The Most Hated Man in Kentucky (eBook)

The Lost Cause and the Legacy of Union General Stephen Burbridge

Brad Asher (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
286 Seiten
The University Press of Kentucky (Verlag)
978-0-8131-8139-4 (ISBN)

Infos

For the last third of the nineteenth century, Union General Stephen Gano Burbridge enjoyed the unenviable distinction of being the most hated man in Kentucky. From mid-1864, just months into his reign as the military commander of the state, until his death in December 1894, the mere mention of his name triggered a firestorm of curses from editorialists and politicians. By the end of Burbridge's tenure, Governor Thomas E. Bramlette concluded that he was an "e;imbecile commander"e; whose actions represented nothing but the "e;blundering of a weak intellect and an overwhelming vanity."e;In this revealing biography, Brad Asher explores how Burbridge earned his infamous reputation and adds an important new layer to the ongoing reexamination of Kentucky during and after the Civil War. Asher illuminates how Burbridgeas both a Kentuckian and the local architect of the destruction of slaverybecame the scapegoat for white Kentuckians, including many in the Unionist political elite, who were unshakably opposed to emancipation. Beyond successfully recalibrating history's understanding of Burbridge, Asher's biography adds administrative and military context to the state's reaction to emancipation and sheds new light on its postwar pro-Confederacy shift.

Autor

Brad Asher is an independent scholar. He is the author of Cecelia and Fanny: The Remarkable Friendship Between an Escaped Slave and Her Former Mistress and Beyond the Reservation: Indians, Settlers, and the Law in Washington Territory, 1853–1889. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations
1. Introduction
2. Gentleman
3. Soldier
4. Commander
5. Liberator
6. Tyrant
7. Butcher
8. Pariah
9. Exile
10. Conclusion
Appendix A: Retaliatory Executions of Guerrillas per Burbridge's Order No. 59
Appendix B: Actions Involving Irregular Forces in Kentucky, 1864-1865
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.7.2021
• Zusatzinfo: 14 b&w halftones, 3 tables
• Verlagsort: Lexington
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► 20. Jahrhundert bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Schlagworte: Abolition • Abraham Lincoln • black soldiers • Bluegrass region • Breckinridge • civil liberties • Civil War • Confederacy • election interference • Emancipation • executions • frank wolford • Guerrilla • John Hunt Morgan • Kentucky • Lost Cause • proslavery • Slavery • southern history • Stephen Burbridge • Union • United States • William Sherman
• ISBN-10: 0-8131-8139-9 / 0813181399
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-8139-4 / 9780813181394