe, p. 2695)
That decade of the 1850s was leading our nation to strife no
one could have fathomed, but the national discourse on states’ rights and
regional division as well sharpened Henry’s appetite for politics. His older brother William, assuming a strong
Unionist attitude, was serving in the Kentucky Senate and being mentioned in
the right social circles as a leader of greater aspirations, serving as
Delegate to the infamous Democratic National Convention of 1860 in which Stephen
Douglas was chosen to face the Read Brother’s former neighbor, Abraham Lincoln,
in the race for President that eventually erupted in Civil War. The succession of events after Lincoln’s
election is perhaps as boggling today as it must have been then. With the arrival of spring in 1861, “secession”
was the buzz word, and War had been declared between American states but Henry Read,
like many Kentuckians, held on to hopes of neutrality and a quick end to any
hostilities. Despite the turmoil that
both gripped and electrified the nation, Read succumbed to even greater
political aspirations than could be found in the mostly Union-controlled
Kentucky House, running unsuccessfully on the “Southern Rights” ticket for
Fifth District seat in the United States Congress. (Louisville Daily Courier 19th
June 1861) Still considering himself an American and supporter of the Union, he
ran against, and was soundly defeated by, former Kentucky Governor Charles
Anderson Wickliffe for a seat in the 37th United State Congress in
1861 by a vote of 8,217 to 2,719.
William Brown Read of Hodgenville, photo by Brady
Read published his political views at this time in the
Louisville Daily Courier Tuesday 18th June 1861 in response to
questions posed by the publication in regard to his Congressional race against
Wickliffe. Read replied, “Lebanon, June 17, 1861. Editors Louisville Courier: - In your daily
of the 14th, I find the following Interrogatories propounded to Mr.
Wickliffe and myself: 1. Are you in
favor of Kentucky maintaining her position of armed neutrality? 2) If the Federal Government or Confederate
Government should send their forces on our border, are you in favor of
repelling their invasion with arms? 3.
Are you in favor of the recognition of the Confederate Government? 4. Will you, if elected to Congress, vote for
the passage of a law to raise men, and furnish money to maintain them, or to
maintain those now in the field? 5. Has
Lincoln the power and authority under the Constitution to call our forces for
more than thirty days after the next Congress, to quell the Southern rebellion,
or subdue the South? 6. Has Lincoln, in
our present state of the country, a right to withhold the right to the write of
habeas corpus in any Stat which has not seceded? 7. It is estimated that the maintaining of
the Federal army now costs $1,000,000 per day.
Are you in favor of continuing this army to subjugate the South? During my speech here on last Saturday to a
large audience, I answered them substantially as follows: To the first I answered that I was in favor
of Kentucky maintaining her position of armed neutrality, as long as her
commerce shall be undisturbed and her soil uninvaded. To the second, I would repel by force any
invasion made upon our State without the consent of my State. To the third, I answer yes; that I would be
willing to acknowledge the independence of the Confederate Government. To the fourth, I answer no; not one dollar
would I vote or one man to carry on this unholy war. To the fifth; I answer, no. To the sixth, no. The withholding the writ of habeas corpus makes
him a usurper and tyrant. To the
seventh, I answer again no- not under any circumstances connected with this
war. Yours respectfully, H. E. READ.”
Perhaps this defeat to Wickliffe was Read’s signal to join
with his old friends in Hardin County in military service to the
Confederacy. Newly appointed a
Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army, later Governor of Kentucky Simon
Bolivar Buckner’s surviving orders confirm Read’s initial activities. (The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the
Union & Confederate Armies.
Chapt. XII)
HEADQUARTERS CENTRAL DIVISION OF
KENTUCKY,
Bowling Green, Ky., September 18,
1861.
Maj. J. M. HAWES, C. S. A.,
Bowling Green, Ky.:
SIR: You will establish yourself
without delay, with an infantry battalion of 600 men and Byrne’s battery of
artillery, at the railroad crossing on Green River, to cover the bridge and the
line of defense of the river. I also desire you to open communication with
Elizabethtown. It is also suggested that you establish a strong picket at Bacon
Creek Bridge, 8 miles in advance of Munfordville, on Green River, and that you
carefully watch the Green River Bridge, 10 miles above Munfordville. You will
rally around your command as strong a force of Kentuckians as possible. It is
supposed that a large force of southern-rights men will assemble on Muldraugh’s
Hill, near Elizabethtown. Encourage their remaining there as long as they can
and the assemblage of soldiers. Muster into service all companies who may
present themselves armed for three years, or during the war, or for twelve
months, if they will not volunteer for a longer period. At Elizabethtown,
communicate with Colonel Helm, Col. Martin H. Cofer, or General Henry E. Read
in relation to destruction of bridges and organization of troops. At
Munfordville, communicate with Messrs. Showdy, Bohannon, or Edwards. Seize any
United States arms which may be in Munfordville depot. Send all trains to
Bowling Green, after establishing communication within Elizabethtown, except
one locomotive and a few cars, to keep up communication with your pickets.
