Bidding our friends at Hartsville farewell, we set out for the heart of
Kentucky on the morning of the 29th. Never were men in higher and more
exultant spirits, and cheer after cheer rang from the front to the rear
of the column, and when these evidences of enthusiastic joy at length
ceased the way was enlivened with laugh, jest, and song. Passing by the
Red Sulphur Springs, we reached Scottsville, in Allen county, Kentucky,
on that night and encamped at 12 o'clock a few miles beyond. Stokes' and
Haggard's regiments of Federal cavalry were reported to be in that
section of the country, and the necessity for somewhat careful scouting
could not be ignored. We saw nothing of them, however, and resuming our
march early the next morning, reached Glasgow about 10 A.M.
At Glasgow we found rumors prevailing, as yet undefined and crude, of
Kirby Smith's advance through Southeastern Kentucky. Our friends in
Glasgow welcomed us with their usual kindness and after enjoying their
hospitality for some hours, we marched off on the Columbia road.
Encamping that night at Green river, we reached Columbia, in Adair
county, on the next day about 12 P.M., and remained there until the next
morning.
The reason for the slow marching of the last two days, had been Colonel
Morgan's anxiety to obtain some information of the two howitzers, which
were being escorted from Knoxville, under charge of his brother and
Aide-Campe Captain C.H. Morgan, with an escort of seventy-five men. This
escort was composed of men who had been granted furloughs, and of
convalescent sick and wounded men, returning to the command. These men
were all well armed, and were under the immediate command of Captain
Allen, who was assisted by several excellent officers. When this party
reached Sparta, it marched, in accordance with instructions sent there
for its guidance, to Carthage, and thence to Red Sulphur Springs,
following, then, directly in the track of the column. Stokes' cavalry
heard of them, and pursued. Once, this regiment came very near falling
foul of them. The party had encamped late at night, and as a measure of
precaution, the horses were taken back some distance into the woods, and
the men were made to lie down in line, concealed by the brush--the
howitzers were planted to sweep the road. No fires were lighted. Shortly
afterward, the regiment in pursuit of them passed by, moving not more
than twenty yards from the line, without discovering it; whether a
discovery would have benefited the said regiment, will never be known,
although there are many private opinions about the matter.
When the party reached Glasgow--it was in the middle of the
night--Captain Morgan could get no information about the whereabouts of
the command for some time. He was supposed to be a Federal officer. At
last he was recognized and, at once, got the necessary information.
On the same occasion, an incident occurred, which illustrated well the
coolness and self-possession which characterized the men of Morgan's
command, in the peculiar service to which they were inured. A party of
some twenty men had been sent, before Colonel Morgan left Hartsville, to
carry dispatches to Johnson and Woodward, inviting them to co-operate
with Morgan. In returning, this party learned that Colonel Morgan was on
the march for Central Kentucky, and immediately changed route to join
him the more speedily, and this change brought them to Glasgow at this
time. Neither of these parties knew of the other's presence, or
anticipated any such meeting, until they suddenly encountered in the
streets of Glasgow. Fortunately, the party coming from the West was
under the command of a young officer of more than ordinary coolness and
shrewdness, as well as daring--Lieutenant Houston Hopkins. Each of these
detachments had every reason to believe that the other was an enemy.
The bulk of the command had long passed this point, so long that the
rear-guard, scouts, every thing of the kind, ought to have been gone,
and the enemy in considerable numbers was not far off. Yet, with a sort
of instinct, each forbore to fire, until more positively assured of what
the other was. They came within twenty yards of each other--so close
that the officers of each, could hear the muttered speculations of the
others as to their probable character.
The larger detachment, under Captain Allen, immediately formed across
the road, and advanced slowly, with guns at a "ready." The other wheeled
rapidly, and fell back about two hundred yards, halted, and also formed.
Lieutenant Hopkins then rode back to within a short distance of Captain
Allen, and entered into a parley with him, which, of course, soon ended
in recognition. When it is remembered that the first wish and impulse of
both parties, when two hostile detachments meet, is, generally, to get
the first fire, and make the quickest dash, it will be conceded that on
this occasion there was exhibited rare coolness and discretion.
Captain Morgan had dispatched a courier to his brother, informing him of
his line of march, which courier reached Columbia soon after the command
had gone into camp there. Gano's squadron was immediately sent back to
reinforce the escort, and met it shortly after it had left Glasgow. The
necessary delay for the arrival of the guns caused us to remain at
Columbia for two days. Resuming the march on the day after they came, at
an early hour the command moved in the direction of Liberty, in Casey
County. In the vicinity of this place, we saw, in the brief time that we
remained, more active and business-like bushwhacking than ever before in
our entire service. The hills along the road seemed alive with them, and
from behind every fourth or fifth tree apparently, they were blazing
away at us. Every Southern reader will understand at once what sort of
individual is meant by a "bushwhacker"--that he is a gentleman of
leisure, who lives in a wild and, generally, a mountainous country,
does not join the army, but shoots, from the tops of hills, or from
behind trees and rocks, at those who are so unfortunate as to differ
with him in politics. It is his way of expressing his opinions. His
style of fighting is very similar to that of the outlying scouts of
partisan cavalry, except that he esteems it a weakness and an
unnecessary inconvenience to take prisoners, and generally kills his
captives. Sometimes, and especially toward the latter part of the war,
these fellows would band together in considerable numbers, make certain
portions of the country impassable, except to strong detachments, and
even undertake expeditions into neighboring sections.
There were "Union bushwhackers" and "Southern bushwhackers;" in
Kentucky, the former were more numerous. "It is a gratifying
reflection," to use the language of one of Colonel Clarence Prentice's
official reports, "that many of them will 'whack' no more." In the
Northern mind, bushwhackers and guerrillas are confounded together, an
egregious error in classification. It is probable that the bushwhacker
of this country would answer exactly to the guerrilla of European
warfare; but the guerrilla of North America is, or rather was (for
happily he is almost, if not quite extinct), an animal entirely distinct
from either. Formerly the Northern press styled all the Southern cavalry
guerrillas, because they traveled about the country freely, and gave
their enemies some trouble. This, however, was when the Federal cavalry
used to still ride with pillows on their saddles, were put to bed
carefully every night by the General commanding, and encamped on the
march in the midst of infantry regiments, who were instructed to see
that their horses did not hurt them, etc. When the hardy, dashing
regiments of the latter part of the war--after, indeed, the first
eighteen months--began to do real service, the Northern writers found
that they would be called on to record as cavalry operations the very
kind of affairs which they had been accustomed to chronicle as guerrilla
irregularities.
A guerrilla was, properly speaking, a man who had belonged to some
army, and had deserted and gone to making war on his private account. He
was necessarily a marauder, sometimes spared his former friend, and was
much admired by weak young women who were afflicted with a tendency
toward shoddy romance.
On this march through Casey county, the bushwhackers were unusually
officious. The advance-guard, which for some reason had gone on some
distance in front, reached Liberty about two hours before the column,
and during that time were fairly besieged in the place. Colonel Morgan
himself made a narrow escape. One fellow, more daring than the others,
had come down from the hills, and had approached within seventy yards of
the road. He fired at Morgan, missing him, but wounded a little negro
boy, his servant, who was riding by his side, receiving some order. The
man, who fired, at once ran back to the hill, followed by one or two of
our fellows from the head of the column. He was killed by private,
afterward Captain Thomas Franks, who made an excellent shot, hitting the
bushwhacker in the head while he was running at top speed, and Franks
himself was going at a rapid gallop.
That night we reached Houstonville, about fourteen miles from Danville,
and learned there of General Smith's complete victory at Richmond, and
of the probability that he was already at Lexington. This news excited
the men very much, and sleep was banished from the camp that night.
Early on the next morning we started for a good day's march, and reached
Danville about ten A.M., halted there some three hours, and, resuming
the march, reached Nicholasville, twenty-three miles distant, and twelve
from Lexington, at dusk.
On the next day, the 4th of September, the command entered Lexington
about 10 A.M., amid the most enthusiastic shouts, plaudits, and
congratulations. Colonel Morgan (as has been said) and many of his
officers and men, were formerly citizens of Lexington, and many others
came from the vicinity of the place; relations and friends, therefore,
by the score, were in the crowd which thronged the streets of the town.
