The Interment and Disinterment of John May Hamilton

THE INTERMENT OF JOHN MAY HAMILTON

An account in "A History of the Civil War in Nelson Co., Kentucky" by John B. Thomas, Jr. tells of the fate of John May Hamilton. The story begins on the night of June 17, 1864, when Col. George M. Jessee's Confederate Cavalry with about 200 men camped somewhere in - mostly Rebel - Nelson County between Bloomfield and Bardstown, possibly at Camp Charity. Five of his men went to the home of John R. Jones who lived nearby in a large brick home that still stands near the Bluegrass Parkway and the Bloomfield-Springfield road [Ky 55]. They demanded a horse, saddle and bridle. Jones refused and fired on the men through the front door, inflicting a fatal wound on one before being killed himself. He was buried three days later at a place called the Camp Ground with a large crowd in attendance.

The previous month, from Washington, Joseph Holt, Adjutant General of the Army, had sent a message to Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge of the Military District of Kentucky suggesting punishment - which might even have been interpreted as execution - of Confederate soldiers captured a second time after being released on an oath not to fight again. Some say Holt - whose wife was from Nelson County - and Burbridge wanted an excuse to shoot Confederate prisoners.

On July 16, 1864, Burbridge issued General Order 59, establishing a policy stating: "When an unarmed Union citizen is murdered, four guerrillas will be selected from the prisoners in the hands of the military authority and publicly shot to death in the most convenient place near the scene of the outrage." This order started what is known as Burbridge's Reign of Terror in Kentucky. During the next seven months, over 60 prisoners, usually selected by lottery, were sent to various places in the state and shot or hanged. The case of John R. Jones was one of the first to come to the attention of Burbridge.

Two young men, John May Hamilton and Richmond Berry, were brought to Nelson County, not knowing their fate. They had been held as prisoners-of-war in Lexington, Kentucky after being captured as guerrillas who served with "Partisan Rangers" in Tennessee and Kentucky. The men in these outfits "lived off the countryside" and were more or less recognized as having official standing by the South, but were seen as bank robbers, outlaws, and guerrillas by the North. Hamilton had been with "Sidney Cook's Guerrillas" when they raided Flemingsburg, Ashland and Olive Hill in Eastern Kentucky. He was captured March 6, 1864, while on a raid in Johnson County, near his home farm. They were taken to "Bunker Hill" [now called Schoolhouse Hill] and executed by firing squad to atone for the death of John R. Jones, a man they had never seen.

In a history of the town, Dr. A.H. Merrifield called it "the gloomiest day Bloomfield had during the war."

The local account of the deaths of these two men tells of the bravery of John May Hamilton, when he realized they were to face a firing squad. "Their bodies were given over to the good people of Bloomfield and were buried handsomely in metal caskets. Before interment their bodies were laid out in the Masonic hall where the whole town wept over these innocent young men." A number of years later the local women's club - who thought he was from Richmond, VA instead of Morgan Co., KY - erected a stone for John that notes, "Though a stranger, he lies among friends."

(The grave of John May Hamilton is shown above - Photo by Stacie Munroe)

THE DISINTERMENT OF JOHN MAY HAMILTON

Hamilton enlisted in Co. K, 5th Kentucky Infantry of the CSA at the beginning of the Civil War.

On Saturday, August 8, 2009, the 5th Kentucky Infantry Re-enactment group at the request of Hamilton's decedents, disinterred the body of John May Hamilton from Maple Grove Cemetery in Bloomfield for removal and re-burial at his home in Keaton, Kentucky. The remains of Hamilton were found and placed in a new coffin and Hamilton returned home after 145 years.