complete control, and the battle was won. The next morning,
says the story, General Taylor sent an orderly to the tent of Captain
Davis, commanding him to report at headquarters. The order was obeyed; and
when Davis had saluted his superior officer and stood at attention, the
crusty old general stepped forward and, with a moistened eye, extended his
hand and said, "Captain Davis, my daughter was a better judge of a man
than I." They were the warmest friends ever afterward.

[Illustration: Jefferson Davis]

While Davis was Secretary of War of the United States, he practically
reorganized the army and revised the tactics. After the close of the
Mexican War, he became a Congressman from Mississippi, and afterward was
sent to the United States Senate from that State. When he resigned his
seat in the United States Senate, he delivered a farewell speech setting
forth his reasons for so doing. This is said to be one of the greatest
addresses ever delivered before the Senate. He was chosen President of the
Southern Confederacy at a time when another great Kentuckian, who had been
born in the same section of the state, was President of the United States.

In a rude log hut, not many miles from the place where Jefferson Davis
first saw the light, was born a boy whom the world has placed on the
highest pedestal of fame. Abraham Lincoln was born in Larue County on
February 12, 1809; his life is so well known that there is little of it
not familiar to the average school boy.

The Civil War and Later

When the Civil War between the States of the Union was about to begin,
Kentucky refused to take sides in the controversy, and in the strict sense
of the term was never out of the Union. When the President of the United
States called on Kentucky to furnish men and equipment for the Union army,
the Governor replied that the State was neutral and would take no steps
toward secession, nor would it espouse coercion by force of arms. The
people, however, chose for themselves, and enlisted in the Union or in the
Confederate army, as they believed to be in the right of the controversy.
The result was that about an equal number enlisted with both armies. Hence
the State became a common battleground during the struggle, very much as
it was in the days when the Indian tribes from the North and from the
South met on our soil as a common battleground. Families were divided as
to their espousal of the respectiv