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September
1919 – [A specific date is not given.] Louisville, KY. The first civilian airfield in Kentucky established along Taylorsville Road, in Louisville. It will not be officially named Bowman Field until 1923. [EL, p. 8]
1 September –
1792 – Kentucky. Logan County formed from part of Lincoln County. It is named in honor of General Benjamin Logan; county seat is Russellville. [KE, p. 568]
1808 – Frankfort, KY. Governor Christopher Greenup leaves office, with high public esteem. [KE, p. 388-9]
1862 – Morganfield, KY. Union detachment defeated in a skirmish. [KE, p. 907-8]
1864 – Jonesboro, GA. Private Henry B. Mattingly, of Marion County, KY, earns the Congressional Medal of Honor. [KE, p. 222-224]
1870 – Kentucky. Martin County formed. County seat is Warfield; moved to more central Inez, 1873. [KE, p. 613]
1905 – Louisville, KY. Pittsburgh star baseball player Honus Wagner signs a contract with Hillerich company to put his signature on Louisville Slugger bats. He is the first player to do so. [KE, p. 432]
1930 – Puget Sound Navy Yard, Seattle, WA. Jane Brown Kennedy of Louisville christens the U.S.S. Louisville. The first Louisvillewas an ironclad river gunboat built for the Union; the second was a passenger liner pressed into service during World War I. (See 15 January 1931; 7 December 1941; 25 October 1944; 17 June 1946; 14 September 1959; 8 November 1986.) [KE, p. 578]
1950 – Yongsang, Korea. Pfc. David Monroe Smith, of Livingston, KY, earns the Congressional Medal of Honor. [KE, p. 222-224]
1975 – Louisville, KY. The United States Army Reserve’s 412thMedical Detachment Helicopter Ambulance Squadron established at Bowman Field. [EL, p. 9]
Births –
1885 – Stanford, KY. Richard Caswell Saufley born. He will be a pioneer aviator. (See 19 June 1916.) [KE, p. 797]
2 September –
1777 – Fort Harrod, KY. The first court of quarter sessions held. [KE, p. 344]
1851 – Frankfort, KY. John Larue Helm completes gubernatorial term of John J. Crittenden. (See 4 July 1802; 31 July 1850; 8 September 1867.) [KE, p. 421-2]
1862 – Versailles, KY. Town occupied by Confederates. It is soon reclaimed by Federals, maintained by African American troops. When citizens protest, the African American troops are posted on every street corner.
1867 – Louisville, KY. John Muir arrives by boat from Jeffersonville, IN. He writes in his journal that he made his way through the city with his compass without speaking to anyone. Stopping on the Louisville and Shepherdsville Plank Road, he resolves to continue to Florida. Taking his time, including an exploration of Mammoth Cave, he reaches the Gulf of Mexico at Cedar Keys, FL, 23 October 1967. (See Indiana 1 September 1867; 24 December 1914.) [EL, p. 634]
1943 – Fort Campbell, KY. The Columbia Picture Sahara, starring Humphrey Bogart premieres. The IV Armored Corps, called the Ghost Corps and based at Camp Campbell, assisted in the filming. [KE, p. 343-4]
1991 – Louisville, KY. Louisville Downs closes. (See 14 July 1966.) [EL, p. 544]
Births –
1846 – Munfordville, KY. George Garvin Brown born. With his partner George Forman, he will the distillery which still bears their names. Brown will assure quality of his product by bottling and sealing the whiskey before it leaves the plant, thereby preventing the dilution or contamination wreaked on the whiskey shipped in barrels. [EL, p. 131]
1901 – Halstead, KS. Adolph Frederick Rupp born. (See 31 May 1930; 10 December 1977.) [KE, p. 787]
3 September –
1852 – Frankfort, KY. Confederate General Edmund Kirby-Smith begins occupation. [KE, p. 354-6]
1861 – Columbus, KY. General Leonidas Polk occupies the town. [KE, p. 158] Columbus is the terminus of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. Further, attempting to control traffic on the Mississippi River, the Confederates stretch an anchor chain across to Belmont, MO. [KE, p. 216-7]
1861 – Paducah, KY. General Ulysses S. Grant occupies the town to protect the northern terminus of the New Orleans & Ohio Railroad. [KE, p. 705-6]
