Dr. John J. Dickey Diary, Fleming County, Ky.  Recorded in the 1870's and
beyond.  Reprinted in Kentucky Explorer, Volume 11, No 2  June, 1996, p.
82. By permission. Breathitt County

A Talk with William M. Combs - 1898

     I was personally acquainted with General Leslie Combs.  I met him in
Frankfort in 1862, July.  Dr. Rodman knocked him down. Combs called Rodman
a God-d------ traitor.  Leslie swore he could cut out a better General
with a broad ax out of a buckeye than the General who was commanding at
Flafort??? [sic] (Frankfort).  Leslie told me we are all kin.  I do not
know how close, but it was distant.  He had two brothers who were not
much.  Leslie was the boy Captain during the War of 1812.  He carried a
man off the battle field, and when Leslie broke (?), this man set him up
in business.
     Nickolson Combs was called "Danger" Combs; his son, Nickolson, was
called "Birdeye;" he was Peggy Lewis' father.  General Leslie Combs was
Clerk of the Court of Appeals after the Civil War.
     At a Methodist meeting at the mouth of Lot's Creek, the preachers
were slapping the mourners on the back and telling them to pray on,
saying, "We have the devil down. Let's keep him down."  Old General Elijah
Combs was present and ... (Interview ends here without any warning.) 

Combs Rodman Lewis
-
Frankfort-Franklin-KY

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/breathitt/combs.wm2.txt