News in Brief

Hardin Museum seeks $8,000 grant

The Hardin County History Museum has applied for an $8,000 grant to document Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s 1862 raid in Elizabethtown.

The Federal Survey and Planning grant application, filed through the Kentucky Heritage Council, would provide for a comprehensive survey of structures involved in the battle, facilitate installation of interpretive markers and provide for ideas on management and preservation.

Additional funding could come from the county historical society and local tourism bureau.

Museum spokeswoman Susan McCrobie said the documentation also would provide necessary paperwork for more federal money and help promote the site as the state prepares for the Civil War sesquicentennial. Museum chairman Tim Walker said he hopes the project would be finished this spring.

The raid, which took place Dec. 27, 1862, saw Morgan’s troops fire more than 100 cannonballs into the heart of Elizabethtown. Sites that have survived include the Brown-Pusey House where Morgan stayed after taking control of the town.

Monument dedicated for four soldiers

A monument dedication for four soldiers buried in the Crab Orchard Cemetery was hosted Nov. 13 by the Major James H. Bridgewater Camp 7, Sons of Union Civil War Veterans.

A volley salute was fired for two Federals and two Confederates at the dedication. Honored were Moses Fish, 100th USCI; William Tucker, 6th USCI; N. A. Humber, 7th KY Cavalry, CSA, and Carroll Humber, 7th KY Cavalry, CSA. Re-enactors from both armies attended.

Davis birthday commemoration June 3-5

The Jefferson Davis State Historic Site at Fairview has scheduled its Jefferson Davis Birthday Commemoration for June 3-5. Park Director Ron Sydnor invites the public to attend at that time “or at any other time they wish.”

The site preserves the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America.

At the visitors’ center museum, visitors can watch a video describing Davis’s life and the construction of the monument. Guided elevator tours of the monument are available daily. The 351-foot tall monument is the tallest concrete obelisk in the world.

Dolls may have been drug smugglers

Two Civil War dolls believed to have been used to smuggle medicine past Union blockades have been X-rayed and are one step closer to authentication.

The dolls, donated to The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., were examined recently at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and the hollow papier-mache heads and upper bodies are believed to have contained quinine or morphine for Southern troops. Forensic tests are being conducted to determine traces of the drugs.

Museum officials believe the drug smuggling possibilities are true.

Holt restoration may exceed $1.2 million

It’s anticipated that more than $1.2 million will be expended to repair and renovate the Judge Joseph Holt House in Breckinridge County.

Author Susan Dyer, who has helped spearhead an effort to save the historic house, said grants have included one from the Kentucky Lincoln Bicentennial Commission for $158,000 and another – for $150,000 – from the federal Save America’s Treasures program.

Holt, America’s first Judge Advocate General, is the Elizabethtown attorney who presided over the conspiracy trial of Abraham Lincoln’s assassins.

Dyer’s book, “Lincoln’s Advocate, the Life of Judge Joseph Holt,” (see book review) has been instrumental in telling Holt’s story and saving the mansion that was built in the 1850s.

Dyer indicated that the home will be available for public use when restoration is completed.

Museum exhibit begins with Civil War

“Here’s to Your Health: the Development of Healthcare in Northern Kentucky” is Behringer-Crawford Museum’s newest exhibit.

From the Civil War and the formation of Covington’s first hospital, St. Elizabeth, through today’s mergers, the exhibit celebrates the many health innovations and delivery of care throughout the past century and a half. The exhibit is on display from Oct. 16 through Jan. 16.

Exhibit highlights include development of Northern Kentucky healthcare from the Civil War to 2010, detailing what the first hospital was like in 1861 versus today, the history of the doctor’s black bag, artifacts and historical objects, and a photographic mural of Northern Kentucky hospitals.

Camp Nelson play scheduled June 5-6

“Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow!,” a two-act play telling the story of how 400 African-American women and children were ordered out of Camp Nelson, will be performed June 5 -6 at the Jessamine County park.

The story is told through the family of Pvt. Joseph Miller, a soldier who wrote a first-person account of how his family was removed.

Civil War Trivia: Who was O’Hara?

Know the poem “Bivouac of the Dead?”

It was written by Theodore O’Hara, a Confederate colonel in the Civil War and a former officer in the Mexican War.

O’Hara was born in Danville and died in Guerrytown, Ala.