MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
MAYSVILLE, KY
The Mason County Historical Society Inc is a non-profit organization located in Maysville, Kentucky. The society is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich history and heritage of Mason County and its surrounding areas. It was founded in 1968 by a group of local history enthusiasts who recognized the need to preserve the area's unique cultural and historical heritage.
The society operates a museum that houses a collection of artifacts, documents, photographs, and other memorabilia related to the history of Mason County. The museum is open to the public and provides visitors with a unique opportunity to learn about the region's rich history and cultural heritage.
The society also organizes various events and programs throughout the year, including lectures, tours, and workshops. These events are designed to educate and engage the public in the history and heritage of Mason County.
The Mason County Historical Society Inc is run by a board of directors and relies on the support of volunteers and donors to continue its mission of preserving and promoting the history and heritage of Mason County. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of Kentucky and the surrounding region.
MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC is a Historical Societies, Historic Preservation in MAYSVILLE KY. US MID #8402100276
The museum is classed as HSC (Historical Societies, Historic Preservation). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Southeastern (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia).
![A reenactor explains to the crowd how 125 Augusta, Kentucky men battled against seven companies of raiding Confederate soldiers This reenactor explains to the small crowd in words close to what the city website says about the skirmish. This is <a href="https://www.augustaky.com/history-of-augusta" rel="noreferrer nofollow"> what the website</a> says:
&quot;On September 27, 1862, Colonel Basil Duke led seven companies of Confederate soldiers to Cemetery Hill, above the small town of Augusta. With two pieces of artillery and 350 of [Confederate general John Hunt Morgan] Morgan's finest Raiders, Duke hoped to disperse the Union militia of 125 men stationed there (led by Colonel Joshua T. Bradford and known as the &quot;Home Guard&quot;) before crossing the Ohio River and moving on Cincinnati.
…Duke's horsemen rode into town, expecting a quick surrender. Instead, the residents of Augusta met the Rebs with a hail of gunfire, mounting a stiff defense that ultimately resulted in hand-to-hand fighting. Duke later reported, 'The hand-to-hand fighting in the houses...was the fiercest and hottest I ever saw. I witnessed in some of them the floors piled with corpses and blood trickling down the stairways.'
About fifteen Union soldiers were killed or wounded in the battle. Duke's losses were considerably more severe, with seventy-five to one hundred of his soldiers wounded or killed. Although the Confederates eventually forced the militia to surrender, the battle caused Duke to abandon his plans of taking the war onto Northern soil.&quot;](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53262938056_f5ac8d29e6_b.jpg)
![Kentuckian Civil War hero U.S. Brigadier Major General William 'Bull' Nelson of Maysville needs a statue in Kentucky During the Civil War, only William &quot;Bull&quot; Nelson was both a Brigadier Major General of the U.S. Army and a commander in the U.S. Navy. Maysville, Kentucky native Nelson was a graduate of the first class of the brand-new U.S. Naval Academy.
Nelson has an interesting story for the rough political times of America in the mid-nineteenth century. The son of a Maysville physician rose in the Navy’s ranks in his unwavering support of the United States and Kentucky. His town was an Underground Railroad stop. He had no slaves. During his Navy stint, Nelson joined the USS Niagara in its 1858 mission of returning captured slaves to their freedom in Monrovia, Liberia.
On only the second day after Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, Nelson showed up in the new President’s office at the White House to offer his services in defending the United States. &quot;As a Kentuckian, Nelson could have sympathized with the Confederates but, like his state, he remained loyal to the United States of America.&quot;*
The Kentuckian was transferred from the Navy to the Army. The U.S. Army was in great need of his leadership at the outset of the war. William Nelson successfully recruited thousands of Kentuckians to the U.S. cause in the Civil War–an activity that his Confederate counterparts floundered at. In one of his Kentucky recruitment efforts, this one just south of his hometown of Maysville, recruits were led by him to defend their native Kentucky and defeat a Confederacy invasion at West Liberty. At the Battle of Ivy Mountain, Confederates abandoned Piketown in Eastern Kentucky to U.S. troops, who were also under General Nelson's command, led on the ground by Colonel Joshua Still.
Nelson did well for his state. There was yet more to come.
