<title type="main">Unknown to James F. Robinson Edition created from new transcripts of this manuscript. Initial upload of this work's facsimile images and metadata to FromThePage for editing Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections Administrator of the CWGK Migration transcription project on FromThePage Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections Kentucky Historical Society Digital Collections made 2 edits between June 22, 2025 and June 22, 2025. Dynamic TEI export from FromThePage (version 22.10)

This image and transcription is publicly accessible. The image appears courtesy of the repository named in the Source Description. The transcription and annotation were undertaken by Kentucky Historical Society staff, volunteers, and interns. If referencing this document title, accession number, and permanent URL.

 November 11, 2025 Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives Office of the Governor, James F. Robinson: Governor's Official Correspondence File, Military Correspondence, 1862-1863 KYR-0001-027-0016 R2-24

Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky Anson Stager (Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., telegraph superintendent) N00007342 1825 1885-03-26 Categories: People

Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., telegraph superintendent. Ontario County, New York, native. Married to Rebecca Sprague Stager on November 14, 1847. Father of Emma L. Stager, Anna Stager, Charles Stager, and Ellen S. Stager. Printer in Rochester, New York, in 1841 under telegraph pioneer Henry O'Reilly. Telegraph operator in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1846. Telegraph clerk in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1850. Telegraph superintendent for the New York and Mississippi Valley Company in Cincinnati in 1852. Telegraph Superintendent of Western Union Telegraph Company in Cleveland in 1860. Organized the U.S. military telegraph lines under General George B. McClellan. Commissioned a captain and assistant quartermaster from November 1861. Appointed chief of the United States Military Telegraph by the Secretary of War. Promoted to colonel and aide-de-camp during the war. Breveted brigadier general and mustered out in September 1865.

Relationships Economic: Western Union Telegraph Company Economic: Norvin Green (Owen County, Kentucky, farmer and Louisville, Kentucky, telegraph executive.) Economic: Isaac Russell Elwood (Rochester, New York, attorney and telegraph treasurer and secretary) Familial: Western Union Telegraph Company

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Ohio, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, 10th Ward, p. 121B. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, 2nd Ward, p. 301. Ninth Manuscript Census of the United States (1870), Population Schedules, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago, 3rd Ward, p. 331. "Gen. Anson Stager Dying: The Busy Career of the Prominent Western Electrician," The New York Times (New York, N.Y.), March 23, 1885, p. 1. "Gen. Stager's Funeral," The New York Times (New York, N.Y.), March 29, 1885, p. 9. A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, vol.2 (Chicago: The A. T. Andreas Company, 1885), 126. Find A Grave, "Anson Stager (1825-1885)," Memorial #68017391, http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68017391/anson-stager (accessed March 6, 2018). Isaac Russell Elwood (Rochester, New York, attorney and telegraph treasurer and secretary) N00007357 1804? 1863-02-27 Categories: People

Rochester, Monroe County, New York, attorney and telegraph officer. Otsego County, New York, native. Married to Elizabeth H. Gold Elwood on June 14, 1849. Father of Frank W. Elwood, Agnes R. Elwood, and Elizabeth H. Elwood. Resident of Rochester, Monroe County, New York, in 1850. Attorney in Rochester in 1860. Secretary of the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. Treasurer and Secretary of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1861.

Relationships Economic: Anson Stager (Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., telegraph superintendent) Economic: Western Union Telegraph Company

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, New York, Monroe County, Rochester, 5th Ward, p. 188A. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, New York, Monroe County, Rochester, 5th Ward, p. 11. "The Death of Isaac R. Elwood, Esq.," The New York Times (New York, N.Y.), March 2, 1863, p. 2. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 53, John Reynolds Totten, ed. (New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1922), 7-8. "Isaac Russell Elwood (1800-1863)," Find A Grave, Memorial 6761628, accessed April 11, 2023, http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6761628. James Fisher Robinson (governor, state senator, businessman, attorney, and farmer) N001004 1800-10-04 1882-10-31 Categories: People

