USA > Ohio > Brown County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 1 > Part 37
USA > Ohio > Clermont County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 1 > Part 37
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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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
Who but those who heard can tell the terror of the first tidings of the war for ears that rarely knew a chiding voice ? And who but those who felt can guess the ruin that marked the rush of raging wrath? For those who saw that wondrous time, memory peoples the past with visions more real than the throng of daily life; for we know whence the phantoms come and why they beckon us back to view the race that won the goal of deathless fame. Again we hear the pealing bells, the shrilling fifes and the boding drums, while glowing speech is answered with fervent pledge of volunteering bands. Again we see the bustling preparation, the quivering farewells and
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the solemn departings. Again we see the growing camp, the irksome drill, the steady tramp, the hasty march to the front with all the pomp of fine array and waving flags. Again we see the shrouding dust and the weary bivouac of shelterless ranks and watch the sick go stumbling from the line. Again the fires of battle flash, and again we hear the piteous tales of prison life and see the countless dead entrenched in shallow graves.
The threatened destruction of the Union suddenly assumed the direst form of war as the clocks in the towers of Charles- ton struck four on the morning of Friday, April 12, 1861, which was the carefully preconcerted moment for the bombardment of Fort Sumter. All day the finest cannon that a treacherous Secretary of War could find and order there from the national arsenals, hurled the most destructive missiles of that date against one of the important forts that had been built to de- fend the integrity of the Union against foreign aggression, and not as a menace to the ungrateful people that grew proud and rebellious under the protection. The hot hail of over two thousand bursting shells ceased with night fall, but began again with the dawn of Saturday. One by one the guns of the few defenders were dismounted or buried beneath the toppling walls and soon the inmates were forced to cease re- sisting and fight the fires that were consuming their quarters and stores. For the rebellious artillery was served by men who knew the range and had the skill. The flagstaff was shot away and the colors fell without a helping hand.
When Major Anderson and his little band had fought their fight to a finish, it was an unconditional surrender, for there was no authority that he would recognize beyond the con- ditions that forced them away. On Sunday morning, April 14, when the news came to Washington City, President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men to help him repossess the ruined fort and restore the fallen flag. And then with brief and simple pathos, he warned all offenders to cease their evil plottings against the Union within twenty days. The infatu- ated South mocked his call and jeered his advice with equal scorn. Without Sunday papers and with only evening mails, the news that confirmed vague rumors came mainly in the Cincinnati daily papers printed on Monday morning. On
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Tuesday morning, April 16, the mournful tidings went about the village streets and began to stream along the country lanes.
The first call for defenders of the Union was bravely answer- ed in Brown and Clermont counties. Ripley gained the honor of making the first response. While the citizens had gathered at the Third Street Methodist Church of that day and were discussing the exciting conditions, a telegram was read an -. nouncing the fall of Fort Sumter. The meeting adjourned at once to Armstrong's Hall, where a company volunteered for the Union, under Captain Jacob Ammen, who started the next day to Columbus to report the action to the governor and ob- tain orders. They were mustered in as Company H of the Twelfth Ohio, and Captain Ammen was appointed Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Ohio. The ardent youth of Williamsburg assembled in the "Middle Hall" or school room of the Masonic Hall, and joining those who had answered the larum of the court house bell in Batavia, formed the "Clermont Guards," that was mustered in under Captain, later Major, Julius Penn, Sr., as Company E of the Twenty-second Ohio. The "Felicity Guards," previously organized at Felicity, was quickly re- cruited to the limit along the county line from Bethel south- ward and mustered into the Twenty-Second Ohio, as Company I, under Captain Farron Olmstead, who later on was Lieuten- ant-Colonel of the Fifty-ninth Ohio. The "Union Guards," another organization at New Richmond, was filled from the river side and mustered into the Twelfth Ohio, as Company C, under Captain Watts McMurchy. A force of thirty from Georgetown went to the Twelfth Ohio under Carr B. White, who was made Colonel of that regiment. These companies were obliged to decline volunteers from other 'localities, of whom some found a place in other companies, so that nearly five hundred from the region of Old Clermont answered the "First Call." This can be safely calculated, as several times the quota for the population of the district.
Under the call for men to serve three years, Company C, under Captain William T. Beatty, was mustered in the Second Ohio Infantry from northwestern Clermont. Company I of that regiment also included many Clermont men. The Twelfth Ohio, reorganized for three years, included Company C, under Captain Watts McMurchy and Captain Liggett's
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company from Brown. The next considerable number was the full Company K of the Twenty-seventh Ohio, from both Brown and Clermont, about Williamsburg. The Thirty- Fourth Ohio was organized on the Olive Branch Fair Ground and largely recruited from both counties; Captain S. R. S. West's Company A, being from central Clermont. While another company was being recruited at Ripley by Captain C. W. Boyd. Captain J. B. Hopkins recruited Company A of the Thirty-sixth Ohio. The Thirty-ninth, although a Cin- cinnati regiment, obtained many from the counties to the east. The Forty-eighth Ohio was recruited largely in northern Brown, and many in Clermont who did not secure officers at home. Company G of the Fiftieth was from Clermont. The Fifty-ninth was organized at Ripley, and was distinctly from Brown and Clermont counties, with a record second to none for long marching and hard fighting. There is no need to locate the companies for those who are familiar with the pioneer names. The Seventieth Ohio was largely from Brown county. Clermont furnished a company of sharpshooters, C, for the Seventy-ninth Ohio. Clermont gave three and Brown two companies of a hundred men each to the glorious but ill-fated Eighty-ninth Ohio. Glorious because that regiment held Snod- grass Hill, the key to Rosecrans' retreat on the fatal Sunday of his failure at Chickamauga, held that forlorn hope from eight in the morning until night came. ill-fated, because when the work was done for which the sacrifice was ordered, and when the retreat was safe, then, in the fullness of so much suffered for others, the lines of gray that had vainly charged again and again against the steady boys in blue, at last flanked the position and made them prisoners. Eight full companies of the One Hundred Fifty-third Ohio for a hundred days were from Clermont. Brown sent a company to the One Hundred Eighty-ninth Ohio, and Clermont had Company I in the One Hundred Eighty-fourth Ohio. Numerous detachments were credited to both counties as the recipients of bounties, but whether residents or not was uncertain then, and still more so now.
Major C. G. McGrew and Captain H. B. Teetor recruited many men in northern Clermont for the Fourth Ohio Cavalry. Still later, Captain W. H. Ulrey took a large detachment to
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Company M, Second Ohio Cavalry, that was commanded by Colonel, afterwards General, A. V. Kautz, of Brown county. Company A, Captain E. G. Ricker ; Company I, Captain W. H. Fagaly; Company M, Captain John Henry, and Captain Trounstein's company, and a large portion of another company, all of the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, were enlisted in Clermont and Brown. The Seventh Ohio Cavalry was organized at Ripley, and besides many from Brown, took Captain Ira Ferguson's company from Clermont. The Fourth Ohio Independent Cav- alry company, with John S. Foster, was almost entirely a Brown county organization. Company L of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, under Captain Asbury P. Gatch, was mainly recruited in Clermont. Several detachments were recruited for the Artillery service, and a goodly number went in the Naval service on the river gun boats. No pretense is made that this exhibit of organizations is complete, for it is not. County Rosters were not made when such might have been fairly suc- cessful, and now the task is impossible.
Although the river patrolled by gun boats was a defense against hostile incursions, it was also regarded as a possible scene of battle. And so it was in 1862, when Bragg's inva- sion of Kentucky included Kirby Smith's demonstration against Cincinnati. That movement comprised attacks along the river from Foster's to Maysville, in the first weeks of Sep- tember. Of those attacks, the most serious was that of Col- onel Bazil Duke, on Augusta, with three hundred fifty men of the Second Kentucky Confederate Cavalry. Duke records a loss of twenty-one killed and eighteen wounded in that bat- tle, which was the severest that came near the region of our story. The excitement of those September days in 1862 brought the militia of northern Brown to a short, uneventful camping on the Ripley Fair Ground.
