Flagg Springs/Kennedy's
Ferry
This community, located at Kentucky State Route 10 and Smith Road and Kentucky State Route 735, was first established as Kennedy's Ferry but the name was changed in 1817 to Flagg Spring and was built around the Flagg Springs Baptist Church. The church graveyard is the final resting place of Thomas Jefferson McGraw, a central figure in one of the county's most celebrated Civil War stories.
Kennedy's Ferry/Flagg Spring Postmasters
John Read-6 June 1813
Name changed to Flagg Spring-29 Mar 1817 with James G Lindsey
Wm Thompson Jr. 9 Feb 1827
Edward Morin-9 Dec 1833
J C DeMoss-11 Dec 1862
Name changed to California 28 Apr 1863 with Thomas F Tarvin
John L Lawson-6 Aug 1864
John A Jolly-20 May 1870
James V Jolly-19 May 1888
Wm O Tarvin-20 Mar 1890
Name changed back to Flagg Spring 11 Dec 1895 with Theodore P Nelson as
postmaster
Wm O Tarvin-27 Jan 1900
Discontinued 21 Dec 1906
15 Jan 1907 mail sent to Mentor
Flagg Springs Baptist Church Cemetery
McGraw was a lieutenant in a state guard unit recruited from southeastern Campbell County to help maintain the state's neutrality in the days before the Civil War. But after war broke out, McGraw and most of the men joined the Confederate Army. McGraw returned to Campbell County to recruit more men. In the process he was captured along with William Corbin, a Confederate captain from nearby California. Instead of being made prisoners of war, McGraw and Corbin were taken to Johnson's Island in Lake Erie and in a trial that attracted national attention, were convicted and executed for violating a recruiting law even though the law wasn't issued by Union officials until five days after their arrest.
For more information on William Corbin and
Thomas Jefferson McGraw see the
Military Index