My Old Confederate Home (9 page)

Apparently unprepared for the objection, Young glibly assured Bascom that the committee would consider the matter, then called for a vote. Rebel yells from the crowd cut off any further discussion, and Young's motion was passed. The Kentucky Confederate veterans were committed.

The next day Major General Poyntz named members of the Committee of Twenty-Five, a steering committee responsible for raising $25,000 and securing favorable legislation. Ex-governor J. B. McCreary, State Supreme Court Chief Justice J. H. Hazelrigg, and State Senator William O. Coleman brought political sway; Walter N. Haldeman, founder of Louisville's
Courier-Journal
, and Lot D. Young of Lexington assured a favorable press. Geographic balance came from T. M. Barker (Christian County), Judge R. H. Cunningham (Henderson County), Charles L. Daughtry (Warren County), and James B. Rogers (Bourbon County). John W. Green represented Kentucky's Orphan Brigade. In a nod to his dissent, A. W. Bascom, the plainspoken stockman from Owingsville, received a seat on the committee.
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Altogether, Poyntz appointed twenty-four of the most recognizable names in Kentucky politics, commerce, and society—ex-Confederates all—to join him on the committee. Bennett Young was named chairman, and he chose John Leathers as treasurer.

At its first meeting the Committee of Twenty-Five discussed how its members were going to raise $25,000.

Amid the frenzy at the statewide meeting, $25,000 seemed like an easy goal.

The Louisville camp had Parr's house, and it was estimated that the Chestnut Street property would bring $7,000 to $10,000 at sale. Half a dozen veterans at the state meeting pledged $50 or $100 on the spot. One camp pledged thirty acres of land on which to build the home. Everyone seemed to know someone—some prosperous benefactor back home—who would be proud to lay out $500, $1,000, maybe $5,000 for the old boys in gray.
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Surely it would be snap to raise $25,000.

But Bennett Young and the Committee of Twenty-Five knew better. Seasoned fundraisers for political campaigns, monument drives, and charitable institutions, the committee members knew they would likely have to scratch for every dollar. John Leathers opened an account book where he would record firm promises (“subscriptions”) by individuals to collect or pay a specific amount toward building and equipping the veterans' institution.

Returning home to Bourbon County, committee member James Rogers provided his local newspaper editor a printed letter signed by all committee members. This “Appeal to Kentuckians” described the intention of ex-Confederates to build a home and asked “such people in Kentucky or elsewhere as sympathize in this movement to aid it by early and liberal contributions.”
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The appeal was printed in the
Bourbon News
and a score of other newspapers across Kentucky in the first weeks of November 1901, and it aroused a favorable response everywhere. Ex-Confederates and their supporters were simultaneously writing state legislators and passing resolutions in favor of a veterans' home.
The Lost Cause
, a monthly magazine for Kentucky's UDC chapters, urged every Daughter of the Confederacy, “with heart, hand and purse, [to] help this splendid movement.” Mrs. James M. Arnold, current Kentucky UDC president, mailed her own personal appeal to every chapter, asking for their active support.
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In the spirit of reconciliation and comradeship, Union veterans and their supporters pitched in, too. A letter from the national commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic to the Kentucky GAR camps encouraged their members to support the Confederate home effort. The Committee of Twenty-Five's printed appeal made mention of “the splendid provisions made by the National Government for the Federal veterans,” a not-so-subtle reminder of the pensions and veterans' homes available to Kentuckians who had worn the blue.
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Though by December 1901 Leathers's subscription book still had plenty of blank pages, committee members could say that the money tree was blooming and the financial harvest was in sight. A constant drumbeat of favorable publicity, coupled with public confidence in the ability of veterans to raise their $25,000, was making the lobbying effort in Frankfort a lot easier for Bennett Young.

Young was no stranger to counting votes in the General Assembly. He had helped draft the current state constitution and written a procedures manual for state legislators. In addition, his years representing railroad interests in Frankfort had taught Young how and when to press for passage of a bill.

