USA > Kentucky > The story of Kentucky > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
The severe duties of his position proving too great a strain on General Anderson's failing
205
" FRATRICIDAL WAR."
strength, General Sherman soon afterward suc- ceeded to the command at Louisville. He issued an order (October 31) saying: "The removal of prisoners (except spies and prisoners of war) from the State -without giving them an opportunity for trial by the legal tribunals of their country - does not meet with my approval ;" and he directed that they should be "examined and dealt with ac- cording to law."
General Buckner and the most of the State Guards had left the State early in September and enlisted in the Confederate service. On the eighteenth General Buckner, by order of General Albert Sidney Johnson - a native Kentuckian now in command of the Confederate forces of the Mis- sissippi Valley - seized several railroad trains and with about four thousand men advanced into Ken- tucky and took possession of Bowling Green. Here, by the middle of October, his force had increased to twelve thousand.
Extensive preparations were made by the Federal troops for the defense of Louisville ; and the Leg- islature passed a bill calling for forty thousand volunteers for the defense of the State. A few weeks previous one million dollars had been appro- priated to raising and arming troops; two million dollars more were now added for the same pur- pose. Generals Thomas L. Crittenden, Burbridge,
206
" FRATRICIDAL WAR."
Walter Whitaker, Richard Jacob, John Harlin. Price, Kelly, Croxton, and many other prominent Union men, had taken service in the Federal army.
Hitherto the North had seemed so averse to war that it was not believed by Kentucky people that the contest would continue long. The second war with Great Britain, and the Mexican war, both of which had been generally condemned in the North. had been fought mainly by the South and West. But both parties were now thoroughly roused, and in the general upheaval, Kentucky's neutrality was soon swallowed up, and swept away upon one current or another.
General Zollicoffer had marched upon Barbours- ville and taken possession of the Union forces there, issuing an order promising protection to every citizen not found in arms against the Con- federacy. Cumberland Gap was fortified; Colum- bus and Bowling Green put in a position of defense.
Meanwhile General Sherman, at Louisville, was vainly endeavoring to awaken the Federal Govern- ment to a realization of the fact that the State was fast being appropriated by the Confederate Army. Two hundred thousand men, he declared, were necessary for the campaign in the southwest. McClellan on the left, with a frontage of less than one hundred miles, had one hundred thousand men; Frémont on the right, with the same line
207
" FRATRICIDAL WAR."
of defense had sixty thousand; while he, with over three hundred miles of frontier, had only eighteen thousand. By the first of January (1862) General Buell, at Louisville - having superseded General Sherman in November - had discovered that " the great power of the rebellion in the West is arraved - on a line from Bowling Green to Columbus."
By persistent urging from President Lincoln and General Grant Major-General Halleck was induced to make a demonstration against the enemy, which was begun about the middle of Jan- uary. Brigadier-General McClernand, with five thousand men, "pushed a reconnoissance up to Columbus ; " Brigadier-General Smith marched a strong column to Callo- way; while Foote and Grant, with three gun- boats, ascended the Tennessee River to Fort Henry. The only result of this expedition was that it furnished Grant with the informa- tion of the enemy's strength and weakness necessary for the bril- liant operations against Fort Henry and Fort RECONNUITERING.
208
" FRATRICIDAL WAR."
Donelson which he begun a few weeks after ward.
The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, flowing almost side by side, furnished easy access from the Mississippi to these two forts, which stood midway between Columbus and Bowling Green, a little . southward, across the Tennessee line. Every one knows the story of the capture of these two forts (February 6 and February 16, 1862) and the pluck of the two Kentucky commanders, Tilghman and Buckner. They held the forts until their superiors and the other officers, and many of the men had made their escape; then they surrendered to General Grant.
The Confederate power in Kentucky was hope- lessly shattered by this defeat. General Johnston immediately abandoned Bowling Green, and two weeks later General Polk removed his forces from Columbus.
Meanwhile numerous skirmishes had taken place throughout Kentucky. Colonel Garrard at Camp Wild Cat, near London, was attacked October 21 by General Zollicoffer, with seven regiments and a battery. General Schoeff, who had just reached the camp with six regiments and Wolford's cavalry, assumed command of the Federal forces and after two engagements drove the Confederates away. The Confederate loss was reported as thirty killed
j
209
" FRATRICIDAL WAR."
and about one hundred wounded ; the Federal loss, twenty-two killed and wounded.