&quot;Nelson commanded the Fourth Division and that unit became the first to enter Nashville [to occupy the Confederate state capitol for the United States just months after its lawmakers declared secession] on February 25, 1862.&quot;* In his book, Grant, author Ron Chernow observed: &quot;Even as General Buell approached Nashville from the north, Grant sent William “Bull” Nelson—a brash six-foot-five general weighing three hundred pounds—to beat him there, and Buell was bitter at being denied the glory of conquering the first Confederate capital.&quot;**
Nelson led troops at the Battle of Shiloh as part of the left flank of Ulysses S. Grant’s successful second-day counteroffensive that won the battle. Other noticeable U.S. generals who fought against that Confederate surprise attack were William Sherman and W.H.L. Wallace (who was shot in the head during the battle and died). Although Shiloh was the bloodiest battle in the Western Hemisphere, Grant greatly valued that battle experience. That tough win for U.S. troops would mold great commanders and tough soldiers. As the war went on, Grant would come to depend and lean more and more on the names at Shiloh.
&quot;Shiloh was one of the most important battles in the war,&quot; said Ulysses S. Grant in an interview with reporter John Russell Young in his book of 1879, Conversations with General Grant. &quot;It was there that our Western soldiers first met the enemy in a pitched battle. From that day they never feared to fight the enemy, and never went into action without feeling sure they would win.&quot;
After participating in the Siege of Corinth, it was Bull Nelson who was one of the earliest to enter and occupy that city for the federal government.
I think it safe to say that even if Nelson had a battle loss from time to time during the entire Civil War, Nelson would still have had a bright military career ahead of him under Grant, who had a history of appreciating, strategizing, and working closely with the Navy. Grant thought of water highways and confluences as critical conduits of supply lines and offensive maneuvers that won wars. He knew Nelson was the only general who had practical army and navy commanding experience.
Bull Nelson’s rise came to a premature end in the Fall of 1862, when he was killed in Louisville, Kentucky by a bullet from a sick and irate Jeff Davis (no, not the Confederate President but the Union general from Indiana), who had his honor impugned when Nelson angrily blamed Davis for the Union loss at Richmond, Kentucky, which cost many lives of Nelson's new Kentuckian volunteers.
As time has passed, Brigadier Major General &quot;Bull&quot; Nelson has been greatly underappreciated in his home state for his significant accomplishments for the United States and Kentucky during the early part of the Civil War.
Nelson was somewhat like Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. Had he heard my comparison, Bull Nelson would probably argue that he was much better. The Confederate hero, Stonewall Jackson, was killed early in the war by friendly fire from his own troops. Yet, in his honor, Pro-Union West Virginia**, which declared its independence from the Confederacy to form its own state apart from Virginia, erected a statue on its state capitol grounds of Clarksburg-born Stonewall Jackson, a man who fought against the state. In contrast, Kentucky and the United States have their hero in William “Bull” Nelson, who fought for them, not against them. But unlike Stonewall, Bull Nelson, who had Shiloh, Nashville, and Corinth under his belt, has no statue, only a tombstone.
Before his death, Nelson’s star had already gone far in the United States and Kentucky. Had he lived, Nelson would likely have gone much further.
Kentuckians and Maysvillians, you should build a statue in honor of your native son. He did you proud.
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*Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Wikipedia</a>
**Chernow, Ron. Grant (p. 188). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
***Unlike pro-United States Kentucky, whose men overwhelmingly joined U.S. forces (thank you General Nelson), West Virginia purportedly had a roughly equal body of men on each side, ~20,000 joined the Confederate Army and ~20,000 joined the U.S. Army. See Snell, Mark A., West Virginia and the Civil War, History Press, 2011, pg. 28, ISBN 978-1-59629-888-0](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53228158089_5ac60d7920_b.jpg)
Contact MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC
217 WALL ST
MAYSVILLE
KY
41056-1033
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MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC Information
| MID # | 8402100276 |
| Name | MASON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC |
| Alternate Name | |
| Classification | Historical Societies, Historic Preservation, , Southeastern |
| Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) | 610974747 |
| NTEECC | A82 |
| Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM) | 201212 |
| INCOME | 1,256 |
| REVENUE | 0 |
| LAT/LONG | 38.648897, -83.768573 |
| CODES | FIPS State Code: 21 FIPS County Code: 161 US Census Tract: 960300 US Census Block: 3026 |