USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 50
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Satisfied of the advance and intentions of General Buell, General Polk fell back to Per- ryville, ten miles from both Danville and Har- rodsburg. General Sill was moving upon Frankfort with a heavy Federal column and General Bragg made the mistake of believing that place to be the object of General Buell's movement, as once at Frankfort he would be in close touch with Lexington which, once it fell into his hands, would allow the reinforce- ment of his army via Cincinnati. Buell had moved with celerity; Bragg had no difficulty in hearing from the movement of Sill along the state turnpike, but the other divisions of Buell's army were more remote and moving
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along less known roads, these being less the subject of observation than was Sill. Tele- graphic communication was not then what it is now, and of telephones there were, of course, none. Bragg, with this fatal belief as to Sill dominating his mind, ordered General Polk to move all his available force to Frank- fort, to strike the enemy in the flank. Had this movement been made, the enemy encoun- tered would have been but a single division. This order was received by General Polk be- fore the movement from Bardstown was be- gun, and, calling his corps and division com- manders to a council of war, it was agreed that the orders of General Bragg should not be carried out, as he, and those with him, were better informed as to the movements of Buell than was the former. Instead of going to Frankfort, the army moved towards Perry- ville. General Bragg had countermanded his order to General Polk, but of this the latter knew nothing when the movement upon Perryville was begun. It is idle now to spec- ulate upon what other results might have fol- lowed had General Bragg concentrated his army at Perryville. On October 4th, when Sill's cavalry advance came to Frankfort and interrupted the inaugural ceremonies before referred to, General Bragg left that town and on the 5th crossed the Kentucky river going towards Harrodsburg where, on the 6th, he established his headquarters. Again Buell's movements mystified Bragg, leading him to believe that the former's objective point was Lexington. This mistaken belief led Bragg to select Salvisa as the point for a concen- tration of his forces, with a view to cross- ing the Kentucky river and giving battle to Buell in that beautiful garden spot of the world near Versailles. On October 7th, with this in view, Bragg ordered General Smith to move his command next day to Versailles, and Cheatham's and Withers' divisions of Polk's corps were to follow. These orders, however, were suspended on the receipt of
information received from General Hardee, that the enemy was in force in front of his position at Perryville. Bragg sent General Polk to Perryville on receipt of this informa- tion with Cheatham's division as reinforce- ment for Hardee. General Polk's instruc- tions were "to give the enemy battle imme- diately, rout him and then move to our sup- port at Versailles." This order was issued at 5:40 P. M., on the 7th, and it was expected that the attack would be made at daylight on the 8th; that Bragg would start to Versailles early and that Polk would follow after defeat- ing the Federal forces at Perryville. Gen- eral Bragg contemplated an attack upon the single corps of Gilbert at Perryville, not be- lieving that Crittenden's and McCook's corps were within supporting distance of Gilbert. Again he blundered, the result being the be- ginning of one of the several retreats which marked his miliary career. McCook came up and took position on Gilbert's left and General Polk had cut out for him the crushing of two corps of veteran troops, instead of the one which Bragg had ordered him to defeat. Smith, of course, did not come to the support of the army at Perryville, since he had not been ordered to do so. Had he come to Per- ryville, the result of the battle there would have been different. The order of battle from the Confederate side contemplated that the movement should begin at one o'clock, but it was an hour later when Cheatham's divi- sion moved forward. Hardee's corps soon joined in the contest and the great battle was on. Cheathanı's movement was supplemented by Wharton's cavalry, and was successful, one or more batteries being captured, and the Fed- eral line doubled up in confusion. This was a distressful incident for the Federal forces. At this time, General James S. Jackson, a gal- lant Kentuckian, a member of the United States congress, and a brigadier general of Kentucky volunteers, was killed. General Terrill, of the Federal army, and a cousin of
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General J. E. B. Stuart of the Confederate army, and Colonel George Webster, com- manding a Federal brigade, were killed. Gen- eral Jackson, a very gallant soldier, was killed while rallying the men of a battery and fell among the guns, dying, as every true soldier wishes to die, in the line of duty. The Fed- eral left fell back and was followed by the Confederates. One who was a participant in the stirring scenes of this battle, as was the writer of these words, spoke of the contest at this time as "a square stand-up, hand-to-hand fight. The batteries and lines of both sides could be seen distinctly, except when occasion- ally obscured by the dense smoke which alter- nately hung over the scene or was blown off by the western breeze."
