History of Kentucky

The  of  spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the state's diverse and central location.

Settlement
Although inhabited by in prehistoric times, when explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in the mid-1700s, there were no permanent Native American settlements in the region. Instead, the country was used as hunting grounds by s from the north and s from the south. The first documented exploration of the area that would become Kentucky was made in 1750 by a scouting party led by. Much of what is now Kentucky was purchased from Native Americans in the treaties of (1768) and  (1775).

Thereafter, Kentucky grew rapidly as the first settlements west of the were founded, with settlers (primarily from Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania) entering the region via the  and the. The most famous of these early explorers and settlers was, traditionally considered one of the founders of the state. Shawnees north of the Ohio River, however, were unhappy about the settlement of Kentucky, and allied themselves with the British in the (1775–1783).

During this period, the settlers introduced agriculture to the area. Tobacco, corn, and hemp were the major crops of Kentucky, and the aspects of Native American and settler life became less pronounced.

Kentucky during the American Revolution
Kentucky's second largest city, and former capital, is named for , site of one of the first battles of the Revolution. A fort was built there during the last year of the war for defense against the English and their Native American allies. Kentucky was a battleground during the war; the, one of the last major battles of the Revolution, was fought in Kentucky.

Due to the ongoing violence, by 1776 there were fewer than 200 settlers in Kentucky.

Militia officers
After was created on , the county militia was organized as follows:
 * - county lieutenant
 * - colonel
 * - lieutenant colonel
 * - major
 * - captain
 * - captain
 * - captain
 * - captain

In November, 1780, Virginia divided Kentucky County into three counties:, , and. Militia officers of these counties included:
 * Fayette County
 * John Todd - county lieutenant and colonel (killed at Blue Licks in 1782)
 * Daniel Boone - lieutenant colonel
 * Jefferson County
 * - county lieutenant and colonel (killed 1783)
 * Lincoln County
 * Benjamin Logan - county lieutenant and colonel
 * - lieutenant colonel (killed at Blue Licks in 1782)

In January 1781, Governor appointed George Rogers Clark as brigadier general, a special position created for an expedition against Detroit that never materialized. As a general, Clark was the highest ranking militia officer in Kentucky and supervised the work of the three Kentucky county colonels.

Separation from Virginia
Several factors contributed to the desire of the residents of Kentucky County to separate from Virginia. First, traveling to the state capital was long and dangerous. Second, offensive use of local militia against required authorization from the. Last, Virginia refused to recognize the importance of trade along the to Kentucky's economy. Trade with the Spanish colony of, which controlled the mouth of the Mississippi, was forbidden.

The magnitude of these problems increased with the population of Kentucky County, leading Colonel to call a  in  in 1784. Over the next six years, nine more conventions were held. During one, General proposed secession from both Virginia and the  to become a ward of, but the idea was defeated. Finally, on, the  accepted the  and admitted it as the 15th state.

The antebellum period
In late 1811 and early 1812, Western Kentucky was heavily damaged by a series of earthquakes referred to as the, the largest recorded earthquake in the contiguous United States. These earthquakes caused the Mississippi River to change course, thus creating the.

Civil War period
While remaining loyal to the, Kentucky was a during the. The state was officially neutral until a new legislature took office on, with strong Union sympathies. The majority of the Commonwealth's citizens also had strong Union sympathies. On,  General  broke Kentucky's neutrality by invading. As a result of the Confederate invasion, Union General entered. On, , the Kentucky State Legislature, angered by the Confederate invasion, ordered the Union flag to be raised over the state capitol in , declaring its allegiance with the Union. In November 1861, during the, Southern sympathizers attempted to establish an alternative state government with the goal of secession but failed to displace the legitimate government in Frankfort. On, , Confederate General 's Army of East invaded Kentucky and on , , Confederate General 's Army of  entered Kentucky beginning the Kentucky Campaign. Bragg's retreat following the left the state under the control of the Union Army for the remainder of the war.

