History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 156

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

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After the final repulse of Urea, Morgan left his command with Lieutenant Colonel Irwin, and proceeded to the citadel of Mon- terey. Meeting Adjutant Riddle, whom he knew, but by whom he was not recognized, he said: "Adjutant, I wish to see Col- onel Orinsby." "The colonel is not in the fort; if you have any message I will deliver it to him on his return." "I wish to see the colonel personally." "Who are you? Are you an orderly from Colonel Morgan?" Morgan straightened himself and re- plied: "I am Colonel Morgan, sir." At this unexpected reply Riddle and the officers with him gave a hearty laugh; but see- ing that Morgan was offended at once with courteous hospital- ity invited him to his quarters, placed a lunch and bottle of bourbon on the table, and invited him to partake of them. Ex- hausted and hungry Morgan relished the lunch, after which Riddle handed him a small mirror, when Morgan gazed and scarcely recognized himself. He was begrimmed with powder smoke and dust; his hair was mattered and unkempt; his shirt was soiled and black, and he wore no badge of an officer on his person. He now laughed as heartily as the Kentuckians had done, and said: Now, gentlemen, I understand you."

When Morgan reached Agua Nueva he was cordially re- ceived by Taylor, who congratulated him on his victory over Urea. As "Old Zac," as the soldiers loved to call him, was about to leave for Walnut Springs, he ordered Morgar. to re-

port to Brigadier General John E. Wool, who was to remain in command of the main body of the army, to be established on the field of Buena Vista.

Morgan's regiment was without tents, and nearly without camp equipage of any kind. During the two days' rest at Sal- tillo the men had to go into quarters, and as they were exhaust- ed they were relieved from duty, but conducted themselves re- markably well. However, the military governor of that place, feeling that he might be superseded in command; reported to Wool that the soldiers of Morgan were behaving badly. When, therefore, in obedience to orders, Morgan reported to General Wool, he was received coldly. He said that he had been in- formed that Morgan's troops had been carousing at Saltillo, and asked "What have you to say to that sir?"

"General," replied Morgan, "I have great respect for you as my commanding officer, but you have not a better disciplined regiment in your command than mine. The report made to you, by whomsoever made, is not true."

"It comes from a good officer, sir," replied Wool.

"Then I have a right to his name."

"No, the report is official, and it will be well if you will give your officers to understand that they are under an officer who will not tolerate abuses."

Morgan received written orders to go into camp at "The Narrows," immediately in front of the Buena Vista, and to thoroughly police the ground which was still littered with the bodies of mules, horses, and some unburied Mexicans. He was informed that the day after the morrow the whole army would go into camp at Buena Vista, and received written orders not to allow any officer or soldier to pass "The Narrows," in ad- vance of the column without a written pass from Wool's head- quarters. This order was intended for the volunteers; as it turned out, it caught the regulars.

It is nineteen miles from the Aqua Nueva to the Narrows. At dawn the next morning, with a few wagons laden with tarpaulins and poles, instead of tents, eight companies of the Second Ohio, under Morgan -- two having been left with Wool at the pass of the Rinconada-took the lines of march for the Narrows. Ar- rived there, Morgan told his men what had taken place between himself and Wool; that they were sent to police that ground, as a punishment for an offence they had not committed. Al- though they had just marched nineteen miles, he told them to redeem their reputation by a thorough police of the ground upon which they were to camp before sun-down. The men sprang cheerfully to work; every vestige of the battle, save the blood stains on the rocks, was removed; and the sinks were all dug and arranged before sunset.

The army of Wool was to come down the next morning. The officer of the day and the officers of the guard were instructed not to allow any officer or soldier to pass the Narrows in ad- vance of the army, without a written pass from General Wool. About nine in the morning Colonel Churchill, inspector general of the army, a veteran of merit, and a rigid disciplinarian, with two or three other officers, reached the Narrows, on their way to lay out Wool's camp. They were halted by the guard, and their passes demanded. In vain they replied they had been sent forward by General Wool. The guard refused to allow them to pass, but an officer of the guard offered to conduct them to Morgan's quarters. He saw them coming, and sup- pressing the smile which sought to assert itself, met the veteran colonel with grave courtesy and requested him to alight. The inspector general declined; said he was under orders from

