Luke P. Blackburn
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Luke Pryor Blackburn (July 16, 1816 - September 14, 1887) was Governor of Kentucky from 1879 to 1883.
Born in 1816 in Woodford County, Kentucky, he worked for prison reform, including a state-operated warden system and parole. He died in 1887 in Frankfort, Kentucky, and is buried at Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.
[edit] Civil War
Blackburn was a prominent yellow fever specialist in the South prior to the Civil War. When the war began, his desire to serve the Confederate States Army led him to Bermuda, where he worked with yellow fever patients. In a sinister plot, he collected infected blankets and clothing with the intention of delivering them to Northern cities and creating a yellow fever pandemic. He also planned to deliver shirts exposed to the fever to Abraham Lincoln. He was known as "Dr. Black Vomit," among other nicknames, and is considered to be one of the first bioterrorists in the United States.
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| Preceded by: James B. McCreary |
Governor of Kentucky 1879–1883 |
Succeeded by: J. Proctor Knott |
| Governors of Kentucky |  |
|---|---|
| Shelby • Garrard • Greenup • Scott • Shelby • Madison • Slaughter • Adair • Desha • Metcalfe • J. Breathitt • J. Morehead • Clark • Wickliffe • Letcher • Owsley • Crittenden • Helm • Powell • C. Morehead • Magoffin • Robinson • Bramlette • Helm • Stevenson • Leslie • McCreary • Blackburn • Knott • Buckner • Brown • Bradley • Taylor • Goebel • Beckham • Willson • McCreary • Stanley • Black • Morrow • Fields • Sampson • Laffoon • Chandler • Johnson • Willis • Clements • Wetherby • Chandler • Combs • E. Breathitt • Nunn • Ford • Carroll • Brown Jr. • Collins • Wilkinson • Jones • Patton • Fletcher
Kentucky also had two Confederate Governors: George W. Johnson and Richard Hawes. |
