USA > Kentucky > Henderson County > History of Henderson County, Kentucky > Part 20
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son, C. T. Sanderfur, Rev. Joel Lambert and Jenks W. Williams was ap- pointed to draft resolutions expressive of the feeling of the meeting. The following was reported :
"Resolved, That a volunteer force be immediately called for, and organ- ized, to follow, for the purpose of killing and capturing the band of robbers who were in this city this day, and that any citizen for that purpose, is directed to sieze and use such horses and arms as may be necessary-the same to be re- turned as soon as practicable, and further. that a meeting for the purpose of forming a "Home Guard" be called to assemble at this place on Monday eve- ning. GEO. M. PRIEST, Chairman."
Hearing that the highwaymen were yet lingering on the outskirts of the city, all of the citizens who had arms organized themselves into an impromptu company and marched a mile and a half out, but the marauders were not to be found. The men returned and were dismissed, but reappeared at the Court House at seven o'clock, where a large concourse assembled, and one hundred registered their names in the police force. During the day the Mayor had convened the Common Council in special session, when the following resolution was offered and unanimously adopted by the following vote : Ladd, Jenkins, Held, Tunstall, Hart and Nunn.
WHEREAS, Certain lawless bands having of late made sundry raids upon our city, and this day having fully demonstrated the importance of united ac- tion on the part of the citizens ; therefore,
Resol ed, That every able-bodied white male citizen ot Henderson be or- dered and required to report himself in public meeting at the Court House on Monday, September 12, 1864, at four o'clock P. M., for the purpose of organ- izing ourselves for our mutual protection. That the meeting appoint officers and adopt all such regulations as may be deemed necessary. That the citizens be required to close their business houses at tour o'clock that evening, and that every person refusing or neglecting to report, as above stated, shall be ordered to leave the city forthwith, under the penalty to be adopted hereafter."
In obedience to this resolution of the Council, His Honor, D. Banks, Mayor, caused the following proclamation to be issued and circulated through the city on Saturday afternoon :
PROCLAMATION.
" In pursuance of a proclamation adopted by the City Council on Satur- day, September 10, 1864, I hereby order every able-bodied white male citizen of Henderson, Ky., capable of bearing arms, to report himselt at the Court House on Monday, September 12, 1864, at four o'clock P. M., for the pur- pose of organizing for the city's protection. I also order the business houses to be closed at the hour of four o'clock on that evening ; and any person here- inbefore mentioned refusing or neglecting to report at the time and place stated above. will be ordered to leave the city forthwith under the penalties to be adopted hereafter. D. BANKS, Mayor."
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
At the Saturday evening meeting of citizens, the Mayor's pro- clamation was adopted as the unanimous sentiment of the meeting. In order that the object of this meeting might not be misconstrued, President Grant Green addressed the assemblage to the following purport :
" Citizens were requested to organize simply as a police force for mutual protection of life and property from the repeated inroads of strolling robbers. It was not asked that they should participate in the unhappy war. We are all civilians and non-combatants in the mighty struggle going on in our beloved land, but we are law-abiding and capable of preserving our lives and our prop- erty from vagrant marauders and strolling bands of irresponsible scoundrels, come from what quarter they may. All citizens, rich and poor, old and young, are interested and invited to arm as best they can so as to be ready hereafter to prevent a recurrence of those black deeds of infamy which had darkened the fair name of Henderson abroad. One sentiment pervades our entire community-murder and robbery of our private citizens will no more be tolerated.
" We solemnly warn armed robbers, whose only incentive is personal gain, whose only patriotism is self, to keep aloof from Henderson. We are resolved to be outraged no more."
During the enrollment of men, Bernard Bibo, who had been a faithful soldier in the home guard service at the beginning of the war, and who had once more shouldered his gun in the defense of his home, was lying on the green sward in front of the Court House, attempted to draw his gun toward him, when it exploded and emptied a full load of buckshot in the upper part of his arm, necessitating imme- diate amputation. This was performed by Dr. J. A. Hodge, assisted by Dr. Ben Letcher. As an evidence of Bibo's worth and the sym- pathy felt for him, a handsome subscription was made by the citizens and paid him.
On Sunday night two companies of negro troops arrived and took possession of the Court House. This then superseded the necessity of any further effort at a citizen organization, and hence the initiatory steps toward that object were for the time laid by.
