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Preface
- The University Press of Kentucky
- Chapter
- Additional Information
xv I first learned of Basil Wilson Duke in 1975 when a rare-book dealer offered me a copy of A History of Morgan’s Cavalry. A few years later, I met an old gentleman in Lexington, Kentucky, who, as a child, knew Duke in his last years. He told me many stories about Duke, some of which were true, and all of which captivated my interest. In time, I began to study Duke and discovered that here was a man, a popular Civil War hero, the story of whose fascinating postwar life was virtually untold. No biography had ever appeared, only several short monographs. I found the lack of biography to be disappointing, for surely, I thought, this man deserved to be remembered. My journey with Duke soon revealed to me a man who was very reticent about his own accomplishments.This, of course, was a major reason for the lack of an indepth biography. I asked myself how a man who charged with Morgan on horseback and smoked cigars and talked about history with Theodore Roosevelt could be so modest. But, time and again, my research revealed to me that his contemporaries were also impressed with his modesty. Fortunately, Duke interacted with many historically significant people, who were not so reticent. This was particularly helpful when piecing together his elusive postwar career. It is impossible to separate Duke’s Civil War career from that of John Hunt Morgan without distorting the significance of his military accomplishments. The history of Morgan’s cavalry is also Duke’s war story, and the two must be told in tandem. A reader would not appreciate all that Duke was able to accomplish during the war without this background. Although the story of Morgan’s exploits has been told many times before,it was my intention to ferret through the old glory stories and present an objective historical picture of Duke as a soldier and tactician. Unlike his Civil War career, Duke’s post-1865 career was far more elusive. Much of this elusiveness can be traced to Duke’s twenty-year-plus affiliation with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad as its chief lobbyist. These were politically charged years when most of Duke’s activities were tied directly to the nuances of state and federal legislation. In writing this part of Duke’s life, I felt that it was Preface xvi Preface imperative that the reader understand the complex issues facing Duke as he searched for his own political identity. The Civil War student may not find this part of the story as fast paced as that of the war, but it is certainly important in understanding Duke the man. It is also important in understanding Duke’s worldview, which he so candidly expressed in his editorials for the Southern Magazine. I believe that the reader will find these editorials to be the most revealing and interesting of Duke’s writings. What follows is more than just a Civil War history. It is an American history. It is the story of one man’s long life, of the times he lived in and the impact that he had on the people and events of his day. Basil Wilson Duke deserves that. ...