Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 174.  Jefferson County.

HUMPHREY MARSHALL, son of John James Marshall, and Anna Reed Marshall
(nee Birney), was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, January 13, 1812, and
died in Louisville, Kentucky, March 27, 1872.  He was one of the most
distinguished members of a family celebrated in the history of Virginia
and Kentucky, and one of the bravest and most intellectual men Kentucky
has produced, prominent as a soldier, a statesman and a jurist.  He
received a military education at West Point, where he was graduated in
June, 1832, and entered the army as second lieutenant.  He was at once
sent to the west to become a participant in the Black Hawk war, and
received from General Winfield Scott honorable mention on account of his
gallant conduct in the campaign which followed.  Not long afterward he
resigned his commission in the army, and the resignation was regretfully
accepted by General Cass, then secretary of war, who officially
expressed the desire of the government to retain him in the service in
any branch that he might prefer; but the country was then at peace and
Lieutenant Marshall felt that his life might be more useful if given to
civil pursuits.  Accordingly he held himself in readiness to aid his
country in a military capacity whenever his services should be needed,
but turned his attention to the legal profession, where so many of his
family had won prominence, studied law, was admitted to the bar in April
1833, and in November 1834, joined the legal fraternity of Louisville.
His fine legal mind, his careful preparation and his comprehensive grasp
of the law in all its intricate workings soon enabled him to command a
foremost place in the ranks of the fraternity, and he conducted a
successful practice until 1846.
     In the meantime General Marshall took a more or less prominent part
in public affairs and was elected to the city council in 1836, but soon
resigned that office to accept the captaincy of a company of volunteers,
raised in response to a call of President Jackson to march to the
Sabine to defend the frontier of Louisiana against the approaching
Mexican army, under Santa Anna, then over-running Texas, but the battle
of San Jacinto settled the fate of the Lone Star state and rendered the
march of the volunteers unnecessary, so that the company disbanded.  In
1837 General Marshall was a candidate for the state legislature, and
though he met defeat it was a defeat that amounted almost to a victory,
as his opponent, Hon. S. S. Nicholas, who had just retired from the
bench, received only a small majority and won that only after a very
heated canvass.  This, however, was the initial step of Mr. Marshall
into politics.  It drew to him the attention of the public and was to be
followed by distinctive honors in the future.  In his law practice he
won an enviable success and became a prominent figure at the Louisville
bar, then, as now, noted for its distinguished representatives.  He met
in the forum such eminent lawyers as James Guthrie, Henry Pirtle,
Charles Mynn Thurston and other lawyers of that day, and was recognized
as the peer of any of those men in professional attainments.  He had
built up a large practice and established a reputation as a brilliant
and successful advocate, when he again responded to a call to arms and
became a participant in the Mexican war.
     On the 26th of May, 1846, Mr. Marshall laid aside all personal
considerations to enter the service of his country, and on the request of
the governor of Kentucky assumed command of the First Kentucky Cavalry as
its colonel.  He did not hesitate to place himself at the head of his
regiment and proceed to the scene of hostilities, notwithstanding the fact
that he was borne down by family affliction at the time, his father having
recently died, while his wife was at the time seriously ill.  He went to
the front and debarking from a Mississippi steamer marched his regiment
overland through Arkansas and Texas to Camargo, thence to Saltillo in
Mexico.  There he was in active service for several months and
participated in the battle of Buena Vista, as the ranking colonel of
cavalry in the American forces.  His charge against Torrejon on the plain
near the hacienda of Buena Vista, where, waving his sword, he led his
gallant troops, numbering only about three hundred men of the Kentucky
and Arkansas cavalry, against five thousand Mexican lancers, the flower of
the Mexican army, was one of the thrilling and memorable incidents of the
war.  Shoulder to shoulder, the Americans bore down upon the Mexicans,
sabers against lance in a hand-to-hand fight until the enemy was routed
and victory was won for the stars and stripes.  It has been well said
that this charge of Humphrey Marshall's "deserves to shine on the pages
of America history even as the charge of Balaklava throws its splendors
over the record of England's soldiery."  Colonel Marshall's conduct was
warmly commended by his superiors in command, all of whom mentioned him
in their official reports.  General Zachary Taylor, General Wool, General
Lane and all of the field officers held him in warm regard to the end of
their lives, and never failed, when occasion offered, to give evidence of
their distinguished consideration for him.  When the war was ended he was
mustered out of service, June 9, 1847, and returned to Louisville.
     On again reaching Kentucky, Colonel Marshall was welcomed with every
demonstration of affection and admiration by the people of his native state
and he was almost immediately tendered the nomination for state senator.
This he declined, and when various county meetings nominated him for
governor of the state he published a card declining also that honor.
