Celebration of U.S. military JAG Corps' 249th birthday held at historic Joseph Holt Home in Breckinridge Co.

The Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG Corps) celebrated its 249^th anniversary at the historic Joseph Holt Home in Breckinridge County on Friday.

The JAG Corps is the military justice branch of the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, and is responsible for serving as prosecutors during court martials, among many other duties.

General George Washington established the JAG Corps on July 29, 1775. The celebration was held at the Joseph Holt Home in deference to Holt serving as the nation’s first judge advocate general. For more information on the JAG Corps, click here.

Participating in Friday’s celebration were JAG Corps members from Ft. Knox and Ohio, as well as local dignitaries, including Breckinridge County Judge-Executive Maurice Lucas and Susan B. Dyer, President of the Friends of Holt Home, and the person most responsible for the home’s renovation, along with other Friends of Holt Home members.

Dyer, who wrote a book on the restoration of the Holt Home (Joseph Holt Mansion: Saving and Restoring the Home of Lincoln’s Judge Advocate General), led tours of the beautifully restored mansion and educated attendees with her incredibly vast knowledge of the home’s residents and the home itself.

(Dyer also wrote a book to raise awareness about Holt’s life and undervalued historical significance: Lincoln’s Advocate: The Life of Judge Joseph Holt.)

Additionally, Ian Brockman, a Murray State University history professor, was in attendance on Friday and instructed JAG Corps members on the history of the Holt family members (and others) who are buried in a brick-enclosed cemetery plot on the grounds.

The Breckinridge County Junior ROTC presented the colors at the event.

The mansion, built in 1850, was a part-time home for Holt, as he spent most of his adult life in Washington, D.C., according to Brockman. Holt’s brother, Thomas, and his family lived full-time at the residence and worked a large farm.

Holt, while in Washington D.C., served as Pres. James Buchanan’s postmaster general and briefly as Buchanan’s secretary of war. Holt is best known, though, for serving as Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s judge advocate general of the U.S. Army, a position he held in the Lincoln administration from September 3, 1862, until Lincoln’s assassination on April 15, 1865.

After Lincoln’s death, Holt continued to serve as JAG under Presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant. He also served as chief prosecutor in the trial of eight conspirators involved in Lincoln’s assassination.

Dyer’s dedication

As K105 reported in June, Dyer was recently bestowed the prestigious Award of Distinction by the Kentucky Historical Society for her tireless work rehabbing the Holt Mansion.

“I guarantee you it (the restoration of the mansion) would never have happened without Susan pushing it. She has talked to everyone from the White House on down … and has spent countless hours and countless dollars, I’m sure, out of her pocket, to make this come about,” said Tommy Turner, former Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission co-chair.

Dyer’s latest recognition by the Kentucky Historical Society comes on the heels of her and Friends of the Holt Home receiving the Ida Lee Willis Memorial Foundation Grassroots Preservation Award in 2023.

The extensive, ongoing transformation of the property has been celebrated each September for the last 15 years by the Friends of Holt House, which hosts Holt Home Community Day.

Additionally, the mansion is brought to life via tours of the property, and through various events, including a Christmas tour, hosted at the home.

The Holt Mansion is located at 6205 Hwy 144 approximately four miles west of Stephensport.

(Headline photo: The Breckinridge County JROTC presenting colors, with JAG Corps members in the background)