Was John Castleman a racist whose statue deserves to come down? Here's the whole story

John Castleman was raised by slaves and fought for the Confederacy. But he ultimately saw that he had championed "the wrong cause."

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On April 29, 1887, armed with guns, rocks, battering rams and rope, an enraged mob of 10,000 people surrounded the old Jefferson County Jail, bent on lynching two black men  1inside who’d been charged with fatally beating a 24-year-old white maid. 

But one man led an effort to save them — John B. Castleman, the former Confederate officer who by then commanded the Louisville Legion, the forerunner of the Kentucky National Guard.

John Castleman  at age 22
John Castleman at age 22 Active Service, Castleman's autobiography

Castleman’s troops dispersed the angry crowd. Twice more, in Bardstown 2 and Lebanon 3, Castleman and his troops saved other black men from certain lynching — more than two decades after the Civil War ended.

Quelling riots, feuds and civil disorder in Kentucky, Castleman led the Louisville Legion for 20 years — nearly seven times longer than he fought for the Confederacy. He also served as a brigadier general for the U.S. Army in the Spanish-American War, and he twice was named Kentucky’s adjutant general 4, its highest military leader.

But now, more than 100 years after his death, Castleman, who also helped create Louisville’s acclaimed public parks, has been condemned as a racist and traitor.

More: Controversial John B. Castleman statue removed at Cherokee Triangle

The statue erected in Cherokee Triangle to honor him as a horseman and civic leader has been repeatedly vandalized.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, after initially saying the bronze effigy was "not a Confederate monument," decided last August it needed to be removed  5as a symbol of the "horrific and brutal slavery of men, women and children."

Though the statute depicts Castleman in horseriding garb 6, not a Confederate uniform, Fischer decided that a government purporting to represent every citizen should not honor someone who fought to deny equality for African Americans.

His decision is on hold because a group calling itself the Friends of Louisville Public Art has sued to stop it. That case  7is pending in court.

So, was Castleman an unreconstructed Confederate and an unrepentant racist?

The Courier Journal's review of historical records shows that he was, in fact, enlightened for his time and his record may have been misconstrued by modern-day critics.

Consider:

  • As head of the park system for more than two decades, Castleman fought against attempts to exclude black people from entire parks. When a committee of white people, for example, appeared at a parks board meeting on Oct. 7, 1911, and requested that African Americans be barred  8from Shawnee Park, the board said it had "no right to exclude any citizen from any park, and the only thing within its power was to require correct deportment from all citizens."
  • In 1916, Castleman renounced  9the Confederate cause and extolled President Abraham Lincoln, who had spared his life after he was arrested as a spy for the South during the Civil War. "In giving me my life,” Castleman said at a celebration of the gift of Lincoln’s boyhood home in Hodgenville to the nation, "this man gave me the light to see the wrong cause I had championed" and the "right cause that he battled for."
  • During World War I, when three white soldiers refused to salute  10a black captain, Castleman condemned them and said, "I unhesitatingly say that I would or will, at any time, salute any officer, inferior or superior, who salutes me without regard to the color of his skin."

Related: New group wants to protect public art from same fate as Castleman statue

The John Breckinridge Castleman statue and historical marker in the Cherokee Triangle neighborhood was covered in orange paint. The paint was discovered early Sunday morning, a day after violence erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, following a white supremacist rally. Castleman was a major in the Confederate Army. In the Spanish American war, he was commissioned a colonel by the U.S. Army and after his retirement, he was named a brigadier general. 
Aug. 13, 2017
The John Breckinridge Castleman statue and historical marker in the Cherokee Triangle neighborhood was covered in orange paint. The paint was discovered early Sunday morning, a day after violence erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, following a white supremacist rally. Castleman was a major in the Confederate Army. In the Spanish American war, he was commissioned a colonel by the U.S. Army and after his retirement, he was named a brigadier general. Aug. 13, 2017 David R. Lutman, Special to The Courier-Journal

The battle over the Castleman statue

The campaign to remove the Castleman monument was set in motion on May 26, 2017.

