USA > Indiana > Historic Indiana : being chapters in the story of the Hoosier state from the romantic period of foreign exploration and dominion through pioneer days, stirring war times, and periods of peaceful progress, to the present time > Part 22
USA > Indiana > Historic Indiana : being chapters in the story of the Hoosier state from the romantic period of foreign exploration and dominion through pioneer days, stirring war times, and periods of peaceful progress, to the present time, centennial ed. > Part 22
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It is said that riding at the head of his troops to the Kentucky shore, General Morgan dramatically pointed to the northern bank of the Ohio River and said, "Boys, over there is Yankee land, we will cross over and possess it "; and that after they were safely over, he ordered the boats burned, denoting no in- tention of a return and no chance of being followed by the Federal troops who were close upon their heels; so near, in fact, that the Johnny Rebs in the boats called back to some of them, "Got any word want sent your ma? "
The present generation can make a very fair estimate of this "secesh " element of the Indiana backwoods population, from a little lifelike sketch by George S. Cottman. He introduces it with a description of a "Dixie " neighborhood where these poor whites lived in their log cabins in the woods. Isolated not only by location but by nature these squatters remained Southern in sentiment and sympathy.
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"Stray newspapers, carried in like bones into a den, to be read at leisure, passed from hand to hand and so kept them apprised of the doings of the outside world. Suddenly the news came that John Morgan was invading the state and the squatters in 'Dixie' settlement met to consider the question of joining him.
"One day Mr. Jabez Baughman issues a call for all Dixieites to convene at his cabin that evening to discuss questions of moment. Of the resultant meeting no minutes were preserved; you will find no mention of it in the Adjutant-General's reports, nor elsewhere, and the only authority I can claim for it is the oral account of Mr. Andrew Jackson Strickler, a member of the convention, who afterwards became reconstructed and reconciled to the Government. As faithfully as I can quote him here he is, Tennessee dialect and all: 'It was,' said Mr. Strickler, 'in July of '63. I disremember adzactly the date, but it was after the hayin' was done an' the wheat harvest about over. We heerd tel' o' John Morgan crossin' the river an' headin' our way, an' was consid'ble intrusted like, an' so w'en Jabe Baughman's boys went eroun' the settlement tellin' all the men folks their pap wanted us to meet at their house late that night, we jest natchally fell in with it, kase we knowed from the sly way it 'as done thar was somepin' up. None of us was to come till after ord'nary bed-time, an' none of us was to carry 'ary light, an' that putt ginger in it, see? Well, w'en night fell the weather got ugly, and I mind, way about ten o'clock, as I felt my way through the thickets, how everlastin' black it was, an' how the wind rasseled the trees erbout, roarin' like a hungry lion seekin' who he may devour. It made me feel kind o' creepy, kase it 'peared like the elerments an' man an' everything was erbout to do somepin'-kinder like the bottom was goin' to drap out o' things, y' understand.
"'Well, the fellers come steerin' into Jabe's one by one, an' by 'leven o' the clock ever' man in Dixie was thar.
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Jabe's young 'uns an' womern folks hed been sent out in the stable to sleep, an' so ever'thing was clair fer business, but we all sat eround talkin' hogs for a spell, kase we felt a mite unsartin; but by-m-by Baughman, says he: "Gent'- l'men, I call this meetin' to order." Then my oldest boy whose name was Andy, too, and who'd been to two or three public meetin's before an' felt kind o' biggoty over it, he hollers out; "I second the motion." Then young Jerry Stimson says; "I move that Mr. Baughman take the cheer," an' my boy seconded that, too, an' it was so ordered. Then Baughman riz an' said he hadn't hardly expected that honor (which was a lie), but sence they had putt it on him he'd try to discharge his duties to the meetin'.
"'After that we made young Stimson secatary, seein' he was somepin' of a scholard, an' then Jabe he made us a speech sayin' as how we'd orto stick by the grand old South, w'at was even now sendin' her conquerin' hosts to our doors, an' how we'uns should be ready to receive her to our buzzums. It wa'nt all quite clear to me, an' I ast how we was goin' to take her to our buzzums. "W'y, give her our moral s'port," says Jabe. "How'll we give our moral s'port," says I, an' then says Jabe slow an' solemn like: "Gent'l'men," says he, "w'en our sister States found it was time fer 'em to be up an' adoin'- w'en they found the Union wa'nt the place fer 'em, w'at did they do?" Here Jabe helt his fire, an' ever'thing was stock-still fer a spell, w'ile the wind howled outside. It 'peared like no one hadn't the grit to tackle the question, an' Jabe had to do it hisself. "Gent'l'men," says he, "air we men enough to run risks for our kentry? W'en John Morgan 's histes the flag of the grand ol' Confede'cy over the Injeany State House who's goin' to come to their reward, them as helt back skeert, or them as give him their moral s'port?"