Colonel John S. Williams, of Cerro Gordo fame, occupied Pikeville at the head of the Big Sandy River, with a Confederate force of one thousand men. General William Nelson set out with three -
thousand men to dislodge them, sending Colonel Apperson with nearly half the force round by a circuitous route to the opposite side of Pikeville for the purpose of catching the Confederates be- tween two fires. But Colonel Williams, aware of his intention, harassed them with sharp skirmish- ing around to Pound Gap, his rear guard leaving Pikeville as Nelson entered it. A desperate fight of over an hour ensued, which resulted in the de- feat of the Confederates; thirty killed and a num- ber taken prisoners. Federal loss, six killed and twenty-four wounded.
January 19 a battle had been fought at Mill Spring, Eastern Kentucky, General Zollicoffer and General George B. Crittenden commanding the Confederates and General Thomas and Colone! Garfield the Federals. The result was uncertain until General Zollicoffer was shot by Colonel Speed Fry, whom he had mistaken for one of his own officers. Upon this the Confederates retreated, leaving their camp supplies and twelve pieces of artillery. The loss in this engagement was about
210
" FRATRICIDAL WAR"
six hundred. The larger part of this loss wa. borne by the Confederates.
After the fall of Fort Donelson came the terrible battle of Shiloh. Though fought on Tennessee ground its effects were grievously felt throughout Kentucky. The close of this bloody battle left one thousand three hundred of her brave soldiers dead upon the field, six hundred and eighty of whom were Confederates. Among these were General Albert Sidney Johnston, the brightest star of the Confederacy, Major Thomas B. Monroe, Jr., and Colonel George W. Johnston, who had been elected "provisional governor " by the Confederates while at Bowling Green. The total loss of the two armies was about ten thousand each. But then, some glori- ous names were won on the field of Shiloh !
Five days after this battle, slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia; one million dollar- appropriated by Congress to colonizing any who might wish to leave the country; and one million dollars to pay loyal owners the value of their slaves - the only slaves liberated by Congress who were paid for. No action was ever taken on the bill recommended by President Lincoln and passed by both Houses of Congress (July IS), appropria- ting two hundred million dollars for emancipating and colonizing the slaves in the border States. The border States made no motion of acceptance.
CHAPTER IX.
CRUEL WAR.
T is History's part to depict only the heroic features of War. If all the truth were told of scenes witnessed by people living within its bloody circle - the dis- FRE KINRIDGE C. NHC1 gusting details of senseless cruelties, of pitiless barbarities - the glory of war would be so tarnished and be- draggled, that no self-respecting nation would be found willing to subject its people to so great a calamity. Generations to come will, with amaze- ment and horror, look back upon this time, when governments had power to drive men from their homes to kill and be killed. What famine or pes- tilence ever swept off so many strong men in so short a time as at the battle of Shiloh? Twenty thousand in twenty-four hours - and almost noth- ing gained.
211
-
212
CRUEL WAR.
The Federal forces had possession of Kentucky but the principal gate was left wide open, and soon the rebel flag was fluttering back and forth through Cumberland Gap. Kentucky was too inviting a battle-ground to be long abandoned. Her fertile fields served both armies as a convenient source of supplies. With her ten navigable rivers sh presented greater facilities for transportation tha' could almost any other State. Railroads might be destroyed, but the rivers were always there.
In midsummer of '62 John Morgan started 0: his series of "raids." He captured towns, took food and clothing, cut telegraph lines and sent off false messages; he burned many houses, destroyed bridges and created a panic throughout the coun- try. At Tompkinsville he defeated a detachmen' of Federal cavalry, killing four men and taking nineteen prisoners, including the commander, Major Jordan. At Lebanon, he captured Colonel Ab. John :. son and his force, and burned the warehouse con- taining sixty thousand dollars' worth of Unite : States stores. On the seventeenth of July in captured Cynthiana, defeating Colonel Landram'- regiment and the home guards, and taking abor four hundred and twenty prisoners: sixteen Fou erals and fourteen Confederates were killed, and forty wounded on each side.
Paris, Mr. Collins tells us, surrendered without
------
213
CRUEL WAR.
resistance; the Confederate troops remained there all night, but were hurried away the following morning by the approach of General Green Clay Smith, with over one thousand two hundred men. Morgan now hastened back to Tennessee, having in three days, with a loss of only ninety men, " cap- tured " seventeen towns, paroled one thousand two hundred regular troops, and destroyed over a million dollars worth of Government property.
