USA > Rhode Island > Memoirs of Rhode Island officers who were engaged in the service of their country during the great rebellion of the South. Illustrated with thirty-four portraits > Part 6
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The commander of the department had already turned his attention to the civil affairs of his administration. Domestic enemies were. busy in attempting to thwart the plans of the government, to prevent enlistments of
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troops, and to give "aid and comfort" to the public enemy, and in defaming the character of the commanding general. For the latter, General Burnside did not care. But he would not endure the former, and on the 13th of April, he issued general order number thirty-eight, for the purpose of counteracting the evil designs of disloyal persons in his department. He declared that the habit of expressing sympathy for the enemy should not be allowed, and that all offenders would be arrested and tried without unnecessary delay. "It must be distinctly understood," he said, "that treason, expressed or implied, will not be tolerated in this department." Foremost among the public speakers that were employed in the treasonable business of embarrassing the government in the state of Ohio, was Clement L. Vallandigham, who, on more than one occasion, had seen fit to declaim against the government, and to defy its power. In a speech delivered at Mount Vernon, on or about the Ist of May, he was more than usually violent. General Burnside imme- diately ordered his arrest, and the prisoner, taken at Dayton on the 4th, was brought to Cincinnati, tried by military commission on the 6th, convicted of uttering disloyal sentiments and opinions, by which he furnished aid and comfort to those in arms against the government, and sentenced to imprison- ment during the continuance of the war. The President, however, commuted his sentence to banishment beyond our lines. Mr. Vallandigham was carried to Tennessee, and delivered into the hands of the rebel authorities on the 25th. But they did not desire his presence, and he was finally sent out of the country. He found an asylum in Canada, and remained there for some months, when he was quietly permitted to return to his home. During his trial, his friends endeavored to procure his release on a writ of habeas corpus, before Judge Leavitt, of the Circuit Court of the United States. But the Judge wisely declined to issue the writ. The democratic party also nomi- nated him for governor of Ohio in the autumn election. The people of Ohio indignantly repudiated him, defeating him by an immense majority. Other attempts to make the condemned traitor a martyr to free speech utterly failed, and the stigma, which the action of General Burnside has affixed to his name, is indelible. It was a bold deed. But the exigency required it. and General Burnside was not the man to avoid the performance of duty. Some persons naturally felt that he was carrying matters too far. But the event has fully justified his action, and hushed all cavil. The effect of the proceeding itself, in the department, was highly beneficial, and general order number thirty-eight, with its results, remains as a monument of General
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Burnside's courage, sagacity and patriotism. The fate of Mr. Vallandigham was a significant and serious warning to those sympathizers with the rebellion who thought to pursue their schemes with impunity. Their loud-mouthed treason suddenly became silent, and sank back abashed and impotent. The authority of the government was more firmly established than ever through- out the entire northwest.
The arrest and trial of Mr. Vallandigham caused great excitement among the press of the whole country. Many journals supported, many condemned the action of General Burnside. The discussion, in the main, was temperate, and the whole subject was thoroughly examined. Some disloyal papers were particularly violent, severe and denunciatory. Foremost among these, were the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Chicago Times, and the New York World-all of which had long pursued a course which was aiding the rebellions cause. The first of these was placed under partial censorship. The second was suppressed on the 1st of June, and a military guard was placed in possession of the office. The circulation of the third was prohibited within the department. The government, however, disapproved of this salutary order, and the papers in question were allowed once more to circulate throughout the west. But the lesson which had been taught was not lost, and a more moderate tone was thenceforward perceptible in their criticisms. The stigma of treason could not be removed, and the public sentiment of the country uttered its approval of General Burnside's course.
During the month of May, the rebels attempted a renewal of their pre- datory raids into Kentucky, and General Burnside, in his civil troubles, did not neglect any enterprise calculated to counteract and defeat their schemes of plunder. He begged earnestly for the division of the Ninth Corps which, under General Getty, had been left at the east. But his request was denied, and, with the small force under his command in Kentucky, he was compelled, not only to keep off the raiders, but also to preserve intact the communica- tions of General Rosecrans's army in Tennessee, with his own and his base at Louisville. Both these objects were happily accomplished. Raids under Wheeler, Morgan, Cluke, and Pegram were effectually thwarted, and not for a day was General Rosecrans embarrassed by an interruption of his long line of communication.