A local writer, Eric Burnette, author of "Parks for the People! Profit, Power and Frederick Law Olmsted in Louisville," wrote in a guest editorial in the Courier Journal that when a group of African Americans was seen playing tennis at Cherokee Park in 1916, "the slave-raised Castleman responded by segregating the tennis courts."

In August 2017, when Fischer's office asked Burnette, who works for the city, for more information about Castleman, Burnette went further, charging that Castleman presided over the segregation of the parks and advocated for "separate 'negro' facilities 11."

But other local historians say that Burnette, who declined to comment for this story, got it wrong.

Historian and writer James Pritchard and architect Steve Wiser — both plaintiffs in the lawsuit to block the monument’s removal — say the "available evidence reveals that Castleman, when compared to the views of his time, was a progressive  12where the rights and safety of African Americans were concerned."

The John B. Castleman statue
The John B. Castleman statue CJ file

And former Speed Art Museum Director Peter Morrin has written that while Castleman, as a former Confederate soldier, was a "flawed and compromised figure," he was also enlightened on racial issues 13 for his day, given that "separate but equal" was the law of the land.

Steve Wiser: Removing the Castleman statue would set a bad precedent for the city

The segregation battle in Louisville's parks

In 1896, in Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court had pronounced that racial segregation was constitutional, as long as African Americans had access to equal facilities.

And in 1904, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted the infamous Day Law 14 that prohibited black people and white people from attending the same school.

News reports and other records show that Castleman made accommodations to the Day Law, in response to demands from the Louisville Board of Education, but he generally fought to allow African Americans to frequent the parks.

According to a Courier Journal story from Sept. 16, 1914, headlined, "Protest to Tennis Courts for Negroes of No Avail: Board Holds They Have Equal Rights in Parks,” two white protesters asked the parks board to bar African Americans from Iroquois Park and objected to building two tennis courts there for them.

The chronology of a controversy: How the Castleman statue went from revered to reviled

The commissioners, led by Castleman, told them that "under the law, the negro has as much right in the public parks as the white man."

But they added, "With a view of keeping the negroes off tennis courts used by whites, it was thought best of establishing courts for use by negroes only."

The next day, the Courier Journal praised the commissioners, saying in an editorial that "Iroquois and Cherokee parks are large enough to admit tennis courts for negroes and tennis courts for whites without anyone’s toes being trod upon."

John Castleman
We have inexcusably neglected to provide recreation grounds for our negro fellow citizens. … These people are citizens. The same right that induces our liberal provision for their separate education should impel us to provide for them separate recreation grounds.

In 1916, in a report on the parks, Castleman wrote: "We have inexcusably neglected to provide recreation grounds for our negro fellow citizens. … These people are citizens. The same right that induces our liberal provision for their separate education should impel us to provide for them separate recreation grounds 15."

After he and fellow Democrats were voted off the park board in 1917, Castleman said in a final report that in addition to completing the city’s parkway system, "We are very greatly in need of extended playgrounds for all classes of people 16 without regard to color distinction or nationality. This should unquestionably be done."

Peter Morrin: The real Castleman is much more than just a Confederate soldier

In a eulogy published in the Courier Journal on May 23, 1918, three days after Castleman’s death, J. Raymond Harris, a local black educator, acknowledged that Castleman "gave the vigor and strength of his early manhood" to the Southern cause, "which, had it been triumphant, would have delayed the unshackling of 3,000,000 human beings."

But Harris added: "No hero on the other side ever held so high a niche in the hearts and minds of colored Kentuckians. His kindness to us, his willingness to help with counsel and advice, were unstudied and uncalculated."

"Whenever injustice raised its hand against us,” Harris said, "Gen. Castleman’s voice was heard pleading for toleration and amicable adjustment."

