During the Civil War, Stephen Gano Burbridge was Kentucky's most controversial military commander. Born in Georgetown, Kentucky, on August 19, 1831, Burbridge practiced law and also owned a large plantation at the beginning of the Civil War. In 1861, Burbridge was commissioned as colonel, and in June 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general. In 1864, after seeing combat at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Port Gibson, Burbridge returned to Kentucky where he fought against Confederate raiders, particularly John Hunt Morgan. In August 1864, following his promotion to brevet major general, Burbridge was placed in command of the Department of Kentucky. His predecessor, Jeremiah T. Boyle, had alienated many loyal Kentuckians because of his harsh counterinsurgency tactics. Yet, Burbridge continued many of these policies, which included the arrest of Confederate sympathizers and suspected guerrillas. In addition, he ordered that four captured guerrillas be executed for each Union man killed by insurgents. Burbridge quickly lost the support of Kentuckians and was replaced in February 1865. At the end of 1865, he resigned his commission and moved to Brooklyn, New York. He died there on November 30, 1894.

Aloma Williams Dew, "Stephen Gano Burbridge," in John E. Kleber, ed., The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 142.