     Notwithstanding the fact that he was content to rest upon his
laurels, devoting himself to his profession and enjoying his home life,
the people of Louisville were determined to elevate him to public office,
and at the first election in 1848 occurring after his return from Mexico
he was nominated for congress on the Whig ticket.  At the end of a
spirited contest he was elected over Dr. Newton Lane; and in 1850 he was
re-elected over Governor David Meriwether, the Democratic candidate, by
a handsome majority, though the Whig candidate for governor was beaten
by two hundred votes in Mr. Marshall's district.  His course in congress
in support of "the compromise measures of 1850" won him the unfaltering
support of his constituency, and in June, 1852, when a vacancy occurred
on the bench of the United States supreme court; Kentucky supported him
for the position; the Louisville bar, the court of appeals of the state
and the Kentucky delegation to congress, all urged his appointment, while
several other states also added their recommendation.  President Fillmore,
however, was controlled by an executive rule long established, whereby
the appointment should be made from the district where had lived the
incumbent whom death had removed, and accordingly he could not bestow the
office on Colonel Marshall.  Instead, he offered him the appointment of
minister to the five states of Central America, but this was declined.
In August 1852, he appointed him commissioner to China, with powers
plenipotentiary; and congress, though controlled by political opponents,
passed an act highly complimentary, which raised the mission to the
first class, after Colonel Marshall's appointment was affirmed by the
senate.  On the 2d of October, 1852, he sailed for England, and while en
route for China visited France and Italy, Malta and Egypt.  He arrived
at Canton on the 1st of April, 1853, and at once went to Shanghai,
where he discharged his duties as American minister until 1854.  In this
position he evidenced great diplomatic skill in conducting negotiations
between the United States and China, and rendered important service to
his country.  He was also the first to carry a foreign flag into the
interior of the Chinese empire.  His correspondence with the secretary of
state was published by act of congress, and forms a volume of valuable
state papers on eastern questions which have served as a guide for American
ministers in statecraft and as a lucid exposition of rules for the proper
conduct of diplomatic service and the principles, of law governing treaty
provisions.  The entire publication was at once exhausted.
     After his return to his native land Colonel Marshall was once more
elected to represent the Louisville district in congress in 1855, after
the memorable race in which occurred "bloody Monday," defeating the
Democratic candidate, General William Preston, by a very large majority.
The political issue of that year concerned the Know-Nothing party, and
the campaign was one of much excitement; but the election returns showed
that Colonel Marshall had received a majority of more than twenty-five
hundred.  In 1856 he served as a member of the American National Council
in New York.  In 1857 he was once more elected to congress by a large
majority, and in 1859 was nominated by acclamation, but at that time the
Whig principles, as shown forth in the party platform, did not coincide
with his views on political questions and he declined the nomination.
     It was also his earnest desire to turn his attention to the practice
of law, and he entered into partnership with James Cooper, formerly
United States senator from Pennsylvania, their practice being in the
supreme court, the court of claims and the departments of Washington city.
Thus Mr. Marshall occupied his time until 1860, when he entered actively
into the canvass of Kentucky in support of John C. Breckenridge for the
presidency.  After the election he returned to Washington, remaining
there to give attention to his personal and professional affairs until
after the inauguration of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln.
     About the middle of March, 1861, Colonel Marshall returned to
Kentucky and threw the whole weight of his influence into the effort to
save the Union through the border-slave-state convention movement.  He
favored the armed neutrality of Kentucky and held himself all the time
in readiness to take such position personally as the state of Kentucky,
through her authorized representatives, might decide to take concerning
the great questions then at issue between the northern and southern
states.  The means by which the federal troops occupied Kentucky is a
matter of history.  During his troublous period Colonel Marshall remained
quietly on his farm, taking no action which could reasonably be construed
as hostile to the government.  He was a southern man, however, by birth
and education, and all his sympathies were with the people of that
section of the country.  Knowing this, and realizing how potent would
be his services if used in behalf of the Confederacy, the federal
authorities planned a coup d'etat and set on foot a movement for his
arrest.  Learning of this plan, Colonel Marshall left his home and evaded
the officers by going to New Liberty, in Owen county, Kentucky.  There
he went to the home of a friend, Colonel Wake Holman, later an officer
in the federal army, and from that point he addressed a letter to General
W. T. Sherman, then stationed at Louisville, Kentucky, making inquiry
concerning the policy of the federal officials and their arrest of
prominent Kentuckians who had been guilty of no acts of hostility against
the general government.  In response to this came a letter from General
Sherman couched in language which gave him to understand that the latter
did not know what the attitude of the government was toward him, or what
kind of treatment he might expect from its representatives.
     Immediately after Colonel Marshall withdrew from Kentucky, and going
to Nashville, Tennessee, was invited by President Davis to visit him at
Richmond, which he did, and was there offered a commission as brigadier
general in the Confederate army, with an independent department, which
he accepted as a means best calculated to enable him to protect his own
liberty and regain his home.  He was at once assigned to the command of a
separate army known as the Army of Southwestern Virginia and Eastern
Kentucky.  With this force it was designed to enter Kentucky through her
eastern mountain passes, but the surrender of Fort Donelson precluded the
movement.  He met the Union troops under command of General James A.
