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Haunted Fort Duffield

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Fort Duffield was the "Union Stronghold At The Mouth of Salt River". It is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Civil War Preservation Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail. The fort can be reached using the hiking trail at the end of the parking lot. Walking tour brochures and rest rooms are available at the fort.In September 1861, President Abraham Lincoln said, "I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game." Ordered built by General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1861 to protect a Union supply route in West Point and to protect the City of Louisville from attack via the Louisville-Nashville Turnpike and Ohio River, Fort Duffield is Kentucky's oldest, largest and best-preserved earthen fortification. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and on the Civil War Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail. Wheelchair accessible, the Fort allows visitors to explore a site where Union Soldiers defended the Ohio River against the Confederate Army. Although no battles took place at Fort Duffield, there are more than 30 Union soldiers buried at the small cemetery located adjacent to the fort.Captain Ennis Church, Regimental Surgeon 9th Michigan Infantry, U.S. Captain Church served as regimental surgeon to the sick solders that cold winter in West Point. For most of the green troops, this was the first time away from home. Wet ground and freezing temperatures made life in the camps miserable. Few of them knew how to make a proper bunk of straw or rails. The many hardships combined with the less than ideal sanitary conditions proved too much for many of the men. A measles epidemic struck the camps and many of the men developed pneumonia as a complication, in all, 61 men died and were buried on the hill to the south of the fort. The people of West Point opened their homes to these sick men. During this bleak period the Ditto-Lansbury House, on the Northeast corner of 4th & Elm , was pressed into service as a military hospital. It was ironic that in many instances the mothers, wife's, or sisters of the confederate soldiers who were off fighting for the south were kindly nursing the Yankee Soldiers back to health. Dr. Geoghegan and Dr. Fletcher of West Point assisted Captain Church in this overwhelming crisis. Among the local women who nursed the sick under these severe conditions were Mrs. Guthrie and Miss Mallie. Col. Duffield, commander of the 9th Michigan, reported on December 23, 1961 to Brig. Gen. John Robertson, "Our sick list is rapidly decreasing and now shows only 156 instead of the 316 as per enclosed monthly return. I have had all the men and officers of this command vaccinated to guard against a visitation from small Pox which is prevalent in several Brigades now in Kentucky".. Many of wars casualties were not on the battlefield. In grateful remembrance we honor their service and the ultimate sacrifice of the 61 men that gave their lives while serving the Union at Fort Duffield.
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Those that died in service and are remembered at Fort Duffield's Memorial Cemetery. 1861-1862 1861 10/28 Pvt. Conley Co. K-9th Mich. (Fever) 10/28 Joseph Duffee Co. K-9th Mich. (Meningitis) 11/05 Gardner Van Zile Co. K-9th Mich. (Inflammation of Brain) 11/13 James Winters Co. K-9th Mich. (Fell into cistern). 11/15 Edward Snavley 1ST Wis. (Drowned) 11/16 ____ Gardner Co. D-9t Mich. (Pneumonia) 11/18 Job Kerr Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 11/18 Franklin Wait Co. A-Mich. (Measles) 11/19 Daniel Pearson Co. I-9th Mich. (Measles) 11/21 Francis Stockwell Co. I-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 11/23 Wm. Plants Co. D-9th Mich. (Measles) 11/23 Ignatus Long Co. B-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 11/24 Asahel Leet Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 11/25 Lafayette Porter Co, H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 11/26 Daniel Cutler Co. F-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 11/27 Aleck Sutton 1st Wis. (?) 11/27 Almond Knight 1st Wis. (?) 11/29 Jesse Benson Co. B-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 11/30 Reuben Smith Co. K-9th Mich. (Measles) 12/01 Charles Jordon Co. G-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/02 Miles Woods Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/04 Emil Fisher 1st Wis. (Killed by snipper) 12/03 Ionia Sweet Co. H-9th Mich. (Phthisis Pulmonary) "Tuberculosis" 12/04 Henry Redner Co. C-9th Mich. (Measles) 12/06 _____ Cutworth Co. A-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/08 Garret Quick Co. E-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/09 Charles Wright Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/09 Jason Mills Co. D-9th Mich. (Pneumonia) 12/11 Issac Tower Co. A-9th Mich. (?) 12/13 John Byers Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/15 Gordon Snell Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/16 James Drown Co. F-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 12/31 Anson Lewis Co. C-9th Mich. (Typhoid)186201/01 Russel Farnham Co. C-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 01/17 Philetus Bacon Co. C-9th Mich. (Pulmonary) "Tuberculosis" 01/18 Earlman Vaughn Co. A-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 02/07 Robert Evans Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) 02/09 Richard Presley Co. H-9th Mich. (?) 02/17 Wm. Wilson Co. D-9th Mich. (?) 02/24 Emery Wheeler Co. H-9th Mich. (?) 02/29 Patrick O'Brien Co. H-9th Mich. (?)Death Date Unknown ? Leon Combs 9th Ky. (?) ? ____ Johnson 37th Indiana (?) ? Gunder Edwards Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid) ? Clark Weston Co. I-9th Mich. (Typhoid) ? Charles Sweets Co. H-9th Mich. (Typhoid)(Also 2 men from 1st Ohio and 1 man from the 28th Ky. drowned here.)The Official History of the 9th Michigan Vol. Infantry list 61 men as being buried at Fort Duffield. The remains are "Unknown". Information Courtesy of Richard Briggs, "West Point Historian".

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