Confederate president portrayed at battlefield

Local News

May 12, 2008

Bill Robinson The Richmond Register Mon May 12, 2008, 08:23 AM EDT

KINGSTON — June 3 will mark the 200th anniversary of an American president born in Kentucky.

It is not Abraham Lincoln. The 200th anniversary of his birth is Feb. 12, 2009. A two-year national celebration of his bicentennial began this year.

June is the birth month of that “other” native-Kentuckian who headed a national government, Jefferson Davis, first and only president of the Confederate States of America.

A more subdued commemoration of his birth will take place Sunday, June 8, in Fairview, where a 351-foot concrete obelisk, taller than a football field is long, rises above the Todd County countryside.

The Davis birth place is less than 100 miles from Lincoln’s near Hodgenville.

Two former Frankfort schoolteachers who portray Davis and his wife Varina will be among those in Fairview on June 8. On Saturday, they appeared as the Davises during a living-history weekend at Madison County’s Battlefield Park

Cliff Howard held up a large portrait of Davis, to which he bears a striking resemblance. However, the tall, bearded Howard began his living-history career by portraying Lincoln.

“We found that men portraying Lincoln outnumber those presenting Davis by about 100 to 1, said Howard’s wife Joan, who portrays Davis’ second wife.

“I was trained to be a professor, not a president,” said Howard as Davis,

“Before I could be admitted to Transylvania University in Lexington, I had to demonstrate that I could translate from the Greek New Testament.”

The school had only recently begun to accept non-ministerial students when Davis enrolled in 1822, but it still retained the Greek-language admission requirement.

Davis knew the ancient language because his father had earlier dispatched him from their Mississippi home to study at the St. Thomas Aquinas School in Springfield.

After his 1824 appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Davis almost was denied admission because he was deficient in math.

“They didn’t want me, because I couldn’t do arithmetic,” said Davis. “I may not know arithmetic, I told them, but I can translate the New Testament from Greek. I guess they figured if I could master Greek, I could learn arithmetic.”

Howard began his portrayal of Davis almost apologetically, because the Confederate president’s leadership was harshly criticized during and after the Civil War. As chief executive of a nation based on a weak central government, Davis was chosen for his collegial, consensus-building style, Howard said.

Although he proposed gradual emancipation of slaves, Davis also is inextricably linked to the Confederacy’s attempt to prolong slavery.

“Judge us by the standards of our day, not today,” said Joan Howard as Varina Davis.

“My husband and his family treated their slaves humanely,” she said. “He even tried to reunite separated families.”

Several of the Davises’ former slaves remained with them as hired servants after emancipation.

Prior to the Howards’ portrayals of the Davises, members of Madison County’s five Masonic lodges and the Order of the Eastern Star dedicated a monument to Masonic veterans of the 1862 Battle of Richmond.

They assembled in the lawn of the Battlefield Visitor’s Center as Madison County Historic Properties Director Phillip Seyfrit and battle historian Robert Moody unveiled the stone memorial.

“Bob Moody and I got the idea for this monument during a visit to Gettysburg, where we saw what we believe to be the only Masonic memorial on a Civil War battlefield,” Seyfrit said. “This one is the second.”

“Numerous officers on both sides of the battle were master Masons,” Moody said. Some were lodge founders. The enlisted men, many in their teens, would have been too young to be Masons.

Union Gen. Malon Manson had founded a lodge in Crawfordsville, Ind.

After he was wounded, Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne, who was founder of an Arkansas lodge, convalesced in the home of the Kingston lodge’s master.

After the war, Masonic leaders worked to dispel the bitterness felt by some fellow Masons who had fought on opposing sides, said Robert Davenport, a past grand master of Kentucky’s grand lodge.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.

Text Only

Local News

Judge weighs constitutionality of legislative redistricting
Kentucky’s deadline for filing to run for legislative seats was in flux on Monday because a judge did not immediately rule on a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of newly redrawn district boundaries.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said he expects to enter a ruling in the case by mid-week.