On Sunday morning, Jack Coleman and Dan Byrnes, of Union County, sought out Mr. John B. Millet, of this city, who was visiting St. Vincent Chapel in Union County, and refunded to him what had been given to them as their share of the bank robbery, $225.75 each, expressing at the same time, their deep contrition for the robbery, and stated that they had no intention when entering Henderson, to engage in any such dirty business. On Monday morning a portion of this clan returned to the outskirts of the city and relieved C. A. Rudy of a very fine horse. On the twenty-fourth day of September, one
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
hundred negro soldiers were sent to Corydon on a recruiting expedition, when returning were attacked by twenty rebels in ambush, and strange to say, very little, if any damage was done. Arriving at the cross-roads, or what is now known as Geneva, one of the soldiers was discovered to be suffering with what was determined to be the small- pox, and left at a house near that place.
The next day, or perhaps a few hours after their departure for Henderson, a party of rebels appeared upon the ground, secured the small-pox patient, and without the services of a clergyman, took him to the neighboring woods and there hung him. The sequel to this will be told in the after part of this brief history of the war.
On Friday night.three hundred rebels, under Major Sims and Captains Jones and Duvall, camped upon the farm of Ex-Sheriff, William S. Hicks, six miles out on the Knoblick Road, and the next morning one hundred and twenty-five of them came into Henderson. Dinner was prepared for them by order of the Commander in Charge at the Hancock House, which they ate while sitting in their saddles. Captain Jones ordered a few blankets from William Holloway & Co., but before they could pay for them, the gunboat, "Moose," hove to in front of the city, and the command fled to the woods. Commander Fitch sent a half dozen or more shells in the direction they went, but without unhorsing a man.
October 25, Captain (). B. Steele had one, Hawkins, shot for robbing a Mr. Hicks near Corydon. On Sunday morning, November 6, a party of rebels under the command of Jake Bennett, came into the city and fired a few shots at the negro soldiers who were on parade below and in front of the Hancock House. Dr. J. A. Hodge was met by one of this gang and relieved of a very fine watch.
Since this gigantic and most unfortunate military struggle was first commenced, the citizens of Henderson, Union and Webster Counties had especially been made to feel the iron hoof of war upon their property and persons. It would fill a large volume printed in small type to tell of all the confiscations, pressings, military necessity, secret thefts, audacious robberies, and indiscriminate plunderings which were carried on in these counties during the dark and gloomy years of war. Both sides treated horses, saddles, arms and food from the beginning as public property.
15
CHAPTER XXII.
COLONEL GLENN AND HIS COLORED TROOPS -A DANCE AND DISGRACE- FUL PROCEDURE- HAM G. WILLIAMS ARRESTED-RESULTS OF THE WAR AT ITS CLOSE -1865.
S ATURDAY, January 15, Captain Sam Allen, of the Kentucky State troops, encountered a squad of Major Walker Taylor's men a few miles from the city, killing two of the Piper boys and cap- turing another soldier by the name of Brown.
Colonel Glenn, who was recruiting colored troops in the country, accompanied a Louisville police detective to the residence of Mr. Samuel Williams, three miles out in the country, where they arrested Ham G. Williams. This arrest comes among the interesting inci- dents in life. The Louisville detective had for a long time been in search of a character who had committed a crime in New York, for which he was wanted. A photograph likeness of him was secured, and with this likeness the detectives set to work to effect his capture. Ham Williams was somewhere seen by one of these secret service men and shadowed until located at his home in this county. It is said the picture was a correct likeness of him, and hence his arrest. The young man was brought to the city and in a short while released, because he had never even visited the State in which the crime was committed. He was amused at his arrest, while the detective was disgusted at the wonderful similarity of faces of men born and reared so many miles apart.
A DISGRACEFUL PROCEDURE.
