According to local tradition, the Crittenden County Courthouse was burned by Brigadier General Hylan B. Lyon, CSA on January 25, 1965 as part of a raid into Kentucky during which Lyon's troops burned a number of western Kentucky county courthouses. The courthouse had been built in 1844 when the county seat was transferred to Marion. The present courthouse is the third, dedicated in 1951.
During the Civil War there was relatively little action in Crittenden County, although the county had several iron furnaces and a large fluorspar mine. There was one other incident at the courthouse. On May 13, 1862, Col. S. Noble, Federal commander at Paducah, sent a cavalry company under a Capt. Stacy to Marion. Stacy interrupted the circuit court and demanded that the presiding judge, Wiley P. Flower, and others take the oath of allegiance to the Federal government. The judge and the others protested that they had taken all the oaths required under state law. Four men were arrested for refusing to take the oath and ordered to appear in the Paducah Circuit Court.
Hylan Benton Lyon was born in Caldwell (now Lyon) County on February 22, 1836. His grandfather, Matthew, served in the state legislature and U.S. House of Representatives; as did his father, Chittenden, for whom Lyon County was named. Hylan was orphaned at an early age, but inherited a sizeable estate, and was raised in Eddyville by F.H. Skinner. He attended Masonic University in LaGrange and was appointed to West Point in 1852. He graduated with the class of 1856 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. He served in Florida and, after promotion to First Lieutenant, In California and the Washington Territory. He resigned his commission and joined the Confederate Army as a first lieutenant in Cobb's Battery in April 1861. He was soon promoted to Lt. Colonel with the 8th Kentucky Infantry and was captured after the fall of Fort Donelson. He was held at Johnson's Island, Ohio before his exchange in September 1862. He returned to active service and participated in the defense of Vicksburg and fought the battles of Chattanooga and Brice's Crossroads before his promotion to Brigadier General in June 1864. He served in the Franklin and Nashville campaigns and was active in western Kentucky attacking Federal supply lines, gathering supplies, and burning courthouses. His rationale for burning courthouses was that they were frequently used by Union forces.
He went to Mexico at the end of the War for one year, but returned to Lyon County and farmed for the rest of his life. He served on the state Penitentiary Commission and the state maximum security prison in Eddyville was built on his land. He served in the state legislature 1899-1900. Hylan B. Lyon died on April 25, 1907 and is buried in the Eddyville Cemetery.
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