Private William Barker of Morgan County, Kentucky, was one of the ten Confederate soldiers who were killed during the Battle of Ivy Mountain. Owner of a farm on Greasy Creek, William enlisted in the Confederate Army at West Liberty on October 21st, 1861, along with his son, Henry Barker, and his son-in-law, Green Gevedon.
Henry Barker and Green Gevedon both survived the war, and many years later they were interviewed by Henry's nephew, J. Monroe Gevedon. The story was subsequently published by Helen Price Stacy, correspondent for the Lexington Herald Leader. Here is Green Gevedon's eyewitness account of the death of William Barker and his son Henry's reaction to it:
"We had taken our position on the flat above the narrows, each of us with his old squirrel rifle. The Yanks were coming down the Burning Fork, with the cavalry in front, passing along the bluff under us, and from where we stood, we could only see their heads. The cavalry could do us no harm, but their infantry coming on behind could see us and were pouring bullets in on us, but were out of range of our small-bore guns. So we were taking it out on the cavalry.
Billy Barker and John Pieratt, off to our right, could not see over the bluff, and they were immediately shot down. Henry saw them fall. He placed his gun against a bush and ran down to his father and held his head until he died. Then he came back to me, picked up his gun, took the bullets from his pouch, and counted them.
Then he said to me: "Green, I have eleven bullets. That means eleven of their scalps for the death of my father." I watched as he loaded his gun. I saw him load and fire eleven shots, and at every shot I saw a Yank fall from his horse. Others were firing at the same time, but I don't believe Henry missed one single shot."
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