History of Meade County, Kentucky

Meade County, the 76th county in Kentucky, was established by Legislative action December 17, 1823 from both Hardin and Breckinridge counties and was named in honor of Captain James M. Meade. It is bounded north and northeast for a great length by the Ohio River, east by Hardin, south by Hardin and Breckinridge County.

Early settlers arrived in the Wolf Creek Area around 1785, but the first permanent settlements were Hill Grove, Stith's Valley, Doe Run Creek and Otter Creek in 1792. There was an abundance of game for food but the Indians were a problem making it necessary to build solid stockades. Land was cleared and planted. Grinding mills were built on Doe Run and Otter Creeks using the fast flowing creeks as power for the mills. The first mill (Lincoln's father was the stonemason) on Doe Run Creek is now an Inn featuring Kentucky foods. Small distilleries dotted the county as apple and peach orchards thrived in the area. Meade County's apple brandy was reputed to be the best in the world.

Meade County is well-watered with streams such as Otter, Doe, Wolf, and Spring Creeks. Topographically, Meade County is made up of "barrens" as well as gently rolling river bottoms. The soil is clay with an abundance of limestone and fertile nature. Tobacco and corn have been leading crops throughout the years, as well as the raising of livestock, grains, etc. in the farmers livelihood.

Brandenburg, is the county seat, situated along the Ohio River, 40 miles below Louisville. It was named for Colonel Solomon Brandenburg and became incorporated in 1825. Circa 1870, the population stood at 427.

	1974 - Before The Tornado The tornados on the afternoon of April 3, 1974 touched down in at least 28 known areas in a six state area. From East St. Louis to Indianapolis, and from Brandenburg to Louisville and on to Paris, Kentucky, and also at Athens and Huntsville, Alabama, the tornado touchdowns that afternoon claimed 120 lives and caused over a billion dollars of property damage altogether. view enlarged image (240K JPG)

1974 - The Aftermath At 4 o'clock Wednesday, April 3rd, 1974 disaster struck, and no one who experienced that terror will ever forget. Two dozen tornados raged through Kentucky and Indiana that day, and with almost no warning, Meade County was changed forever. Thirty one people lost their lives, one hundred and fifty were injured, and over half of Brandenburg's houses were destroyed or severely damaged. Property damage was estimated at $22 million. Historic Main Street was never to be the same. view enlarged image (274K JPG)

	July 6, 1863 General Morgan sends Captains Clay Merriweather and Samuel Taylor, each with 150 men, ahead toward Brandenburg. They derail the Nashville train, take Union supplies, and burn the railroad trestles. Captain George Ellsworth, General Morgan's personal telegrapher, taps the telegraph lines between West Point and Muldraugh Hill. Sending a message to Northern General Judah in Cincinnati, he says: General J. H. Morgan's large army - more than 4000 cavalry and soldiers, is marching on Louisville. The message sends Louisville into a panic, resulting in a military curfew.

July 7, 1863 General Morgan, his brother Colonel Richard Morgan, Colonel Basil Duke, and a Brigade totaling 2000 men approach Brandenburg, the place chosen to cross the Ohio River into Indiana. The long march from Bardstown and climb up Muldraugh Hill is exhausting, and the men stay a few hours in Garnettsville, bathing and washing their clothes in the cool waters of Otter Creek. Captains Merriweather, Taylor, and their men, moving swiftly, are now encamped on farmers' fields in Brandenburg. Captain Thomas Hines rejoins the group here, after a scouting raid around Seymour, Indiana. There he encountered heavy opposition; his men captured, he escaped alone, swimming across the Ohio to elude the Corydon Home Guard. In Brandenburg, the Confederates place two Parrott guns on East Hill and one on West Hill.
Shortly after lunch time, the John T. Combs mailboat arrives and docks at the foot of Main Street. The captains and their men storm the boat and without firing a shot, board the vessel, capturing it and holding it on the bank. Anticipating the next boat, the Confederates order Captain Pepper of the John T. McCombs to send distress signals. The Alice Dean, a luxury boat carrying passengers bound for Louisville, alters course and comes along side to offer assistance. The two boats are lashed together with hawsers and travel to the Brandenburg dock where they tie up. Not only do the Confederates treat passengers with respect, but they also open the safe in the purser's office and return the $10,000 placed there for safekeeping to the passengers. The passengers from both boats are let ashore in Brandenburg and warned not to raise an alarm.

July 8, 1863 Meanwhile, across the Ohio River, the Indiana Home Guard has worked throughout the night to place an old cannon on a bluff across from Brandenburg. General Morgan's division marches from Garnettsville shortly after midnight, and by 9 or 10 a.m. the next morning General Morgan and his men march down Main Street to the river and begin boarding. On the first trip of the John T. McComb the Union men fire the cannon - the three shots all going wide of their mark, the Alice Dean. However, the first shot tears through the upper rigging of the John T. McComb and wounds W. W. Wilson, quartermaster of Morgan's First Brigade. The Confederates open fire with their Parrott guns and their answering three shots hit the cabin by the cannon and scatter the Union men. Extremely accurate artillery fire from the Confederates kills two of the Union men. The crossing takes nearly 17 hours to complete
The Confederate army is ferried across to Indiana, meeting only small further resistance from Indiana's Home Guard on the opposite shore. General Morgan and his staff watch from the porch of Colonel Robert Buckner's home on West Hill. Morgan, who served with Colonel Buckner in the Mexican War, is received at the Buckner home and a fine dinner is set in Morgan's honor. Loading is temporarily halted by the appearance of the Union gunboat, Springfield, and the firing of three cannon balls: one into the Meade Hotel, one into the dock killing two horses, and the third short of the Alice Dean in midstream. The answering Parrott guns on East Hill engage the Springfield for an hour but she runs out of ammunition and leaves for New Albany to replenish her supply. This entire exchange is watched by General Morgan and the men from the Brandenburg bluffs. General Morgan was apprehensive because two of his regiments ferried to the Indiana side of the River were afoot as their horses were still on the Kentucky side. As soon as the Springfield leaves, the horses are ferried across. At about 5 p.m. the gunboat returns, but is sent quickly on its way by the Parrott guns.

July 9, 1863 The loading and crossing are finally completed. Then flames shoot into the sky as the Alice Dean is set afire. Released, she floats toward the Indiana shore, finally sinking near the Kentucky side. The steamer is burned because it is under hire by the Union Army. However, Colonel Basil Duke was an old friend of the John T. McComb's Captain Ballard, who agrees to take his boat upstream to Louisville so it could not be used to pursue the raiders. An advance guard of the Union Army, led by Union General Edward Hobson, arrives at Brandenburg after the crossing and burning of the Alice Dean. Hobson had inexplicably stopped in Garnettsville while the crossing was accomplished.

The majority of this information is taken from the account by Basil Duke, Morgan's brother-in-law, in his book, History of Morgan's Cavalry.