1862 – Nicholasville, KY. General John Hunt Morgan’s cavalry arrives. In a few days they will have recruited some 1,000 men for the Confederacy. [KE, p. 682]
1862 – Kentuckian Joseph Holt promoted to colonel and appointed by Abraham Lincoln as newly created post judge advocate general of the army, whereby he gained “certain powers of arrest and of holding persons in arrest without writ of habeas corpus.” (See 6 January 1807; Indiana 31 July 1861; 1 December 1875; 1 August 1894.) [EL, p. 395]
1871 – Elizabethtown, KY. General George Armstrong Custer and the 7thCavalry take up station here to stamp out illegal distilleries and to contain the Ku Klux Klan. They will stay until spring, 1873, when they return to the West. [KE, p. 290]
Deaths –
1936 – Lexington, KY. Katherine Pettit dies. She is buried in Lexington Cemetery. (See 23 February 1868.) [KE, p. 719]
1958 – Miami, FL. Former Jefferson County judge Samuel Webb Greene dies. He is buried in Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery. (See 15 April 1876.) [EL, p 358]
4 September –
1799 – Henderson, KY. The three Mrs. Harpe are found guilty of being accessories to murder. They are sent to District Court in Russelllville, KY – where they are acquitted. They return to Logan County. (See 14 December 1798; 5 January 1799; 20 January 1799; 13 February 1799; 27 February 1799; 16 March 1799; 15 April 1799; 22 April 1799; 20 August 1799; 13 January 1804; 4 February 1804 [8 February 1804?].) [McQueen; More offbeat…; p. 20-8]
1861 – Paducah, KY. Ulysses S. Grant occupies the town. [KE, p. 158]
1864 – Greenville, TN. James Herr Rudy is with Hunt Morgan when the latter is shot in the back and killed. [Renau, p. 179]
1956 – Sturgis, KY. A white citizens’ council blocks eight students from entering the desegregated Sturgis High School. Governor A.B. Chandler responds by sending in the National Guard. The students attended classes, protected by some two hundred national guardsmen and twenty-eight state policemen. [KE, p. 263-4]
Births –
1815 – western NY. Lyman Copeland Draper born. His voluminous collection of manuscripts and interviews documents the frontier between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi. [KE, p. 271]
1826 – Murfreesboro, TN. David Wendel Yandell born. Witnessing the incompetent butchery of his fellow surgeons during the Civil War, he will spend 20 years improving the University of Louisville Medical School. (See 2 May 1898.) [KE, p. 971]
Deaths –
1962 – Pippa Passes, KY. Alice Lloyd dies. She is buried on a hillside overlooking her college. (See 13 November 1876.) [KE, p. 564]
1973 – Louisville, KY. Isabel McMeekin dies. She is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. (See 19 November 1895; 14 September 1899; 23 June 1983.) [KE, p. 599-600]
1990 – Los Angeles, CA. Irene Dunne dies. [KE, p. 274] She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA. (See 20 December 1898.)
5 September –
1816 – Bourbon County, KY. A justice of the peace administers governor’s oath to George Madison. He is too ill to travel to Frankfort. Born in June 1763, his brother James Madison is the Episcopal bishop of Virginia and the president of William and Mary College; United States President James Madison is a second cousin. (See 14 October 1916.) [KE, p. 601-2]
1911 – Rowan County, KY. Cora Wilson Stewart establishes “moonlight schools,” expecting 150 students for this first session – 1,500 adults between ages 18 and 86 enroll. The program spread statewide and was emulated by other states. [KE, p. 646]
1917 – Jefferson County, KY. First inductees arrive at Camp Zachary Taylor. [KE, p. 158-9]
1931 – Ashland, KY. The Paramount Theatre opens. Its design comes from ideas published by Paramount Publix Corporation, a division of Hollywood’s Paramount Studios. It is one of the first theatres in the Ohio Valley constructed for “talkies.” Ironically, the premiere film is the Paramount release Silence. (See 1 July 1990.) [KE, p. 709]
Births –
1905 – Middletown, KY. George S. Wetherby born. He will be Jefferson County judge 4 January 1954 – 19 March 1954. (See 19 March 1954.) [EL, p. 933]
