State of Kentucky
Western Kentucky
Union County ...
Casey's Landing Kentucky Founded by Nicholas Casey 1826 - 1827
Casey's Landing later named Caseyville,Kentucky
Post Office established at Caseyville Kentucky August 6 1838
John Casey was Post Master
Thanks for visiting and reading my page. I also have other pages,the links to these pages are at the bottom of this page. At the bottom of this page click on the Rebel Flag to go to page 1
Welcome to Caseyville Kentucky
..
Is this the town that historians forgot?..I am a native Kentuckian, i was raised in Western, Kentucky, in the city of Sturgis Kentucky. I love history of old Kentucky Civil War towns.,I will in my research of this town of Caseyville, Kentucky try to show what role Caseyville, Kentucky had in the Civil War and also ask of the Civil War Historians of Kentucky these questions. Why is there not a web site on this Civil War town?, it is very rich with Civil War history. Was the Civil War history of this town covered up due to something linked to U..S. Grant?. He was in fact kin of Mr. Casey which as you will see later in this history had close contact with a Mr Casey during the Civil War. I'm not sure at the time of this writing of this which Mr Casey U..S. Grant was sent information in a dispach from Paducah with information on Confederate troops that were forming at Princeton Ky. Was this Mr.Casey a spy for the union army?. Was Mr Casey working undercover at Caseyville Kentucky for U..S. Grant?.Was Mr Casey's role in the Civil War covered up from fear that the Confederates in Caseyville Kentucky and Union County would kill him and burn the town?.Was this Mr. Casey one of the spies that N. B. Forest war looking for when he made his Raid To Kentucky in Nov.24 1861 - Dec. 5 1861?. When one researches these records on N. B. Forrest's Raid on Kentucky one find that N.B. Forrest stop at Caseyville Kentucky and then went to Morganfield and ask Judge George Huston for a list of known Spies and Traitors that were in Union County.I would like to know if Mr. Casey was on this list?.When one looks at the dispach to U.S. Grant below dated Oct 25 1861 and then the Raid on Kentucky by N. B. Forrest dated Nov. 24 1861.What do you think?.There was also an attempt to take U. S. Grant's son hostage during this same time..Who was Grant's son, Fred Grant visiting when this took place?. He was visiting with his Uncle and Aubt at Caseyville Kentucky a Mr James F. Casey. and his wife Mrs. Emma Dent Casey,Mrs Emma Dent Casey and U.S. Grant's wife Mrs Julia Dent Grant were sisters.In a editoral by a Mr. Mike Banks on this he states that son was visiting a Nick Casey, and that a family servent put him on a boat to Paducah, I'm not sure of who did what to whom, but when you read later in the text i will insert on this page a text that is the most likely way this did take place., If you would like to read Mr. Mike Banks virsion here it the url link to it., http://www2.ucadvocate.com/unioncountynet/ucadvocate/civilwarmb.html .,With all these things taking place at Caseyville Kentucky during the Civil War and the people it was happening to like U. S. Grant's son and Kin. I ask again why is or is there not a book written on this?.Would this make a good movie?.Was this so well covered up that it is still covered up to this day?. Is this the reason that when you search for photos and maps of this town in the Libaray of Congress's records that you can't find any there?, or this has been what i have seen when i searched there for records on Caseyville Kentucky. Please Someone That Is Smarter Than I Try To Search There!.These questions i ask may not ever be answered , but when you research this town and the area close around it and you or i have not at this writing of this had any luck getting these answers , Caseyville Kentucky is located on the Kentucky bank of the Ohio River , It had at this time i belive a coal mines about one or two miles of it's river docks. These coal mines were owned by Mr. George Carvill, who also had to steam boats that he used to ship coal to Helina Ark. which he also estabelished there and was know to river traffic as The Half Way Point for fuel.The name of his two Steam Boats were " The Tradewater Bell ", and " The Ilhytte "., When you research this Mr. Carvill, one finds that he did not take the side of the north or the south in the Civil War., The two steam boats he owned