Scottsville, 1862

Scottsville, 1862. . , 1860 – A Bustling County Seat Town, Imagine Scottsville in 1860. A fine two-story octagonal brick courthouse dominates the busy court square. The prosperous rural town of 403 residents boasts a public spring, at least one church, a handful of commercial establishments and several lawyers and doctors., 1862 – “Most of the homes are deserted”, Two years later, most of Scottsville’s men have done to war. Some joined the Union army and others the Confederate because, like the rest of Kentucky, Allen County is divided in its loyalties., An Illinois corporal wrote, “Scottsville is a little old town with few inhabitants. Most of the homes are deserted.” A Union officer from Ohio described Scottsville as “a little poor concern. Perhaps a dozen or 20 houses.”, The population of Scottsville grew tenfold when the Union army marched into town. Their arrival must have been the biggest thing to ever come down the pike., “There was no meeting at Bethlehem on the second Sunday in November owing to the army passing down the pike and the house having sick soldiers in it.” , Clerk, Bethlehem Church, 1862. , (captions) , The Allen County Courthouse, 1819-1902, The Public Spring, ca 1900, Bethlehem Church, constructed about 1848, “Scottsville … probably at one time contained three hundred inhabitants. About half the houses are log…” , An Illinois sergeant in a letter to his hometown newspaper.