The people of this particular section of Kentucky, known as the
Blue-grass region, had always been strongly Southern in their views and
sympathies, and this occasion, except that of General Smith's entrance a
day or two before, was the first chance they had ever had to manifest
their political proclivities. Some of them shortly afterward were very
sorry, doubtless, that they had been so candid. The command, at this
time, numbered about eleven hundred men. The Second Kentucky had been
greatly increased, and, after deducting all losses, was nearly, if not
quite nine hundred strong. Gano's squadron numbered about two hundred
effectives. The rapidity with which recruits came to Morgan was
astonishing. Captain Breckinridge was immediately granted authority, by
General Smith, to raise a battalion of four companies, to serve in
Morgan's brigade. He was permitted to take his own company (I) out of
the Second Kentucky, as a nucleus for his battalion organization, and in
a very short time he had gotten three other large and fine companies,
and he could (if he had been permitted) have recruited a regiment with
as little trouble.
Gano was granted authority to raise a regiment, and in a very short time
had recruited three companies. Active service, which necessitated rapid
and continuous marching, interfered for a time with the organization of
his regiment, but it was eventually completed. Second Lieutenant
Alexander, of Company E, Second Kentucky, was given permission to raise
a company, in the vicinity of Harrodsburg, Mercer county, and in four or
five days returned with a company of over sixty men, which was admitted
into the Second Kentucky, and lettered H, a letter which had been in
disuse in the regiment, since the partition of the company which bore
Alston into a Captaincy. Lieutenant S.D. Morgan, of Company A, was also
authorized to recruit a company, and soon did it. It was admitted into
the Second Kentucky as Company I, in place of Breckinridge's. The Second
Kentucky now numbered twelve companies, and nearly eleven hundred
effective men. Almost immediately, upon arriving at Lexington, Captain
Desha resigned the Captaincy of Company L. He was a very fine officer,
and we all regretted to part with him. He received authority to recruit
a regiment of infantry, and had partially succeeded, when the retreat
from Kentucky commenced. He then entered Colonel Thomas Hunt's regiment,
the Fifth Kentucky infantry. In the last year of the war he was offered
a Brigadier's commission, but declined it upon the ground that
ill-health would not permit him to exercise the duties required of him,
in such a station, without delay. Private John Cooper, of Company A, was
appointed Captain in his stead--he had previously been elected
color-bearer of the regiment, when Colonel Morgan had directed the
officers to choose the best man in the regiment to bear a flag presented
to him by the ladies of the State.
Every company of the Second Kentucky was increased by recruits, during
the first week after our arrival. Two gentlemen, Colonels Cluke and
Chenault, were authorized to recruit regiments for Morgan's brigade, and
immediately went to work to do so.
As soon as the first greetings had been passed with our friends, every
man was curious to learn the particulars of General Smith's march
through Southeastern Kentucky, and of the fight at Richmond. General
Smith had collected at Knoxville, and other points in East Tennessee,
some twenty thousand men, and leaving eight thousand, under General
Stephenson, in front of Cumberland Gap, then occupied by the Federal
General G.W. Morgan, with eight or nine thousand men, he, with twelve
thousand men, and thirty or forty pieces of artillery, pressed through
the Big Creek and Rogers gaps (of the Cumberland mountains), and marched
rapidly for the Blue-grass country. Master of Lexington, he would have
the terminus of the two railroads, and, indeed, one half of the State of
Kentucky. A complete defeat of the forces, then in that region, would
clear his path to Louisville, in the one direction, and to Covington in
the other. He would be in no danger, until forces were collected and
organized in sufficient strength at Cincinnati, to march against and
push him away. As for Buell's army, it was General Bragg's duty to take
care of that. General Smith had with his army about one thousand
cavalry. This force, under Colonel John Scott, advancing some distance
in his front, fell upon Metcalfe's regiment, eleven or twelve hundred
strong, on the Bighill, fifteen miles from Richmond, and thoroughly
defeated and dispersed it. Even after this affair, the Federal commander
remained in ignorance of any force, besides the cavalry under Scott,
having approached in that direction, until General Smith, having pressed
on with wonderful celerity and secrecy, had gotten within a few miles of
Richmond.
Then every available man was concentrated at Richmond and pushed out to
meet the invading column. The collision occurred on the 29th of August.
General Smith had marched so rapidly, his men had fared so badly (having
subsisted for ten days on green corn), and their badly shod feet were so
cut by the rough stony way, that his column was necessarily somewhat
prolonged, although there was little of what might be called straggling.
Consequently, he could put into the fight only about six thousand men.
Heath was some distance in the rear. He attacked as soon as he came upon
the enemy, drove them, and although three several stands were made, his
advance was never seriously checked. The last stand, and hardest fight,
was made in the outskirts of the little town of Richmond itself, and
when the enemy was driven from the town, his route was complete. The
Federal commander General Nelson was wounded. The enemy's loss was over
one thousand in killed and wounded, and six thousand prisoners were
taken and paroled. General Smith's loss was nine hundred in killed and
wounded.
Scott with the cavalry, pressed the fugitives for many miles. The route
and disintegration of the Federal army was such, that perhaps not a
single command maintained its organization, and the stream of fugitives
poured through Lexington all Saturday night and Sunday, toward
Louisville and Cincinnati. This decisive victory finished General
Smith's part of the programme, and closed his campaign, for the time,
with the possession of all that part of Kentucky. On the 1st of
September, General Smith took possession of Lexington, and on the 2nd or
3rd he dispatched General Heath with five or six thousand men toward
Covington. General Smith issued the strictest orders for the maintenance
of order and discipline, and the prevention of excesses or mal-conduct
among his troops, of any description. Such was the state of discipline
that he had brought his army to before, that these orders were little
needed. He also went energetically to work to encourage enlistments in
his ranks, to organize every department, necessary to the subsistence
and equipment of his army, and to collect supplies.
Notwithstanding the efforts that were made to induce the Kentuckians to
enlist as infantry, very few would do so, and those who did, joined
regiments which came in with General Smith; not a single infantry
regiment was raised during the time that the Confederate army was in the
State. All of the Kentuckians who joined at that time, wanted to ride.
As a people, they are fond of horses, and if they went to war at all,
they thought it a too great tax upon them to make them walk.
A brigadier's commission was given to Captain Abram Buford (formerly of
the regular army), a man well known and very popular in this portion of
Kentucky, and he was authorized to recruit a mixed brigade of infantry
and cavalry. He got three fine regiments of cavalry, under Colonels
Butler, Smith and Grigsby, without any trouble, but not an infantryman.
The two last of the above named regiments, were subsequently assigned to
Morgan. One reason why so many enlisted in cavalry (independently of the
decided preference of the Kentuckians for that branch of the service),
was the fact, that companies and regiments had, in many instances, their
men bespoken and ready to enlist with them as soon as a favorable
opportunity should occur. Many (also), had made up their minds to join
Morgan when he next came through the country. Men who expected to become
soldiers (under such circumstances), would of course wish to join the
cavalry, and made all their preparations to enlist in that arm of the
service.
Had a decisive battle been fought and won by General Bragg, there is
little doubt but that the majority of that class of men, who were
waiting for that event before they enlisted, would then have enlisted as
infantry. Two or three days after we reached Lexington, four companies
of the Second Kentucky were sent with the two howitzers, to capture the
stockade at the bridge over Salt river, on the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad, and burn the bridge. The expedition was under command of
Captain Hutchinson. This officer had some days previously been made, at
my request, Acting Lieutenant Colonel of my regiment (the Second
Kentucky), and he was always afterward addressed by that title, and was
subsequently given the position. Hutchinson was a singularly active and
energetic officer, and possessed the shrewdness as well as daring which
eminently qualified him for the command of detachments. He made a
tremendous march, and arrived at his destination, before any Federal
force, which could have intercepted him or have marched to prevent his
purpose, heard of his coming.
The garrison of the stockade was some one hundred and fifty strong. He
placed his men in position around it, and planted his howitzers to
command it. He then sent Captain Bowles to demand the surrender of the
garrison, telling him that he would allow but twenty minutes for the
negotiation.
Captain Bowles approached under flag of truce and entered into a parley
with the enemy. They were quite willing to surrender in less than twenty
minutes, provided that one strange stipulation should be conceded, viz:
that the bridge would not be burned. While Bowles was endeavoring to
prove to them the folly of such a proposition, the twenty minutes
expired. Hutchinson, who was very literal in observing all that he
said, immediately caused his artillery to open without waiting for the
return of his envoy, and two shells were bursted just above the
stockade, wounding one of the inmates. This might have caused the death
of the bearer of the flag, as the garrison had, then, a perfect right to
shoot him. The effect of it on Bowles, however, who was one of the very
few men I have known, who, I believe, never felt fear, was to render him
indignant that his embassy should be interrupted, just as he thought
that it was about to be successful, and he came galloping back at full
speed, waving his flag at his own friends, and shouting at the top of
his voice, "don't shoot any more, they'll be all right directly."