Castleman's proponents note the official segregation of Louisville’s parks did not come until six years after his death, when the park board in 1924 banned African Americans from Cherokee, Iroquois and Shawnee parks — relegating black people to Chickasaw and a few smaller parks. 

That move followed the June 1924 arrest of two black teachers 17 at Coleridge-Taylor Elementary School for taking 22 black students on a picnic in Iroquois.

In an angry letter to the newspaper, 19 black leaders denounced the decision and said, "General Castleman … steadfastly refused to allow any kind of racial segregation in the parks of the city, and this policy has been followed until the present board issued its segregation orders a few days ago."

"This has been true in theory and in fact," the writers said, "for the colored people have used all parks  18of the city, especially Iroquois Park, without hindrance through all these years and with little or no trouble of any kind."

The signers included William Warley, a fiery activist who a few years earlier successfully challenged Louisville’s draconian residential law at the Supreme Court, and the Rev. James Bond, whose grandson Julian Bond decades later was a prominent civil rights leader and founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

From May: Castleman statue vandalized again hours after a vote to remove it 

Castleman's boyhood home near Lexington
Castleman's boyhood home near Lexington Active Service, Castleman's autobiography

A major in the Confederate Army

Born 20 years before the Civil War, Castleman grew up in the splendor of his family’s estate, Castleton, near Lexington, in a mansion "colonial and commodious,” he wrote in his autobiography, "Active Service 19," published in 1917, the year before his death.

"Weeds were nowhere tolerated," he said. "No fence ever remained out of service."

His family owned slaves; his mother had nine house servants, including his mammy, whom he identified as "Aunt Hanna."

The views he expressed on slavery in the Bluegrass were naively idealistic and sometimes repugnant.

Castleman wrote that a third slave, Issac Byrd, took him to Louisville to enter his first horse show when was 16.
Castleman wrote that a third slave, Issac Byrd, took him to Louisville to enter his first horse show when was 16. Active Service

"Slaves were part of every family," he wrote. "Their work was not hard, and their hours of leisure were many."

See also: Exploring McConnell’s boyhood town where his family owned slaves

He said one of the family’s slaves, “Uncle Jacob,” was a “good negro preacher” and a “large crowd of darkies” would gather around him to listen to his sermons.

He said another, “Uncle Manlius, was able to buy his freedom but after he almost drowned fishing, asked his master to take him back as a slave."

He wrote that a third slave, Issac Byrd, took him to Louisville to enter his first horse show when was 16 and "exemplified the usual mutual affection between master and servant."

In 1903, when Byrd died at age 96, Castleman attended his funeral in Lexington, according to a Courier Journal story headlined "Faithful old slave was not forgotten in death."

Castleman dropped out of Transylvania University at age 20 to join the Confederate Army; his book is silent about whether his motivations included defending slavery.

He joined Capt. John Morgan’s raiders, was promoted to acting major and was wounded three times before he was separated from his command and escaped to Canada to join the Confederate secret service 20.

He led an ill-fated guerrilla campaign to free 40,000 Confederate soldiers jailed near Chicago and burn Union supply boats, but he was captured, held in solitary confinement and sentenced to death.

His brother-in-law, Samuel Breckinridge, a Union man, intervened with President Lincoln, who spared Castleman's life on the condition that he leave the country.

President Andrew Johnson allowed him to return in 1866, if he swore allegiance  21to the United States, which he did.

Returning to Kentucky, he married Alice Barbee, later a leader in the fight for women’s suffrage; graduated from the University of Louisville law school; joined a British-owned insurance company, and helped found the Louisville Board of Trade, a forerunner of Greater Louisville Inc.; as well as a training school that is now duPont Manual High School.

An order from President Lincoln spared Castleman's life: "Whenever John B. Castleman shall be tried, convicted and sentenced, suspend execution until further orders from me, and send me the record."
An order from President Lincoln spared Castleman's life: "Whenever John B. Castleman shall be tried, convicted and sentenced, suspend execution until further orders from me, and send me the record." "Active Service"

He also helped start the American Saddlebred Association and served as its first president. And he chaired the state Democratic Party and served as a delegate to the 1892 Democratic National Convention.