It was on the center of the line of battle that the most stubborn resistance was made by the men of the two armies. Here General Rousseau's Kentuckians met General Buck- ner's men and after a strong resistance gave way before the terriffic assaults of the south- ern veterans. It was not there a question of Greek meeting Greek, but of Anglo-Saxon meeting Anglo-Saxon. The loss on both sides was terrific, but the Federals seem to have suffered most. The Federal regiment which presented the longest roll of honored dead was the Fifteenth Kentucky Infantry. Col- onel Curran Pope was dangerously wounded and died soon after the battle. Lieutenant Colonel George P. Jouett and Major W. P. Campbell fell and died upon the field of hon- or. These officers of the Fifteenth Kentucky commanded the flower of the young men of Kentucky who served in the Federal army. They were, in large part, country boys, sons of the sturdy farmers who held to the Union cause, and splendidly did they prove their devotion to the flag under which they fought on this strenuous day at Perryville.
The contest between the infantry and cav- alry of the two armies ended as night came on. but the artillery sullenly kept up its fire until
past eight o'clock, when it ceased. The battle was ended and the victory seemed to be with the Confederates, but the latter, while under the command of General Bragg, never knew whether they had won or lost a battle until they learned whether or not he proposed one of his customary retreats. The Confederates held the field at nightfall and would naturally be supposed to be the victors.
Colonel Stoddard Johnston, of Bragg's staff, writing of this contest long after the war had closed, said: "The battle was over and both armies were lying on their arms. Tactically, it was a Confederate victory; strategically, it was a defeat. The loss on both sides was heavy and it proved not only the largest battle fought during the war on Kentucky soil, but one of the bloodiest of the war. Out of 15,000 of all arms, the Confederate loss was 3.396-510 killed, 2,635 wounded and 251 missing. The total Federal casualties were 4,241-845 killed, 2,635 wounded and 515 missing. General Halleck states that General Buell had at Louisville, 100,000 men; but the latter, in his report, gives his whole force which left Louisville as 58,000, including cav- alry and artillery, his three corps being about equal in number, say 18,000 each.
"The Confederates lost no general officers, but Generals P. R. Cleburne, S. A. M. Wood and J. C. Brown commanding brigades, were wounded. One of the most remarkable fea- tures of the battle is that General Buell, in his report, says that he did not know that a battle was being fought until 4:30 o'clock P. M., over two hours after it began." And the wonder is why he did not hear the roar of the artillery and why those who were at the front did not communicate with him. It was a strange statement.
The writer was a participant in this battle and was among those who held the lines along Chaplin Creek, after the engagement was con- cluded. The season was very dry and there was little or no water on the ground where
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the battle was fought. Federal and Confed- erate alike had fought and suffered through- out the contest without water. In those days, soldiers bit off the ends of cartridges in load- ing their guns, and the saltpetre in the powder bit their lips and throats producing the most intense thirst. The first demand of a wound- ed soldier on the field, is for water, a demand which could not be answered at Perryville. As night came on the Federals, believing that there was water somewhere near the Con- federate lines, came pouring into the lines of the latter and, throwing down their guns, said "for God's sake, boys, tell us where we can find some water." They were directed to the creek in which there were stagnant pools of water and, after quenching their thirst, they willingly submitted themselves as prisoners of war. The writer makes this statement not on the authority of others, but from his own knowledge, as he was cognizant of numerous instances of the kind narrated. And the men who, but a short time before, had met as enemies now fraternized as though they were friends.