The inmates of the stockade at the same time poured out, without regard
to rank, waiving pocket handkerchiefs, portions of their nether garments
hastily torn off, and whatever else, they could lay hold of, that would
serve the purpose. As soon, however, as the howitzers opened, the
skirmishers advanced, in accordance with Hutchinson's previous
instructions, firing also, and their fire drove the enemy back into the
stockade.
Soon, however, all mistakes were rectified and an amicable adjustment of
the difficulty arrived at. The prisoners were immediately paroled, the
bridge thoroughly destroyed, and the detachment returned. It was absent
only a few days. The bridge destroyed was four hundred and fifty feet
long, and forty-six feet high.
Almost immediately after Colonel Hutchinson returned to Lexington, he
was sent with Companies B, C, D, E, L and M to report to General Heath,
who had advanced to within five miles of Covington, and withdrawing,
needed cavalry. The utmost consternation prevailed in Cincinnati during
the time that Heath was in the vicinity of Covington; the city was
placed under martial law, and every citizen was required to report
himself for military duty. So persistent were the detectives in their
search for treason, that all the business houses in the town had to be
shut up, and it became so frequent a matter to construe thoughtless
words into expressions of disloyal sentiment, that it was unsafe to
speak any other language than Dutch. Thousands of respectable citizens,
nightly left their comfortable homes, to cross the river, and shiver and
ache with apprehension and fatigue, in the ditches around Covington.
Many a tradesman torn from his shop, got the manual mixed up with his
accounts, and lost the run of both; and as he sat in a rifle-pit, with
only one pontoon bridge (and that narrow) connecting him with
Cincinnati, he had to console him--the reflection that he was performing
a patriotic, duty, and letting his business go to the devil.
The most telling maneuver against such an army, would have been to send
emissaries to stir up the street boys in Cincinnati to an attack on the
ungarrisoned shops; in such an event a precipitate retreat would most
probably have occurred from the Kentucky side of the river.
For several days after Heath was close enough to have made a dash at
Covington, at any hour, there were no other defenders in the works
around the place than these extempore soldiers. A very few only of their
guns mounted were in a condition to be worked, and the ammunition first
provided was not of the proper caliber. On the first, Gen. Heath came
within sight of the works, that he had prepared to attack, and just
before he moved upon them, received dispatches from Gen. Smith,
instructing him not to do so, but to be prepared to return at short
notice. General Smith expected to be soon called, to reinforce General
Bragg, with his whole force to fight Buell's army before it reached
Louisville; he therefore wished every thing kept well in hand, and
esteemed the maintenance of the mobility of the troops under Heath as of
more importance than the capture of Cincinnati. In the course of a few
days, however, regular troops began to arrive at Cincinnati, and they
came in rapidly. When Heath fell back, there was a formidable veteran
force, there, of perhaps twelve or fifteen thousand men. Hutchinson
reported to him at Walton twenty-five miles from Covington, and was at
once ordered to duty on the front. For some days he was very actively
engaged immediately upon the ground which Heath had just left. He was
engaged in scouting for some distance above and below Covington, to
ascertain if there was any movement by the river, as well as having to
carefully watch all roads leading out of the place. His various
detachments had several skirmishes, the most successful of which was
made by a party under command of Lieutenant Allensworth, who routed a
much larger body of the enemy and captured a number of prisoners.
Just before General Heath came down into that country, fifteen young men
of Boone county who had long wished to join Morgan, hearing that
Confederate troops might shortly be expected in their neighborhood,
banded together and attacked a train of twenty-seven wagons guarded by
fifty-one Federal soldiers, dispersed the guard and burned the wagons.
This party with some twenty-five of their friends then equipped
themselves and set out to join us.
They were placed in the new Company I. In the service done at this time,
Hutchinson's loss was slight, and he inflicted a good deal upon the
enemy. He took a number of prisoners. The railroad was destroyed--track
torn up and bridges burned--for a good many miles. General Heath
continued to fall back toward Georgetown. After Hutchinson had been in
command upon the Covington front six or seven days, I sent him Company
A, and the next day followed myself with Company I. Colonel Morgan was
ordered to go to Eastern Kentucky and intercept the Federal General Geo.
W. Morgan on his march from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio river. General
Morgan had evacuated the gap and gained two days march on the force
watching it on the other side. It was General Smith's desire that
Colonel Morgan should blockade the roads in his front, and use every
exertion to retard his progress. By uniting with General Marshall's
forces, it was hoped that Colonel Morgan, in the rugged, almost
impassable country, through which the Federal column had to march, might
stop it altogether, until another body of troops could be thrown upon
its rear, and thus literally starve it into surrender. As it was,
Marshall remained inactive, and Morgan after felling trees across the
road, climbing up and down mountains, and sticking close to the front of
the column for six days, was compelled to suffer the mortification of
seeing it get away triumphantly.
While Colonel Morgan was employed in the mountains, General Smith
directed me to annoy the enemy as much as possible in the direction of
Covington. On the evening that I arrived at Walton, where Hutchinson had
been encamped, I found him in retreat, pressed by a superior force of
the enemy. We soon found that we could not efficiently check the enemy's
advance, and accordingly fell back to Crittenden, a little place seven
miles from Walton. The enemy encamped five miles from the place. On the
next morning we were driven out of Crittenden, and as the enemy
continued to advance, I dispatched General Heath that I believed it was
an advance upon Lexington. The enemy's force consisted, as we afterward
ascertained, of about seven thousand infantry, one thousand cavalry, or,
perhaps a little more, and eight pieces of artillery. Skirmishers were
thrown out, in strong lines, for a mile or more on each side of the
road. The country was open and easily traversed by troops, enabling them
to strengthen any part of the line that might need it. We could
therefore hope to effect little; and after carefully reconnoitering,
without finding a convenient opening, we recontented to move slowly in
their front, forcing them to keep up their troublesome precautions.
About 1 or 2 P.M., leaving scouts to observe them, I marched rapidly to
Williamstown. This place is just upon the northern edge of the rugged
Eagle hills. Thence I moved eastwardly to Falmouth, a small town on the
Central Kentucky Railroad, about forty miles from Covington, and twenty
miles from Williamstown--indeed nearly equi-distant from the Dry-ridge
road, or Cincinnati and Lexington pike (upon which the enemy were
moving), and the Maysville and Lexington pike, which also needed some
watching. I was then in a position to observe every movement upon the
entire front, and was, so to speak, in the center of the web commanding
all the avenues which should be guarded. If the enemy continued upon the
road upon which he was then advancing, he would have to force his way
through General Heath's forces, advantageously posted amid the hills of
the Eagle creek. If he turned to the left to seek a road not so well
defended, he would have to come by Falmouth, and therefore Falmouth was
the point where the cavalry watching him should be.
On the road, however, and before I reached Falmouth, scouts brought the
information that the enemy had fallen back to Walton, and also informed
me of what his strength apparently was. It was plain that no force of
that size would attempt to march on Lexington. Shortly afterward, other
scouts, which had been sent to watch the Ohio river, came from Warsaw, a
little town on its banks, and reported that a number of boats laden with
troops had gone down the river toward Louisville. This information
explained every thing. Finding that Heath had withdrawn, and Cincinnati
was no longer threatened, this force, which had driven us away from
Walton, had been sent to clear the country of troublesome detachments,
and also to attract attention in that direction, and conceal the
concentration of troops at Louisville. Walton is twenty-five miles from
Falmouth. On the day after reaching the latter, I sent a flag of truce
to Walton, with dispatches, which General Smith had instructed me to
forward to Cincinnati. The flag was borne by Captain S.D. Morgan, who
betted with the Aide of the commanding General, that he (Morgan), would
drive in his pickets within forty-eight hours--he won the wager. The
entire strength of the six companies, which Colonel Hutchinson had taken
to this country, was not quite five hundred men--the two additional
companies A and I, did not swell the total effective to six hundred men.
All of those were large ones, but many men (from four or five of them)
were on furlough. When the flag of truce returned, Captain Morgan gave
me such an account of the enemy that a desire, previously conceived, to
visit him was greatly increased. Morgan could, of course, see but
little; he was, however, vigilant and shrewd, and drew accurate
inferences from what he saw. He was satisfied that, while careful and
systematic guard was kept, the troops were all green and could be easily
surprised. He said that so far as he could learn, there was no attempt
made at scouting, and that a total ignorance prevailed among them of
what was going on, a few hundred yards even, beyond the outposts. This
latter information was confirmed by the reports of all my scouts, and
was in accordance with the habits of raw men and officers. He thought,
moreover, from something he had heard, that cavalry were encamped a mile
or two from the infantry, and the country people, some of whom from that
neighborhood visited us, stated that the cavalry were encamped a mile
and a half from the main body, and nearer Walton. We had tried in vain
to get hold of the cavalry on the day we were driven away from Walton;
it kept carefully behind the infantry.