On the evening of January 24, the young men of Henderson gave a charming dance in the dining room of the Hancock House,
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
About twelve o'clock, when all who could were engaged in the beauti_ ful turns of the waltz, the roar of musketry and the boom of cannon were heard coming from the direction of Court Hill. Soon after, bullets were whistling over the roof of the hotel, while others penetrated its walls and windows. This so alarmed the dancers that many of them, in fact all who could, congregated on the back porch seeking shelter behind the walls of the house. Some of the more gallant of the men rushed to the front to discover the cause, but soon rushed back to escape the flying bullets. This firing was kept up for ten minutes or more, when it ceased, and then it was told around that guerrillas were in the city, but the truth was, the young men had refused to invite Col. John Glenn and his Captains and Lieutenants, commanding the negro troops, then quartered in the Court House and on the hill. This disgraceful proceeding on the part of the soldiery so enraged the union men of the town, that Col. Glenn's subsequent residence in Henderson was anything but pleasant to him. During the attack on the hotel no one was injured but Glenn, he was shot in the neck, after ten or more attacks upon the bar room, and fell gloriously shout- ing with his martial cloak around him. It was no uncommon thing during those trying times for a citizen to be awakened in the dead hour of the night by bullets whistling through their windows, breaking glass and tearing plastering in their reckless course. No citizen felt safe either upon the streets after twilight or in his residence. As a general thing, a more unmitigated unscrupulous set of ruffians and uncultured scamps were never known to disgrace a Federal uniform. On the seventh day of February a great number of country gentlemen came to town, some on business and some to hear the news. During the forenoon this same Col. Glenn, under the pretense of driving off a band of guerillas of whom he claimed to have knowledge, ostensibly for the purpose of driving the colored men off of several adjoining farms into his camp, sent out a company of soldiers and pressed every horse to be found in the town. In a very short time afterwards the streets were filled with soldiers galloping here and there on citizens' horses, cursing and threatening at a most furious rate. On the ninth day of February Captain Ollie Steele came to the fair grounds with thirty men, and was pursued by Captain Sam Allen, of the State troops, a few hundred yards below where the greater part of his men laid in ambush waiting for Allen to pass by. Below this place they had built a fence across the road where Allen was forced to halt, then taking him in the rear, they held him at a serious discount, and before he could extricate himself, Steele's men had captured seven of his
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
men, and had the others fleeing in every possible direction. February 28, an act of the Legislature was approved, authorizing the County Court to employ fifty men as a pelice patrol and guard, for protection against guerrillas and outlaws, and to levy an ad valorum tax for their payment. If this law was complied with the records fail to show it. March 1, a new majesterial and voting precinct was established, to-wit :
" That all that part of Henderson County embraced within the following boundary, viz: Beginning at the White Lick on Highland Creek, thence down the said creek to the bridge near Todisman farm, thence on a straight line to the Beaver Dam bridge on the Madisonville and Mt. Vernon Road, thence on a straight line to Mrs Sarah Brooks', including her farm, thence east to the line of the Henderson & Nashville Railroad, thence with the said railroad to the line between Henderson and Webster Counties, and thence to the beginning, be and the same is laid off and constituted a district for the election of Magistrates, and a voting precinct. The voting place to be at Mrs. P. C. Sutton's, and the election to be held May following, for two Magistrates and one Constable."
On the second day of March, a portable engine engaged in driv- ing a saw mill upon the farm of Governor Archibald Dixon, two and one-half miles above the city, exploded its boiler, killing Alex. Dor- sett and a negro boy, throwing Joseph C. Dixon with great violence some twenty-five yards, scalding his face, and badly scalding and otherwise injuring and wounding Robert A. Alves.
March 3, Elder William Steele's residence was entered under the the pretense of looking for Captain O. B. Steele, and robbed of every valuable to be found in it by Captain Partridge, a military incompe- tent, and a company of negro soldiers of Col. Glenn's regiment. During this month an act was passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor, incorporating the "Henderson Petroleum, Mining and Manufacturing Company," composed of Richard Stites, William A. Hopkins, Charles F. Hopkins, James B. Lyne and James H. Hol- loway, with power to open salt and oil wells, and coal, iron and other mineral mines in the counties of Henderson, Webster and Union, and any other parts of the State where they might acquire territory. If this company ever struck oil, they have steadfastly kept that greasy fact a secret. At this time the oil craze had absolutely seized the State, numerous borings were started in Henderson and Union, and so far as is now known a smell was secured once or twice, but never enough oil to grease the spindles of a bicycle.
A BRUTAL OUTRAGE.