was taken from him, as well as most everthing else that he owned, at and near Caseyville Kentucky and was never to this day, as i can find was repaid for any of this.I belive the amount was about $180,000 ,do you think Mr Carvill was robbed.,Mr. Carvill did try to recover it after the Civil War, and i have read some where that a senitor or congressman for Ark.was still trying back in 1934., I am not sure at this writing, if it was the north or south that took this from Mr. Carvill., Caseyville Kentucky had good roads for that time period, both in and out of it. It was a well established river port for steam boats to stop and get fule and supplies at between Louisville Kentucky and Paducah Kentucky. There was a steam mill with in 7 miles of it. U.S.S. Grant's kin by marrige lived there and U.S.S. Grants home at Cairo ILL. where he lived during the Civil War is only a few miles down river by steam boat.There was also salt in the area and it is thought that salt was being smuggled to Nashville Tennessee from Caseyville Kentucky by the confederate troops. If one looks at the high sand bluffs that over look the Ohio River and these bluffs run from Caseyville Kentucky a good mile down the Ohio River toward the mouth of the Tradewater River. These bluffs also overlook most of Caseyville Kentucky. The tops of these bluffs were easy to reach by roads going north east out of Caseyville , Kentucky. Now you are wondering why I am writing in such detail about these bluffs? Well give this some thought , with Union Gun Boats and other steam boats carring all types of Union Army Troops , wepons , and things like this. What one hell of a place it would be to put some Confederate 40 pound cannons on and blast away down on the river traffic which would only be about one half mile from the bluffs to open river. Was this ever thought of by Union or Confederate armies? I don't know this answer at the writing of this , but i am sure it had to cross the minds of some of them , and could have played a strong role during the last years of the war. I will at this part in this writing inseart text that has been sent to via my email, i will try show why i ask some of the questions i do in this attemp by me to give some of my thoughts on the history of Caseyville Kentucky's role in the Civil War. I hope by writing this it will stir up enough intrest in someone that reads it and are smarter than I am , to do a fine history page on this now almost now a Goast Town and give it a place in Kentucky Civil War History that it so greatly needs. People from this town faught and some gave their lives for the north and the south and some are up on the hill above Caseyville , Kentucky in their final resting place.
All the things that I have wrote about in the text above might not be correct and some of it is my thoughts only,with that said i hope that some one will do a better more correct history page on Caseyville Kentucky,Please and send me the link. I thank you again for visiting and reading my page.
" God Bless Them All, The Blue and The Gray, For They Rest As One"
PLEASE NOTE:( That all text below was send via email from unknow person or persons to me. The people that wrote these text is not know by me. So i place these text on this page as unknown. )
Please Note: ( the text in red was changed by me to highlight it.All other of the text is as it was sent via my email )
OFFICAL RECORDS U. S. GRANT,Brigadier-General. CAIRO, ILL., October 25, 1861. General C. F. SMITH, Commanding Paducah, Ky.:
I am just informed by Mr. Casey, of Caseyville, Ky.,a strong, unconditional Union man, that a regiment of cavalry is organizing at Princeton, Ky., for the Southern Confederacy. At last accounts they had about 500 men, well mounted, but not yet armed further than they have succeeded in pressing arms from the community around. Princeton is located 12 miles east from Eddyville, on the Cumberland River. The two places are connected by a good macadamized road. Mr. Casey says that the cavalry sent from Paducah by steamers, leaving there at dark, would reach Eddyville by about, 12 o'clock at night, and of course make the balance of the march in from to two and a half hours. I report this to you, so that you may, if you deem it prudent, take steps to secure these follows. It has been one week since Mr. Casey has heard from these troops, but he does not doubt but they are still there.
