USA > Indiana > Perry County > Perry County: A History > Part 18
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Adjutant de la Hunt's modest words in accepting the token, sought to share its honour with all his gallant comrades of the Twenty-sixth, many of whom slept in glorious but nameless graves all the way from the banks of the turbulent Missouri to the ensanguined slopes of Prairie Grove; and expressed the difficulty of separating an individual's personal courage from that caught through the grandeur of a supreme moment, or the sublime enthusiasm of companionship.
"But whether in the field or by the fireside, this gift I shall ever hold as my dearest treasure, "spoke the Adjutant, "bequeathing it when I die, as my richest in- heritance, to my truest, warmest patriot friend, with the solemn injunction that in the hour of his country's need this sword must leap from its scabbard, to flash in the sunshine and strike-for the unity, the glory and the honour of the United States of America." At the glowing climax of these words the band struck up "The Star Spangled Banner," amid great applause, and an hour of social conversation, diversified by popular songs, brought to its close an evening like no other wit- nessed in Cannelton.
Adjutant (later Major) de la Hunt was one of those Indiana Democrats who were true as steel to the na- tional government, standing side by side with Repub- licans in the front of battle wherever the fight was deadliest, vying with each other in valourous charge of every forlorn hope. Looking backward, it can to- day be seen that patriotism was of the people, irre-
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spective of party lines; and since the country rested then, as now, upon the people, not upon any party, so by the people was it saved in its hour of greatest peril. "Indiana knows no North no South, nothing but the Union"-that matchless sentiment chiseled into the limestone block which was her state contribution to the Washington Monument, and marvellously forecast- ing the course of development which has kept for a generation the national centre of population within her borders, was never more true than during the War Between the States, although local politics had been urged to the bitterest extreme before Fort Sumter fell, and in the senseless heat of partisan argument many things were said which could be, and which were, con- strued to mean much more than was intended.
Thus, the famous Sixth Resolution, adopted at Can- nelton on New Year's Day, 1861, led to the resignation, by request, of Major John James Key, a lofty patriot, commissioned by President Lincoln but forced out un- der pressure, because-forsooth-he had been present at the convention and had moved that a committee (of which he was never a member) be appointed to frame resolutions of whose tenor he, like everyone else, was necessarily in complete ignorance until they were of- fered by such committee before the meeting for con- sideration.
Whatever the actual facts, there was sure to be un- limited exaggeration of their extent and nature, for in a political campaign is invariably a season of misrepre- sentation; so, with excitement at its height, stump speakers wrangling in every county, acrimonious de- bates raging in the national Congress and state Legis- latures, the lust for office spurring on candidates to use any means to secure votes, there is no cause for sur- prise in a widespread belief that popular support of the war was a proposition of extreme doubt in Indiana es- pecially in the Southern counties. It has been practi- cally settled that an organization existed, first known as "Knights of the Golden Circle" and afterwards as
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"Sons of Liberty," whose object was some sort of oppo- sition toward prosecuting the war for the preservation of the Union, and Perry County had more than one citizen at whose door was laid the charge of member- ship in such a society.
The divided sentiment among her own people had made Kentucky, during the earlier period of the strug- gle a scene of fierce and bloody local strife, so that she could not be reckoned upon by either of the great con- tending parties. With this fight to the death going on just across the Ohio, with the battle front between the Union and the Confederacy extending from Virginia to Missouri, with a sense of uncertainty harassing every one, with political schemers using their breath to fan the spark of discontent over the conscription into an open flame of rebellion, the strain of highest ten- sion was undeniably reached at this period, yet the "sil- ver cord" was not "loosed" and the "golden bowl" was not "broken."
"Copperhead" and "Butternut" were names first ap- plied to persons regarded as directly or indirectly fa- vourable to the South's cause, but later stood for all who opposed the Republican administration upon any ground. With all the personal faults attributed to In- diana's great "War Governor," Oliver Perry Morton was a patriot true, an executive of inflexible firmness, and made himself magically the master of circum- stances. Realizing the necessity for exciting the war spirit to its highest pitch, and thinking he saw at the same time an opportunity for crushing the Democratic party, he did not hesitate to accuse his political oppo- nents of treason outright, so that by his standard of measurement whoever differed from him in political understanding was a Butternut, a Copperhead, a trai- tor to the country.