On the approach of Morgan, General Boyle of Louisville, who had command of the provost guards in Kentucky, issued an order that "every able- bodied man take arms, and assist in repelling the marauders ; every man who does not must remain in his house forty-eight hours, or be shot if he leaves it." Horses were taken without ceremony, and business almost entirely suspended. General Boyle had made himself extremely unpopular with "Southern sympathizers " by requiring them to take an oath promising to assist in putting down the rebellion - the penalty of violation, death - or else be sent to a military prison. He also fitted up quarters for " disloyal females." The work of arrest was prosecuted with' such vigor that all the available space in prisons and penitentiaries was soon appropriated. The oath was duly administered to all who would take it, and who could furnish bonds of from five thousand dollars to twenty.
214
CRUEL WAR.
thousand dollars, with approved security. This done, the prisoners were released.
" Raids" now became the order of the day. The Confederates took the horses and cattle of the Union men; the Federals the horses and cattle of the Southern men; the soldiers of both sides took everything they could eat, drink, or wear. wherever they could find it. Trying times were those ! Little regard was had for private property of any description. Then, in August, came the first demand on the slave-holders for all their able- bodied negro men to use in repairing roads, and other Government labor. This was understood to be only the beginning of a general emancipation. The inevitable was at hand.
In the latter part of August a fierce engagement took place between an advance detachment of Kirby Smith's forces and a portion of Gen. W'm. Nelson's army, under General Manson. In this the Federals were put to rout, with a loss of three hundred killed and three thousand five hundred prisoners. The Confederate loss was two hundred and fifty killed and five hundred wounded. Gen- eral Bragg entered Kentucky, September 5. H. first encountered the Federals at Munfordville - three thousand five hundred men under Genera! Wilder. After several skirmishes the Federals sur rendered and were paroled. At Glasgow he issued
14
215
CRUEL WAR.
a proclamation, September 18, offering the citi- zens " peace and protection." With Kirby Smith's force of ten thousand men, General Heth's nine thousand, and John Morgan's cavalry, Kentucky was pretty well occupied by Confederate forces.
For six days General Heth threatened Cincin-
The birthplace 0
(Near Hodgensville, Ky.)
President Lincoln .
nati, waiting meanwhile for General Bragg; but General Lew Wallace, who held command of the militia there, gathered such a formidable force to meet him. that General Heth withdrew to Florence. Innumerable skirmishes were occurring all over the State between the Confederates and the Home
216
CRUEL WAR.
Guards. The most desperate of these took place at Augusta, September 27. Colonel Basil Duke's regiment, with about three hundred and fifty cas- alrymen, undertook to cross the Ohio at August .. about forty miles above Cincinnati. Here they were opposed by a force of one hundred and twenty-five Home Guards under Colonel Joshua Bradford, who were stationed in brick houses. A block or two of these houses were burned before the Home Guard- surrendered. Colonel Duke's loss was thirty-nine. killed and wounded. Among the killed was Wn. Courtland Prentice; a sad blow to his father, the editor of the "Louisville Journal," who had re- mained true to the Union even though both of hi- sons were in the Confederate Army.
While General Bragg loitered along, gathering provisions for his half-famished army, General Buell swept past him into Louisville. On the fourth of October Bragg began to concentrate his forces a: Lexington. The political elements gathered a: Frankfort to inaugurate a successor to their un .. fortunate "provisional governor," who fell at Shilo, Richard Hawes of Bourbon was duly elected; bu: his occupancy was unexpectedly curtailed, for it the midst of his inaugural address Buell's force. began to fire upon the town.
General Bragg, finding it impossible to hold Kentucky against the strong Federal force which
217
CRUEL WAR.
had gathered to oppose him, began a retreat, neces- sarily slow, on account of the heavily-laden pro- vision wagons which he had collected in Kentucky. On the eighth of October Buell's forces attacked the Confederates at Perryville, about forty miles south of Frankfort. For four hours "the severest, most desperate battle ever fought on Kentucky soil," raged. Of the twenty-five thousand Federal troops - under Generals Alex. McCook, Lovell H. Rousseau, Jas. S. Jackson, Chas. C. Gilbert, Robert B. Mitchell, Phil H. Sheridan and Albin Schoepff -over four thousand were lost. Of the fifteen thousand Confederates, under Generals Wm. J. Hardee, Leonidas Polk, Wm. S. Cheatham, Simon B. Buckner, and Richard H. Anderson, three thou- sand five hundred were lost. Perceiving that re- inforcements had arrived, General Bragg hurried away, leaving his dead unburied.