Deaths –
1853 – Shelby County, KY. Bland Ballard dies. [EL, p. 58]
6 September –
1880 – Hartford, KY. Hartford College for young and women opens. It will become Hartford High School in 1910. [KE, p. 416-7]
Deaths –
1915 – Los Angeles, CA. Gross Alexander dies. (See 1 June 1852 entry.) He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville. [KE, p. 12]
7 September –
1825 – The Marquis de La Fayette leaves the United States. (See 15 August 1824; 30 April 1825; 2 May 1825; 3-4 May 1825; 5-6 May 1825; 7-8 May 1825; 9 May 1825; 11 May 1825; 13 May 1825; 14 May 1825; 15 May 1825; 16 May 1825; 18 May 1825; 19-20 May 1825; 21 May 1825; 22 May 1825.) [KE, p. 528-9]
1891 – Louisville, KY. Union Station dedicated. It is said to be the largest station in the South. [EL, p. 897-8]
1978 – Lexington, KY. Kentucky Horse Park opens. [KE, p. 504]
Deaths –
1972 – Louisville, KY. Former mayor Andrew Broaddus dies. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. (See 15 May 1900 entry.) [EL, p. 129]
8 September –
1862 – Lebanon, KY. Confederate forces seize the town – and its railroad branch – and remain until October. [KE, p. 539]
1877 – Louisville, KY. The Louisville Grays baseball team is firmly in second place. John Haldeman, son of owner Walter Haldeman, writes a series of articles suggesting corruption. In the resulting scandal, Louisville lost its 1878 National League entry. [EL, p. 71]
Births –
1834 – Frankfort, KY. James Francis Leonard born. He will begin working as a telegraph operator in the Frankfort office in 1848. Within a year, he will be noticed for his speed and in 1855 Samuel F.P. Morse will recognize him as the fastest telegrapher in the world. (See 29 July 1862.) [KE, p. 544]
Deaths –
1867 – Frankfort, KY. John Larue Helm dies, five days after the oath of governor is administered to him at his bedside. He had become ill during the campaign. (See 4 July 1802; 31 July 1850; 2 September 1851.) [KE, p. 421-2]
1953 – Frederick Moore Vinson dies. He is buried in Pinehill Cemetery, Louisa, KY. (See 22 January 1890; 24 June 1946.) [KE, p. 921]
9 September –
1862 – Shelbyville, KY. A skirmish is fought. [KE, p. 816-7]
1889 – Bowling Green, KY. Potter College, a private nondenominational women’s college opens with 11 faculty and 200 students. It will close in 1909. (See 12 May 1890.) [KE, p. 731]
1895 – Louisville, KY. The twenty-ninth annual convention of the Grand Army of the Republic convenes. It is the first time the group has met south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The convention lasts until 14 September, but the effects continue long after. Events are held all over the city, enjoyed by tens of thousands of conventioneers, along with local citizens. (See also 11 September 1895.) [KE, p. 382]
1895 – Louisville, KY. Douglas Park Race Course opens, along with Grand Army of the Republic Convention. Originally a track for trotting horses, it will later switch to thoroughbred racing. Today, the brick pillars at Holy Rosary Academy are all that remain of Douglas Park. [EL, p. 251]
1899 – Luzon, the Philippines. Shelby county native James Franklin Bell earns the Congressional Medal of Honor for “most distinguished gallantry in action,” while protecting the supply lines on the San Antonio-Porac road. [EL, p. 83-84]
Births –
1815 – Louisville, KY. John Thompson Gray born. (See Indiana 14 June 1849; Kentucky 17 July 1902.) [EL, p. 353]
1890 – Henryville, IN. Harland David Sanders born. He will hit upon a combination of 11 herbs and spices which will change the way the world eats. (See 16 December 1980.) [KE, p. 796]
1924 – Daviess County, KY. Wendell Hampton Ford born. He will be governor 1971-4, and United States Senator. [KE, p. 342]
Deaths –
1996 – “Bill” Monroe dies. He is buried in Rozine, KY. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1970), the first class of the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame (1991), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1997. He is the only performer so honored. (See 13 September 1911.)
