The Bozzaris Greys
A few years ago Bracken County historian extraordinaire Caroline Miller sent me an email with a newspaper article that mentioned an organization called the Bozzaris Greys. I took a cursory glance at the material, did a quick search online, and really could not find much about the unit and moved on to other things. I recently went back to the Word document that Caroline had sent me and decided to do a deeper dive into this unit and see if it had a Civil War connection.
In the years immediately preceding the Civil War there were many militia companies being formed across the country - Kentucky was no exception. All across the Commonwealth such companies were formed, such as John H. Morgan’s Lexington Rifles. These companies were more a social club than a martial organization, with limited training but much carousing taking place. In Mason and Bracken County one unit was organized, and it was hoped that enough men would join to make the unit a regiment. That did not happen, but there was support enough to form the Bozzaris Greys, a company sized organization.
So, let’s tackle the odd name - Bozzaris. During the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, there was an attack by the Greeks on an unsuspecting and much larger Turkish force. On the night of August 21, 1823, Markos Botsaris, an Orthodox Christian Albanian (also known as the Souliotes), led 1,200 men against an Ottoman encampment that held 10,000 Turks. Botsaris would be wounded in the abdomen, but stay in the fight. Later he would be shot in the head, causing his immediate demise, but the Greeks fought on and after inflicting severe casualties on the Turks retreated.
Botsaris, whose name was anglicized to Bozzaris by the Western world, would be the subject of poems, plays, and other literary works in the early antebellum period. Though long forgotten by all but the Greeks, his death and popularity inspired the naming of the militia company from Mason and Bracken Counties!
So, what of the Bozzaris Greys? Unfortunately there is not a lot of information available. One reference mentions that there was a meeting held on January 2, 1860 at the Maysville courthouse to discuss the position of “secession or dedication to the Union.” This meeting was mostly pro-Union in nature, and an independent military company was desired for Maysville as Germantown had already raised the “fine company” called the Bozzaris Greys, the Greys having apparently a pro-Southern bent and the only company that had been raised in Mason County up to this time.
The article from the daily Maysville paper that Caroline had emailed reminisced about a “Grand Military and Civic Ball” that had taken place on February 22, 1860 (George Washington’s birthday). The ball was held at the town hall in Germantown and several recognizable names were involved such as Samuel Worthington, Joseph B. Harris, Jams W., Wood, Doctor J. Taylor Bradford, William A. Doniphan, Doctor Labin J. Bradford, Judge John H. Boude, John J. Schoolfield, and many others recognizable to those who know of Augusta’s regional history. The Greys, like many militia companies that used “grey” in their name, were clothed in a grey uniform, and “The uniforms of the Bozzaris Greys must have thrilled the young belles as they danced to Professor Danon's Cotillion Band, but surely a somber note sounded as a glimpse of future uncertainties prevailed.”
One member of the Greys was “General” Samuel Worthington (mentioned above). The rank of general was an honorary one, most likely in the hope that there would be such a large militia presence in the region that a general would be needed to command the unit. Worthington, a member of the Kentucky State Legislator and brother of W. B. Worthington who had been killed serving in the Home Guard during the Augusta fight, would himself be killed by two of his slaves on October 3, 1862. The slaves had used a couple of Worthington’s horses without permission, and instead of accepting a beating from the slaveowner, they in turn beat Worthington to death with clubs, and in an effort to hide the body buried the corpse in a cornfield. Worthington would be reburied in what is now known as the Craig-Worthington Cemetery.
Another member of the Bozzaris Greys was cabinet-maker Joseph Patterson. Patterson was noted for his abilities with a rifle, and received a family Bible on July 4, 1860 from his captain in the Greys for “his skill in this direction.”
Sources:
American Civil War Research Database
Clift, G. Glen - History of Maysville and Mason County. 1936.
Family Search
Find A Grave