This Draconian attitude was merely assumed in the vital exigency which the situation then presented. Gov- ernor Morton's earliest message, April 25, 1861, voiced the noblest of sentiment toward Kentucky as a sister
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state, appealing to her "by the ties of common kindred and history, and by community of interests." Nor can it be denied, notwithstanding the violence of individual antagonism and the hostile demonstrations coming from both sides, that the relations of the best element in the two states existed upon a basis of mutual esteem.
No other two of the border States had been bound together by links of such peculiar intimacy for more than two generations. With fraternal devotion, born as joint-heirs of a Virginian heritage, Kentucki- ans had poured across the Ohio into Indiana forests to protect her scattered trading-posts and punish the devastating Indians tormenting her pioneers, through all the years from Fort Sackville to Tippecanoe. And since
"That one who breaks the way with tears Many shall follow with a song,"
so, with the passing years, business connections became closer, constant trade more valuable, and intermar- riages strengthened all with happier ties of family kinship.
Upon the invitation of Governor Joseph A. Wright, Governor Thomas L. Crittenden, of Kentucky, became Indiana's guest at Indianapolis in 1854 for the inter- change of hospitality of the purest friendly character, crowning with official recognition the entente cordiale of the two commonwealths. A striking historic event, this visit was shortly followed by a return, in which Kentucky generosity and liberality gracefully com- pleted what the gratitude and respect of Indiana had so happily begun.
So, in every conflict and military movement of the War Between the States throughout Kentucky, Indiana troops were foremost. Their patriotic blood was cheer- fully shed among the first to stain anew the soil of the erst "Dark and Bloody Ground" which had sent so many gallant defenders to protect the infancy of the Hoosier State. And for more than a year Indiana in
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no small degree maintained toward her elder sister state that guardianship which had so long and affec- tionately cherished her own feeble childhood. Whether or not the indebtedness was fully discharged, nothing was omitted that traditional regard and earnest sense of duty could perform in appreciative acknowledgment of an admitted obligation.
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CHAPTER XXVI
HINES' INVASION-MORGAN'S RAID
FORGETTING the proverbial truth "still waters run deep," many Southerners regarded the superficial froth on the waves of political campaigning in Indiana as in- dicating a strong undercurrent of popular sentiment, sufficiently powerful if brought to the surface to swamp the Union ship of state and give hundreds of eager Indianians an opportunity to cast in their fortunes with the Confederacy. An attempt to test the issue, there- fore, was planned by John Morgan, the dashing young cavalry officer attached to General Braxton Bragg's army near Chattanooga, where he had already won a name for singular originality in leading his small com- mand upon expeditions of the most fearless daring.
Early summer of 1863 found mighty armies facing each other near the Tennessee and Georgia state line, fairly under the shadow of Lookout Mountain, in daily expectation of some decisive battle. With the inex- haustible resources of the North behind the Union army, Bragg felt that General Rosecrans could fall upon him with overwhelming force unless some bold stroke in the rear could prevent the sending of rein- forcements. Burnside, to the east, was near enough to harass Buckner (restored by exchange to his old com- mand), and possessed a strong resource in General Ju- dah's division of 5,000 excellent cavalry. The Confed- erate problem was how to avert the imminent danger of a blow from these horsemen upon Bragg's flank, so, with the double object of preventing this and at the same time keeping Judah from joining Rosecrans, Mor- gan advised a raid across the Ohio into Indiana. Plaus-
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ibly he argued, from personal experience in Kentucky, that a charge into that state alone would be disas- trously crushed out so quickly that its effects would not justify the hazardous risk of such an adventure; though he contended that a grand foray through In- diana would keep a large force of Northern troops for weeks upon his track.
