Frank H. Heck - Proud Kentuckian: John C. Breckinridge, 1821-1875

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Proud Kentuckian

John C. Breckinridge

1821-1875

FRANK H. HECK

Research for The Kentucky Bicentennial Bookshelf is assisted by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Views expressed in the Bookshelf do not necessarily represent those of the Endowment.

Copyright 1976 by The University Press of Kentucky
Paperback edition 2009

The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
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Contents

Acknowledgments

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to express adequately my gratitude to all who helped in some way with the writing of this book. A grant-in-aid allocated by the Carnegie Research Committee from funds made available jointly by the Carnegie Foundation and Centre College of Kentucky partly financed my first plunge, more than twenty years ago, into the sources for the life of John C. Breckinridge. That adventure resulted in an article published in the Journal of Southern History, which, considerably modified, serves as the foundation for this books chapter on The Crisis of Disunion. Portions of the article are used here by permission of the Journal of Southern History. In more recent years my Breckinridge studies have been encouraged by several grants-in-aid for summer research made by Centre College on the recommendation of the Council on Faculty Development.

I am grateful for the helpful cooperation of staff members of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library, the Free Public Library of Burlington, Iowa, the Kornhauser Health Services Library of the University of Louisville, and the libraries of the University of Kentucky, Transylvania University, Centre College, the University of Chicago, Princeton University, the Filson Club, Louisville, the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, the Iowa State Department of History and Archives, Des Moines, the Chicago Historical Society, the Cincinnati Historical Society, the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. I am particularly indebted in this regard to my former student, James R. Bentley, curator of manuscripts and secretary of the Filson Club, and to Dr. Jacqueline Bull, head of Special Collections in the library of the University of Kentucky.

Helpful also were personnel of the offices of the Recorder of Deeds, Washington, D.C., and the county clerks of Boyle, Fayette, and Scott counties, Kentucky, and Des Moines County, Iowa. My colleague, Professor E. W. Cook, Jr., longtime clerk of the Session of the Second Presbyterian Church, Danville, Kentucky, gave me access to the antebellum records of the Presbyterian Churches of Danville. Mrs. James Carson Breckinridge of Summit Point, West Virginia, graciously provided a photograph of a portrait of Mary Cyrene Breckinridge which she owns. As I was finishing my work, Dr. James C. Klotter kindly lent me a personal copy of his unpublished dissertation, The Breckinridges of Kentucky: Two Centuries of Leadership (University of Kentucky, 1975), a study which provided some useful insights.

In a class by themselves are Mr. and Mrs. John Marshall Prewitt and Mrs. Clifton R. Breckinridge of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. They not only made available the treasures in their personal collection and shared their knowledge of family traditions, but also gave marked encouragement as the study progressed. Also helpful was Mrs. Evan McCord of Versailles, Kentucky.

For their critical reading of a draft of the manuscript, I record my hearty thanks to my colleague, Professor Charles R. Lee, Jr., and my son, Edward V. Heck. Professor Holman Hamilton of the University of Kentucky kindly gave his opinion on a controversial passage. The criticism of my colleague, Professor Charles T. Hazelrigg, improved the style of the chapter which he was good enough to read.

An excellent case could be made for naming my wife, Edna Drill Heck, as coauthor. In any event I acknowledge with deep appreciation her service as a research associate, particularly as we worked together at the Library of Congress and the library of the University of Chicago. She has read so many nineteenth-century Breckinridge letters that she has developed a first-name involvement with Breckinridges long gone. Throughout the years of my interest in John C. Breckinridge she has been my soundest and altogether best critic. Readers will understand, however, that neither she nor the friends whom I have named should be charged with any flaws they may find in the volume now before them.