While his reputation as the father of the Louisville park system is undeserved — a Yankee named Andrew Cowan deserves that legacy, Burnette and others have written — Castleman’s military valor was unquestioned.

In that role, he famously helped subdue an insurrection in Frankfort in 1900 after the assassination of Kentucky Gov. William Goebel.

On his death, the Democratic Party-leaning Courier Journal saluted Castleman as a man with "flame-like courage” and “ardent devotion to duty.”

The Republican Louisville Evening Post  22eulogized the ardent Democrat as a "brave soldier" but said "it was as a citizen that Louisville esteemed Gen. Castleman."

Opinion: This is how slavery reparations could work, but we're not holding our breath

Two opposing views on the Castleman statue

Dewey Clayton, professor of political science, University of  Louisville
Dewey Clayton, professor of political science, University of Louisville University of Louisville

None of this changes the fact that Castleman and his effigy today are controversial and polarizing figures in Louisville.

The issue of whether to remove the statue divides even African Americans like Dewey Clayton and Martina Kunnecke.

Clayton, a political science professor at the University of Louisville, says the monument is divisive and should be removed.

"What haunts me is that this man did some things early in his life that he tried to atone for, but even when he died, he requested both flags" — Confederate and American — be placed on his casket. "That says to me he had not totally disavowed his attachment to the Confederacy."

Kunnecke, a preservationist and historian, says the monument has "nothing to do with slavery, the Confederacy, Castleman’s military service or the Civil War."

Kunnecke, president of the Neighborhood Planning & Preservation organization and former director of exhibits at the Kentucky Center of African American Heritage, also says Castleman’s efforts to keep the parks open to African Americans — and his denunciation of white soldiers who refused to salute black officers — shows "a core sensitivity and advocacy for the plight of the black community."

Related: Arts group files appeal to fight removal of Castleman statue

Modern-day Castleman supporters say his decision to be buried with both flags was his last effort at reconciliation between the North and the South, a cause he championed, according to news account of the time.

Martina Kunnecke is an African American preservationist and historian. She is in favor of keeping the Castleman statue in place. July 17, 2019.
Martina Kunnecke is an African American preservationist and historian. She is in favor of keeping the Castleman statue in place. July 17, 2019. Pat McDonogh, By Pat McDonogh, Courier Journal

In 1895, Castleman joined in a Grand Army Encampment in Louisville at which former confederate soldiers of Louisville welcomed union veterans to a "celebration of gracious hospitality."

The governor of Ohio wrote, “I know of no episode in all history so touching.”

Clayton was a member of the city’s Public Arts and Monuments Advisory Committee, which last year issued principles for public art, including one that said the city "must not maintain statues that serve as convincing and validating symbols for racist or bigoted ideology."

But another principle stated that "removing a longstanding public fixture, no matter how contested, is not a small matter."

The seven-member committee’s report to the mayor said: "A bronze figure towering above a city street gives the impression that the city celebrates the entire life of the figure depicted. But no life is beyond criticism, and some of the most impactful Louisvillians … are also very controversial figures. The city should not shy away from these problems.”

The committee issued no findings on Castleman's beliefs about race and segregation.

Fischer's position on the statue's removal remains unchanged, his spokesperson said.

Joe Gerth: Why is Jefferson Davis' statue still in the Kentucky Capitol?

How a historian says we should think of Castleman

So, how should the world view Castleman today?

In an email, Kentucky State Historian John C. Klotter told the Courier Journal: “My basic view is that by the last decades of his life, he was a moderate Democrat, at a time when that party was transitioning from being the most conservative of the two parties.

"That meant that he was not an advocate of black rights particularly, but also favored fair play for African Americans. He took some stands that angered some white Kentuckians on race, but others that were more in tune with the age.”

Klotter, a retired Georgetown College history professor, declined to say whether he thinks the Castleman statue should stay or go.