Both Bragg and Buell were severely blamed by their respective governments ; the one for not seiz- ing Kentucky and holding it; the other for letting the invading army get away, and especially with so much booty. Criticisms and fault-finding were going on all over the country. "The disloyalty of Kentucky" was freely discussed by both sec- tions. General Boyle at Louisville issued still more rigorous orders; and the business of confis- cation was begun. Southern sympathizers were
218
CRUEL WAR.
forced to pay for property taken by the Confederate troops and "guerrillas." Horrible cruelties, too. were practised. At Cumberland Ford, in the southern part of the State, sixteen men, charged! with being "bushwhackers," were hung by Con federate pickets; and in Rockcastle County, ninc Confederate soldiers were hung in retaliation.
Besides John Morgan's Cavalrymen, there were numberless bands of "guerrillas " dashing over the country. They captured small detachments, took whatever they wanted, and destroyed camps, bridges. and railroads. Kentucky farmers usually owned from two to a dozen good saddle horses - and the "raiders " helped themselves liberally to fresh horses at the nearest stables.
Although they managed to escape any heavy engagement, there were some serious skirmishes which helped to thin their ranks. Colonel John Dills, with his company of mountaineers, captured seventy-five Confederates and a number of wagons. Maj. Wm. Mckinney put to rout forty at Calhoun, capturing twenty-five horses and killing two men. General Ransom defeated Colonel Woodward's force at Garrettsburg, killing sixteen and taking forty or fifty prisoners. Numberless other skir- mishes occurred. And then came the great four- days battle at Stone River, Tennessee, in which General John C. Breckenridge and nearly all the
-
219
CRUEL WAR.
Kentuckians in the Confederate Army were en- gaged. According to Mr. Collins, one thousand two hundred Kentuckians fell in that battle - nine hundred and eleven Federals and two hundred and eighty-nine Confederates.
In January, 1863, President Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation. Thereupon a number of the Kentucky officers in the Federal army re- signed. Governor James F. Robinson (acting in place of Governor Magoffin, who had resigned), Hon. Chas. A. Wickliffe, General John W. Finnell and others, endeavored to adjust matters with the President so that loyal Kentuckians might not suffer such a heavy loss without some compensa- tion. It proved to no purpose ; the time for such an arrangement had gone by.
In the beginning of the war, the Government had solemnly promised that slavery should not be disturbed. The war, so the North had emphatically declared, was to be a war for the Union, and not for abolition. On this understanding many slave- holders of the border States, who had no wish to give up their slaves, had enlisted to put down the rebellion. Soon, however, the slaves were decided "contraband of war." They were put to service to dig and hew for the Federal army; in the second year of the war, they were enlisted as soldiers; and now they were declared free.
220
CRUEL WAR.
Although anxious to conciliate his friends of the "border States," to whom his proclamation meant such heavy loss, the President said he "would rather die than take back a word of it; " and ho urged upon the Kentuckians the advantages of his scheme for the gradual emancipation of their slaves. But it is hardly to be expected that people who are to lose thousands of dollars by a measure. should see it in the same light as those who will lose nothing. Neither could they then see that it was really the rebellion of the Southern States which had destroyed slavery. Could the United States Government cherish an institution condu- cive solely to the aid and comfort of its enemies - especially an institution which it despised and considered a blot upon its otherwise spotles: character ?
The " border States" were not included in the emancipation proclamation ; but even the slaves understood that their day of bondage in these United States was about over, and stood not upon the order of their going. Silently and in the night they stole away, solitary or in small family groups. Many a Kentucky household awoke in the morning wondering at the strange silence throughout the house. No warm breakfast awaited them ; no fires anywhere; the kitchen was cold and tenantless. What! even old Mammy gone? Even rheumatic
221222
٠٢٠٠ ٦٤
"SILENTLY AND IN THE NIGHT THEY STOLE AWAY."
223
CRUEL WAR.
old Uncle Ned? Poor, foolish old souls ! and the master and mistress smiled pityingly, even in their consternation at the unwonted tasks that lie before the deserters, for they knew how hard the long, rough road through the wilderness would seem to the ease-loving African natures.
