USA > Ohio > The Twelfth Ohio cavalry; a record of its organization, and services in the war of the rebellion, together with a complete roster of the regiment > Part 4
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. with full haversacks, again set out in pursuit of Morgan.
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CHAPTER V.
CYNTHIANA : THE FINAL DEFEAT OF MORGAN IN KENTUCKY.
IN reorganizing his command for the pursuit, Gen. Bur- . bridge left behind in command of Lexington Colonel Ratliff, of the 12th Ohio, who was suffering severely from a hurt re- ceived in. the action at Mount Sterling. There were left behind in the city, perhaps a thousand soldiers, a heterogeneous mob of stragglers from a dozen different regiments, convalescents from the hospitals, colored troops from Fort Clay, (a large earth- work outside the city, which had maintained a successful de- fense during the stay of Morgan in Lexington) and a number of teamsters and recruits. This force Colonel Ratliff at once col- lected, and by strenuous exertions a picket was placed on each of the main roads leading into the city. Lexington was electric with fear, and for a whole week afterward, the appearance of a gray clad negro coming toward the town was sufficient to stam pede a picket post and throw the city into a panic. With all the facilities which would apparently have been at the command of General Burbridge for ascertaining the whereabouts of his enemy, that task proved one of great vexation and difficulty. Morgan had left Lexington just at dawn, and the few who knew what road he had taken were very careful not to tell what they knew. Lexington was full of rebel sympathizers, many recruits had joined the standard of the great raider the day before, and there were in the city hundreds of people interested in keeping Burbridge off from his track. The air was full of rumors that the enemy had gone southward toward Camp Nelson ; others
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asserted that he had gone westward; others that he had re- treated via Richmond to the mountains. But from the mass of rumor a little truth was finally gleaned, and at midnight of the day on which Burbridge had reached Lexington, his command, fully remounted, thoroughly supplied with food and ammuni- tion, and reinforced by the 7th Ohio and 10th Michigan Cav- alry Regiments, under Col. Garrard, which had come up from Nicholasville to join in the pursuit, left Lexington by the Paris road, marched sharply all night, and galloped into Paris just at dawn. Here, again, Burbridge was in doubt as to where he should find his foe. A few of Morgan's troopers had been seen in Paris and at the farms adjacent to the town, but of the loca- tion or purposes of the main force, nothing could for a time be learned. The division lay on its arms during the day, resting from the extraordinary work of the preceding week, Colonel Garrard of the Seventh Ohio Cavalry being sent out with his regiment to make the best reconnoisance that circumstances would permit. Shortly after noon the booming of cannon was heard to the southward, and it was at once surmised that Mor- gan with his main force had made a detour during the previous night to the west of Lexington, and passing southward, had at- tacked Camp Nelson. Under this impression General Bur- bridge narrowly escaped the fatal error of setting out with his division for a gallop of thirty-five miles to Camp Nelson. It was finally, however, determined to await the result of the recon- noisance by Colonel Garrard, and here again good fortune fa- vored the Federals, for the cannonading had been only a few shots fired by Fort Clay at Lexington, to repulse a party of ne- groes coming into the city by the Georgetown road, and whom the too zealous pickets had mistaken at broad noon-day, for the dreaded soldiers of Morgan. Had Burbridge returned, as at first proposed, Morgan would have gathered his recruits and his horses. and in all probability would have escaped from the State, crippled only by his defeat at Mount Sterling. But for- tune again ruled better. Late in the afternoon Colonel Garrard .
- returned from his scout, and from his report and information re- ceived from trusty negroes, it was found that the main body of
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the enemy was certainly still to the northward, and concentrat- ing in the neighborhood of Cynthiana, a railroad station on the Licking River, thirteen miles north of Paris. Just after dusk the bugles again blew to horse, the tired troopers were again roused from what they had hoped would prove an uninterrupted night's slumber, and, cheered by the good wishes of the Par- isians, the column set out hopefully, to finish up the work so auspiciously begun at Mount Sterling. The neighborhood of Cynthiana was reached before midnight, and it was ascertained beyond doubt that Morgan with his whole force occupied the village, and that he had burned the main business portion of the town as an act of personal malice toward certain Union cit- izens of the place. A night attack is always a hazardous under- taking, and as the object was now not merely to defeat Morgan but to capture as large a part of his force as possible, Burbridge halted to wait for daylight. Another full-dress bivouac ensued, the men tethering their horses to their persons, and lying down, belted and equipped, to sleep. The dawn came all too soon, ushering in Sunday; the 12th of June, one of those glorious early summer days, which form bright spots even amid the dark mem- ories of war. The bivouac was soon broken, and the column proceeded cautiously forward, soon encountering the rebel pickets, who fired briskly and seemed for a moment inclined to test the question of superiority then and there.