10 September –
1945 – Clinton County, KY. Lether Hay No. 1 well on Ill Will Creek comes in as a gusher. [KE, p. 208]
1956 – Louisville, KY. Under Superintendent Omer Carmichael, Louisville Public Schools are desegregated. He had already successfully managed the change to coeducation in the early 1950s. [KE, p. 165]
1956 – Louisville, KY. Public schools, under direction of Superintendent Omer Carmichael, desegregated. Twenty-seven percent of the school system’s forty-five thousand students were African-American, and the entire nation waited to see if Louisville would erupt in riots. It did not. National recognition came because of the peaceful integration of Louisville Public Schools. [EL, p. 160]
1971 – Louisville, KY. Governor Louie B. Nunn names first state park in Jefferson County, in honor of late Republican Jefferson County judge E.P. “Tom” Sawyer. [EL, p. 276]
Births –
1786 – Woodford County, KY. John Jordan Crittenden born. He will be governor 1848-50. [KE, p. 240]
Deaths –
1833 – Louisville, KY. Robert Breckinridge dies. He and his brother Alexander were Revolutionary War veterans, having been captured at the fall of Charleston, SC, 12 May 1780. Robert is buried in the Floyd-Breckinridge Cemetery, on his own land. [EL, p. 114-5]
10-11 September –
1852 – Fort Mitchell, KY. Advance troops with Confederate General Henry Heth skirmish with Union troops, before withdrawing to Lexington. [KE, p. 346]
11 September –
1895 – Louisville, KY. Tragedy mars the Grand Army of the Republic convention. A carriage mounted cannon loaded with sixty pounds of black powder explodes, killing four Louisville veterans plus the carriage driver. Nonetheless, the 30,000 person parade proceeds. [KE, p. 382]
Births –
1775 – probably North Carolina. Thomas Kennedy born. His Kentucky plantation will be believed to be Harriet Beecher Stowe’s inspiration for Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (See 18 June 1836.) [KE, p. 487]
1777 – on Back Creek, Berkeley County, VA. Felix Grundy born. He will become known as the most skillful criminal lawyer in the Southwest; will support Andrew Jackson and oppose Henry Clay and his American System; and will be on the committee establishing the line between Kentucky and Tennessee. (See 19 December 1840.) [KE, p. 394]
12 September –
1781 – Eastwood, KY. Long Run Massacre, Indians kill about a dozen women and children. [Renau, p. 28] Abandoning Squire Boone’s Station, settlers are attacked on the road to Louisville. The Indians are lead by British Indian agent Alexander McKee. (See 14 September 1781.) [EL, p. 303-4]
1901 – Louisville, KY. The Louisville Negro Business League organized, to foster and encourage African American businesses in the city. [EL, p. 11]
1915 – Louisville, KY. Ford Motor Company completes a new factory at 2500 South Third Street. [KE, p. 342]
1932 – Paducah, KY. Paducah Junior College begins as a private school. [KE, p. 706]
Births –
1946 – Louisville, KY. Jerry Edwin Abramson born. [EL 1]
Deaths –
1850 – Logan County, KY. Presley Neville O’Bannon dies. “The Hero of Derne” was also a legislator. (See 27 April 1805.) [KE, p. 687]
13 September –
1755 – National Milling Day Oliver Evans 15 Apr 1819;
1781 – intersection of the Falls Trace and the Long Run of Floyd’s Fork, Jefferson county, KY. This is the date in the Encyclopedia of Louisvillefor the Long Run Massacre. [EL, p. 526]
1840 – Louisville, KY. Cornerstone of Church of Our Lady in Portland-Notre Dame Du Port laid. [EL, p. 184-5]
1861 – Frankfort, KY. Abandoning its policy of neutrality, Kentucky demands that all Confederate forces leave the commonwealth, without demanding the same of Union forces. [EL, p. 193-5]
1861 – Frankfort, KY. Hopes for Kentucky’s neutrality die when Unionists, in control of General Assembly, reject Governor Beriah Magoffin’s demand that Confederate and Union forces occupying far-western Kentucky be withdrawn. [EL, p. xix]
1862 – Munfordville, KY. Confederate Colonel John Scott demands surrender of Union Colonel John T. Wilder. (See 14 September 1862.) [KE, p. 661-2]
1999 – Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame recognizes Muhammad Ali as “Kentucky Athlete of the Century.” [EL ,p. 24]
Births –
1911 – Rosine, KY. William Smith “Bill” Monroe born. He will be the “Father of Bluegrass Music.” (See 9 September 1996.) [KE, p. 642-3]
14 September –
1781 – near Eastwood, KY. The Kentucky Encyclopediarecords this date as the Long Run Massacre. They report sixty or more people killed. [KE, p. 571]
1781 – near Shelbyville, KY. Floyd’s Defeat. Responding to the Long Run Massacre (see 12 September 1781) Colonel John Floyd gathers twenty-seven men on horse and heads for Long Run. En route, he surprises a force of about 200 Indians. All but nine of his men are killed, but among the few Indian dead is the chief of the Hurons. Alexander McKee cannot persuade the Hurons to follow-up on their victory. [EL, p. 303-4]
1862 – Munfordville, KY. Colonel John T. Wilder’s Union troops attacked by Confederate Colonel John Scott, reinforced by Colonel Cyrus L. Dunham, senior officer who took command. The Union troops hold until General Braxton Bragg arrives from Glasgow. At the request of Munfordville resident, Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Bragg surrounds the town and prepares for a siege. Faced with overwhelmingly superior numbers, Colonel Wilder surrenders. The Battle of Munfordville is over. [KE, p. 661-2]
1959 – Louisville, KY. The city is unable to raise enough money to buy the U.S.S. Louisville. The ‘Lady Lou” is sold for scrap. (See 1 September 1930; 15 January 1931; 7 December 1941; 25 October 1944; 17 June 1946; 8 November 1986.) [KE, p. 578]
2008 – Louisville, KY. Hurricane Ike sends 75 mph winds. Chicago, IL, gets torrential rain.
