The Lexington (KY) Chasseurs

Source: History of Lexington Kentucky: its early annals and recent progress, George W. Ranck, Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1872, pp. 383-385.

The Lexington Chasseurs, one of the most noted of the military companies ever raised in Lexington, was organized May 9, 1860, in the grand jury room of the present court-house, and in a very short time was fully equipped. On the 4th of July, 1860, in the presence of the largest crowd ever assembled on the old fair grounds (now the city park), Miss Abby Stewart, in behalf of the ladies of Lexington, presented the Chasseurs with a beautiful flag. The reply to the presentation address was made by Mr. O.L. Bradley, in behalf of the company. The reading of the declaration of independence by D.C. Wickliffe, an oration by R.W. Cooper, and a handsome barbecue given by the Chasseurs and their many friends concluded the exercises of the day.

The brilliant uniform and splendid evolutions of the Chasseurs now constitute one of the most charming memoirs of the days "just before the war." The Chasseurs were the favorites of everybody, and the company rarely had a parade that it was not invited to partake of the hospitality of some private residence. In 1861, a silver canteen was presented to the company, to be the prize of that member of the Chasseurs who should prove himself the best rifle shot, and to be retained by him until won by another. On one side is the inscription:

Lexington Chasseurs
Organized
May 9, 1860
Non nobis sed patriae.

The other side bears the name of the giver, and also those of the winners of the prize, viz:

Presented February 22, 1861, by John G. Kiser, Esq.
Private R.T. Anderson
Corporal L.P. Milward, July 26, 1861
Private David Prewett, June 16, 1868.

The hiatus from 1861 to 1868 represents a period too well and too sadly remembered to need explanation.

The Chasseurs were not simply peace officers. At the beginning of the late terrible war, a large majority of this favorite company volunteered and served gallantly in one or the other of the contending armies. The members of the old Chasseurs fought bravely on many a bloody field; not a few attained an enviable distinction, while others "sleep their last sleep" from wounds inflicted or diseases contracted in that desperate struggle.

The following is a list of the first officers elected by the Chasseurs, and the names of all the privates who have ever belonged to the company:

Captain, S.D. Bruce; first lieutenant, J.C. Cochran; second lieutenant, W.F. Matheny; third lieutenant, C.H. Harney; first sergeant, James Dudley; second sergeant, L.W. Ealier; third sergeant, T.D. Carr; fourth sergeant, Charles Swift; fifth sergeant, T.J. Nicholas' first corporal, John B. Castleman; second corporal, J.M. Yates; third corporal, L.P. Milward; fourth corporal, T.J. Bush; surgeon, Dudley Bush, clerk, G.R. Letcher; bugler, C.H. Brutton; color bearer, J. Munos. Privates .--R.T. Anderson, J.W. Alexander, O.L. Bradley, E. Brennan, B.W. Blincoe, H.C. Brennan, F.W. Brodie, John Bryan, L. Brechus, J. Bright, L.C. Bruce, G.R. Bell, W. Bright, D.M. Craig, J. Cochran, A.B. Chinn, C. Coleman, A, Clark, R.W. Cooper, B.T. Castleman, J. Clark, E. Cropper, G. Castleman, H.G. Craig, J. Cooper, H. Castleman, S. Dudley, E.S. Duncanson, H.C. Dunlap, J.G. Dudley, G.A. Doll, J. Dillon, J. Dill, G. Dozier, H.T. Duncan, Jr., J.W. Dillard, T.P. Dudley, Jr., C. Ely, W. Ferguson, R. Ferguson, N. Ferguson, R. Foley, W.F. Fulton, J.L. Gilmore, S.C. Graves, W.D. Gilmore, C. Goodloe, F. Gilmore, D.S. Goodloe, Jr., Z. Gibbons, H.B. Hill, Jr., J.O. Hill, F.X. Hollerger, D.M. Hawkins, F.A. Hanson, P.B. Hunt, P.C. Hartnell, J. Hayes, T. Hawkins, L. Harris, S. Hawkins, J.A. Harper, M. Hebrati, C.C. Johnson. Jas. Johnson. John Johnson, B.H. Johnson, E. Keene, T.J. Kelly, D. Kastle, J. Keene, G. Kinnear, J.G. Keiser, B. Letcher, S. Letcher, H. Luther, J.W. Lee, S. Lawless, J.P. Lawless, Linzen, E. Lewis, G.L. Lancaster, P. Lampher, W. Lockhart, R. McCann, J. Munos, W.M. Matthews, R. Maguire, H. McManus, C. Milward, T.W. McCann, H. McCann, B.J. McCabe, T.D. Mitchell, T. McCaw, J. McNeal, W. McCracken, Monks, W. Montmullin, N.H. McClelland, G. McMurtry, F. Matthews, J.C. Morris, J. Montmullin, H. McKee, W. Maglone, J.R. Morton, S. Mahone, W.B. McIntire, L.C. Nicholas, J.C. Newcomb, J. Nemelly, M. Offut, H. Oots, G.L. Postlethwaite, W. Postlethwaite, E. Payne, A.B. Pullum, W. Perkins, J.R. Price, J.C. Price, M. Reed, J. Reed, T.A. Russell, R.C. Scott, E. Swift, S. Swift, G. Sprague, J.P. Shaw, W. Spencer, J. Sellier, C.H. Swift, J.B. Steves, W.T. Scott, D. Scott, T. Scott, O. Saxton, L. Spurr, H.C. Stewart, C. Spillman, J. Shaw, J. Sepp, J.F. Thompson, B.F. Thompson, A.W. Trabien, R. Underwood, W.H. Varty, J.A. Vaughn, R.J. West, P. Wilging, D.L. Woolley, L. Warfield, C. Warfield, E. Warfield, N. Williams, L.N. Walton, W. Wood.

Transcribed by pb December 2000