by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER II
SOMETHING ABOUT THE LYON FAMILY
The grand mansion and the extensive domain of Riverlawn had beenoccupied by the Lyon family hardly more than a year when the politicalexcitement in Kentucky began to manifest itself, though not so violentlyas in some of the more southern States. Abraham Lincoln had been electedPresident of the United States, and south of Mason and Dixon's line hewas regarded as a sectional president whose term of office would be amenace and an absolute peril to the institution of slavery. SenatorCrittenden of Kentucky proposed certain amendments to the Constitutionto restore the Missouri Compromise, by which slavery should be confinedto specified limits, and Congress prevented from interfering with thelabor-system of the South.
Before Christmas in 1860, South Carolina had unanimously passed itsOrdinance of Secession, the intelligence of which was received withenthusiasm by the Gulf States, all of which soon followed her example.The more conservative States held back, and all but the four on theborder seceded in one form or another after some delay.
In Kentucky the wealthy planters and slaveholders, with many prominentexceptions, were inclined to share the lot of the seceding States; butthe majority of the people still clung to the Union. Both sides of theexciting question were largely represented, and the contest between themwas violent and bitter. For a time the specious compromise of neutralitywas regarded as the panacea for the troubles of the State by the lessviolent of the people on both sides. Home Guards were enlisted andorganized to protect the territory from invasion by either the Federalor the Confederate forces.
The occupation of Columbus and Hickman on the Mississippi River bySouthern troops, immediately followed by the taking of Paducah byGeneral Grant with two regiments of Union soldiers from Cairo,practically dissolved the illusion of neutrality. The government atWashington never recognized this makeshift of those who loved the Union,but desired to protect slavery. It was honestly and sincerely cherishedby good men of both parties, who desired to preserve the Union and savethe State from the horrors of civil war.
The government did not regard the seceded States as so many independentsovereignties, as the Secessionists claimed that they were, but as partand parcel of a union of States forming one consolidated nation, with noprovision in its Constitution for a separation of any kind, or for thewithdrawal of one or more of the individual members of the Union. TheStates which had pretended to dissolve their connection with the othermembers of the compact were considered as refractory members of theUnion, in a state of insurrection against the sovereign authority of thenation, who were to be reduced to obedience and subjection by force ofarms; for they had appealed to the logic of bayonets and cannon-balls incarrying out their disruption.
With the duty of putting down the insurrection and subduing therefractory elements in the South on its hands, the government could notrespect or even tolerate a neutrality which placed the State ofKentucky, four hundred miles in extent from east to west, between theloyal and the disloyal sections of its domain. If for no other purpose,armies of Federal troops must cross the country south of the Ohio inorder to reach the seat of the Rebellion.
The Home Guards were powerless to prevent the passage of the loyalarmies through the State; and any attempt to do so would have been tofight the battle of the Confederate armies, and would have at oncerobbed neutrality of its transparent mask. A portion of these militarybodies were doubtless honest in their intentions. Those who were not forthe Union in this connection were practically against it. Later in thecourse of events, the Home Guards were incorporated in the armies of theRebellion; and no doubt these organizations were used to a considerableextent to recruit the forces of the enemy.
For a period of several months the State was not in actual possession ofeither party in the conflict. One was struggling within its territory tokeep it in the Union, and the other to force it into the SouthernConfederacy. Irresponsible persons formed what they called a"Provisional Council," elected a governor, and sent delegates to theConfederate Congress, who were admitted to seats in that body.
During this chaotic state of affairs, Kentuckians were joining botharmies, though the great body of them enlisted in the forces of theUnion. At the close of 1861 it was estimated that Kentucky hadtwenty-six thousand men, cavalry and infantry, enrolled to fight thebattles of the loyal nation, including those who had joined theregiments of other States.
Deeds of violence were not uncommon in many parts of the State, growingout of the excited state of feeling. Confederate emissaries were busy inthe territory, and armed bodies of them foraged for provisions andfodder in the southern portions. Unpopular men were hunted down and shotor hanged, and the reign of disorder prevailed. Such was the conditionof Kentucky soon after the Lyon family took possession of Riverlawn; andsome account of its several members becomes necessary.
The first of the name in America had been one of the earliest Englishsettlers in Massachusetts; but one of his descendants, more than ahundred years later, had moved to the colony of New Hampshire. Early inthe present century, one of his grandchildren was a farmer in Derry, inthat State. This particular Lyon had four sons, two of whom have alreadybeen mentioned in this story.
Duncan Lyon was the eldest of them, and seems to have been the mostenterprising of the four; for he emigrated to Kentucky, and purchasedthe extensive tract of land which now formed the estate of Riverlawn. Hebecame a planter in due time from his small beginnings, raising hemp,tobacco, and horses, without neglecting the productions necessary forthe support of his household. He was very prosperous in hisundertakings; and being a man of good sense and excellent judgment, hebecame a person of some distinction in his county. He was known as"Colonel Duncan Lyon," though he never held any military position; buthis title clung to him, and even his brothers in New Hampshire alwaysspoke of him as the "colonel."
He never married; but he made a modest fortune of one hundred thousanddollars, including the value of his estate, though not including thevalue of about fifty negroes, men, women, and children, which for somereason he never disclosed, he did not put into the inventory thataccompanied his will.
