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After a long illness Col. James Blackburn died in Buffalo, N. Y., on December 14, 1915. He was born in Woodford County, Ky., April 30, 1834, and was a graduate of Center College, at Danville. At the beginning of the War between the States he was practicing law at Helena, Ark. He was a lawyer of attainments, and and eloguent in debate. Joining a company of which that iron soldier, Patrick R. Cleburne, was captain, he was elected a lieutenant at its organization. This company was a part of the 1st Arkansas Infantry, State Troops. Cleburne was colonel after the transfer of the regiment to the Confederate service, and it was then known as the 15th Arkansas Infantry.

Before the transfer of his regiment to the Confederate service Lieutenant Blackburn was elected captain of a company in another regiment. All of his service was in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and distinguished himself in the battle of Helena, Ark. After the war he resumed the practice of his profession at Helena, but later returned to Kentucky and was a farmer in Woodford County. He had every attribute of a nobleman. His soul was imbued with justice, and his heart was attuned with that broad humanity that could say, "Our country." His patriotism nerved his arm and steeled his heart to battle for the cause that he knew to be right. He had five brothers in the Confederate army, one of them was the Hon. J. C. S. Blackburn, long a Congressman and United States Senator from Kentucky, and the only one now living. Another brother, Dr. Luke P. Blackburn, the philanthropist and noted specialist in treating yellow fever, was Governor of Kentucky after the war. He himself long represented his district in the Senate of Kentucky and was a member of the convention that framed the present Constitution. He was appointed United States marshal for Kentucky by President Cleveland. His wife, two sons, and a daughter survive him.