But the unexpected and most exciting stroke of all fell near- ly a year later, and, for reasons not appreciated at the time, is still remarkable as "Morgan's raid through the North." A few analyzed facts will help one to read other accounts of that famous march with better perception of the distorted details published at the time. John Morgan's cavalry force was organized soon after the terrible Confederate defeat at Shiloh, which was so little understood at the time, that nearly
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all the North except Lincoln, thought that Grant's army was destroyed. But Lincoln and all the South knew that a grim, strong, resolute power had suddenly, boldly and successfully been thrust into the vitals of the Confederacy, across two States and over two hundred miles deep. It was the per- ception of such strategy that made Grant, and the lack of it that said there was no general but Lee. To harass Grant's lines of supply was Morgan's duty, that was performed with skill and daring for a year or more, until at last the forces gathered for his destruction, made a march north seem better than a return southward. Morgan accepted the chances of the game, and all but won by crossing the Ohio on July 8, 1863, at Brandenburg, whence he went "Horse trading" through Indiana, until he went into camp late on Sunday night, July 12, at Sunmam, in Ripley county. From Sunmam, he started at 5 a. m., on Monday, July 13, with what he con- sidered the most difficult problem of all the expedition at hand, which was to pass Cincinnati, guarded by a force much su- perior in number and in position, with the railroads to the city for bringing more troops. To pass this danger, he marched all day Monday threatening in various directions to deceive and to conceal his main march, which was forced with no rest all through Monday night and Tuesday morning and through the day, until Williamsburg was reached by the vanguard about 4 p. m., and by the main army, through several hours. later.
The main route was by Harrison, and thence by roads that touched Glendale on the north, and the outskirts of Cincinnati on the south, and finally converged above Camp Dennison, and thence went by Miamiville, Mt. Repose, Williams Corners and Boston. At Williamsburg, part of the force camped on the Bethel road from the bridge to the hill, part in the town and part on the roads to Boston and Batavia. The reveille sounded at 3 a. m., Wednesday, July 15, and by a little after 8 o'clock in the morning the rear guard had passed. Be- cause the bridge had just been burned in memory of Boerstler Huber's record in the Underground Railroad, they went down to the ford by the "Old Dug Way," mentioned many pages back, and galloped over the hill on the road to Mt. Orab, whence the route went by Sardinia and Winchester to Jack
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Town or Dunbarton, in Adams county. From there on Thurs- day, they marched to Piketown; on Friday they went on through Jackson to Wilkesville, in Vinton county. From there they went fighting by Pomeroy to Chester by I p. m., where a fatal stop of an hour and a half caused them to reach the ford on the Ohio at Portland at 8 p. m., of Saturday "In solid darkness." But for that stop, or with a clear night, they would have crossed the Ohio and found sympathy. From Mt. Repose, a battalion detoured by Batavia and came back to the army at Williamsburg, where another detachment went southeastward by Georgetown, with intent to make the im- pression that they were trying to cross the river. But Buffing- ton Island, or Lee's army was Morgan's objective from the start.
A generous and successful foe must admire the audacity, and wonder at the narrow margin between the failure and the suc- cess of the expedition. Such thoughts will grow respectful after learning that the march of ninety-five miles from Sun- man to Williamsburg ranks as the longest, the most continu- ous, the most prodigious march ever made by so large a body of troops, of which history has any account. Small companies or individuals have gone farther in less time, but small com- panies march more easily, for the speed is much impeded by larger numbers. The condition of the men at the end of that hot, dusty ride of thirty-five hours without sleep or rest was one of intense weariness or their conduct might have been more boisterous. With few exceptions, the men were quiet and civil. Some irrepressibles broke into the stores and wasted the goods with little apparent purpose, except to destroy. Bolts of calico and cloth were taken by some who held one end while his horse was urged to make the bolt into a trail in the dust. In this way thousands of yards were wantonly ruined, other articles were carried a little while and then thrown away. The destruction of the stock was ruinous in some instances and in other places the disturbance was little or none. But the most wasteful soon stopped the game, and, after finding something to eat and feed their horses, sank into deep sleep with little talk with each other and still less with the citizens. The chief effort was to find a better horse for the next day's march. Protection for the inmates was very
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generally granted to homes that would furnish a reasonable number of meals; and the contract was kept so that it was common to hear families say we had such and so many at our house. My father's home escaped all molestation by entertain- ing Captains Ray and Hines and "Parson" Moore, who asked a blessing at the table-such was the introduction given- and the treatment rendered. But the stable and mow and crib did not escape so well.