"'At this my boy Andy who was gettin' all het up like with the idee o' doin' somepin', bellers out: "Mr. Cheer-
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man, I move 'at we air all men, an' 'at we ain't afeerd to give the South our moral s'port." Then Jabe grabbed the cow by the tail an' w'ipped her up. "Do I understand the gentl'man to mean," says he, "that we'd orto do w'at our sister States hez done, an' draw out o' this yere Union, an' ef so, will he put a movement to that effeck before the House?" "I make a move then," says Andy again, as bold as Davy Crockett, "that we don't whip the devil eround the stump no more, but that we git out o' the Union an' we git out a-flyin'." I was right proud o' the boy, not kase I thought he had a durn bit o' sense, but kase he went at it with his coat off like a man bound to make his mark. That got all of us spunky like an' nigh ever' one in the house seconded the move. Then says Jabe: "Gen'l'men, the question is before you, whether we will lend the Southern Confeder'cy our moral s'port an' foller our sister states out'n the Union. All in favor of this yere motion signify the same by sayin' 'aye.'" "Aye," says ever' livin' soul with a whoop, fer by that time we shore was all runnin' in a flock. " All contrary- wise say no," says Jabe, an' we all waited quiet fer a minute, kase that 'as the proper way, y' know, w'en all of a suddent, above the roar o' the wind outside, thar was a screech an' a tremenjus racket; the ol' house shuk like it was comin' down; the daubin' flew from the chinks, an' overhead it 'peared like the ol' Scratch was clawin' his way through the clabboards. Next he came a-tearin' at the floor of the loft above us, an' a loose board swingin' down hit Jabe a whack an' knocked the candle off'n the table, an' the next thing it was black as yer hat. Jabe I reckon, was consid'able flustered, kase he gathered, hisself up an' yelled: "The Devil's after us-git out o' here, fellers!" An' you bet we got.
"'It tuck me a full hour to find my way home through the bresh, an' w'en I did git thar, at last, an' was tryin' to tell w'ich side o' the house the door was on, I bumped up, agin Andy groopin' his way too. "Andy," says I,
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"I move we git in jest as quick as the Lord '11 let us," an' says Andy, "I second the motion."
" 'The next day w'ens we went back to Baughman's to see w'at we c'ud larn we found a good-sized ellum had keeled over again the roof-poles an' poked a limb down through the clabboards. It 'as never settled among us jest w'at it meant. Some said it 'as the Lord's way of votin' no again our goin' out o' the Union, an' others allowed it was the Lord's way o' savin' us from our brashness, kase, as ever' one knows, John Morgan didn't git to Injun- oplis after all, an' as things turned out it wa'nt jest best fer us ti be seced, y' know.' " 1
It was this sort of disloyalty, north of the river, that all unwittingly, the dashing cavalrymen were depending upon. Crossing the Ohio River General Morgan entered Harrison County in Indiana and passed eastward across the entire river districts and on into the adjoining State of Ohio. His plans were well laid and he was extremely bold in action. Through farm and village they swept capturing and paroling prisoners, appropriating the finest horses as they went, helping themselves to the fat of the land, as is the wont of military raiders. Out through every town in the State alarm bells were rung and the Governor's call for troops was sounded. The response was magical. Within forty-eight hours sixty-five thousand men had tendered their services, and were on their way to report for duty. Within three days, thirty thousand men, fully armed and organized had taken the field at various points to meet the enemy. Not being expected, on first landing Morgan's men found only a handful of troops to oppose them, and