Before describing the engagement that ensued, a brief sketch of Cynthiana and its chiet topographical features will be essen- tial. The town, covering perhaps half a square mile of land, lies on the east bank of the Licking river, which flows north- ward from the central portion of the State, and joins the Ohio at Covington. A curve of the river envelopes the town on nearly three sides, the Central Kentucky Railroad passing through the place, and forming the chord of the arc formed by the river. 'Just opposite the centre of the village a bridge crosses the stream, through which passes the line of the main pike leading westward. Two other important roads converge at Cynthiana, the one from Paris, by which Burbridge was advancing in a
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northerly direction, and the Augusta road, leading along the east bank of the river in a northeasterly course.
Morgan himself was at a house in the village ; his command mainly occupied a line of high hills south of the town, and to the right of the road by which Burbridge was advancing. His line, however, extended across the road, and as the pickets were driven in and the Federal cavalry came nearer, made a considerably imposing display. With the position of the rebels in mind, we return to the head of the Union column. The mo- ment the pickets were dislodged the division was thrown into line. Colonel Garrard, with the Seventh Ohio and Tenth Michigan Cavalry Regiments, took the left of the pike, formed line promptly, dismounted his men and attacked with earnest- ness. The position of the enemy's main force being impractica- ble for cavalry, the remainder of the column was held for a few minutes in reserve, then as Garrard began to push the enemy over the hills, the Twelfth Ohio and Eleventh Michigan regi- ments were swung out on the right of the road and ordered to charge. The ground was admirably adapted for such a ma- nœuver, and the spectacle, as the two regiments swept forward at the gallop through the waving corn, with guidons and sabres flashing in the morning sunshine, was magnificent. Rapidly they bore down upon the town, the thin rebel line making no resistance ; and the force opposing Garrard, seeing itself about to be cut off by this flanking movement, broke and joined in a pell mell rush for the bridge and for the Augusta road already described as leading in a northeasterly direction from the cen- ter of the town. From the first it had appeared to be Morgan's aim to fight only long enough to gain time for his recruits and his plunder to escape; but the impetuosity of the attack had . cheated him of even this result. Part of his force escaped by the ,Augusta road; but soon the Eleventh Michigan, the extreme right of Burbridge's line, swung round and closed that loop- hole. Others, including Morgan himself, reached the bridge, and crossed to the western bank ; and still others, cut off at both the former avenues of escape, swam the river at the northern
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margin of the village, and joined those who had passed over by the bridge. It was toward the central point, the place where so many had swam the stream, that the Twelfth Ohio first halted after its charge through the corn-fields into the town. Reaching the river bank the advance squadron saw, a number of hats floating in the water, and correctly concluded that a number of the enemy had been drowned in attempting to cross. The first impulse was of course to follow. Major Herrick, com- manding the first battalion of the Twelfth, looked around an in- stant for Lieutenant Colonel Bentley, but that officer was mo- mentarily absent, searching as it proved, for the bridge. Find- ing himself in command of the regiment, the Major in- stantly ordered the men to ford the stream, and, taking the lead, spurred for the opposite shore. The stream was deep and wide, but the horses swam without accident. Just as the cen- tre files of the leading squadron had taken the water, Colonel Bentley arrived, and seeing at a glance the difficulties of the crossing, wheeled the remainder of the regiment and galloped up through the town to the bridge. Major Herrick, upon gain- ing the opposite bank, found himself confronted at not more than fifty rods distance, by what proved to be the cavalry es- cort of Morgan, some three or four hundred in number, drawn up in line, apparently waiting for the arrival of such remaining Confederates as had escaped across the Licking. Finding him- self between this force and the river, and feeling confident that the rebel body guard was not just then inclined to be stub- born, the Major waited until the last of his fifteen men were scrambling up the bank, and while they were yet one by one emerging into plain view of his foe, making the best of a bad sit- uation, he shouted the order to "charge." The result sustained his prediction : the four hundred beaten troopers broke before the fifteen victors, and in the confusion the plucky little Major ' cornered six or seven in a bend of the river, and gathered them `as his share in the trophies of the fight. By this time the main part of the regiment had made the circuit, crossed the bridge, and now came galloping down the west bank to the scene of
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Major Herrick's exploit. It is probable that the approach of the main body had its weight in making the victory of the Major and his fifteen so easy and decisive. Major Herrick now joined Colonel Bentley, who was in command of the two battalions which had crossed the bridge, and they, with Lieutenant Colo- nel Miner's Seventh Ohio Cavalry, continued the pursuit several miles ; but the horses of the rebels were fresh and spirited, and the chase had no other result than the capture of a few strag- glers. Finding it impossible to overtake the main force of the rebels, the pursuers returned to Cynthiana.
