by Ralph Barnes
Citizens Voice & Times
July 18, 1996
New York Times article on
Lookout Mt. battle
Most Estill County residents are unaware of a native born son who came
within a whisker of becoming Governor of Kentucky, is enshrined on a mountain
top in Tennessee and earned national recognition for his work on the Federal
Courts. Sidney Madison Barnes is arguably the most notable individual ever born
within the boundaries of Estill County. In addition to his military and
national achievements, he was a leading citizen during the county’s critical
formative years and deserves to be remembered.
Sidney was born in 1821 to John Harris Barnes and Lucy Grubbs. John and Lucy
Barnes, while still in their twenties, died when one of the frequent Typhoid
Fever epidemics struck Irvine in 1823/24. At the death of their parents, Sidney
and his younger brother Thomas Barnes, were sent to live with an uncle in
Montgomery County. Thomas Grubbs was a wealthy plantation owner and insisted
that his eldest nephew become a farmer. However Sidney was interested in
following his father into the legal profession. When he reached the age of
eighteen he rebelled against his uncle and returned to Irvine to pursue a
career in law. His net assets when he arrived in his native county were a
horse, a dollar and a watch. Sidney did odd jobs around the courthouse while
his father’s old friend, Judge Burnham, tutored him in law. After completing
his legal training, he became one of Estill County’s most successful attorneys
for the next three decades.
In 1841, Sidney married Elizabeth Mize, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Mize.
Isaac Mize was a wealthy landowner whose holdings included the well known spa,
Estill Springs. The couple had six children, several of whom became prominent
in their own right. Their eldest son, Thomas Harris Barnes, left Centre College
to become one of the youngest persons ever promoted to the rank of Major in the
U S Army. In later life he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for the Western
District of Arkansas by President McKinley. Another son, James Keith Barnes
served as Postmaster of Fort Smith, Arkansas.
When the Civil War erupted, Sidney rallied to the side of the Union. He was the
prime force in the formation of the famous Eighth Kentucky Infantry Regiment.
The regiment was comprised mostly of men from Estill and her neighboring
counties. The soldiers earned national acclaim for their heroic efforts in
capturing the crest of Lookout Mountain in that celebrated battle. The names of
Sidney and several of his subordinates are enshrined on a plaque atop the
precipice. Sidney’s plantation at Estill Springs became the training base for
the Eighth Infantry while the regiment was being assembled. Sidney had acquired
the estate from his father-in-law just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.
Barnes was given a Colonel’s commission and assumed command of the regiment. As
commanding officer, he is credited for much of the success achieved by the
unit.
Colonel Barnes paid a heavy price for his allegiance to the Union. John Hunt
Morgan, who had been a comrade of Thomas H Barnes during the Mexican-American
War, occupied Estill Springs briefly in 1863. Morgan permitted his troops to
ravage the estate during the occupation. The senseless destruction is
confirmation of the animosity that developed between former friends due to the
war. When Sidney marched off to fight the Rebels he turned his law practice
over to a local attorney named Robert Friend. He entrusted his financial
affairs to his brother who was then an attorney in Madison County. Thomas
Barnes was holding money to make mortgage payments on his brother’s plantation
when he died suddenly and Sidney’s money became tied up in Thomas’s estate. In
addition, the government failed to keep its promise to reimburse Sidney for his
expenses in forming and training the Eighth Infantry Regiment. As a result,
Barnes lost Estill Springs and somehow Robert Friend acquired the estate
earning the enmity of his benefactor. When the Colonel returned to his law
practice after the War, his health as well as his financial holdings were
greatly deteriorated. His son, Thomas Harris Barnes, joined his father’s law
office in Irvine. Things were not quite the same for the Barnes family after
the war and they soon left Irvine and moved to Somerset where Sidney again
became active in politics.
Sidney Barnes first ventured into politics in 1848 when he won a seat to the
Kentucky General Assembly as the Representative from Estill County. In 1867,
the returning war hero became a candidate for Governor on the Radical Union
ticket and ran second to John L Helm in a three man race. The following year he
ran for a seat in the United States Congress. He lost in a closely contested
race that eventually was decided in the House of Representatives. Kentucky
remained in the Union during the Civil War but public sympathy shifted to favor
the South after the war. The former Colonel’s lack of political success
reflects the population’s bias against Northern war heroes at that time.
The family left Somerset after a brief time and moved to Arkansas where Sidney
became a prominent member of the Little Rock community. He served as a delegate
to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1874.
In 1878 President Hays appointed him Prosecuting Attorney for the territory of
New Mexico. It was in New Mexico that he became good friends with Lew Wallace,
author of Ben Hur. Sidney had another literary connection through his cousin,
Joel Chandler Harris, who wrote the Uncle Remus stories.
Sidney M. Barnes died in May of 1890 and was buried with honors in the National
Cemetery at Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Federal Courts were closed on the day of
his funeral; an indication of the high esteem in which this Estill County
native was held.
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New York Times article on Lookout Mt. battle