Citizens More than Soldiers: The Kentucky Militia and Society in the Early Republic

Appendix

[ 147 ] Using militia muster rolls, census and tax records, and court documents to identify and trace individual militia members’ income, involvement in politics, and slave ownership, it is possible to draw some general conclusions about where they fit within their communities in terms of socioeconomic status and political power and influence. In the late eighteenth century, militia officers and their men were moderately successful in both financial and political affairs. Their successors in the War of 1812 performed even better, but the men who later fought in Mexico marched south with little wealth or political experience. The data in the tables that follow represent a ten-county area in Kentucky’s central Bluegrass Region, with Lexington and Fayette County at the center. The other eight counties are Bourbon, Clark, Garrard, Franklin, Jessamine, Madison, Mercer, Scott, and Woodford. This selection of counties allows the examination of both urban and rural communities. With few exceptions, extant muster rolls from the Kentucky militia are from three periods: the frontier era (1790–1811), the War of 1812 (1812–1814), and the Mexican War (1846–1847). In order to compare the financial and political success of militiamen across periods, analyses of officers and selected companies of enlisted men were conducted for each of the three periods, based on census and tax records. In addition, more intensive analyses were performed of two companies from the frontier era, one company from the War of 1812, and one company from the Mexican War. The latter included examination of deed and court documents in addition to census and tax records. Note that in the tables dealing with slave ownership as an indication of wealth, the median is included to compensate for figures that might skew the average inordinately high. The Frontier Era: 1790–1811 The starting point for the analysis of officers in this period is Glenn Clift’s The “Corn Stalk” Militia of Kentucky, which provides a published list of all known commissioned officers who served in Kentucky’s militia before the War of 1812. Because of Clift’s thoroughness and the abundance of muster rolls, a compre8gg \e[`o appendix [ 148 ] hensive analysis of officers would be problematic, so every tenth name was selected from the lists from the defined counties, for a sample of 314 names. An examination of tax lists and census records reveal the following data on slave ownership among the officers: State and federal legislative records produced the following data on officers’ service in the state legislature, the U.S. Congress, and the governor’s office: Eight muster rolls from Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Madison, and Mercer counties provided names for the second analysis for this period, that of the ownership of slaves among enlisted men. Concerning political participation, only two men successfully ran for office, each gaining a seat in the state House of Representatives (not shown). Table 1. Slave Ownership among Selected Officers, 1790–1811 Slave owners 112 (38.9%) Total slaves owned 786 Average per owner 6.4 Median 5 Sources: Data from U.S. Census Indexes, 1790 and 1800; Kentucky Tax Lists, Kentucky Historical Society (khs). Note: N=314 Table 2. Political Participation among Selected Officers, 1790–1811 Total men elected to office 42 (13.4%) Offices held State House 35 State Senate 7 U.S. House 3 U.S. Senate 2 Governor 2 Sources: Data from Clift, Biographical Directory of the Kentucky General Assembly; U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of the American Congress. Note: N=314 appendix [ 149 ] The final analysis for 1790–1811 focuses on Byrd Price’s and John Wallace’s companies , both from Bourbon County and assigned to protect a local ironworks in 1793. Each unit consisted of twenty-two men, including four commissioned and noncommissioned officers. Out of both companies, only two men served in the state House of Representatives. Table 3. Slave Ownership among Selected Enlisted Men, 1790–1811 Slave owners 11 (8.8%) Total slaves owned 51 Average per owner 4.6 Median 5 Sources: Data from U.S. Census Indexes, 1790 and 1800; Kentucky Tax Lists, khs. Note: N=125 Table 4. Byrd Price’s and John Wallace’s 1793 Muster Rolls Slaves owners 4 (9.1%) Total slaves owned 12 Average per owner 3 Median 3 Land owners 7 (15.9%) Total acreage owned 825 Average per owner 117.9 Median 100...