Thomas E . Bramlette Thomas Elliott Bramlette ( January 3 , 1817 – January 12 , 1875 ) was the 23rd Governor of Kentucky . He was elected in 1863 and guided the state through the latter part of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction . At the outbreak of the war , Bramlette put his promising political career on hold and enlisted in the Union Army , raising and commanding the 3rd Kentucky Infantry . In 1862 , President Abraham Lincoln appointed him district attorney for Kentucky . A year later , he was the Union Democrats ' nominee for governor . Election interference by the Union Army gave him a landslide victory over his opponent , Charles A . Wickliffe . Within a year , however , federal policies such as recruiting Kentucky Negroes for the Union Army and suspending the writ of " habeas corpus " for Kentucky citizens caused Bramlette to abandon his support of the Lincoln administration and declare that he would " bloodily baptize the state into the Confederacy " . After the war , Bramlette issued a general pardon for most ex - Confederates in the state . He opposed ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the establishment of the Freedman ' s Bureau in Kentucky . Among his accomplishments not related to the war and its aftermath were the reduction of the state ' s debt and the establishment of the Kentucky Agricultural and Mechanical College ( now the University of Kentucky ) . Following his term as governor , Bramlette returned to his legal practice in Louisville . He died January 12 , 1875 and was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery . Early life . Thomas E . Bramlette was born on January 3 , 1817 , at Elliott ' s Cross Roads in Cumberland ( now Clinton ) County , Kentucky . He was the son of Colonel Ambrose S . and Sarah ( Elliott ) Bramlette . His father served two terms in the Kentucky Senate and several terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives . Bramlette studied law , was admitted to the bar in 1837 at the age of 20 , and began practicing in Louisville , Kentucky . In September of that year , Bramlette married Sallie Travis , the first of his two wives . The couple had two children , Thomas and Corinne . Bramlette ' s political career began in 1841 , when he was elected to represent Clinton County in the $ 3 . In 1848 , Governor John J . Crittenden appointed Bramlette Commonwealth ' s Attorney . He resigned the position in 1850 to continue his legal practice , relocating to Columbia , Kentucky in 1852 . He was the Whig nominee for his district ' s seat in the House of Representatives in 1853 , but was defeated by Democrat James Chrisman . In 1856 , he was elected as a judge in Kentucky ' s 6th Judicial District , serving with distinction for five years . Military service . Bramlette resigned his judgeship and accepted a commission as a colonel in the Union Army on August 7 , 1861 . In violation of Kentucky ' s agreement to remain neutral in the Civil War , he raised and commanded the 3rd Kentucky Infantry . On September 19 , the 3rd Kentucky marched on Lexington to forestall a peace conference scheduled there on September 21 and to arrest the state ' s junior Senator , John C . Breckinridge . A delay allowed Breckinridge to escape before the arrest was made , and he enlisted in the Confederate Army shortly thereafter . Bramlette resigned his military commission on July 13 , 1862 at Decherd , Tennessee . He returned to Louisville to accept President Abraham Lincoln ' s offer to become United States District Attorney for Kentucky . During his tenure in this position , he vigorously enforced Kentucky ' s wartime laws against Confederates and Confederate sympathizers . Governor of Kentucky . Union Democrats chose Joshua Fry Bell as their candidate for governor of Kentucky in 1863 , but Bell was skeptical of Kentucky ' s future with the Union and withdrew his name from consideration . The party ' s central committee chose Bramlette to replace Bell , and Bramlette declined a commission as a brigadier general in the Union Army to make the race . During the election , Union forces intimidated and jailed supporters of Bramlette ' s opponent , former governor Charles A . Wickliffe . As a result , Bramlette carried the election by a margin of nearly 4 - to - 1 . During his term , he turned down an offered seat in the U . S . House of Representatives as well as a nomination to become the Democratic candidate for Vice - President in 1864 . Civil War . In December 1863 , Bramlette addressed the General Assembly , declaring that the state had fulfilled its quota of soldiers for the Union army . January 4 of the following year , he proclaimed that rebel sympathizers would be held responsible for all guerrilla raids in the state , and specified stiff fines and imprisonment for anyone found to be aiding the guerrillas . Although Bramlette assumed the governorship as a staunch supporter of the Union cause , within a year he issued a proclamation that he would " bloodily baptize the state into the Confederacy " . The reasons for Bramlette ' s reversal were many . He took issue with General Stephen Burbridge ' s decision to enlist Negroes from Kentucky for military service , asking that this measure only be taken if Kentucky failed to meet her quota . The situation worsened when on July 5 , 1864 , President Lincoln suspended the writ of " habeas corpus " for citizens of the Commonwealth . Burbridge continually menaced Kentucky ' s citizens , interfering with the presidential election of 1864 , and banishing Lieutenant Governor Richard T . Jacob from the state . When the General Assembly re - convened in January 1865 , Bramlette continued to voice his opposition to the Union ' s tactics . Nevertheless , he urged passage of the Thirteenth Amendment , maintaining that the institution of slavery was " irrevocably doomed " . Reconstruction . Despite his disagreements with the Lincoln administration , Bramlette proclaimed a day of fasting and prayer upon receiving news of Lincoln ' s assassination . The General Assembly petitioned new president Andrew Johnson to call an end to martial law in the state . The tension between the state and federal governments remained however , leading Bramlette to declare that every " white male citizen " twenty - one years of age who had resided in the Commonwealth for at least two years would be eligible to vote . Spurred on by the Democratic governor ' s actions , Kentucky gave control of both houses of the General Assembly and five of its nine congressional seats to Democrats . President Johnson received the message , ending martial law and restoring habeas corpus in Kentucky . When the General Assembly convened in December 1865 , Bramlette sought to restore harmony in the state by issuing pardons to most ex - Confederates . He and the majority of the General Assembly opposed passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments , and Bramlette protested the establishment of the Freedman ' s Bureau in the Commonwealth . Bramlette was very proud of those of his accomplishments not related to the Civil War , including the reduction of the state ' s debt and the establishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical College ( later , the University of Kentucky ) . He supported the construction of turnpikes financed by government bonds , the development of natural resources , and encouraged immigration to obtain adequate labor to support reconstruction efforts . Later life and death . Following his term as governor , Bramlette conducted a failed campaign to become a U . S . Senator . He married Mary E . Graham Adams in 1874 , two years after the death of his first wife . He returned to his law practice in Louisville , and became a patron of many charitable organizations . Bramlette died in Louisville on January 12 , 1875 following a brief illness . He is buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville .