USA > Kentucky > History of the 3d, 7th, 8th and l2th Kentucky C.S.A > Part 4
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3I
ORGANIZATION OF THE 7TH KENTUCKY.
our left. He did as directed and received his fatal wound at the head of a charge, doing his whole duty as a devoted patroit and gallant soldier." Colonel Money said in his report that the Seventh Ken- tucky had suffered terribly on Sunday, before he took charge of the brigade.
This, in the main, ended one of the hardest fought battles of the war, although among the first of the large engagements, and the two contending armies were, perhaps, as nearly equal in numbers as the armies in any of the big battles ; that is, before Buell came on the field with his army. From the best information obtainable, General Grant had thirty-nine to forty thousand men on the field, and the Confed- erates had thirty-five to thirty-seven thousand. The Confederates made the attack on the first day and pushed their lines successfully on all parts, and finally succeeded, late in the afternoon, in driving the Federals back to the river, under the fire of their gun-boats, where they were huddled in one disorganized mass, as shown by the reports of Federal commanders. General Don Carlos Buell said, in his re- port of the battle, that he left Savannah on a steamer for Pittsburg Landing, only a few miles away: "As we proceeded up the river groups of soldiers were seen upon the west bank, and it soon became evident that they were stragglers from the army that was engaged. The groups increased in size and frequency until, as we approached the landing, they amounted to whole companies, and almost regiments, and at the landing the banks swarmed with a confused mass of men of the various regiments. The number could not have been less than four or five thousand, and later in the day it became much greater.
"Finding General Grant at the landing, I requested him to send steamers to Savannah to bring up General Crittenden's division, which had arrived during the morning, and then went above with him. The throng of disorganized and demoralized troops increased constantly by fresh fugitives from the battle, which steadily drew nearer the landing, and with these were mingled great numbers of teams, all striving to get as near as possible to the river. With few exceptions, all efforts to form the troops and move them forward to the fight utterly failed.
"In the meantime, the enemy had made such progress against our troops that his artillery and musketry began to play upon the vital spot of the position, and some persons were killed on the bank at the very landing."
General William Nelson, who commanded the front division of Buell's army and who crossed the river late in the afternoon of the 6th, and whose command was the first to go to the assistance of Gen- eral Grant's beaten army, says : "At 5, the head of my column marched up the bank at Pittsburg Landing and took up its position in the road, under the fire of the rebel artillery, so close had they approached the landing. I found a semi-circle of artillery, totally unsupported by in- fantry, whose fire was the only check to the audacious approach of the enemy. The Sixth Ohio and the Thirty-sixth Indiana Regiments had scarcely deployed when the left of the artillery was completely turned by the enemy, and the gunners fled from the pieces. . This
32
HISTORY OF THE 3D, 7TH, 8TH AND 12TH KENTUCKY.
was at 6:30 p.m., and soon after the enemy withdrew, owing, I sup- pose, to the darkness.
"I found cowering under the bank of the river when I crossed from seven to ten thousand men, frantic with fright and utterly de- moralized, who received my gallant division with cries of, "We are whipped-cut to pieces !" They were insensible to shame or sarcasm, for I tried both on them, and, indignant at such paltroonry, I asked permission to open fire upon the knaves."
Numbers of other Federal officers testify to the total demoraliza- tion of General Grant's army, from 4 o'clock until dark, on that fate- ful 6th of April. From General Nelson's account of the Confederates withdrawing from where they had the Federal army huddled and cowering in a small semi-circle at Pittsburg Landing, without any sort of organization, nothing could have prevented the Confederate forces from finally crushing them if they had only taken advantage of condi- tions, wholly in their favor. If there had been no Buell, with a fresh army coming to the rescue of General Grant, the Confederates could have, perhaps, afforded to call off and wait until the following morning to finish up their victory ; but it would have been bad policy to take the risk under those conditions. But it was fatal, knowing that Buell's army was arriving on the opposite side of the river and coming to Grant's assistance as fast as possible.
The Seventh was under fire almost constantly Monday, until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when they were ordered to commence their retrograde movement. They never had been driven from a position, nor did they, at any time, show any signs of demoralization.
While fighting under different commanders, the Third and Seventh Kentucky came together on this battlefield, and for all the remainder of the war they decame inseparable, so in the succeeding chapters they will be linked together.