At midnight of the day of the battle the withdrawal of the Confederate forces began. The army withdrew to Perryville, the cav- alry and a thin line of infantry being left be- hind to mislead the enemy. Early in the morning of the 9th the trains were put in mo- tion and by noon they and most of the army, had arrived at Harrodsburg. The Federals had made no movement against them beyond an artillery fire which disturbed no one. At Harrodsburg the army under Bragg met Gen. Kirby Smith and the force under his com- mand. Thus the day after the battle, the needed help came. Had Bragg not miscalcu- lated the intentions of Buell, General Smith would have been up days sooner and the con- test at Perryville instead of being a tactical, would have been a real victory for the Con- federates and Bragg would have missed one of his opportunities for a retreat of his army.
After his junction with General Smith, Bragg had 40,000 trained veterans under his command. Now was the time for him to fight. Buell had met a practical repulse at Perryville; his army was, to a certain extent, demoralized. Bragg's army felt that it had won the day at Perryville ; its morale was per- fect. Smith's troops had won over Manson at Big Hill and Richmond and were ready and anxious to meet the enemy again. The Federals were near by; a battle could have been arranged without delay and the Federals, who recognized their defeat at Perryville, would have proven an easy prey for the Con- federates. The latter on the 10th, awaited an attack in an eligible position, but Buell did not come out and Bragg did not go out to hunt for him. To the contrary, learning that Buell had swung around and occupied Dan- ville, Bragg became nervous about his depot of supplies at Bryantsville, or the cutting off of his line of retreat to Cumberland Gap, and instead of following Buell to Danville and forcing him to fight, marched for Bryants- ville to protect his stores and Buell came in and occupied Harrodsburg.
As a matter of fact, a practically victorious army was already in retreat. A council of war was held; the defeat of Price and Van Dorn at Corinth, Mississippi, was made known to the council, and a retreat through Cumber- land Gap was agreed upon. Colonel John- ston writing of this period says: "General Humphrey Marshall, who, simultaneously with General Bragg's advance into Kentucky, had come through Pound Gap from southwestern Virginia with several thousand cavalry, favor- ed crossing to the north side of the Kentucky river, sustaining the army in the Blue Grass region as long as possible, and then retreat- ing into Virginia by way of Pound Gap. Gen- eral Bragg so far acceded to this proposition as to allow Marshall to return to Virginia the same way."
The retreat from Kentucky was begun.
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Better had it been for the Confederates had the advance into the state never been made. Polk's and Hardee's corps moved by way of Lancaster, Crab Orchard and Mount Vernon ; Kirby Smith's column by way of Lancaster and Big Hill, where they had won the victory over Manson, to London, where a union was made with Bragg's column. General Buell pressed hard upon the retreating columns un- til Mount Vernon was reached but the rear of the retreating army was so well covered by General Joseph Wheeler and his cavalry that the pursuit, so far as the Federal infantry was concerned, was abandoned and only the Federal cavalry continued unavailingly to fol- low the Confederate columns.
The writer ventures here, with some doubt as to the propriety of his action, to quote from an article written by himself and pub- lished in the Southern Bivouac, at Louisville, in 1885 :
"Gen. Bragg's army, after Perryville, October 8, 1862, slowly made its way out of Kentucky, his great wagon-train many miles in length, winding through the tortuous mountain ways toward Tennessee, guarded by a heavy force of cavalry which was har- rassed by 'bushwhackers' on its unprotected flanks and kept continuously in action by a strong body of Federals in its rear. The wagons were pressed for- ward with all possible rapidity while our cavalry hung on the rear to worry and delay the pursuing forces. Food there was none to be had along the line of march and the fighting was so beautiful and constant that there was little opportunity for drawing and preparing rations in the regular way from the com- missary department. Of course everyone was suffer- ing from hunger. One day, a small, dark-bearded young man, apparently about twenty-four years old, with chin in air and the stars of a brigadier general on his collar, rode along the column. Turning to an aide at his side, he remarked: 'I am very hungry.'