Impress upon the people, in accordance with the assurances of my proclamation,
that we do not propose to
{p.416}
molest them. There is a Union
company in Munfordville, commanded by Capt. William Brown. Endeavor to make his
acquaintance as a friend of mine, and give him my most friendly assurances.
Respectfully, your obedient
servant,
S. B. BUCKNER,
Brigadier-General, C. S. Army.
The Louisville Democrat of Friday 20th Sept. 1861
substantiated Read’s early-war military activities, reporting that, “A
gentleman who reached out city yesterday morning, reports that the
Secessionists, under the lead of Henry E. Read, Richard Wintersmith, a
gentleman by the name of LaRue, and others, placed Elizabethtown under martial
law or mob low, at the instance of General S. B. Buckner. After seizing a train and conveying it beyond
Bacon Creek bridge, that bridge was burned, and sundry outrages committed upon
Union citizens. The Secessionists then
took possession of “Old Uncle Bob,” as Robert Wintersmith is familiarly called,
and compelled him, amid their savage yells, to burn the bridge over Rolling
Folk. After committing sundry other outrages,
they fled.”
After his very brief period of military enlistment for the
Confederacy, which must have been physically taxing to the aging veteran, Read
was forced to again acknowledge his lingering physical impairments from battle wounds
sustained all those years before back in Mexico and render his services instead
through politics. When Kentucky’s “Sovereignty”
Convention met in Russellville the 18th of November 1861, Read
attended as a delegate from Hardin and LaRue Counties, casting his vote on
behalf of his constituents for secession from the United States. The 10th of December the
Confederate Congress admitted Kentucky as member of the Confederate
States. Read wasn’t initially selected
for the provisional Congressional seat, but instead Theodore Burnett filled
that until “The council divided the State into twelve districts and provided
for an election by the State at large of persons to represent these districts
in the first permanent Congress of the Confederate States. On the designated day voting places were
fixed and the election was held in all the counties within the lines of the
Confederate army” resulting in Henry Read’s running for and winning Kentucky’s
3rd District CSA Congressional seat that fall of 1861, with
re-election in November of 1863 to serve in both the First & Second
Confederate Congresses representing the people of Hardin & LaRue Counties
for the duration of the War. (Evans,
Gen. Clement A., Confederate Military History; A Library of Confederate
States History, Vol. IX, pp. 213-215)
Henry Read would become known in the Confederate Capital as
an advocate for the support of the soldiers, introducing substantial
legislation for their benefit during his tenure. While a Congressman in Richmond the General
would serve on the Confederacy’s Medical Department Committee as well as the
Quartermaster & Commissary Department’s Military Transport Committee. In such a capacity Read was able to work to
relieve, in what small way he could, the suffering of the boys wounded in
battle, much as he himself had been wounded on the battlefield over 20 years
before. With oversight of the
quartermasters of the army, Read could also make sure desperately needed food
and supplies reached the troops. This
became a daunting task as the war neared an end and state governors, particularly
those from North Carolina and Georgia, began fighting with President Davis and
the Congress over power, and by doing so deprived the army of both food and
fresh troops.
Charlotte, for most of the War, remained in Kentucky, but
did make visits to Richmond as she was able to secure passes for safe passage
through the shifting lines of battle.
One such journey took place in January of 1863, with her pass granted by
former LaRue Countian President Abraham Lincoln himself. John Wesley Read gave a remarkable war-time
account of his amazing childhood adventure to the Confederate Capital via
Washington DC. He vividly recalled in
later years that, “my mother took me with her to Washington to get Mr. Lincoln
to allow her to pass through the Federal lines to Richmond, Va. As a boy of 6 years of age, I remember as
distinctly as if it was yesterday of sitting on Mr. Lincoln’s lap and listening
to the inquiries he made of citizens of LaRue County, that he knew when a
boy. He inquired about Drs. Jessie and
George Rodman; my grandfather, Lewis Read, my uncle, William B. Read; Austin
Gollagher and others. What impressed me
more than anything, while sitting on his lap, was the expression on his face while
describing to my mother the horrors of the war and especially the condition of
the South and of the Confederate armies.