Reconstruction
Because Kentucky was a slave state, it was subject to military occupation during the Reconstruction Period. It was subject to the and a congressional investigation into the propriety of its elected officials. During the election of 1865, ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment was a major political issue. Kentucky eventually rejected the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. Democrats prevailed in the election, and one of their first acts was to repeal the Expatriation Act of 1862, thus restoring the citizenship of Confederates.

After the war, the was quite active in Kentucky. Between 1867 and 1881, the Frankfort Weekly Commonwealth newspaper reported 115 incidents of shooting, lynching, and whipping of blacks.

Reconstruction also saw the establishment of movements favoring equal citizenship for blacks and. , daughter of noted abolitionist, was an active leader in the suffrage movement.

Kentucky's hemp industry declined as became the world's primary source of rope fiber. This led to an increase in tobacco production, which was already the largest cash crop of Kentucky.

Assassination of Governor William Goebel
The election of as  on the  ticket in 1899 was an unexpected turn of events. To date, this is the closest gubernatorial election in Kentucky history. Supporters of, his opponent, contested the election.

The formed a special Committee of Inquiry packed with Democratic members. As it became apparent to Taylor's supporters that the committee would decide in favor of Goebel, they raised an armed force. On, , more than 1,500 armed civilians took possession of the. For more than two weeks, the watched as the Commonwealth of Kentucky slid towards civil war. The presiding governor declared martial law and activated the official Kentucky militia.

On, , Goebel, accompanied by two bodyguards, was shot by a sniper as he approached the Capitol. Though mortally wounded, Goebel was sworn in as Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky the next day. Goebel died from his wounds on,. For nearly four months after Governor Goebel's death, Kentucky had two officials functioning as the commonwealth's chief executive: Taylor, who insisted he was the governor, and, running mate of Governor Goebel, who was sworn in when the latter died.

Governor Beckham requested federal aid to determine Kentucky's chief executive. The finally reached a decision on, , upholding the Commission's ruling that Goebel was in fact Kentucky's governor. Since his (Beckham) had followed Kentucky's line of succession, Beckham was now Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Immediately following the court's decision, Taylor fled to. He was later indicted as one of the conspirators in the assassination of Governor Goebel. Attempts to extradite him failed, and Taylor remained in Indiana until he died.

The early twentieth century
The coal industry made dramatic progress between the turn of the century and the first World War. Many Kentuckians made the change from to coal mining, particularly in the Appalachian region. Many Kentuckians left the state for work in manufacturing and industrial cities in the Midwest.

During the same years, German immigrants settled widely in northern Kentucky. Their presence led to social conflict as World War I progressed and anti-German sentiment increased.

World War I
Like the rest of the country, Kentucky experienced dramatic inflation during the war years. Much was created; roads had to be greatly improved to accommodate the increasing popularity of the. The war also led to the clear cutting of thousands of acres of Kentucky timber.

The tobacco and whiskey industries had boom years during the teens, although seriously harmed the economy when the  took effect. Prohibition led to widespread that continued on into the middle of the century.

The Great Depression
Like the rest of the country and much of the world, Kentucky faced great difficulty with the arrival of the in the late 1920s. There was widespread unemployment and little economic growth. On the other hand, programs greatly improved the educational system in the state and led to the construction and improvement of a great deal of infrastructure. The creation of roads, construction of telephone lines, and were significant developments for the state. The creation of the and its hydroelectric power plant greatly improved the lives of Western Kentuckians. Both the and the  saw extensive improvements in navigability and flood control.

The 1937 flood
Beginning in January 1937, the was in various flood stages for three months. The flood led to river fires when oil tanks in Cincinnati, Ohio were destroyed in the flood. In Kentucky, one-third of Kenton and Campbell counties were submerged. Paducah, Owensboro, and other Purchase area cities were devastated. Damages from the flood (nationwide) totaled 20 million dollars without adjusting for inflation. It led to extensive flood prevention efforts in the Purchase area, including the distinctive flood wall at Paducah.