February 7, 2012
Couple recovering from injuries suffered in weekend house fire
A couple was hospitalized after their home was set ablaze Sunday by a spark from a cigar, according to a county fire official.

County Fire Chief Jim Cox said the city and county fire departments were called to the home at 111 Concord Road in the early afternoon. Waco Volunteer Fire Department and the Richmond Fire Department also responded.

February 7, 2012
EKU closes dining room at Arlington Clubhouse
A Richmond country club is no longer offering dining to members, but remains available for catered events and will be open on certain holidays.

Arlington Country Club, which has been a staple of Eastern Kentucky University for the past 40 years, laid off all dining staff late last week, according to Tom Coffey of the EKU Foundation.

February 7, 2012
Standoff at Super 8 Motel ends peacefully
A bizarre drug-fueled standoff at the Richmond Super 8 Motel ended peacefully with no one hurt, including a child who was in the room with a man that police found wielding two knives.

About 1:53 a.m. Friday, police received a call about a man who was threatening someone with a knife at the motel on North Keeneland Drive, according to Richmond Police Chief Larry Brock.

February 6, 2012
Trial for couple accused of human trafficking delayed
The trial for a Berea couple accused of human trafficking involving their daughters has been delayed.

Despite Monday morning television reports that the trial was beginning Monday, it was postponed because the attorneys are not ready to try the case.

February 6, 2012
Richmond man charged with child porn possession
(Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic information some readers may find offensive.)

A Richmond man has been arrested for possession of child pornography as a result of a nearly one-year investigation by local police.

February 6, 2012
Noted author to deliver keynote address for Black History Month
Almost a year ago, Arnold Rampersad stood in the East Room of the White House as he was presented the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.
On Thursday, Feb. 16, the noted author will stand in O’Donnell Hall of Eastern Kentucky University’s Student Success Building to deliver the keynote address for the university’s Black History Month observance. Rampersad’s visit is also part of Eastern’s year-long Chautauqua lecture series, and the title of his talk, “Black History: The Challenge of Living with Others,” coincides with this year’s Chautauqua theme, “Living with Others: Challenges and Promises.”

February 6, 2012 1 Photo
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity of Madison and Clark Counties, which has built 160 homes for people in need since 1992, is seeking applicants for partner families, according to Judy Flavell, executive director of the organization.
“We really need applicants right now,” Flavell said. “More people can qualify for Habitat homes than people realize.”
Eligible applicants must have lived in Madison or Clark counties for at least one year, have a stable income, be able to pay a modest monthly mortgage and be able to demonstrate that their current housing is overcrowded, physically substandard, too expensive, unsafe, or they are living in subsidized housing, according to Habitat.
For more information about eligibility, or to apply, call Habitat for Humanity at 625-9208 or visit its office at 1417 East Main Street in Richmond. Visit online at habitatmadisonclark.org.

February 6, 2012 2 Photos
Occupational therapy dept. at EKU offers program for adults with memory loss
For local adults who are experiencing memory loss related to dementia or Alzheimer’s, the Department of Occupational Therapy at Eastern Kentucky University has provided “The Place to Be” for the past two decades.
The department will again sponsor the free eight-week program on Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., beginning Feb. 9. Participants can attend Thursday and/or Friday. Applications still are being accepted (call 893-0653) for the free service, which is offered in Room 100 of the Dizney Building on EKU’s campus.

February 6, 2012
Bible Belt towns in state consider going ‘wet’
In this Appalachian college town where socially conservative views are bedrocks of life, some people want to do what was once unthinkable: legalize liquor sales.
Supporters say passing the measure in Tuesday’s special election in Barbourville would tap a new revenue source in a place where hundreds of jobs are evaporating as one plant shuts down and another cuts its workforce in half. But from the pulpits to the courthouse square, opponents have been pressing their case that uncorking liquor sales would irreparably harm the town of about 3,200.

February 6, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Local News

Search Results

Confederate president portrayed at battlefield

Have you ever attended a meeting of a local government agency or taxing district?

Site Map