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General Wool to lay out his camp. Morgan regretted to detain him; but he, too, was acting under orders, which it was his duty to enforce. The officers were again invited to alight, and this time the invitation was accepted. Cigars were offered; de- clined by the veteran, but smoked by his juniors:

In about an hour, Wool arrived. He, too, was halted by the guard, who did not recognize him; his pass was demanded, and he was escorted to Morgan's tent. The old martinet had a keen sense of humor, and failed to repress a smile, on seeing the veteran and rigid Churchill held as a prisoner. Raising his cap, Morgan advanced to receive his general, when Wool said. " What does all this mean, colonel?" "These gentlemen, gen- eral, sought to go through my lines without a written pass from your headquarters, and I have arrested them and await further orders." "Well, colonel, let them proceed. You enforce or- ders rather strictly." "No exceptions were made, in the order, general, and it is my habit to obey orders as I receive them." "Well, well, we will let it pass. Your camp is nicely policed, but you must have sinks dug." "That, sir, was done on yes- terday. " I will look at them, " he said. The boys had worked like heroes, and Wool said with an approving smile, "That's very well, sir, very well. Good morning colonel." The heart of the old chieftain was won, and ever afterwards, he called the Ohio troops his regulars.

As the expiration of the term of service of the Ohio troops drew nigh, Colonel Morgan expressed a desire to reorganize his regiment. General Wool gave him a letter to General Taylor, requesting the commanding general to give Morgan a letter to the President, advising that authority might be given Morgan to reorganize his regiment.

On presenting to General Taylor Wool's letter, after reading it, Taylor turned to Major Bliss, his chief of staff, and said, " Major, give Colonel Morgan his commission as colonel of the Fifteenth infantry." The surprise of Morgan was complete, as he had received no intimation of the good fortune which awaited him.

Early in June, 1847, Colonel Morgan reached Vera Cruz to take command of his new regiment, which was composed of five companies enlisted in Ohio, three in Michigan, one in Wis- consin, and one in Iowa. The lieutenant colonel, Howard, had served twenty years as an officer of the regular army; Major Woods was promoted from a captaincy in the Sixth infantry, and Major Mills was a man of fine intelligence, great personal courage and ambition. He was killed at the very gates of the City of Mexico.

Thornton Broadhead, who was colonel of the First Michigan cavalry in the late civil war, and who died an heroic death at the second battle of Bull Run, was the adjutant of the Fifteenth infantry; and one of the color-bearers of that regiment, Mor- gan met at Chickasaw as lieutenant colonel of an Iowa regi- ment.

The yellow fever was raging at Vera Cruz; hundreds perished, but the marvel is that any one escaped its pestilential atmos- phere.

Just as the Fifteenth was about to take up the line of march for the interior, Lieutenant McCleary, of Hamilton, Ohio, who was the regimental quartermaster, rode up to Colonel Morgan and said: "Colonel, I will join you to-night, or in the morn- ing. [ must look to my vouchers." His hand was hot and dry, and before morning he was dead.

During the next day's march eight men out of two thousand died of sunstroke. A balt of two days was made at San Juan

to let the troops recuperate. From thence to Puebla the column was annoyed along the line by a rattling fire from Juarez's men, but not of sufficient consequence to narrate.

Of all the lands beneath the sun none is so grand, or so beautiful as Mexico. It has its pest spots, but one forgets them while contemplating the grandeur of her mountains, the mag- nificence of her table lands, and the luxuriant beauty of her groves of the orange, the lime, the fig, the pomegranate, and the mango. And of the cities of the world among the most beautiful are Puebla and Mexico.

The deeds of Scott outshone those of Cortez. The Spaniard attacked the Aztecs with firearms, while they had none. Cortez had cavalry, but the Aztec regarded a mounted soldier as a god. But when Scott came he met not the Aztec but the Aztec's conqueror.

Vera Cruz is defended by what is regarded as one of the most powerful fortresses in the world; but Scott captured the walled city, thus defended, with a loss of only thirty men.

Then came Cerro Gordo; its rugged crests piercing the clouds, the impassable ravine which flanked the road, making destruc. tion inevitable to those who might be driven over the precipice. The place seemed impregnable-against an ordinary army it was so. But there was Scott and Worth, and Persifer Smith, and Shields and Harney, and Duncan and Hunt, and scores of other heroes; and Cerro Gordo added one more leaf to the chaplet which crowned Scott's brow.