General Bragg-always highly conservative could not be brought to visualize the advantages of possible success to anything like the degree for which Morgan hoped. Knowing the perils of the proposed movement, fearing the effect upon his own remaining army which the isolation, and perhaps loss, of so valuable a cavalry force might have, Bragg would only consent that the dash should be made through Kentucky, expressly stipulating in his order that it should not extend beyond the Ohio. According, therefore, to the "History of Morgan's Raid," by General Basil W. Duke, the raid upon Indiana soil was made in positive disobedience of orders; and since, as his brother-in-law, confidential adviser and lieutenant, Duke had full access to Mor- gan's plans, the statement (quoted from his sprightly narrative, whose ability is admitted) leaves no room for doubt.
Its importance, after all, lies in its showing the dis- position of Morgan to have his own way and to con- duct his campaigns in a manner of peculiar indepen- dence, this being one secret of his fame and a magnet attracting to his standard so many of the adventurous Kentuckians who principally composed his command. With the recklessness born of desperation he deter- mined to over-ride the orders of his superior, and con- quer, if possible, the dangers encompassing the Con- federate army in the Middle South by a sudden coup d'état which would carry consternation and dismay into hitherto peaceful Indiana. Curiously enough, it was a parallel instance of disobedience or insubordina- tion on the part of another, one of his own captains, which largely discounted the anticipated surprise of
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Morgan's raid, when it actually occurred, by placing the Indianians to some extent upon their guard.
During the month of May, 1863, Captain Thomas H. Hines, with a company of the Ninth Kentucky (Con- federate) Cavalry, was detached from Morgan's divi- sion of Bragg's brigade in Tennessee, and sent to Ken- tucky to take charge of a camp for recruiting disabled horses, with further permission "to operate against the enemy north of the Cumberland River." This was not a bad piece of advance strategy on Morgan's part, the collection of extra mounts ahead of his arrival, had Hines only been content with his own part as head nurse to the convalescent steeds.
Restless and daring, however, he partook too much of Morgan's own temperament to remain quiet long, so interpreted in its widest possible scope his authority "north of the Cumberland," pushing across Kentucky with his relative handful of men until, on June 17, their eyes looked upon the Indiana hills of Perry County, and they watered their weary horses in the Ohio River be- tween Rome and Derby, some eighteen miles east of Cannelton, at a point called Roberts' Landing.
By means of wood flats obtained through the assist- ance of Breckinridge County sympathizers, Hines' force of sixty-two men were ferried across as the first invaders of Perry County, thinking it would be huge sport to gallop around for awhile upon Northern soil and, incidentally, pick up as many fresh horses as might conveniently be found. Making arrangements with his ferrymen to meet him in about three days at a point agreed upon, Hines set forward into the in- terior, headed in the general direction of Paoli, Orange County, judiciously protecting his flanks as far as the limited extent of his force would allow by scouts thrown out.
With impudent assurance he represented himself and his gang as belonging to the Union army in the Dis- trict of Kentucky, and claimed to be acting under or- ders from General Boyle, in search of deserters. Un-
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der this assumed character he found at first but little difficulty in procuring a number of excellent horses, leaving in their stead his own jaded, broken-down ani- mals, coolly giving vouchers in due form upon the Federal Quartermaster at Indianapolis for the differ- ence in value, which he accommodatingly fixed at a lib- eral and satisfactory figure. The arrogant disguise, however, was soon penetrated. Before his arrival on the 19th at Valeene, Orange County, the whole secret of his mission had become known, and the alarm, amazingly exaggerated as to the strength of his force and the damage wrought, was spreading with miracu- lous rapidity through Perry, Crawford, Orange, Wash- ington, Harrison and contiguous counties.
Word reached Cannelton that four or five hundred guerillas had invaded the county and were plundering all through the upper valley of Deer Creek, where they were said to have burned the Hinton Meeting-House. This report was altogether a hoax, but the alertness of the Fifth Regiment of the Legion was demonstrated in their speedy pursuit of Hines. Colonel Charles Fournier was then in command (succeeding Colonel Charles H. Mason, who had resigned in January, 1862, to accept an appointment as judge of the Common Pleas Court), and took active measures to defend the line of the river in the rear of the guerillas. Calling out as many mounted men as possible, he set forth from Cannelton toward Flint Island Bar above Derby, to protect the government ram Monarch, there aground and lying entirely exposed, as her destruction was first believed to be the object of Hines' raid.
