The central record. (Lancaster, Ky.) 18??-current, 1913-08-29
CELEBRATION
IN LOUISVILLE
KENTUCKY METROPOLIS WILL
COMM EMoRATE INCIDENTS
IN WAR OF 1912.
HUNDRED YEARS OF PEACE
Battles Which kentuekians Won and
Massaeres in Which They Suffered
Will Be Reproduced in Fireworks
and Shams on Land and Water.

and Shams on Land and Water.
A weeks celebration, which Louis
Williams declare will be the greatest
and most spectacular in the history
of celebrations In America, will be
held in the Kentucky metropolis for
seven days, commencing September
20, and will be the climax of a Sc
ries of celebrations held in q dozen
lake cities, to commemorate the suf-
ferings and victories Of American
arms in the War of 1872 as well as
to focus attention on the achieve
ments of a century Of peace. The
the War OF 1912 was the battle of the
Thames, fought and won on Canadian
soil October 5, 1913. The series Of
celebrations, which will be held In
America will close in Louisville, Octo-
Der 5, 1913, and just one hundred
years from the hour that Col. Richard
M. Johnston, afterward Vice President
of the United States, slew the Indian
chief Tecumseh, President Woodrow
Wilson will probably be addressing a
crowd of 100000 people in Louisville,
the home of many Of the troops who
fought in the battle Of the Thames.
Kentucky was assigned the closing
and choice date of the celebration
because Of the distinguished part
played by the Kentuckians in the War
of 1912. Kentucky began to play her
part in the generation before the war
opened, when she sent Gen. George
Rogers Clark and other Louisville
soldiers into the hostile wilderness
which they wrested from the French
and Indians and out of which was aft
erward carved the great States of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and
Michigan.
Kentucky was the last state which
could have benefited from the war, in
asmuch as 1t was brought about chief
ly by the British impressment OF
American seamen, none of whom
were Kentuckians, whereas should
war prevail the unfriendly Indians on
the frontier Of the border states could
be expected to commit atrocities from
which Kentucky had already received
the name Dark and Bloody Ground"
However, it was chiefly Henry Clay, in
the Kentucky Congressional Delega-
ton that forced President Madison to
declare the second war with Great
Britain, and Kentucky furnished for
ty per cent of her fighting population
to go into that war, and at the close
of the war of the listed dead more
than eighty per cent were the names
of Kentuckians. Kentucky troops to
q man were massacred at the River
Raisin and again at the first attack
on Fort Meigs.
When the time came to man Perry's
new-hewn ships, he selected Kentuck
ians unaccustomed to the motion OF
! the lakes to mount into the insecure
rigging and from that vantage point
with their practiced eye and unerring
aim, fired down upon the British and
won the battle of Lake Erie. Prac
tically every officer and soldier in the
battle of the Thames was a Kentuck
ian, excepting alone Gen. William
Henry Harrison, who, however, held
his commission as Major-General from
the Kentucky legislature. The charge
of the Forlorn Hope, about the brief
est, most terrible and most heroic at
tack narrated in the annals of war
fare, consisted exclusively of Ken
lucky soldiers when nineteen of then
and their twenty horses went dowr
to certain death. 1t was the Ken
lucky sharpshooters who are credited
with having won the battle of New
Orleans after the war had in reality
closed.
Kentucky proposes to reproduce
most of these scenes of the war o.
1912 in the Louisville celebration. Tht
battle of the Thames will be repro
duced on land In Cherokee Park, to
geographically situated similar to tn,
land on which was fought the battl,
of the Thames, and every detail O
the sham battle will be as nearl,
historically correct as can be done
Louisville will take advantage of he
magnificent river frontage in orde
to celebrate suitably the battle o
Lake Erie. The actual battle will b,
depicted in gorgeous entertainment
of fireworks and all morning and al
afternoon preceding the engagement
there will be boat races, life savin,
feats and aquatic sports. A historical
pageant. depicting various scenes o
the war of 1912 will also include
magnificent floral parade, such a
made Louisville famous a year age
and will include civic and militar
parades many miles in length. Drill
and exercises by 10000 costume
school children will be held in tn
First Regiment Armory; a mammo.
reception will be given to the descend
ents of Kentucky soldiers and sailor
of the war of 1912, and a series 9
costumed balls will be given in the.
honor.
Exceedingly low railroad rate.
probably as low as one cent per mil,
from a distance of several hundre
miles Of Louisville, will be granite
and efforts are being made to secur
to other Kentucky points rates fror
Louisville for the week immediatel
following the celebration, to enabl
former Kentuckians who return HON
to visit the celebration, to visit ais
| their old Kentucky homes.