Pueblo became a school of training for Scott's whole army. And such rivalry, such emulation to excel, has been seldom seen. The old army did not love the new; and while the new regiments accepted the old ones as models they aspired to excel them.

There was a striking contrast between Scott and Taylor. Each merits a place on the roll of renowned captains. Scott was lofty in statue and in character. He gloried in the pomp and panolpy of war. In Mexico he never appeared on the street without epaulets, and sword, and sash, and coat buttoned to the chin.

As for Taylor, he was never so uncomfortable as when in full uniform. Scott's ten thousand men at Puebla formed a splen- did army. It was in the very heart of a country with nine million inhabitants, whose capital it proposed to capture. The army was composed of the divisions of Twiggs, Quitman, Worth, and Pillow, the whole four only equal in numbers to the division of Morgan while he held Cumberland Gap. The four divisions advanced from Puebla on the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth of August, 1847, in the order already named. On the twelfth and thirteenth a reconnoissance was made of the hill, El Penon, which commanded the main route to the city, and which was armed by three tiers of heavy guns, the base of the hill being enveloped in water. On the thirteenth a recon- noissance was also made on Mexicalcingo, which was five miles from the city. Both places were regarded as impracticable.

Our army was in position about Lake Chalco, with its head towards El Penon. The order of advance was inverted. Worth, Pillow, Quitinan, and Twiggs marched, in the order named, southward around Lake Chalco, and thus the city was turned.

When Twiggs withdrew to follow the column he was attacked. but the skirmish was light, and without any result. On the eighteenth, Captain Seth Thornton, the same who was wrecked on the coast of Florida during the Indian war, and who was captured with Hardy at the opening of our war with Mexico, was sent forward from San Augustin to aid a reconnoissance.

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He was fired upon by a masked battery, and cut nearly in two. He was the first man killed in the valley of Mexico. By repu- tation he was known to the whole army, and the news of his death created a greater shock than the fall of an hundred per- sons would have done under other circumstances. Three young officers were standing on the road on which Thornton had advanced a few minutes before, when an officer came dash- ing up, his brow knit, and his face pale. In reply to "what's the word?" answered, as he galloped on, "Seth Thornton is cut in two by a nine-pound shot !"

The next morning, August 19th, the divisions of Twiggs and Pillow were sent forward to attack the enemy at Contreras, whose right was defended by a work mounting twenty-seven guns.

In his report, Scott says :

" From an eminence I observed the church and hamlet of Con- treras, on the road leading up from the capital through the en- trenched camp to Magdalena, and seeing the stream of reen- forcements advancing by that road from the city, I ordered (through Major General Pillow) Colonel Morgan with his regi- ment, the Fifteenth, till then held in reserve by Pillow, to move forward and occupy Contreras (or Ansalda), being per- suaded, if occupied, it would arrest the reenforcements and ulti- mately decide the battle. A few minutes later Brigadier Gen- eral Shields, with his volunteer brigade, came up from San Augustine; I directed Shields to follow and sustain Morgan. These corps reached Contreras, and found Cadwalader in position, observing the formidable movement from the capitol, and much needing the timely reenforcement."

The position occupied, and the movement made by Mor- gan, was one of the operations which led to the famous court of inquiry which resulted from the charges preferred by Scott against Pillow, Worth, and Duncan.

In his report Pillow says: "About this time Brigadier Gen- eral Cadwalader's command had also crossed the plain, when some five thousand or six thousand troops of the enemy were observed moving rapidly from the direction of the capital to the field of action. Colonel Morgan, with his large and fine regi- ment which I had caused to be detached from the rear of Pierce's brigade, was now ordered to the support of Cadwalader, by direction of the general-in-chief, who had now arrived upon the field."

This portion of the enemy's forces moved steadily forward until a conflict seemed inevitable, when Colonel Morgan's regi- ment, having reached this part of the field, presented a front so formidable as to induce the enemy to change his purpose, and draw off to the right and rear of his former position.

The advance of Morgan was in a diagonal line from near the hill of observation, where Scott and Pillow had established themselves, across the pedrigal (volcanic slag) which extended to Contreras. The pedrigal was broken by abrupt chasms and nearly as sharp as glass. En route Morgan met Lieutenant Beauregard, of the engineers (confederate general in the civil war), returning from having conducted Cadwalader's brigade to its position. Beauregard returned and conducted Morgan to the right of Cadwalader. The moment Morgan formed, he ad- vanced in line to the crest of a slope in front and halted. The enemy's column also halted; sent forth an engineer officer to make a reconnoissance. He approached so near that his retreat was cut off, and he was captured, when the enemy changed direction to the right; and the fight which seemed im- minent was postponed.