Reaching the sandbar at ten o'clock at night, to learn that Hines had gone on northward and that there was scant probability of interference with the Monarch, Colonel Fournier, as a precautionary measure, placed part of his force in a position to give certain defense to the ram in case of attack, despatching the remain- der, with the Second Battalion under Captain Jesse C. Esarey, as a troop sufficient to intercept the enemy at
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Blue River Island, where, it was reported, he would attempt to recross the river. By thus moving in be- tween Hines and his expected outlet, Colonel Fournier gave complete checkmate to the marauders, since a troop of sixty armed minute-men from Paoli under Major Robert E. Clendennin, with recruits from Va- leene and neighbouring settlements, besides Major Ho- ratio Woodbury's mounted Leavenworth battalion, were hot upon the guerilla trail, pressing with all speed toward the river.
The combined manoeuvre worked out most effec- tively. Compelled to fly for safety nearly a day sooner than he had counted on, Hines reached his first ren- dezvous on the Ohio at 2 p. m., June 19, only to find no ferry facilities available; Esarey's command in front, Woodbury's and Clendennin's in the rear offering suffi- cient strength to rout him completely; and no relief from boats to be thought of under the circumstances. On the horns of a dilemma, and scheming to avoid open conflict with the militia and citizens, Hines turned to the guide he had conscripted, for aid in finding an- other crossing place.
Nothing better could have suited Bryant Breeden the guide, a loyal Union man unwillingly impressed into the enemy's service. Through Findlay McNaughton, of the First Indiana Cavalry, whom Hines had cap- tured and was holding in custody, a little son of Bry- ant's, following his father to see the fun, was sent back to Leavenworth with information of the plan to cross the river farther up, so the citizens could mount patrol guard with the steamer Izetta and aid the land forces in preventing the guerillas' escape. Determined to make the most of his position, Breeden caused a bewil- dering delay in finding what he reported as a practical ford, and the Izetta, fully armed, was under way up- stream by the time Hines and his men had been lured three miles above to Blue River Island, where the In- diana channel is shallow and easily forded in the low stage of water there was at the time, but with a deep
(16)
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channel and swift current between the island and the Kentucky shore.
Major Clendennin and Captain Esarey with their troops presently came upon the scene while discussion was going on, so without further parley the guerillas, thinking their only safety lay in crossing, plunged with their booty into the ford before them, and amid yells of derision soon reached the island. But their triumph was brief. While huddled together, viewing in dismay the rather unfavourable prospect beyond, Major Clen- dennin opened fire upon them. Hines discharged a few ineffectual random return shots, and as a last re- sort attempted to swim to the southern bank, only him- self and two privates thus making a successful escape. At the psychological moment the Izetta arrived in the channel, and with a piece of artillery and small arms forced the enemy back to Indiana to surrender. Three men were killed, two drowned and three wounded, these last being included in the fifty men, one lieutenant and one captain who gave themselves up as prisoners of war and were sent to Louisville under orders from Gen- eral Boyle.
Single-handed and alone, a few weeks later in Meade County, Kentucky, Captain Hines rejoined General Morgan, to whom he clung with a devotion which that dazzling chieftain seemed gifted to inspire, until the final collapse of the cause at issue, and which on the part of Hines was deepened by remorse over his own costly disobedience.
Just a week prior to Hines' invasion of Perry County, or June 11, 1863, John Morgan sallied forth from Alexandria, Tennessee, heading the hazardous expedition which was destined to end in the death or capture of nearly every man among the twenty-four hundred comprising its two divisions. Of the several hard skirmishes met with on the journey toward In- diana, that at the crossing of Green River is note- worthy as occurring on July 4, a day which General Morgan found no more auspicious than did General
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Lee at Gettysburg or General Pemberton at Vicksburg, a singular fatality seeming to attend the Southern arms on Independence Day.
