Barren County
Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Barren County, 1798. Taken from parts of Green and Warren counties. Glasgow, county seat, was founded in 1799. County received name from the "barrens" or prairies of this region. Early explorers and settlers came through this area. In Civil War, first two of Morgan's Raids moved through here, 1862. The CSA invasion of Kentucky under Gen. Braxton Bragg entered here, 1862.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Formed in 1798 from Green and Warren counties, Barren County took its name from the open 'barrens,' or prairies, that drew early explorers and settlers. During the Civil War the area saw hard use: the first two of Morgan's Raids passed through in 1862, the same year General Braxton Bragg's Confederate army entered Kentucky here.
Why it matters
A quiet prairie county became a corridor for the cavalry raids and invasion that carried the Civil War into Kentucky.
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Related people
- · John Hunt Morgan
- · Braxton Bragg
Related events
- · Morgan's Raids
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Burnside
Burnside, KY
This spot on the upper Cumberland began as Point Isabel, one of the small settlements planted by families drifting west from the Carolinas and Virginia around 1800 in search of new farmland on the Kentucky frontier. Its greatest moment came in 1863, when the Union army recognized the strategic value of the site and turned it into a rendezvous point and supply depot. From here troops and provisions were staged for the push into East Tennessee, part of the Federal effort to break Confederate control of that mountainous, Unionist-leaning region.
Christmas Eve Skirmish at Glasgow
Glasgow, KY
On Christmas Eve 1862, the main body of John Hunt Morgan's raiders camped south of Glasgow while Captain Thomas Quirk and his scouts slipped into town for a holiday celebration. Dismounting at a tavern, they were surprised by a patrol of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry bent on the same festive errand. A brief skirmish scattered both parties into the night—Christmas cheer traded for gunfire during Morgan's Christmas Raid.
Barren County's Confederate Medalists
Glasgow, KY
In 1862 the Confederate government authorized a Medal of Honour, awarded not by generals but by vote of the soldiers themselves after every signal victory—each company choosing its most worthy man. More Confederate soldiers from Barren County received this honor than from any other Kentucky county. The medalists listed here earned it in the bloody fighting at Stone's River and Chickamauga in 1862 and 1863.
First Presbyterian Church of Glasgow
Glasgow, KY
This Barren County congregation formed around 1802, when member Isaac Robertson donated a lot for a log meeting house and the Reverend John Howe served as first minister. The present Gothic Revival sanctuary, built about 1853, features Tudor-arched windows and doors and brick pilasters, and the town's oldest cemetery lies behind it. The church has anchored the same site for more than two centuries.