After fifty smoothing years, the events do not appear so very terrible. Some things were laughed at then and may be now. Solomon Mershon, a farmer, having lost his horses, came into the camp, southeast of town, and finding one, as- serted rights, which were as earnestly denied by a stalwart man in gray or something said to be gray when new. The dispute soon became quite personal, and, with some suggestion from others, it was agreed that the rights of property should be de- cided by an honorable, fair fight between the claimants. A space was cleared among hundreds of admiring Confeder- ates, into which the two took their place, and at the word, pounded each other, according to the rules agreed upon, un- til the Confederate was forced to quit, whereupon the vic- tor was mounted on his rightful prize, which he rode away through round after round of "Rebel yells." And, protected by a strong sense of American humor, the horse was not taken again.
One of the strange incidents without any known parallel in those most eventful times, occurred in Williamsburg on that night, when Captain George Harris, in command of General Morgan's artillery, renounced the Confederate service, and through my personal assistance, was enabled to reach General Burnside and be restored to his father, who was a notable officer in the Union service. The story has been told all over the English-speaking world as "A Romantic Tale of Morgan's Raid," which was first published on July 12, 1892, in the Cin- cinnati Commercial Gazette, and then reprinted times without number. How the fine-looking youth had been schooled in the State University at Nashville and became a Lieutenant of the cadet corps, that was ordered to guard the State buildings ; how he went with his corps to Corinth, in the wild retreat before Grant, and then turned back to deal heavy blows at Shiloh;
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how his battery went with Morgan through his fierce de- struction of Union wealth and strength; how his college friends were seldom seen ; how in lonely thoughts or amid the roar of battle, the question, "If father is there?" would rise; how he determined to quit it all and tell his tale to General Burnside, his father's friend, and how fate appointed me to help his need-all that was a tale too complex for credence in those doubtful days. And so the story was kept unknown to all but a chosen few at home. Yet it was true in every particular stated, and many more. Captain Harris was permitted to at- tone his Confederate service, and after taking the oath of al- legiance to his father's flag, was sent abroad because of fail- ing health that was not restored; for he died at sea in sight of land a few months after the great "Raid," and was buried in a church yard pertaining to London.
A soldier of the Union, whose name seems lost, while in the act of getting a cup of coffee, was entangled in the double tree and dragged under the wheels of a heavy ammunition wagon somewhat above and in front of the John Kain Tavern, which Morgan had used for his headquarters during his stay. The injured soldier was carried into the office room on Third and Main, where he died that night, being, so far as known, the only fatal casualty of the war that occurred in Brown and Clermont.
No just account, however brief, should fail to mention the joyful reception of the pursuing Union Army. As the last Confederates went up the hill toward Mt. Orab, Sergeant, afterwards First Leiutenant John Quincy Park, of the Second . Ohio Cavalry, rode down the old court house hill with the glad tidings that Hobson's men, ten thousand strong, would pass through in the afternoon and would want something to eat, after which he greeted his parents and sisters and fell to sleep, for he had been riding two nights and the day between- so strenuous was the flight and pursuit around Cincinnati. With no telephones and automobiles and with all the horses taken, no one knows how they spread the news that "The Army" was coming, and wanted anything and every- thing to eat. But the response came early and kept coming all the afternoon from miles and miles around. Everyone counted it a shame to do nothing for "Our boys." Ham was
JOHN KAIN'S TAVERN.
Built in 1816. Gen. John Morgan's Headquarters July 14 and 15, 1863. Torn Down in 1907. Williamsburg, Ohio.