Moving from Falmouth late in the afternoon, with nearly the entire
command, I marched until about twelve o'clock at night, and halted at a
point on the Independence road, about ten miles from the enemy's
encampment. Scouts were immediately sent out to ascertain as nearly as
possible the exact location of the pickets, and the condition of every
thing about the encampments. They were instructed not to fire upon, or
in anywise alarm the pickets, or do anything which might make them
suspect our vicinity.
The scouts observed their instructions closely, and did not see the
pickets at all, but inquired of the people who lived near the
encampment, and were told that no change had occurred in the last day or
two, in any respect, in the posts on the different roads. After this
information I was satisfied that I would be able to get upon the
Georgetown and Covington pike, upon which the enemy was encamped, by a
country road which runs into it from the Independence pike, without
alarming the main body. I could then move rapidly to the point where
the cavalry was encamped, and defeat it before the infantry came to the
rescue. The infantry encampment was about two miles north of Walton, and
this by-road comes into the pike about one thousand yards from the site
of the encampment, and between it and Walton.
The column was accordingly put in motion again at daybreak, and marched
rapidly. Just at sunrise we reached the Georgetown and Covington pike,
and saw standing, in sight of the point where we would enter, ten
cavalry pickets. The column was at once halted, and arrangements made to
capture them. They had not yet seen us. A brief reconnoisance showed an
infantry regiment on post, some three hundred yards further down the
road. There was now no hope of passing this point without discovery by
the main body, and it only remained to make the most out of the
situation.
Lieutenant Messick, of Company A, was sent with ten men to take in the
cavalry videttes, and Lieutenant Roberts, commanding the advance-guard,
was sent with a portion of it to try the same game with the infantry. He
went right into the midst of it. The column was moved forward at a
gallop, as soon as the pickets were disturbed, and turned in the
direction of Walton; the rear company, however, being carried at full
speed to the assistance of Lieutenant Roberts. One of the howitzers
which had been brought along, was planted at the point where we entered
the pike, to cover our retreat, if it were pressed. When I reached the
little squad of Lieutenant Roberts with the company which I took to
assist it, I found it, or rather a fragment of it, in a situation which
perhaps was never paralleled daring the war.
Lieutenant Roberts was still further down the road, and toward the
encampment, with a portion of the detachment, picking up stragglers.
Sergeant Will Hays stood with six men in the midst of a company of
sixty-nine Federal infantry. The infantry seemed sullen and bewildered,
and stood with their rifles cocked and at a ready. Hays had his rifle
at the head of the Lieutenant commanding, demanding that he should order
his men to surrender, and threatening to blow his brains out if he
encouraged them to resist. Hays' six men were grouped around him, ready
to shoot down any man who should raise a gun against him. I thought it
the finest sight I had ever seen. The arrival of the company decided the
infantry to surrender, and the caps and bayonets having been taken off
of their guns, they were sent off, guarded by the men which had been
brought up to complete their capture. Lieutenant Roberts had gone, with
his mere corporal's guard, into the infantry regiment, had captured one
company, and run the balance back into camp.
The men of this regiment were very raw and green. Hays had persuaded
them for some time, that he was an officer of their own cavalry, and it
was only when he peremptorily ordered them to follow him to Walton, that
they suspected him. After sending off the prisoners, four or five of us
rode on down the road to join Lieutenant Roberts, and soon found him,
bringing back more prisoners. We were now farther in toward the
encampment, than the regiment on picket had stood, and had a fair view
of it. We saw the whole force form, and it was a very pretty sight. The
regiments first formed on their respective campgrounds, and then took
their positions in line of battle, at a double-quick. They were finely
drilled, although very raw. The artillery was run into position, and
behind every thing, peeping over the shoulders of the infantry, were our
friends the cavalry, that we had taken so much pains to see.
While we were looking on, a staff officer came galloping toward us,
evidently not knowing who we were, and taking us for some of his pickets
not yet driven in. He came right up to us; thinking his capture certain,
Captain Morgan, who thought that he recognized in him, the officer with
whom he had made the bet two days previously, rode forward, saluted him,
and told him he was a prisoner. He, however, did not seem to be of that
opinion for he wheeled his horse, coming so close to us in doing so as
to almost brush the foremost man, and dashed back at full speed, despite
the shots that were fired at him.
The skirmishers, who were not more than two hundred yards off, soon
induced us to leave, and we galloped after the column. Eighty or ninety
prisoners were taken, and were sent on to Lexington, as soon as we got
back to Falmouth. The enemy did not know for some hours, that we were
entirely gone, and indeed rather expected during that time to be
attacked in force. I perhaps ought to have attacked, but the disparity
of forces, and the knowledge that the enemy could detect it as I
advanced, deterred me.
On the next day I sent Captain Castleman with Company D, to Foster's
landing on the Ohio river. He fired upon a Government transport loaded
with troops, but could not bring her to with his rifles. He captured the
regular packet, and was shelled by one of the river gun boats, suffering
no loss.
At this period the Home-guard organizations were disbanding, or being
incorporated into the Federal army. At Augusta, a town in Bracken
county, about twenty-five miles from Falmouth, and situated on the
river, forty odd miles above Cincinnati, there was a regiment being
formed out of some Home-guard companies. This organization had already
begun to give trouble, and one or two of its scouting parties had even
ventured within a short distance of Falmouth. I was also informed that
all sorts of men, whether willing or not, were being placed in its
ranks. I determined therefore to break it up, before it became
formidable. There was a ford, moreover, just below Augusta, by which the
river could be crossed at that season without difficulty. I wished to
take the town, if possible, with little loss, and cross into Ohio, and
marching toward Cincinnati, so threaten the city that the troops at
Walton would be hurried back to protect it.
Leaving Falmouth in the morning of one day, I could (if allowed to cross
the river without opposition) have been in the vicinity of Cincinnati at
daylight of the next day. Two days, therefore, after the expedition to
Walton, I started from Falmouth with about four hundred and fifty
men--leaving Company D and some details behind to observe the enemy at
Walton and for other purposes.
On the way to Augusta, I came upon a large scouting party from that
place but it dispersed before I could attack--it was cut off, however,
from Augusta and prevented from taking part in the fight there. We
marched through Brookville and about 7 A.M. reached the high ground in
the rear of Augusta and which perfectly commanded the town. Two small
stern wheel boats lay at the wharf, to assist in the defense of the
place. A twelve pounder was mounted on each of them; their sides were
protected by hay bales and they were manned by sharpshooters in addition
to the gunners. These boats commanded the turnpike which led into the
town from Brookville (by which road we were advancing) but about a mile
from the town I turned the column from the road and approached the hill
(upon which I took position) through the fields. The crest of this hill
is perhaps two hundred feet above the level of the river (at low water)
and about six hundred yards from its bank. The town runs back to the
foot of the hill. From our position on the summit of this hill we could
distinctly see the Home-guards going into the houses and preparing for
fight, but a portion of them were already ensconced in the houses near
the head of the street by which we entered the town a little while
afterward. These latter kept themselves concealed while we remained on
the hill and our ignorance of their location cost us dearly. Seeing that
the boats commanded the street by which I wished to enter the town, I
determined to drive them away before moving the bulk of the command from
the hill.
Accordingly, having dismounted and formed Companies B, C, E, I and M,
and planted the howitzers on the highest point I could find, where they
could probably chuck every shell into the boats, I ordered Company A,
and the advance-guard to cross the Germantown pike and take position
near the bank of the river in the eastern end of the town. Here they
would be enabled to annoy the troops on the boats very greatly with
their rifles and would also be in position to assist in reducing the
garrisoned houses, when the fight in town commenced. In that part of the
town there were no houses occupied by the enemy. Captain Cassell of
Company A, was instructed to dispose of his own company and the
advance-guard in accordance with these views and to take command of
both. I especially charged him to let no man approach that part of the
town where I expected to have to fight on horseback, but to bring the
men on foot when he heard firing.
