This chapter describes the impact of the Civil War on the Cynthiana and Harrison County, Ky. Subjects include: War claims submitted by attorney William S. Haviland; a duel between a former Yankee and Rebel; founding of Battle Grove Cemetery on the site of a battle; the first Confederate monument in Kentucky; Civil War veterans’ organizations and reunions in Harrison County; rebuilding of the burned downtown; newspaper editor urged reconciliation; Burbridge vilified for reprisal shootings; Civil War correspondence; and Harrison County Freedmen’s Bureau activities. This chapter also reveals details of Cynthiana attorney William W. Cleary’s role in the Confederate Secret Service operations in Canada as secretary to a Confederate commissioner. After Lincoln’s assassination Cleary and the other agents were implicated by circumstantial evidence after being seen meeting John Wilkes Booth in Canada, but charges of conspiracy to kill Lincoln were later dropped for lack of evidence.
