HISTORICAL SITES IN ELLIOTT COUNTY





County Named, 1869
(Marker Number: 796)

County: Elliott
Location: Sandy Hook, Courthouse lawn, KY 7, 32

Description: For John M. Elliott, born in Va., 1820. Came to this area, 1830.
Admitted to bar, 1843. Kentucky Legis., 1847-53. U.S. Congress, 1853-59. Ky.
Legis., 1861, but expelled for his southern sympathy. Congress of Confederate
States, 1862-65. Circuit Judge, 1868, and Ky. Court of Appeals, 1876.
Assassinated, 1879, by a disappointed litigant in a land case decided by court.



Masterful Retreat
(Marker Number: 644)

County: Elliott
Location: Sandy Hook, Courthouse lawn, KY 7, 32

Description: General George W. Morgan's 9,000 USA force occupied Cumberland Gap
June 18 to Sept. 17, 1862. Cut off from supplies, Morgan began 200-mile retreat.
On way through here USA harassed by CSA Morgan's Raiders. Failure of
reinforcements caused CSA withdrawal at Grayson, Oct. 1. Union retreat, from Gap
to Greenup on Ohio River, made in 16 days.




Skirmish Here
(Marker Number: 711)

County: Elliott
Location: 2 mi. S. of Sandy Hook, KY 7

Description: This burial ground is the final resting place of seven unnamed
soldiers who were killed in a Civil War skirmish here in late Sept. 1862,
between forces of USA Gen. George W. Morgan and CSA Gen. John Hunt Morgan. Union
forces retreating from Cumberland Gap to Greenup were harassed by Confederates
from West Liberty, thru here, to Grayson.





REGULATOR UPRISING. After the Civil War, Kentucky became a place of
lawlessness with vigilantes roaming the land. The "Regulators" ruled. An
uprising began in Elliott Co in 1877 after outlaws burned part of Sandy
Hook - the county seat. Attacks on women were waged in 1879 and the
citizens of Elliott County decided to take care of the Regulators
themselves. "Judge Lynch" told the people that lawlessness would not be
tolerated. On the 20th of October 1879, 200 Regulators, armed completely,
dragged two supposed outlaws from the jail and hung them. This started a
time of terror against all lawbreakers in the area. Men who rode on
horseback and were masked road the countryside and drove the lawless out of
the area.   By the spring of 1880 the movement widened to include the
counties of Morgan, Rowan, Carter, Boyd and Lawrence. Judge James E.
Stewart, 16th judicial district, although threatened with bodily harm,
stated that he was holding the line. He contacted Governor Luke P.
Blackburn, asking for state troops to assist. He promised clemency for the
Regulators who surrendered. On 28 May 1880, 200 Lawrence and Carter County
Regulators surrendered. By 1881, the Elliott and Morgan County Regulators
had disbanded.