As soon as Cassell had gotten into position, the howitzers were opened
upon the boats. Several shells burst near them and one penetrated the
hull of the "Flag Ship," as I suppose I may term the boat upon which the
Captain commanding both of them had his quarters. Cassell's riflemen,
also made themselves very disagreeable, and after firing only three
shots, the "fleet" withdrew. As long as the boats were in range the
"Bull pups" kept after them and they steamed up the river and out of
sight. Having driven off these gun boats, upon which I knew the officer
commanding in the town chiefly relied for the defense of the place, I
believed that I would have no more trouble and that the garrison would
surrender without more fighting. I immediately entered by the principal
street with Companies B and C. After these two companies had gotten well
into the town and in front of the houses into which the defenders of the
place had gone unseen by us, a sharp fire was suddenly opened upon them,
killing and wounding several. I at once ordered the men to gather on the
right hand side of the street, although the fire came from both sides,
and to take shelter as they best could.
A fierce fight at once began. I sent for Companies E, I, and portions of
L and M, leaving three sections of each to guard the road in our rear. I
made the men force their way into the houses, whence they were fired
upon. Captain Cassell came to join me as soon as he heard the firing,
but unfortunately Lieutenant Roberts forgot, in his ardor, the order
that no men should enter the town mounted, and he dashed up to the scene
of the fight with his men on horseback, greatly increasing the
confusion. The Sergeant, who had charge of the howitzers, opened upon
the town, when he heard the firing, and his shots did us as much harm as
they did the enemy. Lieutenant Roberts was killed almost instantly, two
or three men and several horses of his guard were also shot, and the
crowding of horses into the street added to the disorder. In a few
minutes, however, some method was restored. Details of men were posted
in the middle of the street in front of every house, to fire at the
inmates when they showed themselves, and prevent them from maintaining
an accurate and effective fire. Other details were made to break in the
doors of the houses and enter them. The artillery was brought into the
town and turned upon the houses in which the most stubborn resistance
was kept up. Planted about ten paces from a house, aimed to strike about
a yard below the sills of the windows, beneath which the defenders were
crouched (except when taking aim), and double-shotted with grape and
canister, the howitzers tore great gaps in the walls. Two or three
houses from which sharp volleys were kept up were set on fire. Flags of
truce, about this time, were hung out from several windows, and
believing that a general surrender was meant, I ordered the fires to be
extinguished. But only those who shook the white flags meant to give up,
and the others continued to fight. One or two men putting out the fires
were shot. I immediately ordered that every house from which shots came
should be burned. A good many were soon in flames, and even then the
fighting continued in some of them. My men were infuriated by what they
esteemed bad faith, in a continuance of the fight after the flags of
truce were displayed, and by the loss of their comrades and of some
favorite officers. I never saw them fight with such ferocity. Few lives
were spared in the houses into which they forced their way. Several
savage hand-to-hand fights occurred. As private James March, of Company
A, was about to enter a house after battering down the door with the
butt of his rifle, a Home-guard, armed with musket and bayonet, sprang
out and lunged at him. March avoided his thrust, knocked him down with
his clubbed gun, and then seizing the other's musket, pinned him to the
ground with the bayonet. A somewhat similar affair happened to a private
of Company B. whose name I have forgotten. As he, also, was forcing his
way into a house, a strong, active fellow bounded out and cut at him
with a large heavy knife, made from a blacksmith's file, such as were
formerly often seen in Kentucky. He closed quickly with his assailant,
whose blow consequently missed him, and in a moment they were locked in
each other's arms. The Home-guard could not use his knife, for his right
arm was stretched over the other's shoulder in the position in which it
had fallen with the blow. The other wore one of the largest sized,
heaviest, army pistols. He had dropped his gun, and as he drew his
pistol, his enemy clasped the lock with his left hand, and he could not
cock it. Both were powerful men, and fighting for life, because quarter
was not thought of by either. At length the Confederate raised the
pistol to a level with the other's head, and although he could strike
only by the inflection of the wrist, inflicted blows with the heavy
barrel upon his enemy's temple, which stunned him. Then dashing him to
the ground, the Confederate beat in his skull with the butt of his
pistol. The fighting lasted about fifteen or twenty minutes, when
Colonel Bradford, the commander of the organization, surrendered. It was
with great difficulty that his life, or the lives of his men, could be
saved. Fighting in narrow streets, close to their opponents, the loss in
my command was, of course, severe, and a great many wounds proved
mortal, on account of the balls coming from above, ranging downward.
My loss was twenty-one killed, and eighteen wounded. I had about three
hundred and fifty men engaged. Among the killed were some matchless
officers. Captain Samuel D. Morgan (a cousin of Colonel Morgan) killed
several men with his own hand before he fell. He had been a good
soldier, and gave promise of unusual merit as an officer. His gallantry
and devotion were superb, and he was always urgent to be placed on
perilous service. He was a mere boy. Lieutenant Greenberry Roberts had
been made First Lieutenant of Company A after Lieutenant Smith's death.
He much resembled his predecessor. He had been placed in command of the
advance-guard when Lieutenant Rogers was compelled to return to his
company (E) upon the promotion of Captain Hutchinson. He was nineteen
years old when killed; gay, handsome, and a universal favorite. His
courage was untempered by any discretion or calculation, and unless
bound by positive instructions, he would go at any thing. Lieutenant
Rogers was a model officer and gentleman. He was killed while exerting
himself to save the inmates of a house from which the shot which killed
him came.
Lieutenant King, a gallant boy, brevet Second Lieutenant of Company E,
fell dead the moment afterward across Rogers' body, and, a rather
singular circumstance, an old man of that company, devotedly attached to
both these officers, private Puckett (one of the few old men in the
regiment) rushed to raise them and was instantaneously killed, falling
upon them. Captain Kennett, of Company B, just made Captain in the place
of Captain Allen, who was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of Butler's
regiment, and Lieutenant George White, of the same company, were
mortally wounded, and died very soon. Both were veterans of the old
squadron, and very brave men.
Most of the casualties occurred in the first few minutes of the street
fight, before proper dispositions were made to reduce the garrisons of
the houses, and while the latter were taking deadly aim.
Captain Cassell's bold attack on the gunboats saved us much greater
loss. Some of the women came (while the fight was raging) from the part
of the town where they had retired for safety, to the most dangerous
positions, and waited upon the wounded, while the balls were striking
around them. The majority of the people of this town, or a large
proportion at least, were Southern sympathizers. The regular members of
the Home-guard regiment were collected from the country for miles
around. A number of the Southern men were also pressed into the service.
The last house set on fire was that of James Armstrong. After the
garrison in it were disposed of, efforts were made to save it. The owner
bade me "let it burn," but urged me to collect and destroy all the arms
of the Home-guards, that they might not give trouble again. During the
fight a boat, coming from Cincinnati, hove in sight of the town, but did
not come on. It was reported, but incorrectly, that she carried troops.
This fight prevented the excursion into Ohio. All of the ammunition for
the howitzers was shot away. I was anxious to remove my wounded and
dead, and had two hundred prisoners whom I wanted to carry off. About
four P.M., employing all the carriages and light wagons that I could
find about the town and neighborhood to carry the wounded, who could
stand transportation, and the dead bodies, which were not too much
mutilated, I went back toward Falmouth. That night we reached Brookville
after dark, and passed the night there, the gloomiest and saddest that
any man among us had ever known.
Brookville is a little hamlet, nine miles from Augusta, and eighteen
from Maysville. This latter place had been taken by Gano, a week or two
before, without a shot. He left next day, and the Union men there became
belligerent, sent for regular troops, collected Home-guards, "resolved"
that they would fight, bleed, and die, if they got another chance, and
distinguished themselves very much in that way. News reached Maysville
of the fight at Augusta on the same evening that it occurred, and about
four o'clock next morning troops left there to march to the relief of
Augusta. At seven A.M. of that morning, I sent off the train of dead and
wounded, and all of the prisoners, except about eighty, whom I intended,
to parole. As soon as they were fairly started, I ordered Colonel
Hutchinson to follow with the command. I retained Sergeant Hays and ten
men of the advance-guard with me. Most of the prisoners left were
Southern men, who had been forced to fight, and a few others were men
paroled at Armstrong's request.
About 9 or 10 A.M., while engaged in writing out paroles, I was informed
by my orderly that a force of Federals was coming into town on the
Maysville pike. I had placed no pickets after the regular detail had
been withdrawn upon the march of the column, and nearly all of the ten
men left with me were in the court-house at the time by my side. We
immediately passed out and mounted our horses. Sargeant Hays formed
seven men and we dashed through the enemy. There were perhaps fifty or
sixty cavalry in the town--they were scattered about, and had no chance
to stop us. Several shots were fired upon both sides. None of my party
were hurt. One of the enemy was killed and three seized by the bridle
reins, as we went through them, and carried off prisoners. A few men
were still unparoled when the alarm was given. Private Conrade remained
and paroled them all, then followed us through the enemy. He was
subsequently promoted for other instances of the coolest daring. A
recruiting officer had been captured that morning and placed in charge
of Privates Franks and McVae. They were eating breakfast when the enemy
entered the town and were nearly captured. They placed their prisoner on
a bare-backed horse and carried him off across the country, taking
fences and every thing else at a gallop.
