History of Fleming County Kentucky United States of America

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John G. Davis, representative, was born in Fleming county, Ky., Oct. 10, 1810. He lived on a farm with his parents and attended the district school during the winter months. He removed to Rockville, Ind., was sheriff of Parke county, 1830-31; clerk of the superior and inferior courts of the county, 1833-51, and was a representative from Indiana in the 32d, 33d, 35th and 36th congresses, 1851-55, 1857-61. He died in Terre Haute, Ind., Jan. 18, 1866.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Claiborne Fox Jackson, governor of Missouri, was born in Fleming county, Ky., April 4, 1807. His parents were natives of Virginia, who settled in Kentucky. They subsequently removed to Missouri, and he was a merchant in Howard county and commanded a company of volunteers in the Black Hawk war, taking part in the decisive battle of Bad Axe, Aug. 1-2, 1832. He retired from business with a fortune, in 1837. He was a representative in the Missouri legislature, 183-48; speaker of the house for one term; a member of the state convention, 1845, and a state senator, 1848-49. He helped to found the banking system of the state, and was bank commissioner for several years. He was elected governor of the state in August, 1860, and in the national election of that year supported the Douglas ticket. When South Carolina seceded, Governor Jackson declared himself a secessionist, but failed to secure from the Missouri legislature that assembled, Dec. 31, 1860, the passage of such an act. He then determined to use his power as governor to secure possession of the U.S. arsenal at St. Louis, then in command of Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, U.S.A. He sent commissioners to Montgomery, Ala., and they obtained siege guns by order of President Davis, which were shipped from Baton Rouge to St. Louis. Meantime he organized Camp Jackson on the hills overlooking the arsenal, and placed it in command of Gen. D. M. Frost, supported by a small brigade of volunteer militia. When President Lincoln called upon Missouri for her quota to support the government, he replied that in his opinion the requisition was "illegal, unconstitutional and revolutionary in its object, inhuman and diabolical," and that Missouri would not furnish one man "to carry on such an unholy crusade." He shortly after convened the legislature and called for 50,000 volunteers for the defence of the state from invasion. As soon as the siege guns arrived at St. Louis, and before General Frost could begin his attack on the arsenal, Captain Lyon surrounded the camp with 7000 men, and General Frost, having only 635 men, was obliged to surrender. This action led to a succession of riots in the city, in which a large number of unoffending men, women and children were shot down. Volunteers began to flock into the state capital and Governor Jackson commissioned ex-Governor Sterling Price major-general of the militia. The Department of the West was commanded by Gen. William S. Harney, and he reached St. Louis the day after the capture of Camp Jackson and at once made a truce with General Price. On May 31, Harney was superseded by Lyon, who met the governor, June 11, and firmly denied the right of the state to dictate as to the movement of government troops in the state, and on June 13 Lyon, with 2000 men, started for Jefferson City, the state capital. On his arrival, June 14, he found that Governor Jackson's army had fled to Boonville, and on the 17th he attacked them there and drove them out of the place, dispersing all but about three hundred men, who still adhered to the cause of their leader. Governor Jackson then appealed to Gen. Leonidas Polk, at Memphis, for aid, and Polk sent him 12,000 men under General Pillow, who occupied New Madrid, Mo., July 28, 1861. Then followed the battles of Wilson's Creek, Aug. 10, 1861, where General Lyon was killed, and the capture of Lexington, Sept. 20, 1861. Governor Jackson left Lexington, Sept. 29, 1861, and tried to convene the legislature at Neosho, Mo., and Price's army went into winter quarters. Meantime the state convention met at the capitol, deposed Governor Jackson and elected Hamilton R. Gamble in his place, and Jackson then joined the Confederate army with a commission as brigadier-general, but was soon compelled to resign by reason of failing health. He died at Little Rock, Ark., Dec. 6, 1862.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Fleming County Kentucky

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