With the wide distance separating Pennsylvania from Mississippi, and the middle position of Kentucky, a curious picture of the distracted condition of our country is the fact that Morgan was completely ignor- ant of these results four whole days later, July 8, when from the heights of picturesque Brandenburg his pierc- ing gaze swept the fertile lowlands of Harrison County, vast fields of wheat, cribs of yellow corn, pens of squeaking pigs, grazing herds of fat milch-cattle or nibbling sheep, poultry-yards noisy with cackling chickens, everything that famished horses or equally hungry riders could crave, at hand for them, whither- soever the roads led.
Morgan's very name had become a note of uneasiness ringing in the ears of his enemies, and grave was the alarm felt in Perry County when news of his immedi- ate approach from the South was received. Instant preparations for defense were begun. Valuables were hastily concealed and plans laid for sending women and children to remote places of security, but the terrible nervous tension was relaxed when the arrival of the mail packet, Lady Pike, brought tidings that the guer- illas had crossed at Brandenburg, on board the John T. McCombs, which an advance squad under Captain Tay- lor and Captain Meriwether of the Tenth Kentucky (Confederate) had seized at two o'clock in the after- noon of July 7.
Fortune apparently smiled upon the invaders, the larger steamer Alice Dean being also captured only a few hours later, so that two vessels were available for ferriage as fast as the remaining troops arrived from Salt River. Two regiments had been transported when a gun-boat steamed down the river, beginning a fire which for a time threatened to cut in twain the guer- illa force, but the battery of Parrott guns adroitly planted on the bluff, near "Park Place," the home of
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Judge John W. Lewis, soon silenced interference, and ere long the entire command was in motion upon In- diana soil, outside of and away from Perry County, so that the further story of Morgan's Raid passes be- yond this chronicle.
It should only be added that as Morgan swept north- ward from the river with pyrotechnic velocity he did not dream that the army of veterans with which Lee had invaded Pennsylvania-the finest flower of South- ern manhood, a hundred thousand strong-was already cut to pieces, nearly one-third its number killed, wounded or captured, and its defeated yet unconquered remnant in full retreat across the Potomac. Strange to him and his followers, then, seemed the flags and bunting displayed on houses left open without an in- mate to protect their contents against pillage. In de- serted streets were half-cooled ashes of bonfires giving evidence of rejoicing over Union victories. Through a telegraph operator named Ellsworth the guerillas even- tually learned that the Mississippi River at last lay open to Federal gunboats for its full length, and that the supposedly invincible Army of Virginia had been driven back. Perhaps the next news might be that Rosecrans had crushed Bragg and was pouring through the Georgia hills to Atlanta.
Where, then, were the thousands of Butternuts and Copperheads who had been standing ready to join the Confederate army? Instead of helpers or comrades the amazed raiders found everywhere empty houses, and bodies of armed men who shot at them to kill. "In a word," as Maurice Thompson, himself of Southern line- age and Confederate affiliation, has written, "Indiana was loyal. Her men might wrangle and squabble, might call one another hard names in the heat of local politics, yet when it came to choosing between Union and Secession, all stood together for the old Flag and the Constitution."
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CHAPTER XXVII.
BOMBARDMENT OF HAWESVILLE
"BOOM! Boom!" roared the thunder of artillery across the placid Ohio from Cannelton to Hawesville one sultry morning in July, 1864. Nor was it a peace- ful salute, but a discharge of actual warfare from the Federal gunboat Springfield (No. 22 of the Ohio and Mississippi fleet), then lying at anchor before Cannel- ton for the town's protection, and the solitary instance when naval cannon were fired in defense of Indiana soil.
As the war progressed, drawing more and more of Perry County's able-bodied men into the army, on the opposite side of the river a smaller proportion from Hancock County had regularly enlisted, either for the Union or the Confederacy, so that Hawesville, like many other localities in Kentucky, was left practically at the mercy of the many irregular squads of unat- tached cavalry, whose piratical incursions were the least creditable feature of the conflict. The best and most responsible citizens on either side, whatever their affiliations, were sincerely opposed to border hostilities, wishing as far as possible to maintain peaceable rela- tions with their lifelong neighbours, leaving the mo- mentous questions at stake to be settled vi et armis on distant battlefields by the recognized leaders of both parties.
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