John Breckenridge
Plot Twist - General John Breckenridge Castleman
My 2nd cousin four times removed, descended from Andreas, via Johannes Lewis, one of the brothers that started in Hampshire County after Andreas left Stone Arabia. Lewis migrated to Kentucky and General John Breckenridge 1841-1914 is his grandson. Now here comes a twist!
At the age of 19, Castleman entered into Confederate service.
During the Civil War, Castleman recruited 41 men in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, who went to Knoxville, Tennessee, to form the Second Kentucky Cavalry company under John Hunt Morgan.
Castleman was promoted to major in 1864. He led guerrillas in the attempted burning of supply boats in St. Louis, Missouri and was arrested in October 1864 at Sullivan, Indiana. He was convicted of spying and sentenced to death, but his execution was stayed by Abraham Lincoln. Following the war, Castleman was exiled from the United States, and studied medicine in France. He was pardoned by Andrew Johnson and returned to Kentucky in 1868.
He revived the Louisville Legion, a militia unit, in 1878 and became adjutant general of Kentucky in 1883. The unit became the 1st Kentucky Volunteers in the Spanish–American War, and Castleman was commissioned a colonel in the U.S. Army. His unit participated in the invasion of Puerto Rico, and after the war he was promoted to brigadier general and served as military governor of the island.
General Castleman wrote a book titled "Active Service" available online to read free of charge.
There is a lot more about this distant cousin here! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Breckinridge_Castleman
Speech of Col. John B. Castleman
"Gen. Henry, Mr. Alcade, Gentlemen: My esteemed commander has elected to refer to me in terms of commendation and to invite your attention to matters personal to myself in order to illustrate the liberality of the Government to whose protection you are assigned.
It is true that against the great republic beyond the seas, to which you are now united by the inseparable strength of governmental union, I fought a third of a century ago as a Confederate soldier. It is true that the Government whose commission I now hold is one which then I united in a common effort to destroy. But the spirit of patriotism which then animated a great people in an heroic struggle, now prompts the same people, through their survivors of that war, to demand that no effort of mankind shall cause to be effaced any star from the flag of the Union, but that where self-respecting, intelligent citizenship shall warrant it, those represented in that sisterhood of States shall aid other territorial communities in enjoying whatsoever privileges they may demonstrate that they are entitled to receive. Your position in the future is with yourselves. Your respect for law and your enforcement of order are matters which will determine your right to the respect and confidence of your new associates. You will be required to exercises courage and firmness and manhood in controlling the ignorant and vicious and the unwise. Every citizen of Porto Rico, no matter what his antecedents shall receive the protection and support of the constituted authorities of the United States. And every citizen shall be compelled to respect his neighbor's right to equal freedom. "
[General John Breckinridge Castleman, 1898]
Gen. Castleman, ex-Confederate, Tells Soldiers it is Their Duty.
LOUISVILLE, Ky, Nov. 11- Louisville, in which much of the spirit of the old South still lives, putting aside racial feeling and personal prejudice, has settled for itself, patriotically and unreservedly, the question of the propriety of white soldiers saluting negro officers. This question, which came to the fore recently, was on the first thought answered to reconcile inherent convictions with military regulations.
The solution was that an officer should not be regarded as a personality toward whom the salute homage to the country's uniform and to the things it typifies should be accepted.
An exposition of this viewpoint was voiced by General John B. Castleman, a Major of the Army of the Confederacy, later Colonel of a Kentucky National Guard regiment and a Brigadier General of Volunteers who saw active service in Porto Rico during the Spanish-American War. He said:
"The discipline of the army must be maintained, and non-commissioned officers understand little of the spirit of the army when they refuse to salute a negro officer. I have held several commissions in the military service, and I unhesitatingly say that I would or will, at any time salute an officer, superior or inferior, who salutes me without regard to the color of his skin. The regulations, the laws, and the fundamentals of courtesy and discipline upon which these regulations and laws are based prescribe this. It is no time to stand against them. I want to urge every soldier to be a soldier in the full sense of the term. We are at war, and soldiers are under the rules of the American Army. We are all one under the flag. We salute the rank, not the individual."
The incident which brought forth General Castleman's statement occurred here recently when two white soldiers refused to salute Captain Glass, a colored officer.
The New York Times, November 12, 1917
Gen. Castleman Speaks
The Courier-Journal
November, 10, 1911
[Article transcribed]
General Castleman Speaks
Gen. John B Castleman delivered the final address. His subject was "Lincoln, the Forgiving Foe." Mr. Folk, in introducing Gen. Castleman, called attention to the fact that he had fought under the stars and bars during the Civil War, and, later, during the war with Spain, he had fought under the stars and stripes.
Asserting that he did not know until this morning that he was to be called upon to speak, Gen. Castleman said the occasion was too sacred for one to participate in without first having prepared himself. He said Mr. Collier had called upon him, however, and that any Kentuckian of the worth of the publisher of Collier's Weekly could never refuse to comply with his request, if possible, or at least to make the effort.
"Even if Robert Collier could not induce me to attempt a thing that I feared I might not be able to carry out, the memory of his father would," Gen. Castleman said.
Getting down to his subject, Gen. Castleman, without mentioning names, related a story of how Lincoln had intervened in behalf of a young Confederate soldier who was in grave danger of execution at the hands of the "Yankees." The sister and brother-in-law of the young soldier had appealed to Lincoln, he said, and the latter, after listening to their story, wrote an order to Maj. Gen. Hovey, instructing him to suspend execution in case the Confederate youth was found guilty.
Some one among those on the speakers' platform called upon Gen. Castleman to give the name of the young solder, be he refused. Gov. Wilson then announced so that all could hear, that the name of the soldier was John B. Castleman, and the requested President Taft to read the original order to Maj. Gen. Hovey, which Gen. Castleman held in his hand. The President complied setting at rest all doubt as to the identity of the young Confederate soldier, whose life probably was spared by the intervention of President Lincoln.
Gen. Castleman related other instances illustrative of the forgiving spirit of Lincoln. He said the martyred President had set an example that had been followed by many of his successors in office, in support of which statement he pointed to the fact that Gen. Basil W. Duke, who fought for the South, is now a member of the Shiloh Battlefield Commission.
Instancing the good Lincoln's attitude toward those who fought against the North, coupled that of later Presidents who folloed in the "Emancipator's" footsteps, had brought about, Gen. Castleman told how Confederate solders all over the South responsed to McKinley's call for 200,000 volunteers when the blowing up of the Maine made the war with Spain inevitable.
"President McKinley called for 200,000 volunteers," he said, "and 1,000,000 men responded, the Confederate soldiers all over the South entering instantly the service of the country."
In this connection, Gen. Castleman said that the first regiment that offered its service to the Government was a Kentucky regiment and was commanded by a Confederate soldier. He was called upon to give the name of the commander of that regiment, and when he hesitated someone again answered for him, informing the assemblage that the commander referred to was Gen. Castleman.
Source: [Gen. Castleman Speaks, The Courier-Journal, November, 10, 1911]
Notable Personages Who Took Park In Lincoln Farm Memorial Dedication Exercises
The Courier-Journal
November 10, 1911
These articles are among several more that go deeper posted at Bryan Castleman's blogger page here.