"'Same here, General, same here,' ejaculated a thoughtless boy soldier of seventeen years. As the little general turned toward the impudent youth who had dared to thus address him, General Joseph Wheeler and I had the honor of first meeting each other. He did not appear embarrassed at the meet- ing, but I fear my appearance did not indicate that easy grace which might have made our meeting more
pleasing ; but I have never forgotten the kindness of his tone as he replied 'never mind, my boy, we hope to find something to eat later on.' "
This was the same young officer who, at twenty-seven, was a lieutenant general in the Confederate army and years afterwards a Major General of United States Volunteers in the war with Spain and who died, all too soon, as a brigadier general on the retired list of the United States army. He was a thoroughi soldier and gentleman, and no Ken- tuckian who ever served under his command but reveres his memory. The writer, a soldier in the First Kentucky Cavalry, treasures as one of his very pleasant memories the fact that years after the war, General Wheeler in- troduced him to his daughter as "a member of the best regiment under his command."
It had as well be stated here as elsewhere, that the Kentuckians in the Confederate army did not love General Bragg; they cher- ished towards him an entirely different feel- ing which was justified by the actions of that officer. Of Bragg, General Basil Duke, in his "History of Morgan's Cavalry" writes as follows :
"The movements of Buell (in the Kentucky cam- paign) had completely mystified Gen. Bragg, and the latter was not only reduced to the defensive, but to a state of mind pitiable in the extreme. He acted like a man whose nerves, by some accident or disorder, had been crazed; he was the victim of every rumor; he was alternately exhilarated and dejected. If the enemy dallied, or the distance between them happened to be increased, he became bold and confident; when a collision was imminent, he could contemplate noth- ing but defeat and disaster. Of that kind of fear which induces provision against dangers which are far in the future, he knew nothing, and he was equally as ignorant of the courage which kindles highest when the hour of final issue has arrived. General Bragg had, as a subordinate, no superior in bravery; he had, as a commander, no bravery at all. While I shall make no sort of comment upon General Bragg's character or conduct which I do not believe to be correct and just, and warranted by the record and by the circumstances of that time and of this, I yet deem it my duty to candidly warn my readers to re-
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ceive with due allowance every line written about Bragg by a Kentuckian."
The finest, bravest and best brigade of in- fantry in the Army of Tennessee was the First Kentucky, or "Orphan Brigade," and General Bragg knew this. He came to Ken- tucky hoping to recruit many thousands more of just such young men to fill up his depleted
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infantry, but was disappointed. The young men of Kentucky, filled with the love of ad- venture and accustomed to the sports of the chase on horseback or otherwise, knew of the splendid career of Morgan and Duke and their gallant men, and when the opportunity came, they flocked to the cavalry standards, while none entered the infantry. Bragg did not like Kentuckians when he came among them; he liked them even less when forced to leave
the state. A story current in the army after its return to Tennessee and having reference to the brigades of cavalry organized in Ken- tucky during his brief occupancy of the state, was to the effect that General Bragg had stated that his only regret at having to leave the state so soon, came from his desire to re- main there one week longer, in order that he might enlist and organize a buggy regiment for the Kentucky young men. This may be an exaggeration, but the fact remains that the young Kentuckian prefers to go to war on horseback. And when they rode away to war they went to fight, not to retreat.
However ineffective Bragg may have been as an independent commander, he was at the very head of his class in the matter of re- treating. He led his army out of Kentucky without the loss of a man or a piece of ar- tillery. His wagon train, reputed to be forty miles in length, and laden with the rich stores gathered in Kentucky, followed him with equal safety and without the loss of a single wagon. The credit for this, however, should be given to General Wheeler and his cavalry who marched in the rear of the army and of the train, fighting daily and almost hourly and never once letting their active enemies get the best of them.
The Kentucky Brigade of Infantry, under the command of General Breckinridge, did not accompany General Bragg into Kentucky, a tactical mistake in keeping with those others which marked his course during the invasion. This brigade had already laid the foundations for the reputation it later bore, which justi- fied the official statement of General Joe Johnston that "there was no other brigade so good in the Confederate army." Had General Breckinridge and this brigade come back to their homes with the army under Bragg, the remark of the latter about a "buggy regiment" would never have been made for very many young men would have flocked to the standard of Breckinridge, who in his absence, joined
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the cavalry. But Breckinridge and his men were not allowed to come home.