Late in the afternoon of the 7th the army commenced falling back in the direction of Corinth, Miss., leaving General Breckinridge, with his command, to cover the retreat. He camped on the ground where the Confederates camped the night before the engagement commenced. The Federals showed no disposition that afternoon or night to pursue.
MAJ .- GEN. WILLIAM PRESTON.
CHAPTER IV.
Operations about Corinth; Movement Back to Tupelo and on to Vicks- burg.
On arriving at Corinth, Miss., there was quite an overhauling and reorganization of the command. For some reason, unknown to us, the Kentuckians were divided. General Breckinridge was made a major-general and given a command of three brigades, the first con- sisting of the Fourth and Ninth Kentucky, Hale's Alabama regiment, Clifton's Alabama battalion and Bysur's battery, and was commanded by General Hawes. The Second Brigade consisted of the Third, Sixth and Seventh Kentucky Regiments, the Thirty-fifth Alabama Regiment and Cobb's battery, and was commanded by Brigadier-General William Preston. The Third Brigade consisted of Missouri, Arkansas and Mis- sissippi troops, and was commanded by Brigadier-General Ben Hardin Helm. However, this brigade was changed in a short time, and the Fourth and Ninth Kentucky Regiments were put into it. As has been shown, the Seventh Kentucky was not under Breckinridge, or brigaded with other Kentuckians previous to this. Colonel Wickliffe and Major Wilborn, of the Seventh, both died from their wounds in a few days after we arrived at Corinth; Lieutenant-Colonel Lannom was not able for service. The regiment was permitted to hold an election for the purpose of electing a major and they chose R. H. Sellars, a private in Company A. In a few days an order was issued for a general re- organization. In the meantime the First Kentucky Regiment, of which Edward Crossland was major, had been mustered out of service on account of their time expiring, they having enlisted for only one year. Crossland came to Corinth about that time from the Virginia army, where he had been discharged; he being known to nearly all the men of the Seventh, they elected him colonel; L. J. Sherrill, captain of Company F, lieutenant-colonel, and Captain H. S. Hale, of Company H, major. The Seventh enlisted for only one year; but as Congress passed the conscript law on April 16th, before their one year expired, they were not permitted to take a discharge at the expiration of their enlistment. While encamped in and around Corinth the whole com- mand was very seriously afflicted with sickness; hundreds had to be sent away to Lauderdale Springs and other places where hospitals were established for the sick. The Federals advanced on Corinth very slowly and carefully, constructing rifle-pits as they advanced. Nearly every day there were some minor engagements in front, but never any- thing like a regular engagement. Frequently the Kentuckians were marched from their encampment to the front as though an engage- ment was expected. About the 21st or 22d every preparation was made as though a battle was going to be fought ; the army was marched to the front, and remained in line for hours, expecting constantly to be marched forward to the attack, or that they would be attacked by the enemy, but neither was done, and late in the afternoon we marched back and occupied the old camps. On the 29th of May the Confed-
34
HISTORY OF THE 3D, 7TH, 8TH AND 12TH KENTUCKY.
erates withdrew from Corinth, moving south along the line of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, crossing the Tuscumbia River in the direc- tion of Baldwin. The army left Baldwin June 6th and arrived at Tupelo on the 8th. On June 19th Breckinridge's command, known then as the "Reserve Corps," was detached from the main army and marched westward by Pontotoc to the Mississippi Central Railroad. This command was, at that time, under General Preston, General Breckinridge being away on leave of absence. About the 25th of June the command boarded the train at Abbeville for Vicksburg, by way of Jackson, Miss. The entire command reached Vicksburg about June 30th. On the way from Abbeville to Vicksburg a train filled with the men of the Seventh Kentucky ran off the track where a switch had been left open by carelessness or turned by some scoundrel, and six or seven men were killed, not all of the Seventh, however. This was one of the shocking accidents of the war. On arriving at Vicksburg, the division went into camp in a valley near a high bridge, some three miles out on the railroad, in the direction of Jackson. General Van Dorn had a force of something like ten thousand men of all armes to protect the city from both water and land attacks. General Breck- inridge had returned and assumed command of his division, and Gen- eral Preston had gone back to the Second Brigade. On the 2d, the Federal monitor fleet began the bombardment of the city, which was kept up with scarcely a day's intermission until the evening of the 25th. The city presented a sad scene when the shells began to burst over and within its limits. The heroic people had expressed their preference for risking its destruction to its occupation by the Federal forces, and with no adequate means of removing their personal prop- erty, or even themselves, many families yet occupied their houses. Some retired from the city, while others took refuge in cellars and other places that promised protection. In some instances, excavations were made in the sides of the hills, with which the city abounds, where quite a number of citizens found refuge. Moving out on foot during that first week of the enemy's operations, might be seen the old and decrepit, and frequently a mother with a family of small children, whose father was, perhaps, in some other army.
After the bombardment had gone on for some time both the sol- diers and citizens lost, to a great extent, their terror for the whizzing and bursting shells; soldiers would no longer get panicky, and the citizens would go about the city attending to their business; and strange, considering the large number of shells that burst in and around the city, the fewest number of casualties resulted from them. The first night our command marched down town and got into the vicinity of the bursting shells, the men could hardly be held in line, the in- clination to hunt a place of refuge was so strong. After being exposed for a few days the terror passed away, either through the knowledge of so few casualties or becoming hardened to the danger, through almost constant contact with it. In the city, on one of the highest points, there stood a court-house with an ante-bellum style cupola, with a walk around on the outside. Some citizens and soldiers would get up there during the bombardment and look across the bend
35
OPERATIONS ABOUT CORINTH AND TUPELO.
where the Federal fleet was located, look at the smoke by day and the flashes from the monitors by night, and then walk around on the other side of the cupola and see where the bomb would burst, numbers of which would explode near the building ; in fact, some passed through it.
General Preston, with the Second Brigade, took a position within supporting distance of what was known as the "upper batteries," and a portion of his command was constantly on duty. They still held their camp out three miles south of the town, where the cooking was done, and the provisions were carried from there to where the men were on duty.
The most exciting and interesting incident that occurred while the Kentuckians were at Vicksburg was the movement of the ram "Arkansas" down the Yazoo River and out into the Mississippi, just above where the Federals had a fleet of more than forty vessels, com- posed of gunboats, monitors and transports. On the morning of July 15th the "Arkansas" made the attack on the fleet, running through it and disabling quite a number. After passing through, two of the Fed- eral gunboats pursued it until they came in range of the heavy guns of the Confederate upper battery, from the fire of which one was sunk and the other badly disabled. The "Arkansas" dropped down to the wharf of the city, where it was under the protection of the Confederate's heavy batteries. This was one of the most remarkable naval engagements of which history gives any account. One little craft, constructed on a small river, built in the shape of a terrapin's back and covered over with old railroad irons, manned by a crew who, in the main, knew nothing of navigation, and who never witnessed a naval engagement, passed through a fleet of the best war vessels the Federal government could produce. The very thought of attempting such a thing was audacity beyond belief.
While the "Arkansas" was lying on the levee, going through re- pairs, on the 22d the Federal gunboat "Essex" came down the river from the Federal fleet to where the "Arkansas" lay and attempted to destroy it, "after giving it a furious broadside, attempted to grapple and board it, but failed and withdrew." This ended the first seige of Vicksburg. The Kentuckians had been there in that malarial climate during the hottest season of the year, and slept the most of the time in bivouac with their clothes on; but for all that they did not suffer much from sickness.
After the Federals failed to destroy the "Arkansas" they with- drew and raised the seige. On the 27th of July General Van Dorn directed General Breckinridge to move his command from Vicksburg by rail to Camp Moore and Baton Rouge, La., when the engagement at the latter place occurred.
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CHAPTER V.
Movement South under John C. Breckinridge; Battle of Baton Rouge and Occupancy of Port Hudson.
The engagement at Baton Rouge was the only one in which the Seventh Kentucky participated that the writer was not with his com- mand. He accompanied his regiment to Tangipahoa, where General Breckinridge disembarked his division to march across the country about fifty miles to Baton Rouge. At that point he (the writer) to- gether with a great many others was taken sick, and did not recover in time to rejoin his comrades before the battle was fought. Fortu- nately, the commander of the forces, together with the division, brigade and regimental commanders, made very full reports, which I find in the "War of the Rebellion." From these reports the reader can get a good idea of the engagement. They are as follows :
"HEADQUARTERS BRECKINRIDGE DIVISION, "September 30, 1862.