The summer now came on. It was to be the time for active operations. The War Department was urging General Rosecrans to do something to relieve General Grant, then moving against Vicksburg, of the pressure which
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General Bragg might bring to bear upon him. General Burnside was also anxious to march upon East Tennessee, and deliver the loyal people there from the eruclties of rebel rule. He had completed his preparations by the last of May, and left Cincinnati, to take the field, on the 2d of June, hoping, with his veterans of the Ninth Corps, to enter the valley of the Holston and do his work there with effect. But on the eve of his departure, he received a despatch front General Halleck, inquiring if any troops could be spared from the department of the Ohio to assist General Grant. On the 3d of June, while General Burnside was at Lexington, the order came to reënforce General Grant with eight thousand men. It was obeyed on the instant, and on the 7th, the Ninth Corps, under General Parke, was put en route for Vieks- burg. General Burnside desired to accompany his command, but the Secre- tary of War would not permit. For this promptitude and energy, the Presi- dent telegraphed his most cordial thanks. The Ninth Corps arrived at General Grant's lines on the 14th, and was immediately employed in pro- tecting the besieging forces from any hostile demonstrations in their rear. With other troops, it kept General Johnston at bay, forced him back and drove him beyond Jackson, and then returned to Vicksburg. Its presence assured the successful termination of a siege which, on the 4th of July, gave back to the Union the control of the Mississippi. General Burnside was left with but eight or ten thousand to hold the lines of his department in front. The pendency of the draft caused considerable trouble among the disaffected people of the states north of the Ohio, and it required the greatest vigilance of the commanding general to counteract their disloyal and, in some instances, riotous schemes. But, amid all embarrassments, the department was held secure, good order prevailed, and a rebel raid, that attempted the invasion of Indiana, brought to defeat. Our own forces, under Colonel Sanders, made counter-raids, destroyed the railroad and bridges near Knoxsville, Strawberry Plains and Mossy Creek, and captured ten guns, one thousand stand of arms, and five hundred prisoners.
The rebels, on their part, were not idle. They songht to take advantage of the comparatively defenceless condition of the department, and prepared to make a raid upon our own lines and through our territory, of such magni- tude as to eclipse all former efforts of that kind. Their plan now was to force our lines in central Kentucky, cross the Ohio, plunder the southern counties of Indiana and Ohio, and escape into West Virginia, or march through Pennsylvania, and there join General Lee, who was then invading
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that state, after defeating General Hooker, at Chancellorsville. It was a daring plan, and its execution was entrusted to General John H. Morgan, who had proved himself a bold and enterprising partisan. Such a raid had doubtless been preparing for some time. General Halleek had repeatedly telegraphed to General Burnside, during the month of June, that Kentucky was safe, and that the time was ripe for a movement into East Tennessee. As late as the 6th of July, the General-in-chief stated that there was "no need of keeping large forces in Kentucky." It is possible that General Burnside, partially misled by the erroneous judgment of his superior officer, may have thought his lines safer than they really were. The appearance of Morgan, with his cavalry, effectually dispelled any such fallacious idea, and measures were immediately taken to check the advance of the raiders and prevent his retreat. The movement of the enemy seems to have been, in some degree, a surprise of our officers in Kentucky, and Morgan succeeded at first in eluding his pursuers. He was overtaken in the end, and his com- mand was almost entirely captured or destroyed.
The raid commenced by an attack upon our lines in the neighborhood of Marrowbone, Kentucky, on the 3d day of July. Morgan crossed the Cumberland river, at Burkesville and in its neighborhood, with a force of five thousand men, well mounted, armed, equipped, and prepared with every thing requisite for a long expedition. On the 4th, he was handsomely checked at Green River Bridge, by Colonel Orlando II. Moore, with five companies of the twenty-fifth Michigan regiment, who gallantly contested the passage of the river, and repulsed the enemy, inflicting upon him a loss of over two hundred killed and wounded. On the 5th, Morgan was at Lebanon, where he captured the garrison of that place, after a spirited contest. Threatening Louisville, Columbia, and other points, he was compelled by the approach of Generals Hobson, Judah, and Shackleford, to concentrate his forces, when he made a bold push for the Ohio, by way of Bardstown. On the 8th, he struck the river at Brandenburg, and finding two steamers at the landing, he used them for transporting his forces across into Indiana, and then destroyed them. Our troops reached the river bank in pursuit, just in time to witness the spectacle of the burning boats, and to hear the derisive shouts of triumph from the enemy upon the opposite shore.