And now was the time to press.

Senators and representatives arrived at the state capitol on January 7, 1902, to be sworn in for the regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly. In the first week following the opening gavel of the new session, State Senator William O. Coleman, a Democrat and one of the Committee of Twenty-Five, introduced SB 41, a bill providing for the establishment and maintenance of a Confederate soldiers' home. Harry P. McDonald, a Democrat from Louisville and Bennett Young's longtime business associate, introduced an identically worded bill in the House of Representatives.
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The assembly was in firm Democratic control, but the acrimony that filled the capitol air two years before had largely dissipated, and the spirit of reconciliation wafted over the statehouse. Legislators looked forward to governing with reason, not rifles. And from a political standpoint, a home for decrepit Confederate veterans was a reasonable—and popular—cause to support.

“The heroes who followed the stars and bars to defeat,” one Republican senator said when asked about the bill, “are as worthy of support in their old age and poverty as the heroes who followed the stars and stripes to victory.”

“A Kentucky Confederate home is an absolute certainty,” wrote one newspaper, and other editors predicted that the legislation would pass without a single vote against it.
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There were a few naysayers, however, even as the bills were under discussion in Frankfort. The
Lexington Leader
reported that the veterans' group in that city felt there was no deep support for the Confederate home plan and predicted that the legislation would be defeated. Instead, the Lexington veterans proposed establishing a state-funded pension program or general assistance fund, administered by a board of ex-Confederates, which would put state money directly into the hands of comrades who needed it. Two Lexington members of the Committee of Twenty-Five resigned, saying they were no longer in sympathy with the plan to establish a home.
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But the Lexington veterans were deaf to the statewide support that Young orchestrated.

Legislation establishing a home for Kentucky's needy Confederate veterans passed with only one dissenting vote and was signed by Governor Beckham on March 27, 1902. (Senator R. H. Fleming, a Federal veteran from Covington, explained why he voted in favor of the ex-Confederates. “I faced these men for four years,” he said, “and I have an abiding respect for them.”)
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The new law created an institution to be known as the Kentucky Confederate Home, and it contained four key provisions.

First, the bill required that the Confederate veterans (or their friends or sympathizers) deed to the commonwealth an appropriate residence on at least thirty acres of land, fully furnished and ready for the care and custody of at least twenty-five persons. The ex-Confederates must convey clear title to the secretary of state, and the governor's office must inspect and approve the facility, before the state would make any payment for the operation of the Home.

Second, the state would provide $125 a year for every resident enrolled in the Home (or a lump sum of $10,000, whichever was greater) for operation of the Home. The state's $10,000 annual payment allowed the ex-Confederates to count on a minimum annual revenue; the $125 annual per capita payment protected the ex-Confederates in the unlikely event that more than 80 veterans sought refuge in the Home.

Third, all residents of the Home must be able to prove their active military service for the Confederate States of America and their honorable discharge or parole at the termination of the war.

And fourth, the governor would appoint an active and involved board of trustees consisting of ex-Confederates or their sons to manage the Home. The fifteen trustees would have complete financial and operational control of the Home, and they would not be paid for their services. The act required that the trustees elect their own board president, treasurer, and secretary. The board would meet at the Home at least three times annually and would provide a detailed financial accounting the first of every year.

Governor Beckham named his fifteen appointments to the Home's board of trustees within a week of signing the bill.

Bennett Young's appointment to the Kentucky Confederate Home board of trustees was no surprise. Neither were the appointments of Harry P. McDonald and William O. Coleman, the legislators who had introduced the Home bills in the General Assembly. Governor Beckham also appointed General Fayette Hewitt, former state auditor, in whose Frankfort bank much of the state's cash was held. The rest of the board members—all of them active ex-Confederates—were politically and geographically balanced, with trustees selected from the strongest Democratic counties of western and central Kentucky. (Lexington's Confederate veterans were not represented on the board.)