Births –
1899 – Osceola, Iowa. Dorothy Park Clark born. She will collaborate with Isabel McLennan McMeekin as “Clark McMeekin.” (See 19 November 1895; 4 September 1973; 23 June 1983.) [KE, p. 599-600]
15 September –
1861 – near Vandersburg, KY. The skirmish fought on Deer Creek becomes the Battle of Burnt Mill, “the first battle of the Civil War fought in Kentucky.” [KE, p. 939-40]
1862 – Munfordville, KY. Battle of Munfordville, continues through 17 September 1862. Confederate General Braxton Bragg captures some 4,000 Union troops and burn the L&N Green River Bridge. [KE, p. 416]
1874 – Frankfort, KY. Theodore O’Hara reinterred in Frankfort Cemetery. (See 11 February 1820; 6 June 1867.) [KE, p. 689]
1890 – Covington, KY. First issue Kentucky Post, daily newspaper. [KE, p. 507-8]
1942 – Fort Campbell, KY. The 12thArmored Division is activated. They will depart in September 1943 to join the 7thArmy in Europe. [KE, p. 343-4]
1976 – Louisville, KY. The Kentucky Colonels basketball team ceases along with its league, the American Basketball Association (ABA). (See 31 March 1967.) [KE, p. 493]
1978 – New Orleans, LA. Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to become world heavyweight boxing champion for the third time. He is thirty-six years old. [EL, p. 24]
Births –
1811 – Portsmouth, OH. James D. Porter born. He and his mother Sarah Porter will move to Shippingport, KY, the next year. Jim will be a puny child, who will train as a jockey. However, around age 17, he will start to grow. The Kentucky Giant will be seven feet nine inches tall. [KE, p. 730]
Deaths –
1835 – Locust Grove plantation, Louisiana. Knox Taylor Davis dies of yellow fever.
1989 – Stratton, VT. Robert Penn Warren dies. He is buried in the Stratton cemetery. (See 24 April 1905.) [KE, p. 932]
16 September –
1970 – Louisville, KY. Company headquarters of KFC Corp. (Kentucky Fried Chicken) dedicated as part of 80thbirthday celebrations of Colonel Harland Sanders, company founder. [EL, p. 482]
Births –
1815 – Pewee Valley, KY. John Barbee born. He will be mayor of Louisville, elected 1855 as candidate of the “Know-Nothing” Party. He therefore presided over the Bloody Monday Riots, 6 August 1855. Barbee finally interceded, preventing the Catholic cathedral and St. Martin’s Church from being burned. Remaining mayor until 1858, he later will join the Democratic party. [EL, p. 67]
Deaths –
1913 – Louisville, KY. Filson Club found Reuben Thomas Durrett dies. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. His personal collection of Kentucky history materials will be sold to the University of Chicago. [KE, p. 275-6]
1916 – New York, NY. Basil W. Duke dies. He is buried in the Lexington (Kentucky) Cemetery. [KE, p. 273]
17 September –
1787 – Danville, KY. The fifth statehood convention assembles. [KE, p. 848-9]
1862 – Battle of Munfordville. (See 15 September 1862.) [KE, p. 416]
1862 – Louisville, KY. City begins fortifying against anticipated attack by General E. Kirby Smith and General Braxton Bragg. [EL, p. 193-5]
1922 – Murray, KY. Site chosen for normal school for western part of state. (See 8 March 1922; 24 September 1923; 26 February 1966.) [KE, p. 664-5]
Births –
1769 – (now) Fayette County, PA. Lucy Virgin (later Downs) born. She is believed to be the first white child born west of the Allegheny Mountains. The family will move to Maysville, KY, in 1790. [KE, p. 270]
18 September –
1861 – Lebanon KY. Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner seizes the thirty-seven-mile Lebanon branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (now CSX), including 22 locomotives; eleven passenger cars; 83 freight cars; five baggage cars. [KE, p. 539]
1908 – Lexington, KY. A monument is erected to William “King” Solomon. (See 22 November 1854.) [KE, p. 832-3]
1910 – Pleasant Hill, KY. The twelve surviving Shakers deed the town to George Bohon, who agrees to care for them until their lives ends. (See 31 October 1835; 31 January 1859; 29 March 1923.) [KE, p. 810]
Births –