Garfield at the forks of Middle creek, in Floyd county, Kentucky, in
January, 1862, and an engagement followed; but few men were lost on either
side and both commanders claimed the victory.  General Garfield with his
troops left the county, but General Marshall remained in that neighborhood
until March, and commanded the entire eastern Kentucky country until he
left the army in June, 1863.  General Marshall at that time only had
about 1,300 men in his command, while General Garfield had 5,000 men
subject to his orders.  During the winter of 1862 his army endured many
hardships.  For days at a time they were forced to live on parched corn,
the mills in that mountain region being so widely scattered and their
grinding capacity so exceedingly limited that it was very difficult to
secure bread-stuff of any kind.
     In May, 1862, with a vastly inferior force, numerically speaking,
surprised Major-General Cox at Princeton, Virginia, and by his skillful
maneuvering not only managed to protect the Lynchburg & Knoxville railroad
the iron works and salt works, which were of the utmost importance to the
Confederacy, but after a decisive battle also drove the Union troops from
southwestern Virginia.  He was recognized as one of the ablest of the
Confederate commanders, and continued in active service at the front until
the summer of 1863, when he resigned his commission and retired to private
life.
     In June, 1863, General Marshall located in Richmond, Virginia, in the
practice of law, but the people of Kentucky presented his name and he was
chosen to the second congress of the Confederate states, and was made a
member of its committee on military affairs.  He was re-elected, and was
serving in that congress at the time of the fall of the Confederacy.
Going then to Texas, he remained in the Brazos valley in that state until
November, when he secured permission to go to New Orleans, and in that
city practiced law until the summer of 1867.  In December, 1865, President
Johnson granted him permission to visit his family in Kentucky, and
invited him to Washington.  After once more reaching his native state he
was unconditionally pardoned by the president, while congress restored
all his civic powers.  He turned his attention to his profession and soon
secured a lucrative patronage.
     In 1870 he was induced by friends to become again a candidate for
congress, but the trickery of modern political methods so disgusted his
honorable, straightforward nature that he withdrew from the race.  His
clientage was large, and his employments embraced much of the most
difficult and important litigation in the higher courts, both state and
federal, where he had no superiors and but few peers.  He continued in
the active and successful practice of law until his life labors were ended.
     He was regarded by all who knew him as one of the ablest, if not
the most able, of all the members of the bar of Kentucky, so celebrated
for the many illustrious jurists it has produced, and ranked among the
leaders of the bar in the supreme court of the United States, where his
great-uncle, John Marshall, of Virginia, had presided as chief justice
with distinguished ability for so many years.  His intellect was of such
rare breadth, grasp and power that he was enabled to traverse the varied
fields of learning with the ease and grace of a master, commanding the
subjects as instruments of his will in the enforcement of his ideas. He
was an accomplished soldier, ready, quick, resourceful and dauntless, with
an experience of three wars, in each of which he served with distinction.
He was a statesman of comprehensive research and broad, enlightened and
progressive views.  He was an orator of commanding grace and eloquence,
and skillfully exercised his power to direct the actions of men by
convincing their reason rather than exciting their passions.  He was a
logician and a subtle, astute and profound lawyer.  General Marshall held
many places of distinction and conferred honor upon them al.  He was a
delightful companion, and the most agreeable and instructive of
conversationalists.  He was gentle, generous, benevolent, humane, easy
of access and kind to all, particularly to the young.  The state of
Kentucky has never had a son of whom she could feel more justly proud.
     In January, 1833, General Marshall married Miss Frances Elizabeth
MacAlister, the daughter of Dr. Charles MacAlister, of Franklin,
Tennessee, a lady of great beauty, wealth and social distinction.  Their
family numbered nine children, three of whom died in infancy, while
the others attained to mature years.  The most distinguished among these
was Colonel John James Marshall, of the cavalry service in the Confederate
army, who lost his life in February, 1865, (then only twenty-five years
of age), while protecting paroled federal soldiers (then passing through
the mountains of southwestern Virginia on their way to Kentucky) from
being robbed by highwaymen who claimed to belong to the Confederate army
but were in fact mere bandits; and the youngest son, Judge Humphrey
Marshall, of the Louisville bar, and Mrs. Nelly Marshall McAfee, whose
fame as a brilliant author ranks her with the foremost writers of the
south, both as novelist and poet.
     Beloved by the people among whom he lived for so many years, and whom
he served with such fidelity, zeal and distinction in public life, General
Marshall is remembered as one of the most illustrious and greatest men to
whom the grand old commonwealth of Kentucky has given birth.

Marshall Birney Nicholas Holman Guthrie Pirtle Thurston MacAlister
Cooper McAfee
=
Franklin-KY Owen-KY PA TN VA TX LA England Italy France Malta Egypt

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