4. "The matter of the Kentucky marker on the battlefield of Shiloh is evolving nicely…" From The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, October 1972.

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The matter of the Kentucky marker on the battlefield of Shiloh is evolving nicely. The site has been selected, the place of production of the marker selected, the historian is composing the legend, and the map is being sketched. Contrariwise, the marker project relating to the field at Gettysburg has struck a formidable obstacle. The rule exercised by the Department of the Interior is that for a state to have a monument or memorial on the national battlefield, that state must have had one or more units in the battle. Kentucky had none. And the authorities are rather reluctant to accept the extenuating circumstances as fulfillment of requirements. The number of native born Kentuckians participating in that decisive engagement must have been great. Major General John Buford, a native of Woodford County, commanded the Union Calvary, which held off the Confederate Army sufficiently long for the main force to come up. With gallant action enabled the Union forces to seize position sufficiently strategic to affect the outcome of the battle. General John B Hood, native of Bath County, commanded the celebrated so-called “Texas Division;” He was a hero of many a hard fought battle. Major General Jerome Bonaparte Robertson, also a Woodford native, succeeded Hood as the beloved commander of the “Texas Division.” Both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were native Kentuckians. Could anyone have performed a more glorious act at Gettysburg than Lincoln, who pronounced the immortal Gettysburg Address? Kentucky deserves to have a memorial at Gettysburg. From The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, October 1972.

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