On Sunday afternoon, March 12, one of the most willful and horrible murders ever perpetrated in the State was the shooting of
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
John N. Wathan by a squad of Colonel Glenn's negro troops. A few days prior to the shooting, Martin L. Daley, a loyal citizen of Union County, the home of Wathan, was requested by him to come to Hen- derson and ascertain if he would be allowed to take the oath and re- nounce his allegiance to the Confederacy.
Mr. Daley visited Henderson, as requested, and called upon Major Shook, Post Commandant, Thomas F. Cheaney, Military Pro- vost Marshal, being confined to his bed at the time. Major Shook gave Mr. Daley a safe passport for Wathan and agreed to meet him on Sunday, the twelfth instant. In accordance with this safe pass- port, the citizen and soldier came to Henderson the twelfth, accom- panied by William H. Wathan, a brother of the soldier, who wished to surrender and take the oath. They called, as agreed, upon Major Shook, who sent an escort with them to the residence of Provost Marshal Cheaney. After hearing the case, Mr. Cheaney administered the oath to Wathan and gave him a printed safe conduct, with his signature attached. This was about four o'clock in the afternoon. The three then returned to the hotel to prepare for their return to Union County. About six o'clock the two Wathans and Daley started, and while riding along the road near the residence of Hon. H. F. Turner, in the lower end of the city, were halted by a squad of Colonel Glenn's negro troops, coming down the road in a sweeping double quick. The three men halted and waited the ap- proach of the troops. Upon coming up they immediately ordered the two Wathans to dismount, which they did. Then they took Wil- liam Wathan aside to shoot him, when one of the negroes announced that he was not the man. They then stood John N. Wathan in the road, about ten paces off, and notwithstanding he exhibited his safe conduct from the Provost Marshal, at the command of one of the negroes, several shots were fired at him, and strange to say he was unscathed. He then turned and ran in the direction of the river. Daley ran his horse alongside of the doomed man, endeavoring to protect him, while William Wathan ran in the opposite direction. Wa- than attempted to mount Daley's horse, but failed, so closely was he pursued by the fiends in Federal uniforms. Finding that he was soon to be overtaken, he ran around Daley's horse toward a fence, but before he could mount it, the devils had surrounded him, when one of them approached and felled him to the ground with the butt of his gun. After falling, a volley was fired into his body, and the poor, unfortunate man lay a mangled, gasping spectacle before his murderers. One of the men then ran up to Daley and fired at his
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
head, but, missing him, broke the stock of his gun on the hip of the horse. Daley escaped and returned to the Hancock House.
This villainous procedure, perpetrated on the Sabbath, rekindled the outraged feelings of the populace, and Colonel Glenn and his understrappers were severely criticised.
It will be remembered that in a previous part of this chapter, mention has been made of the hanging of a negro, left with the small- pox by Glenn's troops, at the cross-roads, on their return from a raid to Corydon. The negroes who did this foul deed, claimed that they knew Wathan, and that he was one of the men engaged in that hang- ing, and for that they took revenge. Of this, however, the truth was never known.
Colonel Glenn promised to hold a rigid investigation, but this one, like all of his other promises, went by default. The body of young Wathan was brought to the city, where it was neatly coffined and next day taken by his friends to his home in Union County. It was said that his mother (Mrs. Nettie Wathen) became, for a time at least, deranged from grief.
The citizens of Henderson had borne under the outrages of the Federal brute, who commanded the negro soldiers, just as long as they could afford, and something had to be done. He was a drunken outlaw, and not the equal of a man of his command. No one re- spected him, and nothing less than an honest desire to keep the peace, and submit to the authority of the Government, even though it be administered by drunken tyrants, kept them from administering to him the same dose his cowardly soldiers gave to poor Wathan.
A short time prior to this last outrage, General Eli H. Murray, a Kentuckian, a most gallant officer and cultured man, had been as- signed to the command of this Department, with headquarters at Russellville. The writer, who had been associated with General Murray in the early part of the war, took upon himself the task of writing that distinguished commander a full and detailed account of the course of Glenn and his men, and begging that he make a short visit to Henderson and investigate for himself.
In answer to that letter, General Murray 'reported in person at the writer's house on Sunday morning, March 19. After bathing and changing his dress, he went to the Hancock House, registered his name, and established temporary headquarters in one of the rooms in the frame part of the building. During the day he was visited in the parlor by very many citizens, including Governor Dixon, W. B.
