Leonard Stephens Letter, 18 Oct 1861
Beech Woods, Kenton County, Ky. 18th October 1861
My Dear Brother,
Your kind letter of the 25th of August has been on hand some time, & I have thought every day since its reception that I would write an answer, but various things have interfered, untill I feel ashamed of neglecting you so long, & now undertake to write, & will commence by giving family items first, & then such other things in the way of news as may be presented to my mind. My own family with the exception of myself is in the enjoyment of moderately good health. I am suffering at times a good deal with my lungs, & am now confirmed in the belief they are seriously affected. How I shall be able to get along with the cold weather I cannot tell, for the changes operate hard on me; & I am dreading the winter. Now even sufficient unto the day we are taught is the evil thereof, so I shall hope for the best. One of my boys Tom got his shoulder dislocated about three weeks ago & has suffered a good deal with it, but is now better & seemed to be in a fair way to get well.
Reuben Bristow in returning from Cynthiana about four weeks since got very badly injured by a collision on the Rail Road & has been pretty much helpless since untill within a few days now, he had been riding round a little. His legs were caught between two of the Cars, & it is a mistery that they were not crushed off. One of them was badly mashed, tho I suppose no bones broken. There were others badly injured & one man a conductor killed dead & one so badly hurt as to die in a short time. The rest as I understand are all
recovering. My children & their families are well or were a few days ago, when I last heard from them. Brother Edmund has been poorly but is now about as well as could be expected, considering his now
advanced age. He can yet walk here & back with but little inconvenience.
Our two sisters spent last week & a portion of this here, & we were one day (last Monday) at Brother Edmunds. They are in the enjoyment of pretty good health. Sister Nancy’s health has improved a great deal since you saw her, & her general appearance changed very much for the better. They are now I suppose at Sister Polly’s & have promised to return here next week. I think it is a time of general good health in this part of our State, altho Death has been abroad in our land. Old Uncle Mike Rouse died about the last of July or early in August. The old man Waller the gate keeper died about three weeks ago & Mrs Ezekiel Swetnam died last friday night. She was a daughter of Mr. Watson. Mrs. Milly Clarkson lost a daughter about 17 years of age, the forepart of this week. She died with consumption, her father was Manoah Clarkson.
I heard from East Bend last week the friends there were all well.
Sister Aggy had just recd a letter from
Hiram Stephens in Cass County, Mo. The friends there are well. Several of them among the
State Troops in the army under
Price & had been in some fighting but had escaped injury. I have seen that there has been some hard fighting in Missouri, at Springfield, Lexington, & other points. The last account of this war from there is that Gen.
Fremont is in pursuit of Price with an army, said to be pretty sufficient to Capture all the State fources, & then make its way on to Neworleans. The accounts we gather from the newspapers now is that the United States are only now beginning to realize the extent of rebellion, & that the preparations now making will be amply sufficient to crush out the last vestiges with the next few months. If this be so, & surely the papers know whereof they affirm, would it not be far better for the South to submit without the further effusion of blood.
Is it not a great pity for this great nation to be weakened or reduced by intestine wars untill other nations will probably step in & make us dependents of them. Surely if the object here has been to make a display of bravery enough of that has already been done, & as the South has to be subdued, would it not be in their interest to sue for peace, before being vanquished. For while they have their armies in the field & make a shew of fight they could perhaps make more favorable terms than when reduced, or disarmed.
You & I my Brother have had no thing to do with the bringing on of this war, But we are certain to have a good deal to do with its consequences, for if it lasts much longer our Great Grand children will be taxed all their lives to pay its expenses. Does it not behoove every man then that has influence to endevour to induce the Southern States to return to their allegiance as loyal Citizens. Please give me your views candidly in regard to this whole matter, & if we differ or if you do not agree with me, we will still be Brothers & have the same affectionate feelings for each other as we have always done. Contrary to what we expected in the Spring our State has become involved in the Clash of arms, & there are already a number of thousands of troops in Ky. The United States fources are already sufficient to repel & drive out the Confederate troops that are now here, & it is said that a large additional fource is on the way & will be in CinCinnnati within a few days. Thirty thousand are for Ky, & thirty thousand for your State. I suppose one reason we did not have neutrality in KY is that the President believed the South or a Portion of it could be more readily won by marching troops through our State, & the Union men here being largely in the majority were desirous to assist in crushing out rebellion, & they are now doubtless flocking to the United States Standard by large quantities. It was thought for a while now that there might be some fighting in Ky, but the probability now is there will be none as the Confederate troops that had come into our State had commenced retreating, & will soon pass beyond our limits. Every thing is so deranged at present that I can give little or no information in regard to prices for our staples. We are feeding about two hundred hogs, but I have no idea as to what we shall be able to get for them. Our corn crop is short, not an average by I think at least one fourth & perhaps a third. Will you please present me affectionately to all your children & Grandchildren. Let me hear from you soon as this is rece’d as I am very desirous to do so. I am my Dear Brother, yours affectionately till death. May God bless you,
Leonard Stephens
Notes:
Matthew 6:34. Return.