The colonel's estate was on Bar Creek, at its junction with Green River.One mile from Riverlawn was the village of Barcreek, a place with threechurches, several stores, a blacksmith's and a wheelwright's shop, witha carpenter and a mason. It supplied the needs of the country in acircuit of eight or ten miles. In fact, it was a sort of market town.
There was not a great deal of building done in this region; but themason residing there had made a comfortable living, jobbing and erectingan occasional chimney, till he died in 1852. The colonel notified hisbrother, Titus Lyon, who was a mason in Derry, that there was an openingfor one of his trade in Barcreek, but he could not advise him to movethere.
Titus was not a prosperous man; for he was rather lazy, and greatlylacking in enterprise. The colonel did not believe he would do anybetter in a new home than in the old one, and he bluntly wrote to him tothis effect. The planter had a suspicion that his brother drank too muchwhiskey, for he could not account for his poverty in any other way; buthe had no evidence on the point. Titus decided to move to Kentucky; andhe did so, though he had to borrow the money of his brother Noah toenable him to reach his new home.
Business in his trade happened to be usually good after his arrival, andfor several years he did tolerably well. Then he desired to buy a houseand some land which were for sale in Barcreek. The colonel loaned himfive thousand dollars for this purpose, and to pay off his note to Noah,mortgaging the estate he had purchased as security.
From this time Titus did not do as well as before. He seemed to regardhimself as a landed proprietor, and the equal of the planters ofKentucky. He neglected his work, feeling rather above it, negroes doingmost of the jobs in his line. He employed a couple of them, but they didnot earn their wages. The colonel had to help him out several times.
As a planter in good standing among his neighbors in the county, ColonelLyon, who was not a profound t
hinker, fell in with the views andopinions of those in his grade of society. He was not a strongpro-slavery man, but he owned half a hundred negroes, who had beennecessary to enable him to carry on his planting operations; but hetreated them as well as though he had paid them wages.
He was not inclined to make any issue with his neighbors on the laborquestion, though some of them thought he was not entirely reliable onthis subject. He attended to his business, and did not vex his spiritover extraneous matters. When the protection of the South against theaggressions of the North in connection with slavery was agitated, hefollowed his Kentucky leaders.
On the question of any interference on the part of Congress or thepeople of the free States he had very decided opinions. If he had everintended to manumit his negroes, as had been hinted in the county, noone could object to his position after the subject began to be agitatedin the State. After eight years' residence in Barcreek, his brotherTitus was a more thorough-going pro-slavery man than the planter; infact, he had had a strong tendency in that direction when he lived inDerry.
Titus's wife was not a happy woman in her domestic relations. She wasbetter educated than her husband, and emphatically more sensible; andshe could not help seeing that Titus was frittering away hisopportunities, drinking too much whiskey, and associating with recklessand unprincipled characters. Their two sons, Alexander and Orlando, werefollowing in the footsteps of their father. Even the three daughters hadimbibed strange notions from their associates, and belonged on theSecession side of the house.
Colonel Lyon was not permitted to witness the wild disorder whichpervaded the State after the election of the Republican President; forhe died suddenly in a fit of apoplexy, after he had eaten his Christmasdinner, in 1858. He was only fifty years old, and perhaps if he hadtaken more exercise and been more prudent in his eating and drinking, hemight have taken part in the stormy events of the later period.
Colonel Cosgrove, a prominent lawyer residing at the county seat, and anintimate friend of the deceased, was present at the funeral. Titus tookcharge of the affairs of the mansion, and the lawyer intimated to himthat he should be present at Riverlawn the next morning to carry out thewishes and intentions of his departed friend.
Titus did not understand this notice, and supposed that the duty ofsettling the estate of his brother rested entirely upon him. ColonelCosgrove came as he had promised, with a will in his hands, of which hehad been the custodian. He proceeded to read it without any ceremony,Titus being the only other person present.
The deceased valued his property at one hundred thousand dollars,Riverlawn being placed at twenty-five thousand, the rest being in cash,stocks, and other securities. The estate, including the negroes,everything in the house or connected with the place, and ten thousanddollars, half cash and half stocks, were given to Noah Lyon. Thedocument explained that he gave the money and stocks to Noah, because hehad supported and brought up the two children of his deceased brotherCyrus.
To his brother Titus he gave twenty-five thousand dollars, including themortgage note he held against him, half the balance in cash, and half instocks and bonds. To his brother Noah, in trust for the two children ofhis brother Cyrus, deceased, twenty-five thousand dollars, to be paidover to them when they were of age. Colonel Cosgrove said the deceasedhad apportioned the stocks as they were to be given to the legatees, andthe money was in the county bank. He would come to Barcreek in about aweek to pay over the cash, and deliver the stocks to Titus.
The lawyer was appointed executor of the estate, and he would hold theproperty given to Noah Lyon until he came to receive it, or made otherarrangements in regard to it. Then he showed a letter, with a great sealupon it, which he had been directed to deliver to Noah in person. Tituswanted to know what the letter was about; but if the lawyer knew itscontents, he avoided making any revelation.
It was evident to Colonel Cosgrove that Titus was dissatisfied with thewill, for a heavy frown had rested on his brow since the reading of thefirst item of the instrument; but he said nothing, and very abruptlyleft the legal gentleman.