Thomas Henry Hines

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Historical Marker #770 in Butler County notes the birthplace of Confederate soldier Thomas Henry Hines.

Called the “most dangerous man of [the] Confederacy,” Hines was born near Woodbury on October 9, 1838. A professor at the Masonic University in LaGrange, Hines joined the Confederacy and served in John Hunt Morgan’s 9th Kentucky Cavalry. When Morgan, Hines, and other Confederate raiders were captured in Ohio in 1863and imprisoned at the Ohio Penitentiary, Hines organized Morgan’s escape from prison.
On March 16, 1864, Confederate authorities sent Hines to Canada, where he and other exiled Southerners lobbied on behalf of the Confederacy and planned to free Confederate Prisoners of War out of prison camps in Illinois. Although Hines and his compatriots advocated and planned for direct action, the prison breaks never occurred.

After the war, Hines was an attorney in Bowling Green and became judge executive of Warren County. In 1878, he joined the court of appeals and ultimately became chief justice from 1884 to 1885. He died on January 23, 1889, and was buried in Bowling Green’s Fairview Cemetery.

The marker reads:
Capt. Thomas Henry Hines enlisted in the Confederate Army, 1861. With Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan, 1862-63. Captured, July 1863, in Ohio with Morgan. Led escape from Federal prison, Nov. 1863. Leader of northwest conspiracy 1864. Termed most dangerous man of Confederacy. Ky. Court of Appeals, 1878-98. Born, 1838; lived Bowling Green. Buried Fairview Cemetery, 1898.