Lexington, KY - by Jamie Millard and Joan Grever
history Columnists
On Wednesday, Oct. 18, 1911, some 15,000 -
20,000 people crowded shoulder to shoulder, filling West Main and North Upper streets as far as the eye could see. Bunting decorated the Fayette County Courthouse (then just 11 years old), as well as several buildings facing it across Upper.
The subject of this intense celebration stood shrouded on the southeast corner of the courthouse as the end-point of a mile-long parade that had just concluded its march from the Woodland Park auditorium. The parade, led on horseback by Gen. Basil W. Duke and Gen. John B. Castleman, included 400 Confederate veterans, some 100 automobiles and carriages, two bands and a drum corps.
The electrifying moment that was fast approaching, in fact, was more than four years in the making - now two years overdue - and, early on, would not have occurred at this location.
In early October 1907, a committee recommended to the statewide meeting of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) meeting in Paris, Ky., that $15,000 be raised to erect a statue of Gen. John Hunt Morgan, reporting that $4,000 had already been raised.
Two sites were considered for the statue. The city had offered to donate a parcel of land in Woodland Park. Another site was in front of the Carnegie Library on West Second. That location was considered especially appropriate as it would be in front of Morgan's home on the northwest corner of Second and Mill.
The committee reported it would take two years to complete the statue.
A search for the sculptor began immediately, and by the end of the following January, the committee gathered at the YMCA to inspect the models that had been designed as entries to the selection process. Joining the 13-woman committee was a 23-man advisory board, including Morgan's brother-in-law Gen. Basil Duke.
The sculptors under consideration were from as varied places as New York City, Chicago, St. Louis and Rome, Italy - even Louisville, Ky.
On the evening of Jan. 30, 1908, the final selection was made, and the contract was awarded to Pompeo Coppini of San Antonio, Texas. The sculptor, a native of Lombardy, Italy, was educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He emigrated to New York City when he was 26, finding his way to Texas, where he established a business sculpting Confederate heroes.
The committee reported that $5,000 had been raised, and the statue would be completed in 1909.
By October 1908, Coppini was in Lexington, building his studio on a lot in the 400 block of West Sixth Street. The artist was concentrating on the figure of the horse, and had spent the fall meet at the Red Mile observing the trotters and pacers. He was also studying Morgan's storied mount, the mare Black Bess, and would "try to blend all proper points into an artistic creation that will be what it should be." By the end of the month, work was underway.
In March 1909, Coppini announced he had selected the model for Morgan himself. It would be a Transylvania University law student who was also the school's football coach -
Hogan Yancy, who would go on to serve as Lexington's mayor, 1924-28 (see the March 2011 issue of this magazine). Work on the clay model for the statue was said to be on track for completion the following month. Not until the end of May, however, was the model ready for display. A committee comprised of soldiers from Morgan's command gave solid approval of the model, saying the likeness of Morgan was "almost exact." Testimonials from horsemen attested to "the perfection of the horse."
About this time, the UDC committee had voted to place the statue in front of the library. But politics intervened, slowing down the process. And a good thing it did. Public statuary are required to have the approval of the General Assembly, which would not meet until the following winter. By March 1910, the monument had been approved by both houses. In May, the UDC women, in a meeting held in the "Confederate Room" in the courthouse, accepted an offer by the Fayette Fiscal Court to place the statue on the southeast corner of the courthouse lawn. Morgan's Men concurred.
By now, the model was in New York City for casting, and the date set for the unveiling was pushed back to June 1, 1912. Twenty-five hundred dollars remained to be raised.
At this point, events began to move along at a rapid rate. By late July 2011 ground was broken for the granite pedestal. The UDC committee and a contingent of Confederate veterans participated. Because the state UDC meeting was scheduled in Lexington in October, it was decided the statue would be dedicated then.
By early August, the date of Oct. 18 was set for the dedication. By design or irony, that date marked the 50th anniversary of Morgan's taking Lexington during his raid into Kentucky.
The keynote speaker at the dedication was Dr. Guy Carleton Lee, a Baltimore historian and relative of Gen. Robert E. Lee. In his address, Dr. Lee praised the women who had persevered over the past four years.
"God was only practicing when he made Eve," Lee declared. "From that day through much practice he has been able to produce the queen of her sex, the pride of her state, and the glory of her nation, the exquisite, the dainty, the cultured, the world-renowned woman of Kentucky."
Editor's note: The statue of John Hunt Morgan will be rededicated at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 27 to mark its 100th anniversary as part of the national conference of Morgan's Men in Lexington that weekend.