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boiled and bacon fried, or either way with haste, while ovens were redolent with beef and poultry butchered to make a Union holiday. Pies and cakes were baked in every home and also bis- cuits by the bushel, for there was no time for salt rising loaves or yeast rolls. Boards were lifted into tables stretched on bar- rels or boxes along the curb on either side of Main street for squares. Buckets of coffee and pitchers of milk kept com- ing from here and there. The miracle of the loaves and fishes was seemingly repeated as the orderly ranks of the Defenders came riding by with lifted caps and dipping flags, while groups of gaily ribboned girls gathered and sang the rally calls and battle hymns of freedom. Some dismounted and ate at tables, kings of the feast. But except these few, the many scarcely more than swerving from the column, took what was extend- ed by eager hands and rode on with no perceptible halt in the precise array of the fine review. The pageant was rare to northern eyes, for, fortunately, few places there were so visited. Those who saw the difference in the two armies, one in the full panoply of war, and the other scant of all but their arms, must have seen the shadow of the coming sur- render. One impression then remembered now is that with all the difference in purpose they were Americans with a full share in the common heritage of courage and humor. The large majority of the invaders behaved with a civility that was only marred by their skill in trading horses and now and then in swapping hats or boots. And even in that, the difference was sometimes gravely balanced with confederate currency, which on minute examination was found to be a northern reprint.
As the natural line of attack took the northern troops by the shortest distance toward the enemy, the volunteers from Brown and Clermont were generally marched by way of Cin- cinnati and thence by Chattanooga, with occasional diverg- ence to the great battle scenes on either hand. Out of such service, certain great battles may obtain a familiarity that ob- scures perception of the importance of the immense move- ments and terrific conflicts in other regions of the prodigious strife between the States. While the majority went straight to the South, only a few comparatively were drawn to the more severely contested and yet more doubtful eastern battles. The war for the Union not only involved the most momentous
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question of government but it also exacted the utmost exer- tion of the people whose energy accomplished more in a gen- eration than had been done in ages for the refinement of man- kind. The battlefields of that vast revolution were many and are famous, and it should be a grandly solemn memory that most of them have been consecrated by their blood. In spite of dismay at the long lists of youth untimely withered or dead, the grim purpose of the North grew stronger and strong- er to float the flag forever.
While Lee was pondering surrender, recruiting was con- tinued through the winter with inceasing resolution. But when Spring came to green the graves of the slain, "The Cruel War Was Over," and the "Boys came marching home"- home where wondering children would watch their coming and lead the shouting throng-home where the proud citizens would voice the joy of their victory-home where the dimpling shadows would fall by paths that led from winding roads to the open doors of the holy rooms of sinless boyhood-home where rosy sisters would stretch their welcome arms-home to meet the rapture of a father's gladness and the bliss of a mother's love-home perchance to bear the message spoken by somebody's darling, when the flag glimmered in dying eyes- home to cheer the mourner with tales of valiant duty nobly done-home to saunter along leafy lanes with whispered vows to sweetest hearts. But who can tell the price of the tears and the cost of the blood?
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CHAPTER XXI.
THE WONDERFUL STORY OF GRANT.
The John Simpson Home-The House at Point Pleasant- Jesse Grant Clears Eleven Hundred Dollars in Twenty-two Months-The Home in Georgetown-Jesse Grant-The First Brick School House in Georgetown-Boyhood-Fond- ness for Horses-A Daring Rider-A Fine Example of a Well Raised American Boy-Attracts the Attention of Teacher John D. White, General Hamer and Senator Mor- ris-At West Point-Excels all in Horsemanship-Hazed at Home-His Remarkable Reserve-The Teaching of Soli- tude-His Vision of War-His Patient Courtesy-The Sim- plicity of His Sincerity-The Gentle Quality of the Man- His Kindness in Victory. His World-wide Triumph-How He Rendered Good for Evil-His Tomb in the Center of the World-Lieut .- Gen. Henry C. Corbin.
As the past recedes into a vanishing vista, and as actions of vivid instant interest seize attention, a broad historic view of the successive scenes blends the stir for free soil, the answer- ing opposition of the Mexican War for the extension of bond- age, the discovery of American gold, the War for the Union, and the extinction of slavery, into one prodigious era of prog- ress. The truly great actors in that progress in the region of Brown and Clermont played their parts so well that the leading man of each scene held the stage with rare continuity, until his successor was required. William Lytle, the explorer, founder and promoter of Old Clermont, only relinquished his task when it was ready for the master political builder, Thomas Morris. Morris in turn trained and inspired Thomas L. Hamer to the ambition that made him a hero in the strife where his life was the costliest payment for the victory that rounded out the southwestern frontier and won the gold of California. Then, as if to give perpetuity to his influence. Hamer's last signature as a member of Congress confirmed the nomination of Ulysses Simpson Grant as a cadet at West Point.
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