We lost one man taken prisoner, he could not get to his horse. The
enemy's force was composed of the cavalry which first entered and about
four hundred infantry, with two pieces of artillery. After we had gotten
out of the town, we turned and galloped back to it again, to create, if
possible, a diversion in favor of the three men I supposed to be still
there. The infantry, however, immediately drove us off. As we then moved
rapidly after the command, we met the rear-guard, which always marched
a good distance in the rear of the column, coming back at a gallop to
reinforce us. The officer in charge of it, one of the very best in the
regiment--Lieutenant Ash Welsh, had returned as soon as he heard the
firing. His men and himself were dressed in dark clothing, and I thought
when they first came in sight, that they were a part of the enemy which
had cut us off. They also mistook us for the enemy, and we charged each
other at full speed. When within about fifty yards of each other and
just about to fire, a mutual recognition fortunately prevented it.
Soon afterward, I met Hutchinson coming with the command, but I turned
him again. The enemy shelled the road after we were all gone. Learning
that Captain Castleman had fallen back from Falmouth (in anticipation of
an advance from Walton), to Cynthiana, I went to that place also. It
turned out that the rumor of the intended attack upon Falmouth was
altogether unfounded. I placed the command in camp at Cynthiana, and
sent the prisoners and all of the wounded who were not too much
exhausted to travel, to Lexington.
On the next day the funeral of Lieutenant Rogers was celebrated. He was
a native of Cynthiana, and the citizens of that place had loved him and
were proud of his record. They came, the true, warm-hearted yeomanry, to
witness his soldier-burial, and sympathize in the sorrow of his aged and
heart-broken father. The men remained in camp at Cynthiana from the 30th
of September until the night of the 4th of October. During that time I
made several promotions which were confirmed by an exercise of General
Morgan's appointing power.
Thomas Franks, private in the Mississippi company and "member in high
standing" of the advance guard, was made Captain of Company I. He was a
worthy successor of Captain Morgan. By a series of gallant acts and
uniform good conduct and assiduous and thorough discharge of his duty,
he had well won his preferment. Brevet Second Lieutenant William Messick
(of whom a great deal remains to be said), was made First Lieutenant of
Company A. Privates Parks and Ashbrook were made respectively First and
Second Lieutenants of Company E. They were gallant, and had fought in
the front of every fight since the organization of the regiment.
Sergeant Wm. Hays was offered his choice of Captaincy of Company B, or
the First Lieutenancy of the same company, with the privilege of
commanding the advance-guard. He choose the latter--like the gallant man
that he was, loving danger honestly encountered and honor fairly won.
General Morgan unhesitatingly approved all of these
appointments--complimenting the appointees and declared that he had
contemplated their promotion earlier. In pure, unflinching courage,
soldierly desire for personal distinction, devotion to the interests of
the service, pride in the reputation of their own corps, respect for and
zealous obedience to their own commanders, energy and intelligence--these
officers had no superiors.
I have already said that Colonel Morgan had been sent to Eastern
Kentucky, to intercept the Federal General Morgan on his march to the
Ohio river--I can not do better than copy _verbatim_ a description,
given of his operations by an excellent writer. "Succeeded in collecting
about a thousand cavalrymen, all recruits except Gano's Texians, Company
F, of Duke's regiment, and such of our battalion (Breckinridge's) as had
seen service--many insufficiently armed and not well organized. We
reached Richmond on the morning of the 20th, and received information
that the Federals were moving from Manchester, via Booneville to Mt.
Sterling, so as to strike the Ohio at Maysville. Morgan concentrated at
Irvine on the 21st and moved toward Proctor, turned to the right, and,
the head of his column was at Campton, Wolfe county. It became necessary
to make a detour, and by rapid marches head them near Hazel Green.
Colonel Ashby and General Stephenson were to press them in rear; General
Humphrey Marshall was to move to Mt. Sterling, and either stop their
march or strike them in flank. Our part was merely to delay them until
Stephenson or Marshall could strike. The enemy beat us to Hazel Green;
another detour and night march and we headed them near West Liberty.
"On the afternoon of the 26th, Morgan sent two companies under Captain
Will Jones to strike the flank of the marching column. He knew that the
column must be stretched out, for some miles; that a vigorous attack
would cause the halt of the leading command, so that the column might
close; this delay would help us. Jones attacked on foot, striking the
rear-guard of the second advance brigade, and utterly surprising them;
killed several, captured some dozen prisoners, scattered a drove of
cattle through the woods, and gave warning of our presence. Morgan and
his staff and Major Breckinridge had ridden along to see Jones' fight,
though Jones had complete command, and is entitled to the credit.
"After this little brush was over, Morgan rode with some others, to the
main road to get some information. Doctor Tom Allen had the wounded (all
Federals) moved to a church near by, to dress their wounds. Morgan,
Breckinridge, Alston, and others rode a few hundred yards forward to
where a beautiful creek crossed the road, and beyond the creek was a
short, steep, wooded hill. With culpable carelessness the whole party
stopped to water the horses, and one or two dismounted, and kneeling
upon rocks were drinking, when suddenly a regiment in line of battle,
made its appearance upon the crest of the hill, not a hundred yards
distant, and fired a full volley at us. Fortunately the hill was so
steep they overshot us. Behind was a long lane with high fences and
cleared fields on each side. Death or capture seemed inevitable. But
with perfect coolness Morgan shouted. 'Tell Colonel Breckinridge to
advance; Major Jones, open your guns.' The regiment fell back over the
hill, and we in greater hurry evacuated those premises. The country
being Union, it was very difficult to get reliable information, which
General Morgan said must be had.
"While we were talking we saw some mountaineers with guns approaching:
Morgan said instantly, 'I'll pass for Colonel De Courcey' (a Federal
Colonel about Morgan's size). When the men came up they asked who we
were; Alston said 'That's Colonel De Courcey.' 'Why, the boys told us De
Courcey's brigade was behind, and we were mighty glad to see you.' It
had been raining, and we had on gum cloths, which assisted the plan.
Morgan asked, 'Wouldn't you like to join us?' 'Oh no,' answered one of
the scoundrels, 'We can do you more good at home, killing the d----d
secesh.' With a sweet approving smile, Morgan said, 'Oh, have you killed
many secesh?' 'I reckon we have. You'd have laughed if you had seen us
make Bill (I have forgotten the last name) kill his brother.' 'What did
you do it for?' 'Why you see Bill went South, and we burned his house,
and he deserted; we arrested him, and said we were going to hang him as
a spy: he said he'd do any thing if we let him off, that his family
would starve if we hung him. Last Wednesday we took him, and made him
kill his brother Jack. He didn't want to do it, but we told him we'd
kill them both if he didn't, and we made him do it.'
"Morgan kept his face unchanged, and drew from these murderers full
accounts of other crimes; and from one of them, who had watched our
column, a pretty fair account of our own strength. They gave us all they
knew of the Federal strength, of the politics of the citizens on the
road, and of the roads and country. After getting from them all he
wanted, he said, 'I am John Morgan, and I'm going to have you hung.'
Unfortunately, however, General Morgan's leniency, which always got the
better of him when he paused to think, induced him to spare them."
The writer goes on--"Upon the 27th, another skirmish, and captured a few
prisoners; the enemy evidently waiting for the column to close up. On
the 28th, through the treachery of a guide, we were led into an ambush,
out of which we extricated ourselves with small loss. Upon the 29th,
Company A, Breckinridge's battalion, and Company F, Duke's regiment,
under Major Breckinridge, ambushed the enemy from the side of a
semicircular bluff, around which the road runs. The column came to
within twenty yards of the line of ambush, and its head was nearly
beyond the extreme flank of the two companies; in advance were seventeen
cavalrymen, some sitting with, their legs thrown over the pommels of the
saddle, some eating pawpaws; the _insignia_ of rank upon their shoulders
could be easily distinguished. Suddenly over a hundred rifles belched
forth death and fire--again their volley echoed through the mountains;
when the smoke cleared away, the head of the column had disappeared like
a wave broken upon a rock, and before a line could be formed or a gun
unlimbered, we were gone, and laughed as we marched to the music of
their guns shelling the innocent woods over the mountain from us.