1855 – Jackson MS. John F. Gillooly born. Moving to Louisville at age four, he will become a Coast guardsman, called “Captain Jack” or “Hero of the Falls.” He is said to have helped in rescuing some 5,000 people from the Ohio River. (See 18 February 1880; 4 November 1881; 17 February 1914; 17 April 1926.) [EL, p. 340-1]
19 September –
1859 – Harrodsburg, KY. Kentucky University begins classes in former Bacon College building. (See 15 January 1858; 16 February 1864.) [KE, p. 515]
1861 – Barbourville, KY. Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer attacks the town. [KE, p. 51]
1917 – Wilmington, NC. The body of Mary Lily Bingham is exhumed and autopsied. No evidence of poison is found, and she is re-buried in Oakdale Cemetery. [EL, p. 91]
1950 – Chindong-ni, Korea. Corporal John W. Collier, of Worthington, KY, earns the Congressional Medal of Honor. [KE, p. 222-224]
Births –
1925 – Hilltop, KY. Franklin Runyon Sousley born. (See 23 February 1945; 21 March 1945.) [KE, p. 833]
Deaths –
1830 – Mercer County, KY. Gabriel Slaughter dies. He is buried in the family graveyard. (See 12 December 1767.) [KE, p. 825-6]
1840 – Philadelphia, PA. This is probably the date of death of Constantine Rafinesque. He is buried in a pauper’s grave. Eighty-four years later, when the potter’s field is to become a building site, a group from Transylvania University arranges for Rafinesque’s remains to be entombed in the basement of Morrison Old Hall. Subsequently, however, it is believed that in the stacked grave, the wrong body was shipped to Kentucky. The tomb apparently houses one Mary Passimore. Rafinesque’s body is hopelessly lost in the mass re-burial of the entire cemetery. (See 22 October 1783.) [KE, p. 752-3] Transylvania’s student coffee shop is the Rafeskeller and the Curse of Rafinesque is told to all prospective students.
1969 – on a “Grand Ole Opry” tour. Red Foley dies. (See 17 June 1910 entry.) [KE, p. 332]
19-24 September –
1846 – Battle of Monterrey; Mexican War. [KE, p. 633-4]
20 September –
1862 – Bardstown, KY. General Braxton Bragg camps his 28,000 man army in the town. They will remain until 3 October. [KE, p. 51]
1863 – Chickamauga, TN. First Lt. William Wallace Herr, aide-de-camp to Orphan Brigade commander, General Ben Hardin Helm, carries his dying superior from the battlefield. [Renau, p. 179]
Births –
1872 – Cynthiana, KY. Walter E. Scott born. He will become “Death Valley Scotty.” (See 5 January 1954.) [KE, p. 804-5]
21 September –
1881 – Louisville, KY. First electric streetcar goes into service. [EL, p. 513-6]
1966 – Bon Son, Vietnam. Private Billy Lane Lauffer, of Murray, KY, earns the Congressional Medal of Honor. [KE, p. 222-224]
Births –
1859 – Baltimore, Maryland; Theodore Jacob Ahrens Jr. born. He will become a Louisville business leader and philanthropist. He organized the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company, which produced plumbing fixtures, bathtubs and sinks. Dedicated to creating a skilled labor force, he gave over one million dollars to what would became Ahrens Trade School. [EL, p. 19]
1947 – Louisville, KY. Marsha Williams Norman born. She will become a playwright, receiving the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for ‘night, Mother. [KE, p. 684]
Deaths –
1959 – Abraham Flexner dies. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. (See 13 November 1866 entry.) [KE, p. 326]
22 September –
1861 – Washington, DC. President Abraham Lincoln writes to Orville H. Browning: I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we can not hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland. These all against us, and the job against us is too large for us. [EL, p. 193-4]
1870 – Louisville, KY. Board of Education responds to repeated petitions and establishes schools for African American children. [EL, p. 271]
1874 – Richmond, KY. Central University is established, growing from Northern and Southern factions in the Presbyterian church. It will last until 1901, when it will merge with Centre College. [KE, p. 177]