"Sir: I have the honor to report the operations of a portion of my division, recently ordered from Vicksburg to Camp Moore and Baton Rouge, La., by Major-General Van Dorn :
"I left Vicksburg on the 27th of July, with somewhat less than four thousand men, and arrived at Camp Moore the evening of the 28th. The major-general commanding the district, having received intelligence that the enemy was threatening Camp Moore in force, the movement was made suddenly and rapidly by railroad and, having but few cars, nothing could be transported except the troops, with their arms and ammunitions. Brigadier-General Charles Clark, who had reported for duty but a few days before our departure for Vicksburg, promptly and kindly consented to accompany the expedition.
"Brigadier-General Ruggles was already at Camp Moore, in com- mand of a small force, with which he had kept the enemy in check. The troops were immediately organized in two divisions, General Clark taking command of the first and General Ruggles of the second.
"The rumor of an advance of the enemy upon Camp Moore proved to be unfounded.
"On the 30th of July, in obedience to a dispatch of the 29th from the major-general commanding the district, the troops were put in motion for Baton Rouge. During the march I received information that the effective force of the enemy was not less than five thousand men, and that the ground was commanded by three gunboats lying in the river. My own troops having suffered severely from the effects of exposure at Vicksburg, from heavy rains, without shelter, from ex- treme heat, did not now number more than thirty-four hundred men. Under these circumstances I determined not to make the attack unless we could be relieved from the fire of the fleet. Accordingly, I tele- graphed to the major-general commanding, the condition and number
37
BATTLE OF BATON ROUGE.
of the troops and the reported strength of the enemy, but said I would undertake to capture the garrison if the 'Arkansas' could be sent down to clear the river, or divert the fire of the gunboats. He promptly answered that the 'Arkansas' would be ready to co-operate at daylight on Tuesday morning, the 5th of August.
"On the afternoon of Monday, the command having reached the Comite River, ten miles from Baton Rouge, and learning by an ex- press messenger that the 'Arkansas' had passed Bayou Sara in time to arrive at the proper moment, preparations were made to advance that night.
"The sickness had been appalling. The morning report of the Fourth showed but three thousand effectives, and deducting those taken sick during the day and the number that fell out from weak- ness on the night march, I did not carry into the action more than twenty-six hundred men. This estimate does not include some two hundred partisan rangers, who had performed efficient service in picketing the different roads, but who, from the nature of the ground, took no part in the action ; nor about the same number of militia, hastily collected by Colonel Hardee in the neighborhood of Clinton, who, though making every effort, could not arrive in time to participate.
'This command left Comite at II o'clock p.m., and reached the vicinity of Baton Rouge a little before daybreak on the morning of the 5th. Some hours before the main body moved, a small force of in- fantry, with a section of Semmes' battery, under Lieutenant Fauntle- roy, the whole commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Shields, of the Thirtieth Louisiana, was sent, by a circutious route, to the road lead- ing from Clinton to Baton Rouge, with orders to drive in any pickets of the enemy and attack his left as soon as any action should begin in front. This service was well performed; but for details, reference is made to the report of Brigadier-General Ruggles, from whose com- mand the force was detached.
"While waiting for daylight to make the attack, an accident oc- curred, which deprived us of several excellent officers and enlisted men and two pieces of artillery.
"The partisan rangers were placed in the rear of the artillery and infantry, yet, during the darkness, a few of them leaked through and, riding forward, encountered the enemy, causing exchange of shots between the pickets. Galloping back, they produced some confusion, which led to rapid firing for a few moments, during which Brigadier- General Helm was dangerously wounded by the fall of his horse; Lieutenant Alexander Todd, his aid-de-camp, was killed; Captain Roberts, of the Fourth Kentucky, was severely wounded; several en- listed men were killed and wounded, and two of Captain Cobb's three guns were rendered, for a time, wholly useless. After General Helm was disabled, Colonel Thos. H. Hunt assumed command of his brigade.
