Located in Section K, State Cemetery, Frankfort, Kentucky.

In 1847, the bodies of 28 Kentuckians who fell in the War with Mexico were recovered from their battlefield graves and carried home. On either July 20 or 27, 1847 they were laid to rest in the state cemetery during ceremonies attended by upwards of 20,000 people. The principal orator of the day was John C. Breckinridge, who later that same year was elected colonel of a regiment of Kentucky volunteers. Among those honored were Col. W. R. McKee, Lt. Col. Henry Clay, Jr., and Capt. W. T. Willis, of the 2nd Kentucky Volunteers. There is some disagreement whether Captain Theodore O'Hara, himself a Mexican War veteran, read "Bivouac of the Dead," a poem he allegedly composed especially for the ceremony. (A contradictory report places O'Hara in Mexico at the time of the ceremony.)

It has been reported that a second burial ceremony took place on September 16, 1847 and that altogether, there are 42 Mexican War dead interred at this site.

The Kentucky Military Monument was authorized by the state legislature in 1848 and erected in 1850 to honor the memory of Kentucky soldiers, both officers and enlisted men, who fell at the Battle of Buena Vista, February 22, 1847. It also honors Kentuckians who died in the War of 1812 and Indian wars.

Capt. Phillip N. Barbour of the 3rd Infantry, a Kentuckian who was killed Sept. 21, 1846 at the Battle of Monterey, Mexico, is also buried in this section of the cemetery.

(Thanks to Roberta Peak Padgett, wife of DMWV member John C. Padgett, for providing both the photograph and information. Thanks also to John M. Trowbridge, Manager of Kentucky's Military Museum, for additional information and roster of soldiers.)

Copyright © 1999-2004 by the Descendants of Mexican War Veterans. All rights reserved.