1 Cottman, George S., Indiana Magazine of History, page 52, vol. i., number 1.
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these were driven back; but within twenty-four hours, when attempting to penetrate into the interior of the State and afterwards to retire across the river, they were confronted in both attempts by bodies of armed men. Soon their march was quickened into a flight which in five days, carried them across the eastern border into Ohio and on over that State. Those were five exciting days in Indiana and the other border States. Frantic telegrams for help from raided towns, and daring dispatches from the invaders, wherever they had tapped the telegraph lines, located the raiders now here, now there. The Confederate general was so rapid and sudden in his movements as frequently to confound both friends and enemies. Morgan's army was reported as ten, twenty, and thirty thousand strong. The atmosphere was rife with excitement. Unharvested fields of over-ripe wheat stood golden in the sun. No raid had been believed possible by the farmers. Burning barns was fun as well as policy to this band. As they went they emptied ovens and pantries. Money and horses were gathered in as necessities of war. The banks throughout the State sent their gold and most of their currency to New York. People concealed their valuables and men hurried to enlist. Cold shivers reached even to the Capital. The damages in the raided States, to railroads, steamboats, bridges, and public stores was not less than ten millions of dollars. The troops plundered private properties, burned all bridges to prevent pursuit, detached parties right and left to cut off communication and destroy stores.
And what of the invaders? It was an adventurous band. From an interesting note-book of one of the
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troop we learn their feelings when two broad States lay between them and their comrades.
"Kentucky grew too warm for us and we determined to cross over into Indiana and try to stir up the Copper- heads. We had no trouble in supplying provision. The chickens strolled before the doors with a confidence that was touching but misplaced. The good women baked wheaten bread in large quantities twice a week and we took the whole baking. The raw militia that was en- countered were badly armed and had had no drill. A great fear seemed to have fallen upon that part of Indi- ana and they acted as if stunned. Often our men would throw away plunder to pillage afresh, generally without method or reason. A horn, seven pairs of skates, a bird cage, and cards of horn buttons would dangle from one man's saddle. The disposition for wholesale plunder exceeded anything that any one had ever seen. The men seemed actuated by a desire to pay off in the enemy's country, all the old scores that the Federal Army had chalked up in the South. The fatigue of the marches was tremendous. We often averaged twenty-one hours in the saddle. There was battle and death and destruction, but many ludicrous things happened during our raid. We rode into Salem and a small swivel gun, used by the younger population, four days before, for the Fourth of July Celebration, had been planted to obstruct our way. It was about eighteen inches long, loaded to the muzzle and mounted in the public square, by being propped against a log of fire wood. It was not fired for the man deputed to perform that important duty, somewhat astounded by our sudden dash into the town, dropped the coal of fire with which he should have touched it off, and before he could get another the 'rebels' captured the piece."
At Vernon, the Confederates were confronted by
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several hundred hastily gathered militiamen. To Morgan's demand for their surrender the raw troops replied, "Come and take us "-but the enemy moved off toward Dupont.
Sometimes a mischievous cavalryman would coerce a farmer's daughter into riding a part of the way with the troop, and then set her down at a farmhouse far away from home. Often a whole squad would occupy the front porch while waiting for the good dinner they had compelled the household to cook for them. A favorite trick of the raiders was to send alarming messages to the towns farther north that they were at their doors; and another was to "cut in" and take messages and orders that were intended for the Federal officers who were after them; or listen to the news of the panic they were causing in the State. All this frolic, and many dark and terrible experiences fell to the lot of the invaders as well as to the residents of the river counties. The loss of life on either side was not great, perhaps, but all too many when it is remembered the combatants were from sister States. Some of the raiders crossed to Kentucky. Over in Ohio the commander, and those who had not been killed or wounded, were captured. An amusing story is told of an Irish Quartermaster who was captured by Morgan on one of these forays.
"Lieut. Igoe had a horror of regulations. Monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual reports, required by the de- partment, were treated with easy neglect; not that the eccentric Quartermaster did not honestly discharge his duties; but because he regarded all such reports as 'a piece of magnificent tomfoolery.' A twelvemonth went by, and no report had been received at Washington of the state of affairs in the Quartermaster's department
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of the Irish Regiment. A note from headquarters to the Colonel brought the report question to a head. Igoe at once gathered up all his receipts, vouchers, and loose papers, and putting them carefully in a keg, headed up the concern, and respectfully forwarded them to Washing- ton, with a note, stating that as the clerks in the depart- ment had more time than he had, they could assort and arrange the papers to suit themselves; remarking, too, that if they could make anything out of them, it was more than he could do himself. The reply from Washington was what might have been expected. Notice was served, that if he did not make out a report in full form, he would be sent for. Nothing disconcerted, the subject of our sketch sat down, and, as report goes, wrote the following exceedingly polite letter :
"' Headquarters Irish Regiment,
"' Quartermaster's Department. "' DEAR SIR :- Your kind and friendly note of the inst. is before me. I regret exceedingly you can not make anything out of the keg-full of papers forwarded some two months ago. In order to facilitate the solution of the diffi- culty, I take pleasure in sending another box-full. I have long contemplated a visit to the capital of this mighty na- tion; but my finances being in such a dilapidated condition, I have been forced to forego that pleasure. I will be pleased to make a visit to your, I am told, delightful city, under the auspices, and at the expense, of our much afflicted Government.