Returning to Tennessee, the army, in the mountains of East Tennessee, encountered many hardships including a heavy snow storm. Bragg turned his steps towards Murfreesboro, whither General Breckinridge with 2,000 men had preceded him, having been turned back at Cumberland Gap from their march into Ken- tucky when news came that Bragg was, as usual, retreating. The army finally found lodgement at Murfreesboro, while the Federals were now under Rosecrans, who had suc- ceeded Buell, whose conduct of the Kentucky campaign had not met the approval of the authorities at Washington. Buell had never afterwards a command. After the war, he re- sided in Kentucky in a strict retirement, only broken by a four years' term as pension agent in Kentucky during the first administration of Mr. Cleveland. He was a splendid soldier, who thought more of fighting than of politi- cal warfare.
Colonel Stoddard Jolinston, in his "Confed- erate Military History," writing of the period connected with the events which have been narrated in the preceding pages, says of the state after Bragg's retreat: "Kentucky, again secure in the occupation of the Federal troops, passed into a new and more complete state of subjugation. Not only were those who had shown their sympathy for the Confederates during their occupation made to feel the hand of power, but soon Union men who ventured to dissent from the extreme policy of the ad- ministration were treated as rebels and sub- jected to equal indignity. The most radical and revolutionary element obtained control, and a reign of terror was soon inaugurated which, subsequently continued through the war under Burnside, Burbridge, Payne and Palmer, not only intensified the southern sym- pathy, but finally alienated a large majority of those who had originally been the most pronounced Unionists. But it was too late to be of practical benefit to the cause of the
south, and, save for an occasional cavalry raid, the soil of Kentucky did not feel again the tread of the contending armies."
Of this period, it is difficult at this day to secure full details of the occurrences con- nected with the military occupation of Ken- tucky. Most of the young men of that time were absent in the one army or the other; those who were then too old for military ser- vice, have in most instances, gone to their reward in another world. A study of the daily press yields but little result, as the newspapers seem to have stood in dread of the military power, scarcely daring to call their souls their own. As has been stated in the preceding pages, General William Nelson, of the Federal army, was shot and killed in the Galt House at Louisville, by General Jef- ferson C. Davis, also of the Federal army, during the latter part of September, 1862. There were two morning newspapers publish- ed in Louisville at that time-the Journal, edited by George D. Prentice, a stanch friend of the Union cause, and the Democrat, edited by John H. Harney, who, though less widely known than Mr. Prentice, was equally de- voted to the Union. On the morning follow- ing the affair between Generals Nelson and Davis, which resulted in the death of the for- mer in a short time after receiving his wound, the Journal had no local report of the event whatever, but in the editorial columns there appeared perhaps a dozen lines referring to it and these were couched in the most guarded words. The Democrat, on the same morning, had no reference, editorial or local, to the affair and, so far as the readers of that paper knew, no one had been killed and there had been no affray between the two prominent offi- cers of the army. Those were days when si- lence was indeed golden, not only in news- paper offices but everywhere else in Kentucky. A man might, perhaps, claim his soul as his own, but he was not expected to make much noise over his claims.
To those readers who may object to the
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space which is given to military affairs in this work, it may be stated that at the period now being considered, there was little of inter- est, in or out of Kentucky, that was not connected with the war. Thousands of the state's best sons were in one or the other of the two armies and those who remained at home thought of little else than the war, but many of them for precautionary reasons, kept their thoughts to themselves, thereby keeping themselves out of prison.
It has been found easier in this work to follow the movements of Kentucky regiments on the Confederate side than those from the state who were in the Federal army. The former, whether infantry or cavalry, were, as a rule, organized together into brigades while the Federal regiments were not, but were parts of brigades made up of regiments from various states. This method does not appeal to the writer as a desirable one. The massing of a number of regiments from the same state into a brigade tends to increase the pride of the men in their particular brigade and the spirit of the corps is naturally higher than can be expected when six regiments, for in- stance, from as many different states form a brigade, commanded, it may be, by an offi- cer from a seventh state whom none of the men know. One may have a high sentiment of regard for all the states of the Union, but one loves one's own state best of all, and will fight better and longer when surrounded and supported by men whom he knows and who are one with him in sentiment. But whatever the brigade organizations, there was no Kentucky regiment in either army which did not reflect credit on the state, and it is a pleasure to this writer to make that state- ment.
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