Mrs. Emma Dent Casey
It was some time before I saw much more of my sister Julia Dent Grant and her husband U.S.Grant., On February 14, 1861, I was married to Mr. James F. Casey, of Caseyville Kentucky., and we went South for the winter. At that time mutterings of the coming storm were already resounding in our ears like sullen peals of thunder, and we all knew that the Irrepressible Conflict was close at hand. All the world knows how Grant was at Galena when Sumter was fired on, how the affair at Camp Jackson led him to offer his services to the cause of the Union, and how they were accepted. During the conflict that followed the Grants made their headquarters at Cairo as much as possible, and when Mrs. Grant was not there or in the field with her husband she was visiting at her old home. Sometimes the General himself would come up for a day or so at a tine from the South to see his family and enjoy a breath of rest. Perhaps I ought to have said before--though it will apply equally as well here--that during all the time I knew Grant, between his return from California in 1854 to the fall of Vicksburg, I never saw him intoxicated. I never saw him under the influence of liquor. If he ever was it was not known to the members of his immediate family. Charges that he was a heavy drinker were made in those days, and have been made since. General Grant never gave them any notice. Mrs. Grant also ignored them, though she felt deeply cut by the injustice of them, and, perhaps, it is not my place at this late date to resent the recent statements made by a prominent man in public life, under the very shadow of Grant's tomb. Therefore, I will content myself with saying again, that if General Grant was ever a victim of the liquor habit it was a condition which he happily concealed from those nearest his heart, closest in their association with him, and who loved him best. Perhaps, altogether, I saw General Grant at White Haven half a dozen times during the Civil War, when he came to spend a few days with his wife and children. On the occasion of these visits nothing of particular interest ever happened. Nor did the General ever discuss his campaigns with us, or any matters of the field. He believed from the first, however, in the certainty of the final triumph of the North, and was one among the misguided many who, at the beginning, expected the end to come within ninety days. However, he seldom discussed these things with us. My father-in-law and he remained the best of personal friends, and it was my father's constant wish that, if the South must yield, she should yield to Grant. When Vicksburg fell my father expressed himself, on the morning that the news reached us at the breakfast table, as being sorry for the South, but mighty glad for "Dudy's sake." Dudy was Mrs. Grant's pet name for her husband, and she never called him any other. I close my narrative with the recital of an incident which I suppose has been forgotten by every living person except myself. It was a long time after it occurred before General Grant knew it, and if Fred Grant remembers it I have never heard him speak of it. We were living near Caseyville, Ky., at this time, not far from the banks of the Ohio, and the Grants were at Cairo, Ill. The General, of course, was in the South. He was engaged in the campaign which ended at Vicksburg. His son Fred came to Caseyville Kentucky to visit Mr. Casey and myself for a week or ten days. He was very fond of us and we of him. He had been there several days when one morning he went with his uncle, Mr. Casey, on horseback to Caseyville Kentucky, which was not more than two miles distant. There were a good many bands of guerillas prowling about the country at the time, as well as several other bands of irregular Confederate soldiers, but, as they never molested us, we were scarcely aware of their presence, and it had never occurred to us that they could have any reason to honor us with a call. The very morning that Mr. Casey and Fred went to town, however, a man dressed in the tattered uniform of a Confederate officer rode into the yard and asked me for a drink of water. I gave it to him, and as he lifted the cup to his lips he said, casually: "I guess Fred Grant is visiting you, isn't he?" Instantly a cold suspicion struck me like a dart through the heart, and I answered him as casually as be had questioned me: "Why, no." "Oh!" he said, "isn't he?" "No. He's gone." "Gone, has he? Is that so?" He looked at me with a smile slowly breaking out over his face. "Surely, he has," he said again, as if speaking to himself. Then he remounted his horse, took off his hat, made me a sweeping bow, and rode away. I did not lose a moment, but as quick as one of the horses could be caught out of the pasture, I put a black boy on his back and sent him to find my husband. I sent Mr. Casey word to put Fred on a coal boat and get his down the river to Cairo as fast as ever he could. I also suggested that if he could communicate with a gunboat on the river it might be very well. About eleven o'clock another man rode up to the front door. His horse had been hard ridden, and both were in need of water. He too, as he drank, spoke to me with seeming indifference. "You have a boy here, have you not?" "No," I answered, "the boy has gone." The man smiled as the other one had done, and said, "Well, I suppose a hint to the wise is sufficient." [pg. 10] And he, too, rode away. That afternoon, about four o'clock, a squad of eight hard-riding, grim-looking, and tattered cavalrymen rode up to the gate. One of them, heavily armed, and looking as fierce as a Greek bandit, came up to the porch. "Is this Mr. Casey's?" he asked, politely. I told him that it was. "Isn't there a boy visiting here?" "No. He has gone back to his mother, at Cairo." "Are, you sure?" "Yes. And I think there is likely to be some gunboats coming up the river very shortly, looking for some one. Perhaps you gentlemen will be interested in seeing them." The fierce-looking bandit laughed pleasantly, said that it was a nice day, and rejoined his companions at the gate. They talked in low voices for awhile, then sprang on their horses, waved their hats at me, and rode away. There is no doubt, of course, that they were looking for Fred, and had they found him they would certainly have dealt his father a hard blow.