"'Accept the assurance of my most distinguished con- sideration.
" ' M. IGOE, "'Lieut. & A. Q. M.'
" Of course the bureau of 'Contracts and Quartermas- ters' was not satisfied; but John Morgan, having a short time afterwards captured the hero, with his books, papers (all not 'kegged up'), and wagons, Igoe made a final statement, and a satisfactory settlement, by stating in
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a humorous way the facts and incidents of his capture. It has been his boast ever since that John Morgan kindly settled all his affairs, with the big 'conostrophies' at Washington."
A Confederate who was with General Morgan thus describes the end of the raid.
"Straight ahead he rode, passing the Indiana border and thundering desperately on upon the highways of Ohio. On he swept, brushing aside one foe, eluding another, and defying the telegraph, the steam-cars, the Generals, the swarming Militia. No time for the rest nor to replace the vitality that was constantly being expended. . He baffled his enemies in three states. From day to day his men were killed or captured, singly or in groups. An- other Sunday dawned, the 26th of July. There were left only three hundred of the three thousand troops who had crossed less than a month before. Many of the men, feverish almost to delirium from wounds received in fights on previous days, reeled in their saddles as they went. About two hundred of his command crossed the river and escaped. General Morgan and a few hundred men were finally driven to a bluff from which there was no escape, except by fighting their way through or leaping from a cliff. Finding themselves thus cooped Morgan's command surrendered. The gray fox. was cornered at last in the open, but he had led a long chase."
The five hundred miles and more that they had trav- ersed had been a succession of sudden encounters, skirmishes, and battles. Fire, panic, terror, and sorrow followed in their wake. The same Confederate asks, "Was anything accomplished by them save their own destruction?" I will answer, "Yes: the victory six weeks later by Bragg's Confederate Army in the great battle of Chickamauga. Of the forty thousand Northerners that we were led to believe would join
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.
us not one rose up to help." The Confederate troopers taunted the inhabitants of the region openly, with being a pack of cowardly curs, who could plot in secret, and stab in the dark, and curse the Govern- ment, but when it comes to fighting like men would not come out in the open. By superior numbers and equal bravery, the hastily assembled Northern volun- teers had hedged in the raiders, defended assailed points, repulsed attacks, fought many skirmishes, and finally captured or dispersed the whole command. They had been greatly delayed in accomplishing their task by the bridges being destroyed, roads obstructed, and an utterly unprepared state of defence. It had taken several days to assemble volunteers and start in pursuit. Some of the Commands rode for a. fortnight with only four hours' rest in the twenty-four. One hundred miles were sometimes covered in thirty hours by the fugitives. The inhabitants on the last stretch of the raid barricaded the highways to hinder their pro- gress. There was no hesitancy among the war recruits in meeting the foe, when they could overtake them.
General Morgan's hotly pursued forces were over- taken in the valley near Buffington Island, where they were waiting for the dawn to clear the fog, so that they might cross the Ohio River at the ford and escape into West Virginia. The Federal troop came into the valley on the rear of the raiders; and fresh re-enforcements landing from the steamboats on the river, approached about the same time. All hope for escape, by fording the shallow place in the Ohio was gone. The one desperate chance was by the road leading out of the upper end of the valley; and toward this outlet Morgan's confused troopers swept through the standing grain fields of the fertile farms,
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Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
"And the answer came: 'We would build it Out of our hopes made sure, And out of our purest prayers and tears, And out of our faith secure."
"And see that ye build it stately, In pillar and niche and gate, And high in pose as the souls of those It would commemorate."