1884 – Louisville, KY. Henry Independence “Harry” Clay killed. He is buried in Lexington Cemetery. This grandson of Henry Clay apparently posed a serious threat to John Whallen’s bid to become “city boss.” Clay is shot by Eleventh Ward city councilman Andrew Wepler, who seems to have cast aspersions on the Clay family, making it “a matter of honor.” Nonetheless, Governor Proctor Knot refused to pardon Wepler, but he served only two years in prison. [EL, p. 205]
1902 – Louisville, KY. First Kentucky State Fair opens at Churchill Downs. (See 27 September 1902.) [KE, p. 512-13]
Deaths –
1888 – Pewee Valley, KY. John Barbee dies. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. (See 16 September 1815.) [EL, p. 67]
23 September –
1862 – Campton, KY. John Hunt Morgan and his troops pass through town. [KE, p. 159]
1889 – Louisville, KY. “Captain William F. Norton, Jr. (“The Duke of Deadville”) opens his Amphitheatre Auditorium, on the south west corner of 4th& Hill Streets. The Auditorium had the second largest stage in the country (after New York City’s original Metropolitan Opera House). This opening production, The Merchant of Venice, starred Edwin Booth. [EL 31-2]
1923 – Morehead, KY. Morehead State Normal School, to train white teachers for eastern Kentucky, registers its first students. [KE, p. 649-50]
1929 – Louisville, KY. The Madrid Ballroom opens. It will reign until January 1952 as one of the most beautiful ballrooms in America. [EL, p. 583-4]
Births –
1800 – near Claysville, PA. William Holmes McGuffey born. The creator of the famous series of readers will teach school in Paris, KY, while attending college, and full time in 1823. (See 4 May 1873.) [KE, p. 597-8]
Deaths –
1969 – Louisville, KY. Erbon Powers (E.P. “Tom”) Sawyer killed in a one-car accident. He is buried in Resthaven Memorial Park. He was Jefferson County judge 17 December 1968 – 23 September 1969. He is Diane Sawyer’s father. [EL, p. 789]
1989 – Springfield, OH. Bradley Kincaid dies. He is buried in Springfield. (See 13 July 1895.) [KE, p. 517-18]
24 September –
1911 – LaGrange, KY. The Masonic University closes for good after fire destroys its main building. (See 1 May 1873.) [KE, p. 615]
1923 – Murray, KY. First classes at Murray State Normal School. (See 8 March 1922; 17 September 1822; 26 February 1966.) [KE, p. 664-5]
1952 – Jefferson County, KY. Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville opens St. Thomas Seminary, staffed by priests from the Society of St. Sulpice. The high school and seminary closes at the end of the school year 1970. [EL, p. 781]
Births –
1896 – St. Paul, MN. Francis Scott Fitzgerald born. In March 1918 he will spend a month at Camp Zachary Taylor near Louisville, KY. This experience will feature prominently in The Great Gatsby(1925). (See 21 December 1940.) [EL, p. 294]
25 September –
1775 – Granville County, NC. Proprietors of Transylvania Company meet, elect James Hogg to represent them in the Continental Congress. They wish to be the Fourteenth Colony. (See 20 April 1735; 27 August 1774; 6 January 1775; 10 February 1775; 17 March 1775; 21 March 1775; 23 March 1775; 4 November 1775; 28 December 1763; 30 January 1785.) [KE, p. 422-3]
Births –
1866 – Lexington, KY. Thomas Hunt Morgan born. He will establish the chromosomal theory of inheritance, a milestone in science. He will be the first American non-physician to with the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine (1933). (See 4 December 1945.) [KE, p. 651-2]
1919 – Norton, VA. John Ed Pearce born. He will be one of Kentucky’s best known journalists and commentators, honored for brilliant writing. [KE, p. 714]
1935 – Horse Cave, KY. Wendell Cherry born. He will be co-founder of Humana. [KE, p. 182]
1948 – Batavia, IL. Daniel Paul Issel born. He will achieve fame as a basketball player at the University of Kentucky, going on to professional play. [KE, p. 457]
Deaths –
1972 – Louisville, KY. Joseph Denunzio Scholtz dies. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. (See 16 January 1890.) [EL, p. 790]
2006 – Louisville, KY. John Ed Pearce dies.