,
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Woodruff, Ben Harrison, D. Banks and W. S. Holloway, all of whom had but one and the same story to tell. The General evidenced con- siderable chagrin towards Glenn and his captains, and was not mealy mouthed in so stating to his visitors. He repaired to his room, don- ned his uniform, and sent for Glenn to report immediately.
The meeting between the two will long be remembered, for the excoriation that Glenn received from his superior was withering in the extreme. The cowardly poltroon was never so humble, and when disrobed of the paraphernalia of office, he became an object of pity. He stood in one corner of the room trembling in his glossy-legged boots, drawn over his pants, his belt, sash, sword and side arms taken from him, the very picture of guilt and infamy, in durance vile. General Murray's words pierced him through and through, and when told that he would be sent to Louisville a prisoner to be there tried by Court Martial, his wicked heart seemed to sink within him.
Nor was Captain Wright, at whose instance poor Wathan had been murdered, treated with any more leniency. Both men were sent away to Louisville, Wright in chains. One, the Colonel, was dis- missed from the service, while the other would have been hung had he not made his escape from custody. The regiment was ordered to leave the city and go in camp at the Fair Grounds, and the officers notified what was expected of them.
A short time after General Murray's return to Russellville, and at his instance, the whole command was ordered out of Henderson County, to the delight of every citizen, Union or otherwise.
On April 7, Captain B. Watson, of Major Shook's Kentucky command, attacked Jake Bennett's guerrillas, said to have outnum- bered him three to one, at King's Mills, wounding three horses, one man, and capturing a Lieutenant Hickerson, who, it was said, was with the squad that murdered Mr. Rankin.
On the ninth day of April, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army in Virginia, and then pardons were wanted by the wagon load. A great many Confederates came in voluntarily and surren- dered, among the number, Captain O. B. Steele, and many of his men.
On Saturday, April 16, the news of the assassination of Presi. dent Lincoln was received, and thereupon Mayor Banks issued his proclamation, directing all stores to be closed from ten o'clock, for the remainder of the day, and at ten o'clock for all of the bells of the city to be tolled, in respect to the memory of the departed Presi-
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dent. Many merchants, although strongly opposed to Mr. Lincoln politically, draped their store fronts in mourning.
Colonel William P. Graysen, who had been captured and put ยท under bond of twenty thousand dollars, was re-arrested for an alleged violation of his parole, and suit instituted on his bond.
The following Confederate soldiers had come in and reported to Major Shook and Provost Marshal Cheaney, for surrender and pa- role :
George Green, John W. Arnett, John W. Frazier. Edward G. Powell, William Young Watson, John A. Gaines, James M. Lewis, Mitchell D. Denton, John H. French, Orlando F. Walker, John D. Gobin, George H. Rankin, Paul J. Marrs, William Lockett, Jr., J. A. Denton, G. B. Spencer, John R. Dixon, Pressly Pritchett, A. H. Po- sey, George Gibson, George Robertson, David L. Boswell, Ambrose McBride, Horace McBride, Joseph F. King, John R. Bailey, O. B. Steele, W. P. Grayson, George Robinson, Thomas Pritchett, George Gibson and John Walker.
Lieutenant Colonel Tom Campbell, of the Seventeenth Kentucky Cavalry, came to Henderson and established a Horse Pound, in which he soon had every horse of value to be found in Henderson, and its immediate surroundings. Many of these horses were re- turned free of charge, while some of them were bought back. Some of them were never returned.
He organized an Illinois raid, having learned of an established band of horse and mule thieves, whose ramifications extended throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. Through the treachery of one or more of the clan, Colonel Campbell became cog- nizant of their villainy.
A young man, who had been induced to join them, piloted Camp- bell to their rendezvous, and pointed out members of the organiza- tion. Captain Goard and Lieutenant Hampton, passing from Madi- sonville, through Webster County, shot old man Browning and his two sons. At Shawneetown, Illinois, two more were shot. At Sa- line, three more were shot. Three Quinns and one Davison, of Webster, were shot. At Mt. Carmel, Illinois, five more were shot. Among these were a son of the Carlisles, of Webster County, and some other relatives and friends.
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