Twenty-second governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, banker, and legislator. Son of Jonathan Robinson and Jane Black Robinson. Married to Susan D. Mansell Robinson on December 26, 1821. Father of Emilie Jane Robinson and James F. Robinson, Jr. Married Willina S. Herndon Robinson on May 30, 1842. Father of Scott Herndon Robinson, John McCracken Robinson, George Sidney Robinson, Madison Johnson Robinson, Stephen Gano Robinson, Willa Ewing Robinson, Philip Eldon Robinson, and Stephen Gano Robinson. Educated at Forest Hill Academy and Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Trustee of Georgetown College. President of the Farmers' Bank of Georgetown. Represented Fayette and Scott Counties in the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 1851 to 1855. Owned thirty-five enslaved persons in 1860. Represented Fayette and Scott Counties in the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 1861. Speaker of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from September 3, 1861, to September 5, 1861. Speaker of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from August 16, 1861, to August 18, 1862. Governor of Kentucky from August 18, 1862, to September 1, 1863. Returned to practicing law and farming on retiring from politics in 1863.

Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Scott County, District No 1, p. 216B, 230A. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Scott County, District No 2, pp. 235, 236, 252. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville Ward 4, p. 266. John David Smith, “James F. Robinson (1862-1863),” ed. Lowell H. Harrison, Kentucky’s Governors (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004), 89-92. William Henry Engle, Pennsylvania Genealogies: Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg: Lane S. Hart, 1886), 553, 556-7. Leonidas Metcalfe (Nicholas County, KY, farmer and colonel 7th KY Cav (USA)) N00009382 1819-03-09 1868-07-07 Categories: People

Nicholas County, Kentucky, farmer and soldier. Kentucky native. Married to Nancy Thatcher Metcalfe. Father of Henry Clay Metcalfe and Elizabeth Metcalfe. Married to Sarah Ellen Victor Metcalfe on February 8, 1853. Served in the 3rd Kentucky Infantry as a captain in the Mexican-American War. Farmer in Nicholas County in 1850. Farmer in Nicholas County in 1860. Owned five enslaved persons in Nicholas County in 1860. Served in the 7th Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (U.S.A.) as a colonel from August 1862 to October 1862.

Relationships Military: 7th Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (U.S.A.) Military: Jeremiah Tilford Boyle (Union general, Boyle Co, KY attorney, pres Lou City Railway Co) Military: John William Finnell (Adj Gen'l, Kenton Co. State Rep, attorney) Military: William Nelson (U.S. Army major general) Military: Richard J. C. Bocking (Indianapolis, Indiana resident and former soldier) Military: Thomas T. Sharp (Covington, KY, capt 7th KY Cav USA)

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Nicholas County, District 2, p. 405B. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Nicholas County, District 2, p. 423. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Nicholas County, District 2, p. 144B. Kentucky Marriage Records, Madison County Courthouse, Richmond, Kentucky, Nicholas County Marriages, Film #000252392, p. 82. Kentucky Marriage Records, Madison County Courthouse, Richmond, Kentucky, Nicholas County Marriages, Film #000252409. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky, vol. 1, 1861-1866 (Frankfort: Kentucky Yeoman Office, 1866), 181, 208. "Leonidas Metcalfe (1819-1868)," Find A Grave, Memorial #9606886, accessed June 12, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9606886. John Hunt Morgan (Lexington, Kentucky, hemp manufacturer, Capt Lex Rifles, Col & Brig Gen' 2nd KY Cav CSA) N00004777 1825-06-01 1864-09-04 Categories: People

Fayette County, Kentucky, hemp manufacturer and soldier. Huntsville, Alabama, native. Son of Calvin Morgan and Henrietta Hunt Morgan. Married to Rebecca Bruce Morgan on November 21, 1848. Married to Martha O. Ready Morgan on December 14, 1862. Father of Johnnie Hunt Morgan. Attended Transylvania University in Lexington from 1842 to 1844. Served in the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers as first lieutenant in the U.S.-Mexican War from 1846 to 1847. Member of the Masonic Order at Daviess Lodge #22 in Lexington from 1846 to 1864. Manufacturer in Lexington in 1850. Served in a state militia artillery company in Lexington as captain from 1852 to 1854. Served in the Lexington Rifles of the Kentucky State Guard as captain from 1857 to 1861. Manufacturer in Lexington in 1860. With C. C. Morgan, owned thirty enslaved persons in Lexington in 1860. Employed one enslaved person in Lexington in 1860. Served in the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment (C.S.A.) as colonel and brigadier general from 1861 to 1864. Killed at Greeneville, Tennessee, on September 4, 1864.

