Rodney Haggard’s remarkable Winchester legacy

This week Harry Enoch begins a series on “Mystery Houses” in Clark County. The loca­tion of today’s “mys­tery house” will be revealed in next week’s column.

Rodney Haggard (1844−1901) was a larg­er-than-life fig­ure in 19^th cen­tu­ry Winchester. He belonged to the largest fam­i­ly in Clark County, the Haggards who set­tled here before Kentucky was admit­ted into the Union. 

Upon grad­u­at­ing from Winchester High School, Haggard began teach­ing school him­self. When the Civil War broke out, he enlist­ed in Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner’s Guards at age 17. He was com­mis­sioned an offi­cer and raised a com­pa­ny for Col. David Chenault’s 11^th Calvary Regiment under John Hunt Morgan’s com­mand. Haggard fought in engage­ments in Tennessee at Hartsville and Kentucky at Richmond, Green River Bridge, Mill Springs, West Liberty and Lebanon. Captured dur­ing Morgan’s Ohio raid, Haggard was sent to Johnson’s Island where he remained a pris­on­er until the close of the war. 

Returning to Winchester after the war, Haggard ran for sher­iff on the Democratic tick­et and won. At age 21, he became the youngest per­son ever elect­ed to that office in Kentucky. He gained a rep­u­ta­tion for effi­cien­cy, being the first sher­iff to set­tle accounts each year with the state audi­tor. After win­ning re-elec­tion Haggard began the study of law under Chief Justice James Simpson. He sub­se­quent­ly grad­u­at­ed from the University of Louisville law school and was admit­ted to the bar in 1873. He served as an attor­ney for the Chesapeake & Ohio and Louisville & Nashville railroads. 

In 1880 Haggard was elect­ed with­out oppo­si­tion to the Kentucky Senate. He intro­duced a num­ber of impor­tant bills that became law, the most sig­nif­i­cant being cre­ation of a state board of equal­iza­tion. The board was respon­si­ble for ensur­ing that prop­er­ty tax­es were assessed and col­lect­ed fair­ly, uni­form­ly, and equi­tably. In 1893 he was elect­ed coun­ty judge. 

Haggard mar­ried Mary Eliza Baldwin. A sto­ry was told of his romanc­ing the young lady. “When he was scarce­ly more than a lad he hap­pened to see his wife, then a girl about ten years of age and instant­ly announced that that girl was to be his wife. The war inter­vened, years elapsed and final­ly the young lawyer suc­ceed­ed in win­ning the hand of the father­less girl.” She was the daugh­ter of Lt. W. W. Baldwin who was killed at the Battle of Green River Bridge. 

Rodney Haggard died by his own hand in September 1844. He was laid to rest in Winchester Cemetery fol­low­ing lengthy trib­utes by the United Confederate Veterans and the Winchester Lodge of Elks and a eulo­gy by Col. W. C. P. Breckinridge. His obit­u­ary stat­ed that “the funer­al was prob­a­bly more large­ly attend­ed than any funer­al ever held in this city.” 

Rodney Haggard’s T‑plan house was built in 1883 (date carved over the cel­lar door). A spring on the prop­er­ty sup­plied water for Haggard and near­by neigh­bors. In archi­tec­tur­al speak, the two-sto­ry frame house fea­tured fine brack­et­ed cor­nices, a pair of tre­foil gable ven­ti­la­tors, fil­i­gree sawn porch dec­o­ra­tion, and a bay win­dow. The main stair­case was con­struct­ed of wal­nut, oak, cher­ry, rose­wood and mahogany. With the excep­tion of the roof brack­ets, the house has retained these dec­o­ra­tive elements.