"After this they changed their tactics, and marched with a heavy line of
skirmishers in front and upon both flanks. After shelling the woods for
hours, we fought vigorously with the axe and torch, felling trees,
barricading the road, destroying bridges, and making every barricade
cost a skirmish and time, for with us time was every thing. The country
was not fit for cavalry operations. The 30th passed away; the 1st of
October was half gone. From the morning of the 26th to noon of the 1st,
over five days, the Federals had marched not over thirty miles, less
than six miles a day. We had done our work, but where was Marshall or
Stephenson? Since the morning of the 29th, we had been anxiously looking
for news from them. Couriers had been constantly sent to both, and to
General Smith. We knew that the enemy were living on meat alone, for we,
in their front, went without bread for over three days, living on fresh
beef, without salt, half-ripe corn, and the luscious pawpaws. If
Marshall or Stephenson had attacked, the army of the gap would have been
prisoners. Whoever was to blame, let him be censured. Morgan, with raw
recruits, badly armed, accomplished his part of the task. About noon,
October 1st, Morgan received an order from General Smith to withdraw
from George Morgan's front, not to attempt further to impede his
progress, but rather assist him to leave the State, and rejoin the main
army at Lexington, or _wherever it might be_."
This writer tells well the story of the campaign in the mountains, and
the reader can derive from it a vivid idea of what it was like. Toward
the latter part of the expedition, the bushwhackers became very
troublesome, and wounded several men. Little Billy Peyton, the Colonel's
orderly, once rode down on one of them and tried to scare him into
surrender with an empty pistol. The fellow had two guns--he had just
fired one at Peyton, and the other was loaded. He answered Peyton's
demand to surrender with a shot from the latter. Throwing himself along
his horse's side, Billy escaped being killed, but was slightly wounded.
His chief regret, however, was that his assailant escaped.
On the afternoon of the 4th, Colonel Morgan reached Lexington. Before he
got in, he became satisfied that an immediate evacuation was imminent,
and he was induced to believe that the enemy were nearer than was
actually the case. Anxious to get his command together again, and
learning where I was, he, with characteristic promptitude, dispatched me
a courier, bidding me keep a careful lookout, and if "cut off, come by
way of Richmond and Lancaster." He knew that I would be mightily
exercised by such a dispatch. I had heard nothing of the meditated
evacuation of Lexington, and without waiting for orders from General
Smith, I at once moved with my command, and marched all night. When I
reached Lexington, I found that preparations were being made for its
evacuation. I hoped, as did thousands of others, that it would be only a
temporary one, and that we could return after a decisive victory, which
should give us fast possession of Kentucky. I mentioned this hope to
Colonel Morgan, and I shall never forget his laugh, and the bitter
sarcasm with which he spoke of the retreat, which he seemed to certainly
expect. As he rapidly mentioned the indications which convinced him that
we were going to give up the stakes without an effort to win them, my
faith, too, gave way, and my heart sank. He generously defended General
Bragg, however, saying, that his course was perfectly consistent,
inasmuch as he had come into Kentucky to escape a fight, and was now
about to go out for the same reason, and that, moreover, a
commander-in-chief always did well to avoid battle, no matter what was
the spirit of his troops, when he felt demoralized himself.
On the 6th of October, Colonel Morgan left Lexington on the track of
General Smith's infantry forces, with Cluke, Gano and the Second
Kentucky. It was thought probable that the enemy would advance from the
direction of Frankfort, and an engagement in the vicinity of Versailles,
where a portion of General Smith's infantry were stationed, was
anticipated. Morgan, whose entire force amounted to some fifteen hundred
effective men, was ordered to take position between Versailles and
Frankfort, and attack the enemy if he made his appearance. The bulk of
General Smith's command was eight or ten miles farther to the southwest,
in the vicinity of Lawrenceburg.
Breckinridge's battalion had been detached on the 4th, and was ordered
to report first to Buford, then to Wharton, and finally to Ashby. It was
engaged in the skirmishing which the two latter officers successfully
conducted with the enemy, on the road between Lawrenceburg and
Harrodsburg, and Harrodsburg and Perryville. The movements of Buell had
completely mystified General Bragg, and the latter was not only reduced
to the defensive, but to a state of mind pitiable in the extreme. He
acted like a man whose nerves by some accident or disorder, had been
crazed; he was the victim of every rumor; he was alternately exhilarated
and dejected. If the enemy dallied, or the distance between them
_happened_ to be increased, he became bold and confident; when a
collision was imminent, he could contemplate nothing but defeat and
disaster. Of that kind of fear which induces provision against dangers
which are far in the future, he knew nothing, and he was equally as
ignorant of the courage which kindles highest when the hour of final
issue has arrived. General Bragg, had, as a subordinate, no superior in
bravery--he had, as a commander, no bravery at all. While I shall make
no sort of comment upon General Bragg's character or his conduct, which
I do not thoroughly believe to be correct, and just and warranted by the
record and by the circumstances of that time and of this--I yet deem it
my duty to candidly warn my readers to receive with due allowance every
line written about Bragg by a Kentuckian.
The wrongs he did Kentucky and Kentuckians, the malignity with which he
bore down on his Kentucky troops, his hatred and bitter active
antagonism to all prominent Kentucky officers, have made an abhorrence
of him part of a Kentuckian's creed. There is no reason why any
expression of natural feeling toward him should be now suppressed--he is
not dead, nor a prisoner, nor an exile.
General Bragg came to the western army with a most enviable reputation.
He had already displayed those qualities as an organizer, a
disciplinarian, and a military administrator, in which he was unrivaled.
His dashing conduct at Shiloh, and the courage and ability (there
exhibited in perfection), in which (as a corps commander), no man
excelled him, had made him a great and universal favorite. The admirable
method which (when second in command at Corinth, and really at the head
of affairs), he introduced into all departments; the marvelous skill in
discipline, with which he made of the "mob" at Corinth a splendidly
ordered, formidable army, and his masterly evacuation of the place
(totally deceiving Halleck in doing so), caused him to be regarded,
almost universally, as the fit successor of Albert Sydney Johnson, and
the coming man of the West.
The plan of retiring altogether from Mississippi, and of suddenly moving
the army, by the Southern railroads, away around into Tennessee
again--losing the slow, dull-scented Halleck--if conceived by a
subordinate, was, at least, attributed to him. It was brilliant in
itself, and was successfully executed. Men waited, in breathless
interest, the consummation of such a career. But right there he began
to fail, and soon he gave way entirely. It is almost impossible now to
realize that the Bragg of the spring and the Bragg of the autumn of
1862, are identical. When he reached Chattanooga, he showed for the
first time vacillation and a disposition to delay. He crossed the river
on the 28th of August with twenty-five thousand infantry, beside
artillery and cavalry. He moved over Waldron's ridge, up the Sequatchy
valley, through Sparta, into Kentucky, seeking to beat Buell to
Munfordsville. The disposition of Buell's forces has already been given
in a former chapter. His army, about forty or forty-five thousand
strong, was scattered over a wide extent of territory, in small
detachments (with the exception of the forces at Battle creek and at
McMinnville--each about twelve or fourteen thousand strong).
This disposition was rendered necessary by the difficulty of obtaining
supplies--it was also requisite to a thorough garrisoning of the
country. Had General Bragg, as soon as he crossed the river, marched
straight on Nashville, General Buell could not possibly have met him
with more than twenty thousand men. General Buell did not issue orders
for the concentration of his troops until the 30th of August, although
preparations had been made for it before. This concentration was
effected at Murfreesboro'. It then became apparent to him that General
Bragg was pushing for central Kentucky, and it became necessary that
Buell, to save his communication, should march into Kentucky also.
General Bragg had the start and the short route, and reached Glasgow on
the 13th of September; then taking position on the main roads at Cave
City, while Buell, with all the expedition he could use, had gotten only
so far as Bowlinggreen, he cut the latter off from Louisville and the
reinforcements awaiting him there.
General Buell's army had been decreased by the detachment of a garrison
for Nashville. After an unsuccessful attack (with the loss of two or
three hundred men), by a small Confederate force upon Munfordsville--the
garrison of that place, over four thousand strong, subsequently
surrendered on the 17th. What now was to hinder General Bragg, holding
the strong position of Munfordsville, from stopping Buell, calling Kirby
Smith, with his whole force, to his assistance, and out-numbering, crush
his adversary? This question has been asked very often. How long would
the raw troops at Louisville have withstood the attack of Bragg's
veterans when their turn came? General Bragg discovered that the country
was barren of supplies--that one of the richest, most fertile regions of
Kentucky, could not support his army for a week, and he withdrew to
Bardstown. Buell finding the road clear, marched on to Louisville. His
immense wagon train, more than twenty miles long and the flank of his
army were exposed, and with impunity by this movement.
