Juett, Dr. David Polk, Farmstead

Located one mile northeast of Blandville, Ballard County, on the Blandville-Hinkleville Road, the Dr. David Polk Juett Farmstead (BA-26) is nominated as part of a Multiple Property Listing entitled “Caught In The Middle; The Civil War Years on the Lower Ohio River," within the context of "Federal and Confederate Military Operations On and Along the Lower Ohio River, 1861-65; The War on the Land, 1861-65." The property is significant at the local level and is an example of the "substantial field encampment” which is a subtype of the "Military Occupation Site" property type. The property meets National Register Criterion A for its role as a large-scale temporary Civil War military encampment. The camp was associated with a strong military overland reconnaissance movement which was made from Fort Jefferson and Fort Holt, against Confederate military positions at Columbus, Ky, in January 1862. This farmstead was present and was associated with that military event.

This property meets those registration requirements set forth in the associated historic context through its use as a principal military field encampment. The Federal campsite area, lying north of the farmstead, remains an open fairly level field and therefore retains the integrity of setting, location, feeling, and association. The survival of the original farmstead core buildings, including two dependencies, enables the property to evoke a sense of time and place which closely approximates the military camp's appearance. Sufficient area searching by amateur archeologists has documented the presence of an extensive array of metal military artifacts. While the property is not being formally evaluated here to meet the terms of Criterion D, there is proven potential for the property to yield important information concerning the actual camp layout, the location of specific unit camps, and the daily life patterns of soldiers who were in the field under fairly harsh winter conditions.

The selection of this property as a principal Federal campsite can be precisely dated to January 13, 1862. Brig. Gen. John A. McClernand commanded a large Federal expedition that originated from Cairo, Illinois, and Fort Holt and Fort Jefferson, Kentucky. The purpose of the movement was, in the general's words, to penetrate the interior of Kentucky in the neighborhood of Columbus and towards Mayfield and Camp Beauregard." The latter two points were known or presumed Confederate strongpoints on the line of defense which linked the fortified position at Columbus, and those at Forts Henry and Donelson, to the east.

McClernand, in his report, noted "On (January) the thirteenth, Lieut. H. C. Freeman, engineer, with an escort of cavalry, explored the different roads leading from Fort Jefferson to Blandville, and selected a strong position for encampment half a mile north of Blandville, on the road to Columbus".

Any Federal advance against Confederate-held Columbus to the south required an advance overland across what was then central Ballard County. The county's principal trading routes ran east and west across this part of the county, each one originating from Paducah, the dominant regional trading center to the east. The county had no Ohio or Mississippi River towns at this time, reflecting the dominance of these interior routes. The county seat, Lovelaceville, to the east, and Blandville, were both located on what was termed the Paducah-Blandville Road. Mayfield Creek, major drainage into the Mississippi River, ran south of and parallel to this main road. The creek physically split Ballard County (after the war the southernmost third of the county was split off to form Carlisle County due to this obstacle.) The Creek restricted overland military movements and in this case, funneled the Federal advance eastward before any approach could be made to the southwest against the Confederate strongpoint at Columbus, on the Mississippi River.

The Federal encampment is thought to have covered the land on both sides of the north-south road which runs in front of the farmstead. It is likely that the camps also extended to the southwest towards Blandville, given the half-mile measure from that town mentioned by Brigadier General John McClernand. The tract which is being nominated consists of the known extent of the camp, based on artifacts that were found there.

The farmstead at the time of the encampment consisted of a two-room log house, a separate kitchen, and a smokehouse. The wartime owner has not been identified given the loss of pre-1880 county records. Confederate war veteran, Dr. David Polk Jouett (or Juett), purchased this 80-acre property in 1874 from Thomas Corbett, a trustee for Rebecca Corbett and her 4 children.

Dr. Juett (March 20, 1836-March 8, 1915) was born in Scott County, Kentucky, the son of John Juett (1765-c. 1850) and Catherine (Kendrick) Juett (John's third wife). David Juett received his medical training at Allegheny College and Jefferson Medical College in Pennsylvania, graduating in March 1857. He moved to Ballard County c. 1857 when he was quite young. He is present there at Blandville as of 1860 with his first wife Victoria. He owned a store and lot in the town. The other town doctor was Dr. T. F. Clardy, a 22-year-old physician who would serve as the first surgeon for what later became Juett's Confederate regiment. David's half-brother Thomas J. Juett (1809-88), a master saddler, also then resided in Blandville. As of 1861, Dr. Juett owned half-interests in two Blandville town lots, was enrolled in the militia, and owned a horse. Thomas Juett by 1862, owned 160 acres of land. The doctor moved at least temporarily to Paducah during the early war years and a son John Polk Juett was born there on July 8, 1863.

The loss of county deed records precludes the identification of the owner of this property at the time of the Federal encampment. Dr. Juett was in the county but was possibly in Paducah as of early 1862. One candidate family is that of Isaak K. and Luciana Swaim. Their son I. N. Swaim served in the 7th Kentucky Infantry throughout the war. They sold their land to David Hall on December 30, 1870, and when land records were reconstructed in 1880, both the southernmost were termed a subdivision of the Hall estate. Dr. Juett is recorded as owning the land as of 1880, but this was a refiling of an earlier transaction.

Dr. Juett enlisted in the 7th Kentucky Mounted Infantry (Confederate) in March 1864. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon in that regiment on May 12, 1864, serving under Regimental Surgeon Charles Hinkle (who was dropped July 1864). The Kentucky Adjutant General's Report of 1915 lists Assistant Surgeon "D. P. Jett". The doctor was disabled due to sickness by March or April 1865 and was incapacitated for field service until the war's end. Lt. Col. L. J. Sherrill, of that regiment, came from Blandville. He practiced medicine from the front yard of this property until his retirement and he is buried in the old Blandville Cemetery. It is said that he returned to the Jackson Purchase area due to his wartime familiarity with the area. He founded the first county newspaper, the Ballard News, in 1874, which was published in Blandville. The doctor is credited with performing the first appendectomy in the Purchase. Dr. Jouett remodeled the house to its present style and plan, adding or expanding a south wing and a half-story upper level. He built the one-room doctor's office which stands in front of the house. Dr. Juett applied for a Kentucky Confederate Pension on June 17, 1912. He described his brief military service in that application, stating that he was never captured, paroled, and never took the oath of allegiance after the war. He owned 130 acres of land as of 1912 but was so disabled by apoplexy and paralysis that his annual income was less than $100. F. M. Felton witnessed the application, being acquainted with Dr. Juett since 1857, the apparent date that the doctor settled in Ballard County. T. C. Faulkner also witnessed the pension document.

J. Kate (Cockrell) Juett, the doctor's third wife, survived him and applied for a Confederate widow's pension on July 143, 1916. She sold the nominated property to James Sylvester Rials in 1917. The same family still owns the land. Alex Rials was the son of J. V. Rials and his widow, Georgia Rials, lives in the house.