The night soon closed in. It was black and tempestuous; and the rain poured down in torrents. After midnight, the brigades of Persifer Smith, Shields, Cadwalader, and Morgan's regiment, passed between the right of the enemy's line, and the fort of Contreras, which was stormed by Riley's brigade at dawn. The fighting, from the firing of the first to the last gun, occu- pied about seventeen minutes.

The enemy's loss was seven hundred killed, eight hundred and thirteen prisoners, the wounded included; twenty-seven cannon and a number of standards; while Scott's loss was only sixty.

The enemy fell back to the rivulet of Cherubusco, where another battle was fought on that afternoon, August 20, 1847. In his report Scott says, "The Ninth, Twelfth, and Fifteenth regiments under Colonel Ransom, Captain Wood, and Colonel Morgan, of Pierce's brigade; and the New York and the South Carolina volunteers, under Colonels Burnett and Butler; to- gether with the mountain howitzer, under Lieutenant Reno, of the ordinance corps, all shared in the glory of this action, our fifth victory in the same day. Several changes in cominand occurred on this field. Thus: Colonel Morgan being severely wounded, the command of the Fifteenth infantry devolved on Lieutenant Colonel Howard; Colonel Burnett receiving a like wound, the command of the New York volun- teers fell to Lieutenant Colonel Baxter; and on the fall of the lamented Colonel P. M. Butler, earlier, badly wounded but continuing to lead nobly in the hottest of the battle, the com- mand of the South Carolina volunteers devolved, first on Lieu- tenant Colonel Dickenson, who being severely wounded, as before at Vera Cruz, the regiment was ultimately under the command of Major Gladden."

In his report, Pillow says:

"I cannot distinguish between the conduct of the command- ers of regiments in my division. They all acted a distinguished part, as did their field and company officers; though the cir- cumstances of battle caused Ransom's, Morgan's, and Trous- dale's regiments, and the Twelfth infantry, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Bonham, on the nineteenth and twentieth, to be most actively engaged. In this last engage-

. ment, the gallant Colonel Morgan was wounded severely, when the command of the Fifteenth regiment devolved on Lieutenant Colonel Howard."

In reviewing the operations of that glorious day, Scott thus gives the results: "The army has in a single day, in many bat- les, as often defeated thirty-two thousand men; made about three thousand prisoners, including eight generals (two of them ex-presidents), and two hundred and five officers, killed or wounded four; thousand of all ranks, besides entire corps dis- persed and dissolved; captured thirty-seven pieces of ordnance, with a large number of small arms, and a full supply of am- munition. Our loss amounts to one thousand and fifty-three killed and wounded."

"For gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Con- treas and Cherubusco," Colonel Morgan was brevetted brigadier general in the regular army of the United States. He was then twenty-seven years of age. On his return to Ohio, at the conclusion of the war, he was welcomed back with every de- monstration of regard. A banquet was tendered him at the capital of the State, and a superb sword, with gold mounting, was presented to him by citizens of the State, and the citi- zens of Knox county gave him a splendid brace of holster revolvers with silver handles. He resumed the practice of the

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law, and was elected prosecuting attorney; as his practice rapidly increased, he declined being a candidate for a second term, and formed a partnership with James G. Chapman, under the style of Morgan & Chapman.

In 1853 President Pierce tendered General Morgan a mission in Europe, which he declined. Two years afterwards, his health broke down, and he was offered and accepted the consulate at Marseilles in the south of France.

In every respect, except as to salary, Marseilles is an agree- able consulate. The place is thoroughly cosmopolitan, and probably at no other post in the world, can the flags and cos- tumes of so many different nationalities be seen. And the general style is as much Oriental as European. From Marseilles, General Morgan was promoted to the post of minister to Portu- gal; a position at one time held by John Quincy Adams, and afterwards by James B. Clay.

Both as consul and as minister, General Morgan gave full satisfaction to his Government. He was yet in Europe when the first battle of Bull Run was fought, and returned to the United States in the fall of 1861.

Civil war was a new experience in the United States. The angry flow of words at length culminated in the clash of arms. Reason had been fruitlessly exhausted, and force was the final, and only resource left.