It really seemed to me that if he had been describing a death in his own
family he could not have shown more pain and sorrow than while describing the
horrors of the war.” (The Courier-Journal, 30 December 1928, p. 32)
Despite adversity and separation from his family in
Kentucky, Read remained in Richmond until the very end. It is likely that Read was among those
faithful Kentucky Congressmen who met & dined with fellow Kentuckian and
then Confederate Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge on the eve of the fall
of Richmond. These Kentuckians would
have been among the last vestiges of the crippled Confederate government to
leave the city before it fell to the encroaching Union Army, staying long after
their President had fled the city to set up a safer temporary government in
Georgia. It fell upon Breckinridge to
salvage the doomed government’s official records for posterity along with the
remaining treasury, in addition to his charge of evacuating the city of
Richmond. One of his final duties was to
give a final pay to the seasoned Kentucky soldiers who volunteered as escorts
for President and Mrs. Davis as they made a desperate and futile attempt to
relocate the capital of the Confederacy. But with Lee’s surrender of the Army of
Northern Virginia and the final hours of conflict coming to a swift end, any
hopes for a continuation of their beloved Confederacy were dashed. War at last was ended and peace restored to
the Nation, and at last Henry Read could envision a return home, but there was
little peace for Read to come home to.
The displaced government officials of the Confederacy slowly
made their way back to their respective states.
Sadly, the terms of surrender granted to soldiers failed to apply to
high ranking government officials like General Henry Read of Hodgenville. Like his President & fellow Kentuckian
Jefferson Davis, Read was arrested and imprisoned for treason against the
United States. The scant few accounts from the newspapers of the day piece
together a picture of the events in this painful chapter of Henry Read’s life
after returning to Kentucky. Louisville’s
Daily Courier reported on Saturday 3rd
February 1866 the, “Arrest of General Henry E. Read. Yesterday afternoon General Henry E. Rad,
formerly a member of the Confederate Congress, and latterly residing in this city,
in the practice of his profession, was arrested by United States Marshal
Merriwether. The arrest was made upon a
warrant issued by the United States Court for the District of Kentucky, based
upon an indictment which was framed about the beginning of the war. General Read was conveyed before Judge Builard
and allowed to go upon bonds of $20,000 for his appearance this morning, when
the case will be investigated. As
President Johnson some time ago pardoned General Read, we shall probably have
the validity of the Executive pardon decided upon.”
The case against Read was continued until the 26th
of February. Joyous news for Read was
finally announced on March 31st with headlines reading, “ACQUITTED
OF TREASON. - Considerable inquiry being constantly made as to the present
political status of Gen. Henry E. Read and Major John D. Morris, who were
recently arrested by the U. S. Marshal upon old indictments for treason, we are
gratified to state that these gentlemen have been fully acquitted of all
charges by the United States Court. They
are now rectus in curia (right in
court), being perfectly restored to all the immunities and privileges of their
former citizenship.
Still, the traumas of a brutal failed war and his own ultimate
arrest, along with great personal tragedy, all took a heavy toil on Henry Read’s
formerly heroic & cavalier spirit. The
South as he had known it was long gone, and Read, like many Confederates, could
not make the adjustment. Grieving within
for his personal failures as well as the loss of his country, coupled with
continuing agony of old physical wounds suffered for the country he had forsaken,
Read could take no more. Though he had tried to pick up the pieces and practice
law again, the reality of post-war society was more than he could handle. Read had
returned home to his beloved Kentucky to immense loss, perhaps all due, in
Read’s frayed and distraught mind, to the hardships of war that he had helped
perpetuate. Little Thomas Doran Reed,
born just as America was ripped apart by war, had died in 1862 before he even learned
to walk. Both of Henry’s dear parents
had passed during the conflict as well, in fact within a month of one another,
in the summer of 1863. There are
indications that the family plantation in Tonnieville had been confiscated by
the Federal Government due to the Confederate service of Henry & a younger
brother. At the age of 43, on the 9th
of November 1868, Read could take no more physical and emotional suffering. He ended his own life with a derringer to his
right temple. It’s been recorded that
his son John Wesley, then but a boy of 11, discovered the horrific scene, finding
his father’s lifeless corpse and a bewildering letter expressing both pride
& sadness but failing to offer any true glimpse into the General’s thoughts
that triggered such a damaging, hurtful reaction to his own personal suffering. His body was brought back to Elizabethtown
for burial, where he lies at peace at last in the Elizabethtown City Cemetery.