Relationships Military: Madison "Matty" Conyers Johnson (Son of George Washington Johnson and Ann Eliza Viley) Military: Jackson H. Jacobs (Greenup County, Kentucky, farmer and captain 14th Cav USA & 1st lt Cap Guards) Military: Kentucky Central Railway Military: Buffington Island Military: Confederate States Army Military: 2nd Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (C.S.A.) Military: Marion Larrison (Switzerland County, Indiana, private 2nd IN Cav) Military: John W. Houze (Switzerland County, Indiana, private 2nd IN Cav USA)

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Fayette County, Lexington, District 1, p. 146B. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Kentucky, County, Lexington Ward 2, p. 433. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, County, Lexington Ward 2, p. 452B. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, County, Lexington Ward 4, 461B. Find A Grave, "John Hunt Morgan (1825-1864)," Memorial #4433, http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4433 (accessed September 6, 2019). James A. Ramage, “Morgan, John Hunt,” in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, ed. John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2015), pp. 650-651. James A. Ramage, Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986).John Fiske and James Grant Wilson, ed., Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography, vol. 4, (New York: Appleton, 1889), 402. Cleveland, Ohio P00007358 Categories: Places

Seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Located on Lake Erie. Located at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.

41.4993, -81.6944 "Cleveland" in Encyclopedia Britannica, (https://www.britannica.com/place/Cleveland-Ohio) (accessed March 6, 2018). USGS: Earth Explorer, "Cleveland, Ohio," https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ (accessed on February 17, 2020). Rochester, New York P00007359 Categories: Places

City in Monroe County, New York. Located at the mouth of the Genesee River. Located on Lake Ontario.

43.161, -77.6109 "Kenton County" in The Encyclopedia of New York State, Peter R. Eisenstadt, ed. (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2005), 1316-18. USGS: Earth Explorer, "Rochester, New York," https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ (accessed on June 17, 2020). Lexington, Kentucky P001002 Categories: Places

Seat of Fayette County, Kentucky.

38.0406, -84.5037 John D. Wright, "Lexington (City)," in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, ed. John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 549-51. "Lexington, Kentucky," USGS: Earth Explorer, accessed August 21, 2019, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. Rockcastle County, Kentucky P00000906 Categories: Places

County in south-central Kentucky. Seat at Mount Vernon, Kentucky.

37.3743, -84.3121 Robert M. Rennick, Kentucky Place Names (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1988), 253. USGS: Earth Explorer, "Rockcastle County, Kentucky" https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ (accessed on February 10, 2020). Lebanon, Kentucky P00002553 Categories: Places

Seat of Marion County, Kentucky.

37.5698, -85.2527 "Lebanon, Kentucky," USGS: Earth Explorer, accessed September 30, 2019, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. Robert M. Rennick, Kentucky Place Names (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984), 168. Barbourville, Kentucky P00005368 Categories: Places

Seat of Knox County, Kentucky.

36.8665, -83.8888 Robert M. Rennick, Kentucky Place Names (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1988), 13. “Barbourville, Kentucky," USGS: Earth Explorer, accessed February 26, 2020, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. Western Union Telegraph Company O00007356 1856 Categories: Organizations

Founded in 1856, following the consolidation of various regional telegraph companies operated by the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Company and the acquisition of Samuel Morse's telegraph patent. Created the first transcontinental telegraph service in the nation. Founder: Ezra Cornell.

Relationships Economic: Anson Stager (Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., telegraph superintendent) Economic: Isaac Russell Elwood (Rochester, New York, attorney and telegraph treasurer and secretary) Economic: Beriah Magoffin (Governor of Kentucky 1859-1862) Economic: South-western Telegraph Company Economic: Benjamin James Adams (Louisville merchant) Economic: Richard Apperson, Jr. (11th District Circuit Judge) Economic: Horatio Gouverneur Wright (Union General, commander of Dept of OH) Economic: George Brinton McClellan (New York army general (U.S.A.)) Economic: John Milton Johnson, Sr. (Kentucky physician, scientist, writer, and surgeon (CSA)) Economic: Samuel Gill (Louisville, Kentucky, railroad superintendent and vet of Mex-Am War) Economic: Larz Anderson (Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio attorney) Economic: Charles S. Marshall (Ballard County, Kentucky, attorney and circuit judge)

Robert MacDougall, Western Union and the Creation of the American Corporate Order, 1845-1893 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013). Confederate States Army O00000506 1861 1865 Categories: Organizations

Military forces of the Confederate States of America, administered by the Confederate War Department. Commander(s): General Robert E. Lee (1862-1865).