Sad times followed for both master and slave. Many cuts and bruises and burns for the tender hands toiling at the new tasks in the kitchen. Many a hungry day and cheerless night for the helpless freedmen who had turned themselves out into the wide, wide world of which they knew so little.
Morgan took his leave of Kentucky, January the first, leaving his camp-fires burning at Lebanon, while the Federal troops were waiting to attack him in the morning; but Captain Thomas Hines still remained with his scouts, destroying railroads, burning Government stores, and "capturing " what- ever he could. And in February, Colonel Roy S. Cluke's regiment galloped over the State on the same destructive mission. The military authori- ties, who were now ruling the State with a rod of iron, hit upon the device of compelling Southern sympathizers to pay for the property thus de- stroyed ; and the homes of many inoffensive peo- ple were confiscated to repay losses for which they were in no way responsible. Soldiers presided at
224
CRUEL WAR.
the poles, and almost daily, tyrannical orders were being issued.
" As it was," says Professor Shaler, "thousand- of Union men, who had given their property and their blood to the cause of the Constitution, feel- ing that the laws and privileges for which they were fighting were in danger, by the action of the Federal officers, lost heart and their interest in the struggle. They had supposed that they were fight- ing, not for the victory of armies, but for the main- tenance of the laws; for the welfare of the country, and not for the supremacy of a political party that appeared to be willing to destroy the Common- wealth if it stood in the way of its purposes." But there was no resistance made to this harsh military rule, except in words.
One pathetic incident connected with Morgan's first raid- one of a thousand as pathetic - may be recorded here. As Morgan approached Louis- ville one of his young soldiers turned aside for a moment to snatch a kiss and a blessing from the loving mother at home. The happy moments flew swiftly by; just as the final farewell was spoken a party of Federal soldiers was seen approach- ing. In a moment the young cavalier was on his swift-footed horse and away. Over the fence and down the highway sped the fleet thorough- bred; but the blue-coats were close on his heels ; a
1 40
225
CRUEL WAR.
sharp command, the flash of a half-dozen muskets, and the bold rider fell from his saddle, dead ! A few moments more and the mother receives her darling back again, a calm smile upon his face ; and the soldiers, who had " only done their duty," rode away.
Early in June, Morgan returned to Kentucky with about three thousand men. There were sev- eral sharp engagements -one at Tebb's Bend on Green River in which Colonel Orlando Moore with four hundred men, and a loss of only thirty, de- feated six hundred of Morgan's men, killing and wounding eighty-two ; another at Lebanon, in which Lieutenant-Colonel Hanson defended the town for seven hours, until overpowered and burned out by Morgan's cavalry ; the Confederate loss here was twenty-five killed and thirteen wounded; the Fed- eral, five killed, and one hundred thousand dollars worth of military stores destroyed ! There was still another at Bardstown in which twenty-six Federals. ensconced in a barn, held out a day and night, only surrendering at the approach of Mor-
gan's artillery. After these and numerous smaller skirmishes, Morgan's entire force passed over into Indiana. From thence they crossed to Ohio, pillaging and destroying wherever they went, find- ing reckless enjoyment in the consternation and panic which this brief taste of war created.
226
CRUEL WAR.
Meanwhile a day of reckoning was fast approach- ing; fifty thousand Ohioans were hunting them down. And at last, after twenty days of almost incessant riding, Morgan, finding himself su: rounded by militia, and fenced off from the river by gun-boats, surrendered to General Shackleford at New Lisbon. Of his two thousand men only three hundred escaped into Virginia. Six month- afterward, General Morgan and six of his Captain -. Thos. H. Hines, Jacob C. Bennett, Ralph Shelden. Jas. D. Hockersmith, Gustavus S. McGee, and Sam. B. Taylor dug their way out of the Ohio penitentiary where they had been confined, and escaped into Kentucky; here Taylor and Shelden were captured and returned to the penitentiary. Twenty-six of Morgan's men who had been sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, escaped by digging a tunnel under the fence surrounding the barracks.
This remarkable raid was said to have been made for the purpose of diverting attention from the Confederate movements in Pennsylvania. But. after the desperate three-days battle at Gettysburg in which the Confederates lost thirty-six thousand men, Lee and his army were forced to retreat. Then came the dreadful battle of Chickamauga; a victory which only exasperated, because it could not be followed up with the final crushing blow which might have made it of some use. After that
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.