Martyrs Monument in Midway
The Martyrs Monument in Midway in Midway City Cemetery outside of Midway , Kentucky is a war memorial that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky on July 17, 1997, along with 60 other war memorials . The memorial honors four soldiers of the Confederate States Army who were shot dead under an order from Union General Stephen Gano Burbridge . Burbridge's instruction number 59 called for the killing of four Confederate prisoners of war for every soldier in the Union Army who died. Four Confederate soldiers were shot dead northeast of Midway on November 5, 1864. The exact location of this act is unknown today. The order came in retaliation for alleged actions by Sue Mundy , who allegedly terrorized Union Army troops in Kentucky in the later years of the Civil War . The four executed were initially buried in shallow graves, later buried in a Presbyterian cemetery and finally, when the Martyrs Monument was erected in 1890, they were reburied in the current location.
history
Sue Mundy is said to have struck twice in Midway within two weeks, although some historians believe that it was only men who were active under Mundy and not Mundy himself. However, the existence of Sue Mundy is also controversial, Mundy was probably a former cavalryman under John Hunt Morgan . On October 22, 1864, six thoroughbred horses were stolen, including one named Asteroid , which was unbeaten in tournaments. After paying a ransom , Asteroid was returned to its owner ten days later.
On November 1, 1864, another horse capture train for the Confederate guerrillas broke out in an exchange of fire in which Adam Harper Jr. was killed on his property. General Burbridge ordered four imprisoned Confederate soldiers from Lexington to be brought to Midway. On November 5, Burbridge had a firing squad of 40 soldiers execute the four Confederate soldiers. The local men were forced to attend the execution on the town's Allmendplatz. The killed soldiers were then buried in a shallow trench and buried the next day in the cemetery of the former Presbyterian church, where they rested until the memorial was erected in 1890.
Two other incidents occurred in Midway during the Civil War. The first was on July 15, 1862, when John Hunt Morgan had his operator George Ellsworth spread false news that Morgan was not in Midway but would instead attack Frankfort and then threaten Louisville with a force twice as strong as he was actually had available. The other happened on February 2, 1865, when some of the Quantrill's Raiders burned the station, robbed Midway residents, and stole fifteen horses.
monument
The monument is a 4.5 m high obelisk made of granite . The three other memorials dedicated to victims of Burbridge's Order No. 59 are the Confederate Soldiers Martyrs Monument in Eminence , the Confederate Martyrs Monument in Jeffersontown, and the Thompson and Powell Martyrs Monument .
inscription
Rest
soldiers
rest
thy
warfare
Oe'r
––––
M. Jackson
J. Jackson
C. Rigsner
N. Adams
––––
Shot by order of
Genl. Burbridge
Nov. 5 1864
––––
Our Confederate Dead.
See also
supporting documents
- ↑ Civil War in Kentucky (English)
- ↑ a b Penn, William. Civil War in Midway: Raiders, Guerrillas, and Reprisals (Battle Grove Press, 1995.)
- ↑ The Victims of Burbridge the Butcher ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 38 ° 8 '52.6 " N , 84 ° 41' 39.7" W.