Processed by: Archives Staff ; machine-readable finding aid created by:Eric Weig
Thomas Henry Hines papers, 1786-1954
1860-1889 (bulk dates)
University of Kentucky Special CollectionsLexington, Kentucky 40506
Arrangement is basically chronological.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Thomas Henry Hines papers, 1786-1954, 1860-1889 (bulk dates), 1M46M97, Special Collections, University of Kentucky.
10 volumes, 467 pieces.
Confederate Army officer, lawyer, judge. Thomas Hines, a native of Butler County, Kentucky, joined the Confederate Army in 1861, and after the battle of Shiloh became a member of General John Hunt Morgan's cavalry. He escaped with Morgan from the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio, November 27, 1863, and has been given the credit by Basil Duke and others for engineering that spectacular episode. In 1864, Hines was commissioned by the Confederate government to plan and execute a revolt aginst the Federal government in the northwest among disaffected troops. Federal agents learned of the so-called Northwestern Conspiracy, however, and the plan fell through. After the war, Hines studied law in Canada with John Cabell Breckinridge. He remained in Canada until March, 1866, at which time he moved to Memphis to edit THE DAILY APPEAL and finish his law studies.
In 1867, Hines moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he established his law practice. He was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1878, and presided as Chief Justice during 1884-1885. He retired in 1885. Hines married Nannie Sproule in 1864, and their daughter, Alice Thomas Hines, married Delano B. Walcutt.
This collection largely consists of the papers of Thomas Henry Hines, but includes some materials relating to members of his family as well. Hines' papers include his correspondence, diaries, clippings, pamphlets, notebooks, maps, several broadsides, and scrapbooks. His correspondents included John Breckinridge Castleman, John C. Breckinridge, Basil Wilson Duke, Varina Howell Davis, and his future wife, Nannie Sproule. The diaries include interesting descriptions of life in Memphis during Reconstruction, and several items give information on the Northwestern Conspiracy. Scrapbooks include clippings about the conspiracy and Hines' editorials for THE DAILY APPEAL. Family papers include early land papers and correspondence belonging to the Hines and Sproule families, and later correspondence and clippings of the Hines, Miller, and Walcutt families.