Isaac Shelby - Second Term As Governor

Second Term As Governor

Gabriel Slaughter was the favorite choice for governor of Kentucky in 1812. Only one impediment to his potential candidacy existed. Growing tensions between the United States, France, and Great Britain threatened to break into open war. With this prospect looming, Isaac Shelby's name began circulating as a possible candidate for governor. Slaughter, who lived near Shelby, visited him and asked whether he would run. Shelby assured him that he had no desire to do so unless a national emergency that required his leadership emerged. Satisfied with this answer, Slaughter began his campaign.

The situation with the European powers grew worse, and on June 18, 1812 the United States declared war on Great Britain, beginning the War of 1812. Cries grew louder for Shelby to return as Kentucky's chief executive. On July 18, 1812, less than a month before the election, Shelby acquiesced and announced his candidacy.

During the campaign Shelby's political enemies, notably Humphrey Marshall, criticized his response to Jefferson's second letter regarding the Genêt affair and questioned his loyalty to the United States. Shelby contended that his noncommittal response to the letter was meant to draw the federal government's attention to the situation in the west. He cited the agreement between Washington and the Spanish as evidence that his ploy had worked. He also claimed to have known at the time he wrote the letter that the French scheme was destined to fail.

Slaughter's supporters mocked Shelby's advanced age (he was almost 62), calling him "Old Daddy Shelby". One Kentucky paper even printed an anonymous charge that Shelby had run from the Battle of King's Mountain. Though few even among Shelby's enemies believed the story, his supporters and Shelby himself responded through missives in the state's newspapers. One supporter typified these responses, writing "It is reported that Colonel Shelby 'run at King's Mountain.' True he did. He first run up to the enemy... then after an action of about forty-seven minutes, he run again with 900 prisoners."

As the canvass stretched into August, Shelby grew more confident of victory and began preparations to return to the state house. He predicted a victory of 10,000 votes; the final margin was more than 17,000. When he took the oath of office, Shelby became the first Kentucky governor to serve non-consecutive terms. (James Garrard had been permitted to serve consecutive terms in 1796 and 1800 by special legislative exemption.)

Preparations for the war dominated Shelby's second term. Two days before his inauguration, he and outgoing governor Charles Scott met at the state house to appoint William Henry Harrison commander of the Kentucky militia. This was done in violation of a constitutional mandate that the post be held by a native Kentuckian. Already commander of the militias of Indiana and Illinois, Harrison picked up Kentucky volunteers at Newport before hurrying to the defense of Fort Wayne.

Shelby pressured President James Madison to give Harrison command of all military forces in the Northwest. Madison acceded, rescinding his earlier appointment of James Winchester. On the state level, Shelby revised militia laws to make every male between the ages of 18 and 45 eligible for military service; ministers were excluded from the provision. Seven thousand volunteers enlisted, and many more had to be turned away. Shelby encouraged the state's women to sew and knit items for Kentucky's troops.

Shelby's confidence in the federal government's war planning was shaken by the disastrous Battle of Frenchtown in which a number of Kentucky soldiers died. He vowed to personally act to aid the war effort should the opportunity arise, and was authorized by the legislature to do so. In March 1813, Harrison requested another 1,200 Kentuckians to join him at Fort Meigs. Shelby dispatched the requested number, among whom was his oldest son James, under General Green Clay. The reinforcements arrived to find Fort Meigs under siege by a combined force of British and Indians. Clay's force was able to stop the siege, but a large number of them were captured and massacred by Indians. Initial reports put James Shelby among the dead, but he was later discovered to have been captured and released in a prisoner exchange.

On July 30, 1813, General Harrison again wrote Shelby requesting volunteers, and this time he asked that Shelby lead them personally. Shelby raised a force of 3,500 volunteers, double the number Harrison requested. Future governor John J. Crittenden served as Shelby's aide-de-camp. Now a Major General, Shelby led the volunteers to join Harrison in a campaign that culminated in the American victory at the Battle of the Thames.

In Harrison's report of the battle to Secretary of War John Armstrong, Jr., he said of Shelby, "I am at a loss to how to mention of Governor Shelby, being convinced that no eulogism of mine can reach his merit." In 1817, Shelby received the thanks of Congress and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his service in the war. Friends of Shelby suggested he run for Vice President, but Shelby quickly and emphatically declined.