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Write the lives of all its scientists, artists, musicians, actors, poets, novelists, and you find many weary milestones between the chapters." Or, as Bishop A. Coke Smith said: "The Southern people are the greatest history makers that have ever lived upon the earth, but are the poorest history preservers that the sun has ever shone upon." Both of these statements I have found to be too true.

The candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, Charles A. Wickliffe, spoke in Mt. Sterling on Monday, July 4, and at Owingsville on the following day. He was probably introduced by Menefee to the people of the two towns, or, at any rate, delivered a speech at the conclusion of Wickliffe's.

In 1835 the second Seminole war broke out and was waged on the Southwestern frontier. Maj.-Gen. Edward P. Gaines was in command of the United States troops, and the famous Seminole warrior, Osceola, was leading the Indians. The war was caused by the Indians breaking a treaty with the Government by which they had promised to give up their lands and move to Indian Territory. This war continued until 1842 and was the fiercest Indian war in which the United States was ever engaged.

In the summer of 1836 it was at its highest point, and on July 16 Governor Morehead issued a proclamation, at the request of President Jackson and General Gaines, calling for 1,000 mounted Kentuckians to rendezvous at Frankfort on August 17 to proceed to Camp Sabine. Before August 3, forty-five companies offered their services, but only ten were ac

cepted, composed of one hundred men each. The company raised in Montgomery County elected Richard H. Menefee as their captain, but as only a thousand men were needed, and as ten companies reached Governor Morehead before Menefee's did, his company was refused. Although he was making a bitter fight for a position that would require a man of mind, he was, like his father, ready to become a man of action.

Governor Morehead appointed Gen. Leslie Combs, of Fayette County, as colonel of the Kentucky regiment, but before he got his command ready to march, orders were received for their discharge. General Combs assured his regiment that they should have pay for their loss of time, and a resolution was passed by the legislature on December 7, 1836, asking the Kentucky Congressmen to use their influence to obtain the pay for the Kentucky troops that had been raised for the second Seminole war. Although they saw no active service they had suffered a loss of time from their various duties.

On August 3 the election began and, according to the second Kentucky Constitution, continued three days. The Kentucky Gazette for August 8 announced Menefee's election as representative from Montgomery County to the next legislature. Although Montgomery County thus gave Menefee, a Whig, a large majority, they elected a Van Buren man as State Senator, Aquila Young. It would seem as if those sturdy Montgomery County farmers were, even at that early date, voting for the man and not for the ticket. They offer one of

the earliest examples of the "independent" vote in Kentucky history.

Clark and Wickliffe were elected by large majorities, and forty-six Whig representatives were elected to the House of Representatives against twenty-three Van Buren Democrats.

On August 31 Clark and Wickliffe were inaugurated as Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The inauguration took place in the hall of the House of Representatives, and Charles S. Morehead delivered the address of welcome on behalf of the citizens of Frankfort, and both Clark and Wickliffe made speeches in reply, assuring the people that they would preside over the destinies of Kentucky as God showed them the way. Kentucky, too, was just on the eve of a financial panic which was to continue for the next five years.

CHAPTER IV

IN THE KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE

Late in November, Menefee, in company with his wife, left his home in Mt. Sterling, and arrived in Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, to discharge those legislative duties which were before him, and which the people of Montgomery had elected him to perform.

The Kentucky legislature convened in Frankfort on Monday, December 5, 1836.1 The Senate was called to order by LieutenantGovernor Charles A. Wickliffe, and the House was called to order by Thomas J. Helm, former clerk. A quorum was present and the election of a Speaker was immediately gone into. Christopher Tompkins, Jr., of Barren County, nominated Robert P. Letcher, of Garrard, for Speaker, and Thomas J. Riley, of Bullitt, nominated John L. Helm, of Hardin County. Helm was elected by a vote of forty-eight to fortyfive. Menefee voted for Letcher. Helm took the Speaker's chair and returned his thanks for the honor that had been conferred upon him. Thomas J. Helm was elected Clerk of the House and messages were then interchanged between the Senate and House, saying that both bodies were ready for legislative busi

ness.

The leading legislative lights of the session of 1836-1837 were, in the Senate, men like Archibald Dixon, of Henderson, Henry Clay's 'House Journal for 1836-1837.

successor in the United States Senate in 1852; James Guthrie, of Louisville, Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin Pierce; Samuel Hanson, one of the most distinguished lawyers that Clark County has ever produced; Thomas Metcalfe, of Nicholas, the eleventh Governor of Kentucky, and Aaron K. Wooley, a renowned jurist of Fayette County. In the House, we find men like Menefee, Robert Wickliffe, and Henry Daniel of Fayette; Fountain F. Fox, of Pulaski; Ben Hardin, of Marion; Richard Hawes, of Clark; Robert P. Letcher, of Garrard; Thomas F. Marshall, of Louisville; William W. Southgate, of Campbell; Christopher Tompkins, Jr., of Barren, and the "baby" of the House, Lazarus W. Powell, who was afterward elected Governor of Kentucky.

The second Kentucky Constitution of 1799 plainly said that "No person shall be a representative who, at the time of his election, is before the legislature convened, and he was born October 6, 1812, and at the time of his election, in August, 1836, he was not twentyfour years of age, and was just old enough to enter the legislature about two months before it assembled. His age was not discussed, however, and he was permitted to take his seat. Menefee was twenty-seven years of age the day before the legislature convened, and he was therefore the second youngest member of the House.

Thomas F. Marshall offered resolutions of respect on the death of Francis K. Buford, of Woodford County, a representative-elect of this legislature, who had died on December 3,

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