The people of the North were divided into three classes.

The first was revolutionary -bent upon the destruction of slavery, even at the cost of the Union. To this class belonged Phillips, Garrison, Chase, and others.

The second desired to preserve the Union, with or without slavery; and at the head of this class stood President Lincoln.

Those who composed the third class, were in favor of pre- serving the Union at any cost of men and money, but were not only opposed to making slavery an object of the war, but were opposed to arming the slaves, on the ground that the ballot would inevitably follow the use of the bayonet, and that the col- ored people were not prepared for the elective franchise. To this class belonged George W. Morgan, the subject of this sketch.

In December, 1861, General Morgan was consulted by Secre- tary Chase as to the policy of invading Texas, and as to his willingness to assume the command of a column to occupy that State. He replied in writing, and recommended the invasion. Among other reasons he gave the following:

"The occupation of Texas would prevent supplies of beef and corn from being sent into Louisiana, and the importation of munitions of war, and the exportation of cotton, by way of the Rio Grande. If the invasion were conducted in a spirit of mag- nanimity it would consolidate the Union men in Texas, and thereby weaken the rebellion."

About a week after the plan had been submitted to Secretary Chase, he received a note requesting General Morgan to call at his residence that evening. When he called he was met at the door by Mr. Chase, who congratulated him on the approval of his views as to the invasion of Texas. The Secretary told him that his fortune was in his own hands. He then asked Morgan what he thought of the propriety of organizing colored regi- ments in Texas. He replied that to do so would consolidate the south and divide the north; that the policy would be bad as a matter of strategy.

Other interviews were had without result, and General Mor- gan returned to Ohio. Shortly afterward he received the fol- lowing letter.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 16, 1862.

My Dear General:

I have learned recently that General Butler was authorized to raise troops for Texas, with the expectation of commanding the expedition, before your name was mentioned for the post by me.

"It would gratify me beyond measure if you would consent to join him as a brigadier general. I should then be confident of success. I am sure you can have the post, if you say the word.

"Yours truly, S. P. CHASE.

"General G. W. Morgan."

The civil war occupied a vast area, upon whose surface sey- eral campaigns were being conducted at the same time, but hundreds of miles apart.

Among the military points regarded as of importance was Cumberland Gap. Mr. Lincoln had, in 1861, suggested the propriety of building a railroad, connecting Lexington, Ken- tucky, with that place. East Tennessee once in the possession of a large Union army, the evacuation of Virginia would be- come inevitable. But a mountain wilderness lay between the two places, and the gap itself was regarded as impregnable, if properly supplied with military stores.

In April, 1862, General Morgan was assigned to the com- mand of the Seventh division of the army of the Ohio, com- posed of four brigades of infantry, embracing fourteen regi- ments, one battalion of cavalry, and four batteries of artillery. The brigades were commanded by Brigadier Generals Carter, Spears, Baird, and Colonel de Courcy.

During several months Carter had been in position at Cum . berland . Ford with a force inadequate for active operations against that stronghold.

When Morgan assumed command he found many of the troops threatened with scurvy. The roads had been impassa- ble, and Carter's brigade had been living on short rations of salt provisions, and wholly without fresh meat. By telegraph Morgan ordered cattle to be driven up from the blue grass re- gion twice a week. As there was no forage they were at once slaughtered, and fresh beef was supplied to the troops. The companies forming the different regiments were supplied with arms of different calibres, and there was but one battery, and it was composed of only four guns. A redistribution of arms was ordered; new arms were brought forward, and each regi- ment was supplied guns of the same calibre.

Two reconnoissances-one secret, one armed-were made, and Morgan became satisfied that Cumberland Gap could not be taken by an attack in front.

Several times the enemy sent spies into his lines, and instead of shooting them Morgan utilized them to his own purposes. One of them pretended to be a zealous Union man, dined with Morgan, who afforded him an opportunity of overhearing a conversation carried on in an adjoining tent in regard to his plans. The spy learned that a column of fifty thousand men was shortly to be concentrated at Cumberland ford, when the Gap was at once to be attacked in front, and turned by heavy columns by way of Rogers and Big Creek Gaps. This fable was carried to Knoxville, and laughed at. A heavily laden wagon had never gone over Rogers Gip, and the defiles lending to the gap at Big creek were heavily blockaded for eighteen miles.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 156

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096