It was now evident that the main work of the campaign was done. Morgan's division was defeated and dispersed. Besides the killed and wounded, nearly a third of his entire command had been captured. All that remained for his scattered raiders would be to make their way as best they might, back through the mountains to Virginia, and all that remained for Burbridge was to so distribute his cavalry as to intercept as many of the returning stragglers as possible. His division was therefore divided and sent by various roads to scout through the north- ern and eastern districts of the State, covering as closely as pos- sible all paths of escape across the Big Sandy. The route of the Twelfth Ohio lay to the southeast, through Carlisle, Nich- olas county ; thence through Bath county to Winchester, and on through Richmond to Irvine, in Estill county. Here the main part of the regiment halted, but a heavy detail of men, in- cluding those whose horses were in the best condition, went eighty miles further into the mountains, returning after some days of very rough scouting, almost empty-handed. In the desultory work that followed the battle of Cynthiana, the ad- vantage was all on the side of the enemy. "They were admira- bly mounted, knew the country thoroughly, and, having no. other object than escape, could choose their own path and elude their pursuers at every step. Utterly worn out with a full fort- night in the saddle almost without food or sleep, the Twelfth returned by easy marches to Lexington, and took up its old camp on the fair grounds. The State was now comparitively
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secure for a time, and the troops who had marched so far and done so well whatever fighting there was to do, were set to the pleasanter duty of preparing for the autumn campaign. Before leaving this part of the narrative it will be proper to notice for a moment the thoroughness with which this first campaign of the Twelfth Ohio accomplished the results aimed at. Basil Duke, the real soldier of Morgan's command, says in his biog- raphy of Morgan, "We lost at Mount Sterling fourteen com- missioned officers killed." What the rebel lo'ss in enlisted men may have been, can be approximately inferred from the above statement. Assuming the ratio to be at least thirty enlisted men to one officer, the Confederate dead at Mount Sterling could not have fallen short of two to three hundred.
The same writer referring to the action at Cynthiana, says : "Morgan's loss at Cynthiana was very heavy, and he was com- pelled to march instantly back to Virginia." In the volume en- titled " Morgan and his Captors," published by Rev. T. Senour in 1865, we find the following paragraph :
" The total number who escaped with Morgan, according to reliable estimates, did not exceed seven hundred ; the remainder were killed, wounded, prisoners, or skulking to find a more fa- vorable opportunity for escape. Morgan's prestige was gone, and from this time he sinks out of sight as the worst whipped rebel general ever sent on a raiding expedition."
To have come into Kentucky with three thousand picked men, and to have left it a fugitive, with but seven hundred de- moralized followers, was certainly an overwhelming and irre- mnediable defeat. The magnitude and importance of the cam- paign cannot be better exhibited than by the two following dispatches from Washington, sent immediately upon the announcement of the victories of the 9th and 12th of June :
"WASHINGTON, JUNE 14, IS64. ",To General Burbridge :
"Have just received your dispatch of action at Cynthiana. Please accept my con- gratulations and thanks for yourself and command.
" A. LINCOLN." [signed ]
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" WASHINGTON, JUNE 14, 1864.
" To General Burbridge :.
" Please accept for yourself and the officers and soldiers of your gallant command, the thanks of this Department for the brave and successful operations of the last six days in Kentucky-achievements of valor, energy and success that will be regarded with admira- tion by all loyal people of the United States.
[signed]
"E. M. STANTON."
THE DETACHED SERVICE OF SQUADRON "A."