The vigor with which the raid had been condneted thus far, seemed to be more conspicuous than the energy of the pursuit. General Burnside was some- what disappointed by the delays which had occurred in Kentucky, and had
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allowed Morgan to cross the Ohio. But it was no time to indulge in regrets. He immediately sent down some transports, and on the 9th, our troops were crossed into Indiana. When Morgan had fairly got his command over, it seemed as though he had the country before him, and that he could plunder at will. IIe did, indeed, commit many outrages upon friend and foe alike. He burnt the town of Salem. He even made a demonstration towards Indianapolis, and at the outset created somewhat of a panic by his sudden appearance. But he soon found that a quick eye was upon all his movements, and that the most that now he could do was to escape. Bold at first, he penetrated into Ohio, crossing the boundary on the 13th, with our- cavalry but three or four hours behind him. Such dispositions were made at Hamil- ton and Cincinnati as to ensure the safety of those cities; the militia turned out; General Judah kept, with one column, between Morgan and the river, but a few hours in the rear, while Generals Shackleford and Hobson pursued the flying invaders further from the river bank ; a division of gun-boats, under Lieutenant-Commander LeRoy Fitch, steamed up the river on the flank of the rebels ; fresh horses and men were sent up from Cincinnati, and landed at different points for reenforcements.
Thus harassed, Morgan fled through southern Ohio. He tried to make for the river, first by way of Batavia, but was there foiled and driven back. He was next brought to bay at Chester, on the 19th, having been turned back from Buffington Island by the gun-boats, leaving much of his plunder strewed along the road and the river bank. Generals Shackleford and Judah, closing up, delivered battle with great energy and courage, and to such effect that, by noon, seven hundred of the raiding party, with horses, arms, equipments and plunder, had surrendered to our forces. But the guerilla chief himself had managed to escape. Another fight took place, later in the day, at a point fifteen miles further on, and more prisoners were taken. During the night, the main body of the rebels managed to escape, and attempted to reach the Ohio, near Eight Mile Island. At three o'clock on the next afternoon, General Shackleford overtook the fugitives upon a high bluff, near the river, and demanded an unconditional surrender, allowing forty minutes for consultation. During the interval, Morgan, with six hundred men, deserted his command, the remainder of which, to the number of twelve hundred officers and men, was captured.
General Shackleford then called for volunteers who "would stay in the saddle without eating and drinking" until Morgan was taken. One thousand
8
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sprang forward at the call, but only four hundred horses were serviceable, and that number of men were accepted. On the 21st, they started afresh for the pursuit. On the 24th, they overtook the rear of the rebels, and picked up, in the course of that and the two subsequent days, two hundred and thirty prisoners, in straggling parties. On the 27th, near New Lisbon, they had the satisfaction of taking Morgan himself and the remnant of his party-four hundred in number. The partisan pretended to have surren- dered to a militia officer, who is said to have given him his parole. But General Shackleford soon found that the story was a fabrication, and Morgan and his officers were immediately sent to Cincinnati.
By order of General Halleck, the captured men and officers were soon afterwards placed in close confinement in the penitentiaries of Ohio. Thus disgracefully and disastrously to the rebel cause, did this raid come to an end. Too much praise cannot be given to Generals Shackleford, Judah and Hobson, and their officers and men, for their unflagging pursuit. The governors of Indiana and Ohio, and the loyal people of those states, did all that could be done on their part. But the guiding mind of the pursuit was the commander of the department, who, by sending timely information, by the disposition of the militia and the pursuing columns, by forwarding reinforcements of fresh horses and men, and pushing on the pursuers, gave such direction to the enterprise as to ensure its complete success. Very few of the raiders escaped into the rebel lines again, and most of their plunder was recaptured.
VI.
THE DELIVERANCE OF EAST TENNESSEE.
During the time of Morgan's raid and its discomfiture, General Burnside had been suffering severely from illness. But that and the embarrassments necessarily connected at this period with the administration of his depart- ment, had not prevented the active preparations which had been making for the campaign into East Tennessee. The twenty-third corps-of which men- tion has already been made-had been organized, and General Hartsuff was placed in command. The return of the Ninth Corps had been promised as soon as the siege of Vicksburg had been successfully brought to an end.