"Order was soon restored, and the force placed in position on the right and left of Greenwell Springs road. I was obliged to content myself with a single line of battle, and a small regiment of infantry with one piece of artillery to each division of reserve. The enemy, expecting the attack, was drawn up in two lines, or rather, in one
38
HISTORY OF THE 3D, 7TH, 8TH AND 12TH KENTUCKY.
line, with strong reserves distributed at intervals. At the moment there was light enough, our troops moved rapidly forward. General Rug- gles, commanding the left, brought on the engagement with four pieces of Semmes' battery, the Fourth and Thirtieth Louisiana, and Boyd's Louisiana battalion, under the command of Colonel Allen, of the Fourth Louisiana; and the Third, Sixth and Seventh Kentucky, and the Thirty-fifth Alabama, under the command of Colonel Thompson, of the Third Kentucky. These troops moved forward with great im- petuosity, driving the enemy before them, while their ringing cheers inspired all our little command. The Louisiana troops charged a battery and captured two pieces.
"At this point, Colonel Allen, commanding the brigade, while pressing forward with the colors in his hand, had both legs shattered, and Lieutenant-Colonel Boyd received a severe wound. This produced confusion and the enemy, at the same moment throwing forward a strong re-enforcement, the brigade was forced back in some disorder. It was rallied by the efforts of Colonel Breauz, Lieutenant-Colonel Hunter and other officers, and although it did not further participate in the assault, it maintained its position under fire from the gunboats and land batteries of the enemy. During this time Thompson's brigade, which composed the right of Ruggles' division, was behaving with great gallantry. After driving back superior forces, toward the close of the action it took part in the final struggle, from a position imme- diately on the left of the first division. Colonel Thompson being se- verely wounded in a charge, the command devolved upon Colonel Rob- ertson, of the Thirty-fifth Alabama, whose conduct fully justified the confidence of his troops.
"The Louisiana battery, Captain Semmes, was admirably handled throughout. The First Division, under General Clark, being the Sec- ond Brigade, composed of the Fourth and Ninth Kentucky, Thirty- fifth Mississippi and Fourth Alabama, commanded by Colonel Hunt, of the Ninth Kentucky, and the Fourth Brigade, composed of the Fifteenth and Twenty-second Mississippi, and the Nineteenth, Twen- tieth, Twenty-eighth and Forty-fifth Tennessee, consolidated into one battalion, commanded by Colonel Smith, of the Twentieth Tennessee, together with the Hudson battery, Lieutenant Sweeney, and one piece of Cobb's battery, advanced to the right of the Greenwell Spring road.
"On the right, as on the left, the enemy was constantly pressed back, until after several hours of fighting, he was driven to his last encampment in a large grove just in the rear of the penitentiary. Here the contest was hot and obstinate, and it was here that the First Divi- sion suffered the greatest loss. Colonel Hunt was shot down, and upon the fall of this excellent officer, at the suggestion of General Clark, and with the consent of the officers concerned, I placed Captain John A. Buckner, assistant adjutant-general on my staff, in command of the Second Brigade. In the management of his command he displayed so high a degree of skill and courage that I commend him especially to the notice of the government.
"General Clark pressed the attack at this point with great vigor, until he received a wound which was supposed to be mortal, when,
39
BATTLE OF BATON ROUGE.
through some misapprehension, the brigade began to fall back down the slope, but without confusion. Captain Buckner, learning upon inquiry from me, that I did not desire a retrograde movement, im- mediately, aided by Major Wickliffe, of the Ninth Kentucky (Lieu- tenant-Colonel Caldwell, who was injured by the accident of the pre- ceding night, having been obliged to retire) and other regimental com- manders, faced the brigade about and renewed the attack. At the same time Colonel Smith, commanding the Fourth Brigade, composed of the consolidated Tennessee regiments and the Twenty-second Mis- sissippi, Captain Hughes, were ordered forward, and moved against the enemy in fine style. In a few moments Captain Hughes received a mortal wound at the head of his regiment.
"Observing some troops on the left, partially sheltered by a shal- low cut in the road, who proved to be the remnant of Thompson's brig- ade, and out of ammunition, I ordered them to advance to the sup- port of the First Division with the bayonet. The order was promptly obeyed, and in executing it I happened to observe, as distinguished for alacrity, Colonel Crossland, of the Seventh Kentucky; Lieutenant- Colonel Goodwin, of the Thirty-fifty Alabama, and Lieutenant Terry, of the Eighth Kentucky, on duty with sharpshooters. At this critical point Major Brown, chief commissary, and Captain Richards, one of my aids, were conspicuous in urging on the troops. In this assault we suffered considerably from the fire of the fleet, until the opposing lines approached each other so closely that a regard for their own friends obliged them to suspend.
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