Relationships Military: William Harris (possible confederate soldier) Military: United States Army Military: John L. Morrison (La Salle County, Illinois, farmer and soldier) Military: Marshall Wright Chapin (Monroe County, Michigan, farmer and soldier.) Military: William E. Hobson (Warren County, Kentucky, soldier.) Military: John Hunt Morgan (Lexington, Kentucky, hemp manufacturer, Capt Lex Rifles, Col & Brig Gen' 2nd KY Cav CSA) Political: John Hunt Morgan (Lexington, Kentucky, hemp manufacturer, Capt Lex Rifles, Col & Brig Gen' 2nd KY Cav CSA) Military: [Unknown] Cameron (Confederate soldier) Military: Richard Montgomery Gano (Texas, Confederate brigadier general) Military: Jefferson Davis (CS President) Military: Confederate States of America Military: Congress of the Confederate States of America Military: Provisional Council Military: Provisional Government of Kentucky Political: Provisional Council Military: The People's Bank of Kentucky Military: Branch Bank of the Farmers' Bank at Princeton Military: Bank of Kentucky Branch at Hopkinsville Military: Committee on Banks Military: Northern Bank of Kentucky Branch at Glasgow Military: Bank of Kentucky Branch at Bowling Green Political: John Watkins Crockett, Jr. (McCracken & Henderson cos, KY, attorney and representative (Confederate)) Political: John Burton Thompson, Jr. (Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Provis Govt page) Political: James Preston Bates (Barren Co, Ky, attorney, postmaster, and prov govt) Political: Joseph B. Burnside (Garrard County, KY, trader, prov govt council rep ) Political: Horatio Washington Bruce (Jefferson County, KY, Representative (Confederate), attorney) Political: Eli Metcalfe Bruce (Kentucky merchant, philanthropist, soldier, Representative (Confederate)) Political: Jordan T. C. Moore (Todd Co, Ky, farmer, minister, and prov govt) Military: Marion Larrison (Switzerland County, Indiana, private 2nd IN Cav) Military: John W. Houze (Switzerland County, Indiana, private 2nd IN Cav USA) Military: James H. Orr (Nicholas County, Kentucky, farmer, justice of the peace, sergeant and second lieutenant (C.S.A.) ) Military: Reddick Nichols (Caldwell County, Kentucky, farmer and)

Henry Putney Beers, The Confederacy: A Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1968, reprinted 1986), 259. Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky 1862-08-22 Telegram English Version 1 of page "1": Changes to page transcript. Version 2 of page "1": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "1": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile.
1

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

NO. 1.] TERMS AND CONDITIONS ON WHICH MESSAGES ARE RECEIVED BY THIS COMPANY FOR TRANSMISSION.

The public are notifed that, in order guard against mistakes in the transmission of messages, every message of importance ought to be repeated, by being sent back from the station at which it is to be received, to the station from which it is originally sent. Half the usual price for transmission will be charged for repeating the message; and while this Company will, as heretofore, use every precaution to ensure correctness, it will not be responsible for mistakes or delays in the transmission or delivery of repeated messages, beyond an amount exceeding five hundred times the amouont paid for sending the message; nor will it be responsible for mistakes or delays in the transmission of unrepeated messages from whatever cause they may arise, nor for delays arising from interruptions in the working of its Telegraphs, nor for any mistake or omission of any other Company, over whose lines a message is to be sent to reach the place of destination. All messages will hereafter be received by this Company for transmission, subject to the above conditions.

A. STAGER, Gen. Sup't, Cleveland, Ohio. I. R. ELWOOD, Sec'y, Rochester, N. Y.

Aug 22nd 1862 To Gov. Robinson Governor By Telegraph from Lexington 186

By written despatch from Col Metcalfe & his field officers Just delivered into my hands by know friend dated Rock Castle County. Recd aug 21st 9. p. m I learn the Rebels are in Great Force at & below Lebanonabout one thousand cavalry & three or four thousand infantry beyond & towards Barboursville. Metcalfe says the country is desolate & no susbisstence for man or Beast he is falling Back & calls loudly for support if Genl Morgan is to be relieved we need every man who can raise a Gun