The fifteen new trustees gathered for the first time at noon on May 6, 1902, in a conference room of the Courier-Journal Building in Louisville. They were serious men, all of them big fish in their respective ponds. Each had a nodding acquaintance with the others from business dealings, political conventions, or veterans' reunions; but only Bennett Young and Fayette Hewitt had statewide reputations. As a first order of business, a state clerk on hand for the occasion administered an oath of just, impartial, and honest service to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
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No sooner had the clerk set down his Bible than William O. Coleman rose to nominate Bennett Young president of the board. With little discussion (and no dissent), Young was elected by acclamation.

The election of officers continued, with Fayette Hewitt named treasurer, Leland Hathaway of Winchester vice-president, and Harry P. McDonald secretary. These four board officers, along with former Confederate chaplain Dr. Lindsay H. Blanton of Danville, would serve as the board's executive committee.

Coleman stood again to offer a resolution, this time typewritten (with revisions already made in pencil in Bennett Young's handwriting). Coleman's resolution—also approved with little discussion and by acclamation—instructed the board's secretary to advertise for proposals from individuals or communities for property suitable for use as the Kentucky Confederate Home.

Following adoption of a final resolution thanking Governor Beckham and members of the state legislature for their “generous, kindly and brotherly act” in passing the Confederate Home bill, the board adjourned to await real estate proposals.

Sometime following that first board meeting, John Leathers turned over his subscription book of pledged contributions to Fayette Hewitt and showed him the bad news.

Early reports of successful fundraising and the passage of legislation providing payment to operate the Home may have convinced many Kentuckians that there was no need for further contributions. In fact, the ex-Confederates were still far short of their $25,000 goal. Furthermore, every penny of that $25,000 would be needed to acquire at least thirty acres of land, improve it, build the necessary structure, then furnish it for occupancy by no fewer than twenty-five residents. By the spring of 1902, however, subscriptions were stalled at about $8,000, not including the Parr house.
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Leland Hathaway took it upon himself to write the Kentucky UCV camps, urging them to dig deeper. Clearly, money was going to be a problem.

“The establishing of the Home would be a big thing for any place selected,” one newspaper publisher wrote. “That this has been thoroughly understood is best evidenced by the variety of places applying. The chief towns all over the state want it.”
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It didn't take long for communities (and entrepreneurs) around the state to realize that a state-funded institution in their midst could be an attractive proposition. The Home would provide local employment and business for local merchants. And communities could expect the Home to bring visitors who would eat in local restaurants and stay in local hotels.

Owensboro wanted the Home. Glasgow did, too. And Bowling Green. And Frankfort. And Versailles, Nicholasville, Winchester, Bardstown, and Franklin. All announced plans to prepare proposals for the Home's board of trustees.
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Even the publisher of the
Lexington Leader
, ignoring the sentiment of his own local veterans, wrote that “Lexington should get to work to secure [this] valuable institution.” He reminded merchants that the Home would “serve as a constant source of revenue to the inhabitants of the lucky town.”
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The trustees knew they would be giving some town a windfall, so, with money short, they decided to squeeze bidders to sweeten their offers with incentives.

“To Communities and Individuals Desiring to Make Proposals for the Location of the Kentucky Confederate Home.” An ad for site proposals was placed in newspapers around the state during May and June. “Each proposal must state the amount of land offered [and] the amount of money to be given in case the location is accepted.” The proposal also asked for information about existing buildings on the property, proximity to railroads, and water supplies.
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Some communities weren't shy about squeezing back.

In response to a fundraising letter, the commander of the UCV camp in Bardstown wrote Fayette Hewitt “that the members are too poor to subscribe to the Home, but that outsiders might contribute” if the Home were to be located in that county. (The board primly voted that the amount contributed by any camp would not influence the choice of location.)
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