1865 - The Last Four Months
The year 1865 began with cold winter weather. At Pine Grove in Clark
County, thirteen days in January never got above freezing and it snowed or
rained on seventeen days. When the roads were not frozen they had deep mud
- not able to hold a horse up, according to the Pine Grove observer. The
wet weather continued through the spring but grass was growing, livestock
were looking good, two new National Banks had opened in Lexington in Fayette
County, and a great number of companies had been charted by the state to
explore for petroleum. March saw heavy rains and flooding of the Kentucky
River. The rains continued in April. The good news was that the drought was
over. The better news was that the Civil War was over also - on April 9th
with the surrender of General Lee's Army at Appomattox.