26 September –
1869 – Louisville, KY. The Little Sister of the Poor, a Roman Catholic charitable and religious order, opens a home for elderly persons regardless of race or creed. They will care for more than 4,000 patients before closing this home in 1977. (See 15 May 1991.) [EL, p. 524]
1918 – Bois-de-Forges, France. Sergeant Willie Sandlin, of Jackson, KY, earns the Congressional Medal of Honor. [KE, p. 222-224] He captured three German machine-gun nests. The Kentucky legislature will vote $10,000 to build a house for him. It is called Owl’s Nest. [KE, p. 548] (See 1 January 1890; 9 July 1919; 29 May 1949.) [KE, p. 797]
Births –
1837 – Richmond, VA. Thomas Underwood Dudley born. As second Episcopal bishop of Kentucky, he will be known for his efforts towards education and civil rights for African-Americans. [KE, p. 272]
1927 – Ivytown, TN. Homer Ledford born. He will go to Berea College in 1949 to study music. He will be famous for playing and making Appalachian musical instruments. (See 11 December 2006.) [KE, p. 539-40]
27 September –
1808 – Kentucky. Kentucky Abolition Society holds its first meeting. [KE, p. 489]
1862 – Battle of Augusta, KY. Col. Basil Duke succeeds in driving off two Federal gunboats and rides into town, where his troops are attacked by the pro-Union Home Guard, commanded by Colonel Joshua Bradford. Duke at last routes the Home Guard by burning two city blocks, thus driving out the entrenched defenders. His “victory,” however, exhausts both supplies and ammunition, forcing him to retreat south, instead of proceeding to Cincinnati to assist in John Hunt Morgan’s great diversionary raid. [KE, p. 42]
1902 – Louisville, KY. Close of first Kentucky State Fair. (See 22 September 1902.) [KE, p. 512-13]
Births –
1824 – Maysville, KY. William Nelson born. (See 29 September 1862.) [KE, p. 676]
28 September –
1844 – Kentucky. Delia Ann Webster accompanies abolitionist Calvin Fairbanks to northern Kentucky. Two days later, they are arrested in Lexington and charged with assisting 3 slaves to escape. She is found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison. (See 24 February 1845.) [KE, p. 939]
1862 – Shepherdsville, KY. Confederates take the town and destroy the railroad bridge over Salt River. (See 2 October 1862.) [KE, p. 817-8]
1875 – Lexington, KY. A bay colt named Odd Fellow wins the Lexington Stakes, the premiere race at the Red Mile. This is also the inaugural meeting of the Kentucky Trotting Horse Breeders Association (KTHBA). The Agricultural and Mechanical Fair Association owns the facility. It will be one of the important trotting tracks, and, since 1934, the site of the Tattersalls horse sales. [KE, p. 758-9]
1892 – Lexington, KY. Trotter Nancy Hanks sets a trotting record of 2:04 for a mile. During her career she will lose no races, and will fail to win only one heat. Retiring at age seven, she will be a renowned broodmare. [KE, p. 669]
Deaths –
1953 – San Marino, CA. Edwin Powell Hubble dies. (See 20 November 1899; Indiana 31 May 1914; 25 April 1990.) [EL, p. 408]
29 September –
1781 – near Fredericksburg, VA. Reverend Mr. Elijah Craig preaches to his congregation of 500-600 independent Baptists, who are unpopular with the traditionalist neighbors. He then sounds the tocsin and the Traveling Church heads its wagons and livestock west. On the second Sunday of December, Lewis Craig will place the church’s Bible on a stand in their church building at Gilbert’s Creek. From this base, these strict Baptists will make their way throughout Kentucky. Elijah Craig learns the distilling process and is recognized for the particularly fine whiskey he produces at his home in Bourbon County. [KE, p. 897-8]
1844 – Louisville, KY. Second African Church established. This will become Green Street Baptist Church. (See 10 May 1846; 3 August 1967.) [EL, p. 358]
1862 – Louisville, KY. General Jefferson C. Davis shoots and kills General Will “Bull” Nelson, in the Galt House. [EL, p. 193-5]
30 September –
1957 – Louisville, KY. The Kentucky Railway Museum (KRM), chartered in 1954, is dedicated. (See 30 May 1958.) [EL, p. 478]
1966 – Louisville, KY. Demolition of the Columbia Building begins. [EL, p. 212]
1975 – Manila, the Philippines. Muhammad Ali successfully defends his world heavyweight championship title against Joe Frazier. Called the “Thrilla in Manila,” many aficionados consider this to have been the greatest heavyweight boxing match in history. [EL, p. 24]
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