N. B. Forrest's Farewell To His Troops
HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY CORPS, "Gainesville, Ala., May 9, 1865
Soldiers: By an agreement made between Lieutenant-General Taylor, commanding the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana, and Major-General Canby, commanding United States forces, the troops of this department have been surrendered. I do not think it proper or necessary at this time to refer to the causes which have reduced us to this extremity, nor is it now a matter of material consequence as to how such results were brought about. That we are beaten is a self-evident fact, and any other further resistance on our part would be justly regarded as the very height of folly and rashness. The armies of Generals Lee and Johnston have surrendered; you are the last of all troops of the Confederate States Army east of the Mississippi River to lay down your arms. The cause for which you have so long and manfully struggled, and for which you have braved dangers, endured privations and sufferings, and made so many sacrifices, is today hopeless. The government which we sought to establish and perpetuate is at an end. Reason dictates and humanity demands that no more blood be shed. Fully realizing and feeling that such is the case, it is your duty and mine to lay down our arms, to submit to the 'powers that be,' and to aid in restoring peace and establishing law and order throughout the land. The terms upon which we were surrendered are favorable, and should be satisfactory and acceptable to all. They Manifest a spirit of magnanimity and liberality on the part of the Federal authorities which should be met on our part by a faithful compliance with all the stipulations and conditions therein expressed. As your commander, I sincerely hope that every officer and soldier of my command will cheerfully obey the orders given, and carry out in good faith all the terms of the cartel. Those who neglect the terms and refuse to be paroled may assuredly expect when arrested to be sent North and imprisoned. Let those who are absent from their commands, from whatever cause, report at once to this place, or to Jackson, Miss., or, if too remote from either, to the nearest United States post or garrison, for parole. Civil war, such as you have just passed through, naturally engenders feelings of animosity, hatred and revenge. It is our duty to divest ourselves of all bitter feelings, and, so far as it is in our power to do so, to cultivate friendly sentiments toward those with whom we have so long contested and heretofore so widely but honestly differed. Neighborhood feuds, personal animosities and private differences should be blotted out and when you return home a manly, straightforward course of conduct will secure the respect even of your enemies. Whatever your responsibilities may be to government, to society, or to individuals, meet them like men. The attempt made to establish a separate and independent confederation has failed, but the consciousness of having done your duty faithfully and to the end will in some measure repay you for the hardships you have undergone. In bidding you farewell, rest assured that you carry with you my best wishes for your future welfare and happiness. Without in any way referring to the merits of the cause in which we have been engaged, your courage and determination, as exhibited on many hard fought fields, has elicited the respect and admiration of friend and foe. And I now cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to the officers and men of my command, whose zeal, fidelity and unflinching bravery have been the great source of my past success in arms. I have never on the field of battle sent you where I was unwilling to go myself, nor would I now advise you to a course which I felt myself unwilling to pursue. You have been good Soldiers; you can be good citizens. Obey the laws, preserve your honor, and the government to which you have surrendered can afford to be and will be magnanimous.
N. B. FORREST,
Lieutenant-General." Headquarters,
Forrest's Cavalry Corps Gainesville, Alabama May 9, 1865
Click Rebel flag for page 1