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General Burnside was fully alive to the importance of the enterprise, and had already made one or two attempts to commence his operations in that direction. The time seemed now favorable for renewing his endeavors. He wished to deliver the long-oppressed citizens of Tennessee. He was also desirous of cutting the great rebel line of communication between the east and the west, of holding the country through which it passed, and of thus bisecting that portion of the "Confederacy" which lay east of the Mississippi river. The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad was the main artery of the rebellious forces, affording an easy and interior line between the grand army under General Lee in the east, and that under. General Bragg in the west. In the rear of the railroad were the comparatively prosperous communities in the interior of the gulf states and the Carolinas, as yet untouched by the ravages of war. The valley of East Tennessee itself, was situated between ranges of lofty mountains, which made it easily defensible. It was the abode of a people intensely loyal to the government of the United States. But now the heel of the oppressor was upon their necks, and by sad experience of hardship, outrage, torture, and the most painful deaths, they had learned that even the tender mercies of the tyrant were cruel. The occupation of such a . territory would be a damaging blow to the rebellious cause, second only to the opening of the Mississippi. The loyal and long-suffering people demanded from the beneficence of the government protection against their oppressors.
The work of opening this region to the arms of the Union devolved upon Generals Rosecrans and Burnside. To the former was given the task of marching on Chattanooga, demonstrating towards Atlanta; to the latter was entrusted the enterprise of crossing the mountains and proceeding directly to Knoxville. General Rosecrans, during the summer, had pushed his lines forward as far as Winchester, and there made further preparations. On the 16th of August, he commenced his advance, reached the Tennessee river on the 20th, and established his head-quarters at Stevenson, and there halted for a few days. On the 9th of September, General Crittenden's corps of his army occupied Chattanooga, and pressed on in pursuit of the retreating enemy.
The other part of the work had been as promptly performed. On the 16th of August, General Burnside started from Lexington. The route, which he had chosen for his own column to march, lay through Crab Orchard, Mount Vernon, Loudon and Williamsburg, with other columns moving on his right flank by way of Somerset, Columbia and Tompkinsville. The design
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was, to cross the mountains by unfrequented roads, then to form a junction at Montgomery, Tennessee, march with infantry upon Kingston, while a cavalry force was to cross at Jacksboro' and descend upon Knoxville, where the infantry would join. While these operations were carried on in this quarter, a sufficient force was to appear in front of Cumberland Gap, and ocenpy the attention of the enemy there posted and well fortified. The design was admirably carried out. Colonel DeCourcy was sent to Cumberland Gap. Colonel Foster had charge of the cavalry. General Hartsuff commanded the column on the right flank. General Burnside accompanied the troops that marched direct from Williamsburg. Head-quarters were at Crab Orchard on the 21st of August; at Williamsburg on the 25th; at Chitwoods on the 26th, 27th and 28th, delayed by the non-arrival of the supporting columns and the supply trains. By the 30th all the trains were well up, and a june- tion was formed at Montgomery. Thence, the command marched rapidly on Kingston, and entered that town on the 1st of September. On the same day, the cavalry column entered Knoxville, where the rest of the army arrived on the 3d. The march was made with but slight opposition from the enemy, who occasionally skirmished with the advance. It was indeed a surprise, and our troops, crossing the mountains, and descending into the beautiful valley of the Holston, found themselves conquerors of the region without a battle.
