James Q. Chenoweth, Col. 16th KY Cavalry, Confederate States Army, 1834-1909.  Spring Hill Cemetery, Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky.

The Harrodsburg Herald, Mercer County, Kentucky

Friday, June 25, 1909

CHENOWETH

Gallant Confederate Soldier Dies at Bedford Springs, Virginia

                On last Saturday Mr. T. J. Fisher received a telegram stating that his brother-in-law, Col. J. Q. Chenoweth, was critically ill at the Elk’s Home, Bedford Springs, Va. On Monday another wire came saying he was sinking rapidly, and on Tuesday morning the news of his death reached here. The remains arrived in Harrodsburg Thursday morning and were taken to the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Bryant, where funeral services were held at 2:30 in the afternoon by Rev. Lon Robinson, assisted by Dr. J. G. Hunter, and the interment took place in Spring Hill Cemetery. In his death passeth from our midst the last member of one of the oldest and most highly respected families of our community. He was a son of Thomas Chenoweth, who was a successful commission merchant of Louisville, and a descendant of one of the earliest settlers and a family even to this day of most substantial position and talent. His mother was Miss Nancy A. Passmore, of Harrodsburg, a daughter of Augustus Passmore, an honored pioneer. Col. Chenoweth was a very prominent and well-known gentleman, and a native of Harrodsburg though he has not lived here for many years. During the Civil War he was a member of Morgan’s command. He first served as Captain and was promoted to Colonel and acted as Brigadier General during the last year of the war in place of General Lyen, which was the highest commission issued to anyone who went from Mercer county during the war. At the close of the strife he studied law and practiced here for some time and represented this district two terms in the State Senate. Afterwards he went to Texas where he became a Circuit Judge. He was also put in charge of the Confederate Home. He was First Auditor of the Treasury Department under Cleveland. Two years ago, he attended the Confederate re-union at Richmond, Va., and was taken ill while there and was never able to return to his home. The local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy is named in his honor, “The J. Q. Chenoweth Chapter.” Col. Chenoweth was a man of intellect as well as a gallant soldier. He was of strikingly handsome appearance, and a gentleman remarked to the writer that when Gen. Morgan made his famous raid through Kentucky, and entered Harrodsburg, Morgan, with Col. Chenoweth and Capt. Gabe Alexander, was riding at the head of the troops, all of them in full regalia, and never in his life, he said, has he seen three such splendid specimens of manhood. As they passed through Harrodsburg the Confederate women of the town presented Gen. Morgan’s men with a handsome silk flag. Miss Scotia Inscip, a beautiful girl from Ohio, who was visiting here, made the presentation speech standing on the old stone carriage steps that are still in front of Mr. K. C. Smith’s residence, on Chile’s street, which was then a fashionable apartment house and hotel. Col. Chenoweth received the flag and thanked the fair donors in a beautiful little speech. Quite a romance grew out of the incident. When the news that the Ohio girl had presented a flag to Southern soldiers reached Miss Inscip’s native town the citizens held an indignation meeting and condemned the action. Young Col. Chenoweth followed the beautiful visitor home and shortly after the war he married her. She died about three years ago.