1865-66: War Comes To A Close
Although the Confederacy began to fall apart in January 1865, Burbridge continued executing guerrillas. On January 20, 1865 Nathaniel Marks, formerly of Company A, 4th Kentucky, C.S. was condemned as a guerrilla. He claimed his innocence, but was shot by a firing squad in Louisville. On February 10, Burbridge's term as military governor came to an end. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton replaced Burbridge with Major General John Palmer.
On March 12, Union forces captured 20-year-old Captain M. Jerome Clarke, the alleged "Sue Mundy", along with Henry Medkiff and Henry C. Magruder, ten miles (16 km) south of Brandenburg near Breckinridge County. The Union Army hanged Clarke three days later just west of the corner of 18th and Broadway in Louisville, after a military trial in which he was charged as a guerilla. During the secret three-hour trial, Clarke was not allowed counsel or witnesses for his defense, although he asked to be treated as a prisoner of war. Magruder was allowed to recover from war injuries before being executed by hanging on October 29.
On April 9, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses Grant, and on April 14, Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman, ending the Civil War.
On May 15, Louisville became a mustering-out center for troops from midwestern and western states. On June 4, 1865, military authorities established the headquarters of the Union Armies of the West in Louisville. During June 1865, 96,796 troops and 8,896 animals left Washington, D.C. for the Ohio Valley. There 70,000 men took steamboats to Louisville and the remainder embarked for St. Louis and Cincinnati. The troops boarded ninety-two steamboats at Parkersburg and descended the river in convoys of eight boats, to the sounds of cheering crowds and booming cannon salutes at every port city. For several weeks, Union soldiers crowded Louisville. On July 4, 1865, Union General William T. Sherman visited Louisville to conduct a final inspection of the Armies of the West. By mid-July the Armies of the West disbanded and the soldiers headed home.
On December 18, the Kentucky legislature repealed the Expatriation Act of 1861, allowing all who served in the Confederacy to have their full Kentucky citizenship restored without fear of retribution. The legislature also repealed the law that defined any person who was a member of the Confederacy as guilty of treason. The Kentucky legislature allowed former Confederates to run for office. On February 28, 1866, Kentucky officially declared the war over.
Read more about this topic: Louisville In The American Civil War
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