Probably the Thomas Neal, age 30, a black servant who was enumerated at Beech Woods in 1870, together with his wife, Susan, 21, and child, Fish, 1. Return.
Reuben’s condition was described by his sister, Mary Beckley Bristow, in her diary, 11 Oct 1861:
My brother Reuben was on the cars returning from Cynthiana; a collision of the cars took place. By the shock he was thrown down and both feet caught between two cars. I do hope my first emotion when I heard of it was one of gratitude to my God that it was not worse. Have been to see him twice. The first time I thought his hurts would not be very bad, but they got much worse and sloughed to the bone. He is now getting much better again, but can’t walk a step yet.- Bristow, Diary, 87-88.
Their eldest brother, Edmund, was in his 85th year. Return.
Michael Rouse (1776-1861), a minister from Culpeper, Virginia. Like some of the Stephens brothers, he had lived for a time in South Carolina before settling in Kentucky. He was living in Boone County with a son, William, in 1850, having survived his wife, Mary Swindle. Return.
Not identified, although he might have been kin to Leonard through his mother. None of the Wallers found in the neighborhood in 1860 was older than 40. Return.
Sydney C. Watson (1826-1861) had married Ezekiel Swetnam (1817-1861) in 1844. His brother, John J. Swetnam (1815-1876), had married Malvina Elizabeth Watson, the daughter of Philip R. Watson, in 1838. I have not identified Sydney’s father, but perhaps she and Malvina they were sisters. See Bible records in Swetnam file, KHS. Return.
Young Elizabeth Clarkson had attended White Haven Seminary with Reuben Bristow’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth Bristow, known as Betty. Lizzie was the daughter of Manoah Baskett Clarkson (1810?-1847), who was Reuben Bristow’s uncle. Manoah had married Mildred M. Kendrick (1812?- —) in 1834. See Bristow, Diary, 88-90. Return.
Mrs. Agnes Nelson Stephens (1782-1865), widow of Benjamin, Jr. Return.
Agnes' son Hiram Stephens (1813-1875), who had married in 1835 a Boone County neighbor, Harriet Brady (1820-1876). The young couple along with a number of their kin had settled in the previous decades on the prairies south of Kansas City, near the border with Kansas. Hiram and his eldest son, John Lewis Lunsford (1836-1921), joined the Gold Rush to California. Decades later John contributed his reminiscences about life on the frontier to Allen Glenn’s History of Cass County, Missouri (Topeka and Cleveland: Historical Publishing, 1917), 290-296. Return.
A pro-Union provisional government had been imposed on Missouri by Federal troops in July. Many state officials, including Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, were driven from office and formed a government in exile. The complicated military and political events of the war are covered in William E. Parrish, Turbulent Partnership: Missouri and the Union, 1861-1865. (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1963). Return.
Sterling Price (1809-1867) was a former governor turned Confederate general. Return.
John Charles Frémont (1813-1890), the son-in-law of Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, had been the first presidential nominee of the young Republican Party in 1856. Although he was able to dislodge the Confederate forces from Missouri for a time, Frémont got nowhere near New Orleans. His lack of success in the field and extreme abolitionist views led Lincoln to replace him. Return.
The course of the conflict in Kentucky is surveyed in Lowell H. Harrison, The Civil War in Kentucky (Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 1975). More extensive coverage can be found in E. Merton Coulter, The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky (Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1966 [1926]). The Bluegrass State largely escaped the civil disorder and vicious partisan strife which convulsed Missouri. Return.
The Unionist forces retained control of the Kentucky state government, in part because Confederate sympathizers boycotted elections. Among those who took direct contrary action was Leonard’s grandson, James Jerome Bristow (1840-1870), who together with their neighbor, William Corlis Respess (1837-1910), had “gone South” on the 9th of October to Confederate lines to join the CSA Cavalry. Before they could reach Confederate forces, Jerome and Willie with three dozen of their fellow volunteers were arrested by Home Guards in Clark County and sent off to prison at Camp Chase, Ohio. Covington Journal, 2 Nov 1861, p 3, c 1. Return.