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
Indiana as Affected by the Civil War 32 1
the Federals following in hot pursuit. Immediately after the stampede began, said one of the Union officers who was present, each one of Morgan's troopers began to unload the plunder carried on his horse. Boots, shoes, stockings, corsets, gloves, skates, sleigh- bells, bird cages, were scattered to the winds. Then the flying horsemen let loose their bolts of muslin and calico, holding one end, and each cavalryman let the whole hundred yards stream out behind him. Instantly we found ourselves to be rainbow chasers. No road could accommodate such a confused mass of flying horsemen, and they spread across the valley. In the gorge and on the hills beyond many were captured. Here the Indiana-Ohio raid practically ended although Morgan himself was not captured here, but, with a small part of his men, escaped and fled nearly to Lake Erie, being captured at New Lisbon. Colonel Allen tells of an amusing incident which happened with his detail of prisoners, im- mediately after their capture, which illustrates the fraternal feeling which manifested itself numberless times during the Civil War.
"The prisoners and guards rested for a few minutes on the river bank, all gazing wistfully at the water. It must be borne in mind that both Morgan's and Hobson's command had been in the saddle for about three weeks, during all of which time we had ridden in the clouds of dust which our thousands of horses raised on the country roads in midsummer, and these dust clouds were so densc that at times it was impossible for the rider to see his horse's ears. It can readily be understood that under these circumstances a bath would be most desirable.
"As we sat on the river bank, first one man, then an- other, asked permission to go to the water's edge and wash his face, till soon about one-half of the men, both
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Union and Confederates, were at the river's edge washing their faces and digging dust out of their eyes, ears, and nostrils. This proved to be such a half-way sort of busi- ness, and so unsatisfactory, that the men asked permission to go in swimming. Recognizing the merit of this request, I gave permission for one-half the prisoners and one-half the guards to go in swimming together, the other half to stand by and take their turn. Soon both 'Yankees' and 'Johnnies' were splashing in the water together, enjoying the most necessary bath they ever had in all their lives. The first detachment having completed their scrubbing, the second detachment took their turn. While the men were bathing, one of the Confederate officers turned to me, and pointing to the naked soldiers in the water said, 'It is difficult to tell t'other from which.' I quickly agreed with him as I was at that moment debating in my mind whether there was any danger of 'getting the babies mixed,' but a glance at the line of men in dusty blue on the shore with their Spencer carbines reassured me and I permitted the boys to gambol in the water to their heart's content.
"After the baths the guards shared the fried chicken in their haversacks with the prisoners, and we spread ourselves out on the grass under the shade of the trees, in regular picnic fashion, resting and waiting for orders." 1
During the raid General Morgan's losses in killed and wounded were two hundred and fifty men, and twenty-eight commissioned officers killed and thirty- five wounded. The loss on the Union side was two hundred killed and three hundred wounded. The raid had lasted but a few days, leaving a blackened, devas- tated trail across the summer landscape and across the hearts of loving friends North and South whose
1 Allen, Col. T. F., "A Thousand-Mile Horse Race," Trottwood's Monthly, 1907.
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dear ones fell in the fight for the invasion of the enemy's country or the defence and protection of their homes.
After this invasion, the men of Indiana who were called out for the little brush, as the raiders called it, returned to their homes and the Governor directed a more permanent and effective organization of the militia, especially along the Ohio River. There, bus- iness places were to be closed after three o'clock, so that able-bodied citizens might meet and drill, for not less than two hours each day, to be prepared for any further raid.
It seems strange that in this late war the question of navigation on the Mississippi River should again come up, after a quietude of sixty years, but it cer- tainly was a disturbing feature in 1864. The sympa- thizers with the South, living in the Northwest, had encouraged the emissaries from the South to think that those States might join with the Confederacy. Overtures to this effect had passed between them. The control of the mouth of the Mississippi River was in the hands of the Confederates. Railroads were not yet universal and this was used by the disaffected element as an argument that the interests of the Northwest were identified with those of the South. Governor Morton recognized this influence on political opinion in Indiana and the conquest of the Mississippi became, in his eyes, a matter of supreme importance. This conquest was accomplished by Grant's campaign at Vicksburg, and the ultimate extinction of the Con- federate control of the Mississippi. The gaining con- trol of that highway of commerce, the banishment of Morgan's raiders, and the breaking up of the treason- able organization of Sons of Liberty were the closing scenes of the drama of internal dissensions in Indiana.
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