World War II
For Kentucky, signified the increased importance of industry and decreased importance of agriculture for the state's economy. The war led to expansion of as well as the creation of an ordnance plant in Louisville. Louisville became the world's largest source of artificial rubber. Shipyards at Jeffersonville and elsewhere generated numerous skilled jobs. Louisville's Ford manufacturing center produced almost 100,000 Jeeps during the war. The war also lead to a greater demand for higher education, as technical skills were more in demand both during the war and afterwards.

Notable Kentuckians during the war
of Henderson County commanded the Pacific Fleet. Sixty-six men from Harrodsburg were on the. Edgar Erskine Hume of Frankfort served as the military governor of Rome after its capture. Kentucky native was depicted in the photograph showing the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. Harrodsburg resident John Sadler witnessed the atomic bombing of Nagasaki as a prisoner of war. Seven Kentuckians received the. 7,917 Kentuckians died during the war; 306,364 served.

, one of the models for "," was a native of Pulaski County.

After the war
In the years afterward, the helped connect even the most remote areas of Kentucky to one another.

Agriculture, though still important, was supplanted in many areas by industry. By 1970, Kentucky had more urban residents than rural residents. Although decreasing in overall importance, tobacco production remains an important part of the state economy.

Marijuana is now the state's largest cash crop. Though its cultivation is illegal, the plant appears throughout rural areas. Some observers see it as an extension of the culture that was once pervasive in the region. Marijuana is widely grown in the hilly areas of Eastern Kentucky, where it is difficult for law enforcement to find and eradicate. It is cultivated statewide. A 1997 study by estimated that Kentucky produced over 800,000 marijuana plants annually, with a value to growers of over $1.3 billion.

Surveys and reference

 * Bodley, Temple and Samuel M. Wilson. History of Kentucky 4 vols. (1928).
 * Channing, Steven. Kentucky: A Bicentennial History (1977).
 * Clark, Thomas Dionysius. A History of Kentucky (many editions, 1937-1992).
 * Collins, Lewis. History of Kentucky (1880).
 * Harrison, Lowell H. and James C. Klotter. A New History of Kentucky (1997).
 * Kleber, John E. et al The Kentucky Encyclopedia (1992), standard reference history.
 * Klotter, James C. Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass State (2000), high school text
 * Lucas, Marion Brunson and Wright, George C. A History of Blacks in Kentucky 2 vols. (1992).
 * Share, Allen J. Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky (1982).
 * Wallis, Frederick A. and Hambleton Tapp. A Sesqui-Centennial History of Kentucky 4 vols. (1945).
 * Ward, William S., A Literary History of Kentucky (1988) (ISBN 0-87049-578-X).
 * WPA, Kentucky: A Guide to the Bluegrass State  (1939), classic guide.

Specialized scholarly studies

 * Bakeless, John. Daniel Boone, Master of the Wilderness (1989)
 * Blakey, George T. Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky, 1929-1939 (1986)
 * Coulter, E. Merton. The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky (1926)
 * Davis, Alice. "Heroes: Kentucky's Artists from Statehood to the New Millennium" (2004)
 * Ellis, William E. The Kentucky River (2000).
 * Faragher, John Mack. Daniel Boone (1993)
 * Fenton, John H. Politics in the Border States: A Study of the Patterns of Political Organization, and Political Change, Common to the Border States: Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri (1957)
 * Ireland, Robert M. The County in Kentucky History (1976)
 * Klotter, James C. Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900-1950 (1992)
 * Pearce, John Ed. Divide and Dissent: Kentucky Politics, 1930-1963 (1987)
 * Remini, Robert V. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (1991).
 * Sonne, Niels Henry. Liberal Kentucky, 1780-1828 (1939)
 * Tapp, Hambleton and James C Klotter. Kentucky Decades of Discord, 1865-1900 (1977)
 * Townsend, William H. Lincoln and the Bluegrass: Slavery and Civil War in Kentucky (1955)
 * Waldrep, Christopher Night Riders: Defending Community in the Black Patch, 1890-1915 (1993) tobacco wars
 * Waldrep, Christopher Night Riders: Defending Community in the Black Patch, 1890-1915 (1993) tobacco wars