During the summer and part of the autumn of 1864, squadron "A," under Captain Dubois, was on detached duty, and has, therefore, a story of its own not identical with that of the regiment. On the 6th of May, Captain Dubois was detailed, with his squadron, to escort a large drove of beef cattle from Lexington to Nashville. After a trip of considerable difficulty they reached Nashville with their charge on the 22d day of May and, returning without delay, arrived at Lexington on the Ist of June, to find that the regiment, with the remainder of Burbridge's mounted troops, had left a few days before on its first raid into Virginia.
Reporting to the post commander, Colonel Cooper, Captain Dubois was ordered to remain at Lexington. In a few days, .. rumors of Morgan's invasion began to thicken. Lexington, with all its vast stores, was almost defenceless, Company " A," and a battalion of negro artillery in Fort Clay, being the only troops there. On the 8th of June, the day on which Morgan captured Mount Sterling, Company "A" was ordered to make a reconnoisance towards Winchester. About nine miles out, at Pine Grove, the squadron encountered the advance of a regiment of Morgan's men. Hastily forming line, they delivered a few volleys and retired into Lexington. In this skirmish the rebels lost several killed and wounded. among the former a Captain Cooper, a well-known resident of Lexington, whose body was brought into the city the following day. During the night, Company "A" picketed the various roads and had various skirmishes with the enemy. The pickets on the Winchester Pike were captured, but the men all escaped before morning and rejoined their squadron. . About midnight, Capt. Du Bois succeeded in withdrawing his men from the city to the
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vicinity of Fort Clay, under the protection of whose guns they rested until morning. The next day the garrison of the fort, supported by the squadron, made several sorties, and annoyed the marauders considerably. Upon the 10th of June, General Burbridge and his command reached Lexington, and Company "A" was then attached to Colonel J. M. Brown's brigade, and with it shared the march to Cynthiana and the pursuit of Mor- gan. Many of Morgan's men remained in Kentucky after their leader returned to Virginia, and for several months they com- mitted various petty depredations. Champ Ferguson, Captain Alexander, and Jerome Clark, (popularly known as. "Sue Mundy," and believed by many to be a woman,) were the most notorious and troublesome of these guerilla chieftains.
General Burbridge determined to drive them from Ken- tucky, or exterminate them. Accordingly, he scattered his troops over the State, and issued some stringent general orders on the subject of guerillas. Captain DuBois, with his squadron, was sent to Lebanon on the 26th of June, and for several weeks remained in command of that post. On the 22d of July, a " reliable contraband" came into camp and reported that Capt. Alexander and Lieutenant "Sue Mundy" were near Sulphur Springs, with forty men, lying in wait to capture a railroad train.
Captain DuBois immediately set out with twenty-five or thirty men, for the point designated ; but no enemy could be found. After scouring the country thoroughly for half a day, the Captain concluded he had been hoaxed, and was about to return to Lebanon. Coming to a fine spring he dismounted his men for a short rest. Corporal Jonathan Songer and three men were sent out a short distance as a picket, and the balance of the men lay down on the ground. Suddenly, several shots were heard, and the pickets came in on a gallop, closely fol- lowed by Captain Alexander and his rebel squad. The attack was so sudden that there was almost a stampede ; but a few well-directed shots emptied several rebel saddles, Capt. Alexan- der himself falling with a carbine shot through his head, and a pistol ball in his breast. "Sue Mundy" then ordered a retreat.
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In an instant Company "A" was in saddle, and followed them for five or six miles. The only casualty in Captain Du Bois' detachment was that of Corporal Songer, badly wounded.
In this engagement a little boy, Wayland Halderman, of Cincinnati, especially distinguisned himself. He was but twelve years of age, had run away from home, and was then acting as Captain's "orderly." He was the only one mounted when the attack began, fired the first shot, and, having a good horse, was one of the foremost of the pursuers. On the 10th of August squadrons "A" and "M" were ordered to Somerset to look after Champ Ferguson. August 20th they came in sight of the noted guerilla and his command and followed them all day and a part of the night, but to no purpose. In crossing a ford of the Cumberland, near Burnside Point, two men of Company "A," Andrew and David Collins, were drowned. The company rejoined the Regiment on the 14th of September, and partici- pated in the two Saltville raids elsewhere described.