"But no matter the road taken," he said, "we must not forget our history. In Greek mythology, those who drink from a river in Hades lose their memory. They become endless wanderers, without direction, without a past, without a purpose. In times of great change, we need our historical memory, now more than ever.”

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.  Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/andreww.

Footnotes

1 lynching two black men
"Shortly after midnight this morning, the mob made a third attack on the jail, directly in front of the militia, the police and the Gatling gun." One man shouted, 'Let all men who are not afraid come forwards and help to deal out justice to these wretches.' Another said: 'We’ll kill these n------s”' Rallying his troops, Castleman said: "We have a duty to perform that permits no sympathy.  … The law must be maintained. If you are obliged to fire I am responsible." The crowd dispersed. William Patterson and Albert Turner had been charged with the murder of Jenny Bowman, who was beaten and robbed in daylight a few days earlier. Turner pleaded guilty, while Patterson maintained his innocence. They were both hanged the next year. Turner said on the scaffold that Patterson was innocent.
2 Bardstown
Castleman and his troops prevented the lynching of Phil Evans, who was charged with raping a white girl and throwing her in a pigpen. "Prior to the verdict, repeated efforts were made to take the defendant from the troops, and serious mishaps avoided only by the coolness and good judgment of the officers and the men." Evans was convicted and sentenced to be hanged.
3 Lebanon
Castleman commanded a squad of 50 men from the First Regiment of the Kentucky State Guard that protected a black man, William Black, from a mob as he was returned to Marion County from Louisville to face trial for assaulting a white woman, Mrs. Ed Clark of Lebanon.
4 Kentucky’s adjutant general
5 removed
"Clearly, it's not a Confederate monument like … in some cities with Confederate generals on a horse with their guns facing north," Fischer said. May 9, 2019, Fischer tweeted: "We cannot ignore that Castleman fought to continue the horrific and brutal slavery of men, women and children; heralded that part of his life in his autobiography; and he had his coffin draped with both a U.S. and Confederate flag."
6 horseriding garb
He is wearing a collar and tie and a lapel coat and bearing no weapons.
7 case
The plaintiffs say the statue is a historic landmark and the decision to move it was arbitrary and erroneous. The city claims the plaintiffs waived their right to challenge the decision.
8 barred
says the request was filed by a "committee of whites representing the West End Improvement Association."
9 renounced
reported that Castleman extolled Lincoln as a man of "humble birth whose achievements furnish to all mankind everlasting inspiration." In an obituary for Castleman, the Wisconsin State Journal on May 25, 1918, reported that Castleman said at the ceremony in Hodgenville: "Here from a home of lower birth than that which I knew, the humblest hut of a cabin, came a man who lived to have the power to save my life. In giving me my life this man gave me the light to see the wrong cause I had championed, the right cause that he battled for."
10 salute
"Salute Negroes in South. Gen. Castleman, ex-Confederate Tells Soldiers it is their Duty."
11 separate 'negro' facilities
Obtained through the Kentucky Open Records Act.
12 progressive
by Steve Wiser and James Pritchard
13 enlightened on racial issues
Peter Morrin, "The real Gen. Castleman is much more than just a Confederate soldier"
14 Day Law
15 separate recreation grounds
Castleman lamented financial woes that dogged the park system. "We are aware of our poverty that interposes, but we must do something for our colored citizens.”
16 playgrounds for all classes of people
17 arrest of two black teachers
Teachers Naomi Anthony and Margaret Taylor were charged with resisting arrest. Anthony was fined $10, while the charge against Taylor was dismissed, as were charges against two guards who took them into custody.
18 colored people have used all parks
19 Active Service
20 Confederate secret service
Encyclopedia of Louisville and Castleman obituary
21 swore allegiance
"Wherever John B. Castleman shall be tried, if convicted and sentenced, suspend execution until further orders from me and send me the record."
22 Louisville Evening Post
James Pritchard. (Unpublished manuscript)
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