But the difficulties which nature interposed were more serious than the opposition which the enemy dared to make. The roads were exceedingly bad, rough and toilsome. The horses and pack mules connected with the army were tasked to the utmost, and many of them gave out, exhausted by the severities of the march. In several instances, the animals failed to drag the artillery up the acclivities, and their places were filled by men, who, with hands upon the ropes and shoulders to the wheels, dragged or lifted guns, caissons, and wagons from height to height. But the soldiers were in good heart and cheerful spirits. Their commander was determined not to fail, and together they surmounted every difficulty. At last, crowning the summit, they easily descended into the plain below, and stood in triumph, the deliverers of East Tennessee! The rebel General Buckner, astonished by the strange appearance of the army-as though it had dropped from the clouds-evacuated the position, rapidly retreated, and joined General Bragg, in front of Chattanooga. The garrison at Cumberland Gap were left with- out information or orders. General Burnside, after a march of two hundred and fifty miles in fourteen days, was glad to feel himself the master of the
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situation. The march had had its beauty as well as its difficulty. The natural scenery of that section is highly picturesque, and as the army crossed the heights, the views which burst upon the sight were exquisitely charming. Alternate beauty and wildness were presented to the eye, and as the troops emerged from the fastnesses of the mountain range, the valley of East Ten- nessee lay. before them in all the luxuriance and mellowness of the early autumn. The march had its compensations, too. The army was an army of deliverance. It was everywhere received with joyful acclamations. The old flag, concealed under carpets, between mattresses, buried in the earth, was taken from its hiding place, and was flung to the breeze. Gray-haired men, little children, women who had lost their all, greeted the troops and the general with every demonstration of joy. From Kingston to Knoxville, the progress of the army was a continued ovation, and when General Burnside entered Knoxville, it seemed as though the people had run mad with enthu- siasm. It was a scene of grateful joy that baffles all attempt at description. As the general sought his quarters at the close of the day, he had the grati- fication of feeling that he rested in the midst of as loyal a people as could be found in the land, who gratefully hailed him as their savior from a terrible and grinding despotism. The satisfaction of such a triumph might well repay for the disappointment and defeat at Fredericksburg.
But the time for action had not yet passed. The rebel. garrison at Cumberland Gap, under General Frazer, had refused to surrender to Colonel DeCourcy, and General Burnside, first sending General Shackleford forward with a cavalry force, repaired thither in person. On the 9th of September, General Burnside posted his forces and demanded the unconditional surrender of the post. The rebel commander at first demurred. But finding his situa- tion hopeless, he finally, at evening, gave up the position, with its garrison of twenty-five hundred men and fourteen pieces of artillery. Part of the troops had been taken on Roanoke Island and paroled a year and a half before.
While at Cumberland Gap, General Burnside heard of General Rosecrans's advance. A despatch from General Crittenden informed him that the oper- ations of the army of the Cumberland had been greatly successful, that the enemy was retreating, and that the right of our advancing columns was in Rome. General Burnside-supposing that General Rosecrans was making the most satisfactory progress, that East Tennessee was permanently secure, and that only a garrison of troops would be needed to hold it-since the enemy had been driven into the interior of Georgia-and as at the same
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time he himself was reduced by sickness-offered his resignation to the President. Mr. Lincoln was not inclined to accept it. There was still a great deal of work to be done in this quarter, and no one was so well fitted for it as the general who was there in command. On the 12th of September, telegraphic communication was opened' with Washington, and on the 13th, General Burnside received a despatch from Mr. Lincoln, in the following words: "A thousand thanks for the late successes you have given us. We cannot allow you to resign until things shall be a little more settled in East Tennessee."
About the same time, a despatch was received from General Halleck, dated on the 11th, as follows: "I congratulate you on your success. Hold the gaps of the North Carolina mountains, the line of the Holston river, or some point, if there be one, to prevent access from Virginia, and connect with General Rosecrans, at least with your cavalry." General Burnside, imme- diately upon his occupation of Knoxville, had despatched a force up the val- ley, which had proceeded as far as Bristol, on the boundary line of Virginia, capturing rolling stock and destroying the bridges upon the railroad. It had now become imperative to communicate with General Rosecrans, to hold the line of the Holston river. permanently, to occupy the gaps of the North Carolina mountains, and to prevent the access of the enemy from Virginia. This was a work of no small magnitude with General Burnside's inconsider- able command. It was to scatter his forces along a line of one hundred and seventy-six miles in length. Communication with General Rosecrans was easy and was kept up without break. But "to prevent access from Virginia" was not so easy. It was known at Washington that General Longstreet had left General Lec's army to reenforce General Bragg. For East Tennessee must be regained, if possible. From Virginia now appeared General Sam: Jones, with a force of ten thousand men, making hostile demonstrations on our extreme left. On the 13th, troops were sent up from Knoxville. On the 17th, General Burnside left for Morristown to direct affairs in person. But now General Rosecrans needed reenforcement. The enemy, instead of retreating into Georgia, stood at bay. He had not thought of falling back on Rome. General Halleck, on the 13th and 14th, telegraphed General Burnside to move down his "infantry as rapidly as possible toward Chatta- nooga." General Burnside received the order on the 17th, and on the 18th, ordered all his troops at Morristown and below, to Knoxville and Loudon. On the 20th, he hastened up to Henderson's station, immediately took horse
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