. In January, 1865, Company "A" was again detached for duty at Lexington. February 2d Sergeant Andrews was sent out with fifteen men to scout for guerillas. Near Versailles he 'learned that "Sue Mundy" and forty-five men had just been ferried over the Kentucky river. Not having men enough to make success sure, the Sergeant started to return to Lexington and report .. On his way he met Lieutenant Harvey and ten men from Company "H." The Lieutenant assuming command of the squad, ordered a gallop to the ferry. Crossing over, they surprised "Sue" and his men at a farm house. One volley from the Spencer carbines put the thieves to flight. "Sue" himself was mounted on one of Harper's celebrated race" horses, which he had stolen a short time before. In the first fire, however, the horse was wounded, and soon began to lag behind. Perceiving this, Sergeant Gillis, James Riddle, William Riddle and J. Shull dashed on, firing as they went. William Riddle was the first to reach him, but having no load in his carbine, he clubbed it and struck a furious blow, which "Sue" dodged, and as a consequence unhorsed Riddle. The
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loose horse galloped on ahead of the guerilla chieftain, and at this instant a shot from James Riddle's carbine struck "Sue's" noble stallion in the head and felled him. Quick as a flash, however, "Mundy" disengaged himself, mounted the loose horse, and thus escaped.
Parenthically, we might remark that after the close of the war, "Sue Mundy" was tried for his many cold-blooded mur- ders and executed at Louisville. About the same time Champ Ferguson paid the penalty of his crimes at Nashville.
About the first of March Company "A" returned to the Regiment, and from that time shared its experiences until the close of the war.
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CHAPTER VI.
1
WINCHESTER, RICHMOND AND THE CUMBERLAND RIVER.
AFTER a few pleasant days in camp, there came a wild ru- mor that Morgan had gathered his dispersed forces in south- western Virginia, and, reinforced by a full cavalry division from Wheeler, was again crossing Pound Gap for a second raid into Kentucky. On the night of July 17th, the Twelfth Ohio Cav- alry received orders to march instantly to Winchester and hold the place against all comers. Both men and horses were thor- oughly rested and anxious for another campaign, for the troop- ers of the Twelfth had already felt that nameless fascination which belongs to the mounted service, and which makes a vet- eran cavalryman the most adventurous and restless of men. Camp was immediately broken, and the march to Winchester accomplished in five hours.
Reaching the town shortly after midnight, the Regiment bivouacked in an open field south of the village, and on the day following took up a well chosen position on a wooded ridge, a mile east of the place, and covering all approaches from Vir- ginia. Here, being without tents or camp equipage of any kind, the regiment relapsed into an easy Arab sort of life, maintain- ing strong, watchful outposts, but omitting most of the formali- ties of camp duty. Two weeks wore on and Morgan did not 'come ; he had invaded Kentucky once that summer to his cost, and he was willing to leave his native city to Yankee occupa- tion. On the 26th of July the Twelfth Cavalry was ordered to Richmond, a pleasant and important county seat twenty-six
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miles southeast ot Lexington, on the main road through Cum- berland Gap into Tennessee. Guerillas had appeared in that region, and it was deemed important that this point be made secure-all the more so since it became just then apparent that Forrest, with a large body of Confederate cavalry was operat- ing along the line of middle Tennessee, with a very possible de- sign of menacing Central Kentucky. Gladly the regiment abandoned its bivouac at Winchester and marched via Boonville on the Kentucky river, to Richmond, where it established a permanent camp in a beautiful grove just outside the limits of the town. Here for the first time in its history, the Twelfth Cavalry experienced something of what came to be technically known during the war as "soft soldiering." The tents and other equipage of the regiment had come up, the season was perfect, the supplies ample and excellent, the duty light, the trees overhead cool and shady, the towns-people hospitable and gener- ous, and what was better than all else, the regiment was alone in the enjoyment of its pleasant surroundings. Not another sol- dier, Union or rebel, was nearer us than Lexington ; and had the war ended then and there, it may be doubted whether the Twelfth would have cheered the return of Peace. Our broken and disorganized regimental band (dispersed at Mount Sterling the day before the return of the division,) was again assembled, their battered instruments straightened out, when that was pos- sible, and new ones purchased to replace the lost or hopelessly damaged, and from day to day the piping and drumming that came from a deep ravine to the rear of the camp, it not harmo- nious, was at lest zealous and well intended. Serenades were planned and executed ; the shoulder-straps of the Twelfth figured largely at tea tables and evening receptions, and for. a month the ladies of Richmond had the entire commissioned strength ot the regiment wholly to themselves. To make the happiness of that month complete, a generous citizen presented the camp with a large store-house of ice, and the "boys" washed down their beans and "soft bread" with iced pond water as happily as prince or general cver bathed his turbot in Hock or Veure Clicquot.
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