Joseph Holt
A Breckinridge County native, Joseph Holt (1807-1894) was a famous Kentuckian who had a long career in the national spotlight. He was a prominent lawyer who served as Commissioner of Patents (1857), Postmaster General (1859), and Secretary of War (1860) under President James Buchanan.
He achieved national prominence serving in the administration of President Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him the nation's first Judge Advocate General of the United States Army - a position he held from 1862 to 1875. His most memorable role as JAG came following the assassination of President Lincoln, when Holt presided over the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, including the first woman ever hanged by the federal government, Mary Surratt.
Holt was born in rural Breckinridge County in 1807 to John and Eleanor (Stephens) Holt, who owned many acres of land in the vicinity. Judge Holt's maternal grandfather, Captain Richard Stephens, received a 10,000-acre land grant for his service during the Revolutionary War. The original house they built on this site burned and this one took its place.
Joseph Holt was given the opportunity to obtain a good education because of his grandfather. Holt attended St. Joseph's College in Bardstown and Centre College in Danville. He became a practicing attorney in Elizabethtown from 1828-1832, then moved to Louisville where he was the assistant editor of the Louisville Advertiser and the Commonwealth's Attorney. Later, he moved to Mississippi where he practiced law in Port Gibson and Vicksburg and was very successful.
Lincoln's Legacy
Holt achieved national prominence serving in the administration of President Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him the nation's first Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, a position he held from 1862 to 1875. His most memorable role as JAG came following the assassination of President Lincoln, when Holt presided over the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators.
In 1842, Holt contracted tuberculosis, retired, returned to Louisville and became involved in government.
Judge Holt was a believer and supporter of the Union and played a key role in keeping Kentucky from leaving the Union during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him to the newly-created office of Judge Advocate General in 1862, with the rank of Colonel. Two years later, he was promoted to Brigadier General and named to lead the new Bureau of Military Justice.
During Judge Holt's lifetime, he returned frequently to visit his Breckinridge County family home. He was married twice, to his first wife Mary L. Harrison in 1839 and following her death, to Margaret Wickliffe in 1850. Both wives are buried with their respective families in Bardstown. Following Judge Holt's death in 1894, his body was returned to Breckinridge County and he is buried along with his parents and other relatives in the family cemetery on site.
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