It was certainly not expecting too much of General Bragg, as
commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces in Kentucky, to expect that
he would (after this was done) make up his mind whether he was going to
fight or not, without farther delay. If he did not intend to fight,
would it not have been wiser to have marched back on Nashville, while
Buell was marching on Louisville, to have taken that place and to have
established himself on the banks of the Cumberland with less of loss,
fatigue, and discontent among his troops, than existed when after his
long, harassing, wearying marches through the mountains, he halted at
Murfreesboro' much later? Kirby Smith could have remained in Kentucky
long enough to collect and secure all the supplies--he had demonstrated
that he could take care of himself, and if he had been hard-pressed, he
could have retreated more rapidly than any pursuer could follow. If
General Bragg did intend to fight, why did he not concentrate his army
and fight hard?
After Buell marched to Louisville (which he reached on the 29th of
September), Bragg took position at and about Bardstown. Our line,
including General Smith's forces, may be described as running from
Bardstown, on the extreme left, through Frankfort and Lexington, to
Mount Sterling on the right flank. It was an admirable one. However
threatened on front or flanks, the troops could be marched to the
threatened points, by excellent roads. The base at Bryantsville was
perfectly secure--roads ran from it in every direction--and it was a
place of immense natural strength. The force available, for the defense
of this line, was quite forty-nine thousand infantry, General Bragg's
Staff officers represent the force of infantry (which entered the State
with General Bragg) to have been twenty-five thousand. General Smith's
infantry forces (including Marshall) numbered twenty-four thousand [so
estimated by General Smith himself]. There were perhaps one hundred and
thirty pieces of artillery in all. The cavalry, all told, was about six
thousand Strong (including Morgan and Buford), making a grand total of
about fifty-six thousand men.
Buell moved out from Louisville on the 1st of October. His advance was
made just as might have been anticipated, and as many had predicted. Not
caring to involve his whole army in the rough Chaplin and Benson hills,
he sent detachments toward Frankfort and Lawrenceburg, to guard against
any movement on Louisville, and to distract Bragg's attention from his
(Buell's) main design, and make him divide his army. In this latter
intention he perfectly succeeded. The bulk of his army marched through
Bardstown and Springfield to Perryville, to get in Bragg's rear and upon
his line of retreat. The force sent to Frankfort, five or six thousand
strong, under Dumont, broke up the inaugural ceremonies of the
Provisional Government, which General Bragg, as if in mockery of the
promises he had so lavishly and so confidently made to his own
Government, and to the people of Kentucky, and of the hopes he had
excited, had instituted. He made one of the first and best men of the
State, a man of venerable years and character, held in universal respect
for a long life of unblemished integrity, beloved for his kind, open,
manly nature, and especially honored by the Southern people of Kentucky
for his devotion to the cause--General Bragg made this old man, who had
been unanimously indicated as the proper man for Provisional Governor
of Kentucky, tell the people, who crowded to listen to his inaugural
address, that the State would be held by the Confederate army, cost what
it might. At the very time that General Bragg so deceived Governor
Hawes, and made him unwillingly deceive his people, the Confederate army
had already commenced to retreat.
This force, which came to Frankfort, was the same which General Smith
was prepared to fight at Versailles, its real strength not being at
first known. A day or two afterward it came out upon the Versailles
road, and was ambushed by Colonel John Scott, and driven back with smart
loss. General Smith, hearing that the enemy were advancing in force to
Lawrenceburg, and that they had occupied that place with an advance
guard, ordered Buford to drive them out with his cavalry, and followed
with his whole force. The establishment of the enemy at Lawrenceburg,
and upon the road thence to Harrodsburg, would have completely cut off
General Smith from General Bragg. The force advancing toward
Lawrenceburg, was Sill's division, perhaps six or seven thousand strong
in effectives. This division had diverged from the main army at the same
time with Dumont's.
General Smith's forces were arranged at Lawrenceburg (which was not
occupied by the enemy) and on the road thence to Harrodsburg on the 6th.
Sill's division fell back across Salt river and into the rugged Chaplin
hills, pressed by a portion of General Smith's infantry, Colonel Thomas
Taylor's brigade in advance. Several hundred prisoners were taken. The
position of General Smith's forces was not materially changed during
that day and the next, although they continued to draw nearer to
Harrodsburg. The main body of the enemy had in the mean time
concentrated its marching columns and moved to the vicinity of
Perryville, 58,000 strong, on the evening of the 7th.
The detachments which advanced to Frankfort and toward Lawrenceburg,
were not more than 12,000 strong in all. So rugged and difficult of
passage is the country through which these detachments had to pass,
that a comparatively small force could have prevented their junction at
Lawrenceburg and held both at bay, leaving the bulk of the Confederate
army free to concentrate at Perryville. Even had their junction been
permitted, three thousand such cavalry as Bragg had at his disposal
could have retarded their march to Harrodsburg for several days. They
could not have forced their way along the road in less than two or three
days, and as many would have been required to make a detour and join
Buell. In that time the battle of Perryville could have been decided.
But so completely was General Bragg in the dark about Buell's movements
that, when he first heard of the advance from Louisville, he supposed it
was a movement of the whole Federal army upon Frankfort, and he ordered
General Polk "to move from Bardstown, by way of Bloomfield, toward
Frankfort, to strike the enemy in flank and rear," while General Smith
should take him in front. This order was evidently issued under an
unaccountable and entire misapprehension of the true state of affairs,
but showed a nerve and purpose which promised well. General Bragg must
certainly, when he issued it, have supposed that General Buell's whole
army was coming from that direction. How strange is it that a commander
who could thus resolve to fight his foes, when he believed them to be
united, should fear to encounter them separately. Whatever may be the
verdict upon General Polk's disobedience of orders, whether it was one
of those cases in which a subordinate can rightfully exercise this
discretion or not, the fact of General Bragg's incompetency looms up in
unmistakable proportions.
The most remarkable feature of General Bragg's conduct was this strange,
unexampled vacillation. There was perhaps never afforded such an
instance of perfect infirmity and fickleness of purpose. He had, there
can be little doubt, resolved to retreat without delivering battle
before the 1st of October. He nevertheless sought to fight at Frankfort
(as has been seen) a few days afterward. Again, immediately afterward,
he did his best to avoid battle when it could have been delivered (as
all but himself thought) under far more favorable circumstances. No one
now doubts, I presume, that General Bragg fought at Perryville with a
fragment of his army, not to win a victory, but to check the enemy and
cover his retreat.
After General Polk moved to Perryville, General Bragg, of course,
learned of the advance of the enemy in that direction, and must have
known that it was in strong column, or he would not have permitted
sixteen thousand troops to collect there to oppose it. He was still in
error regarding the other movements, and left the larger part of his
army to confront the forces maneuvering about Lawrenceburg and
Frankfort. One glance at the map will show the reader that, if the enemy
was really advancing in heavy columns by these different routes, it was
clearly General Bragg's best policy to have struck and crushed (if he
could) that body threatening him from the south. If he crushed that his
line of retreat would be safe, and he could have fought the other at his
leisure, or not at all, as he chose. He could have fought (if it had
continued to advance) at Bryantsville, or gone after and attacked it.
If, on the contrary, he had concentrated to fight at Frankfort or
Lawrenceburg, defeat, with this other force on his line of retreat,
would have been ruinous. Even complete and decisive victory would have
left him still in danger, having still another army to defeat or drive
away. He would have been, in either case, between his foes, preventing
their junction, and in a situation to strike them in succession; but in
the one case his rear was safe, and in the other it was threatened.
With the true trimming instinct, he elected to take a middle course; he
divided his army, and sought to meet both dangers at the same time. Is
it saying too much that he was saved from utter destruction by the
heroic courage, against vast odds, of that fragment of his army which
fought at Perryville? It is the popular idea that a commander is
out-generaled when he is deceived. Military phraseology can mystify the
popular mind, but it can not eradicate from it this idea. Buell
certainly deceived Bragg, and by sending detachments, numbering in all
not more than twelve thousand, through a country from which a mere
handful of men could have prevented them from debouching, he kept thirty
thousand men, the bulk of General Bragg's army, idle, and rendered them
useless until the game was decided.
After the battle of Perryville (where he certainly got the better of the
forces opposed to him)--an earnest of what might have been done if the
whole army had been concentrated--and after an accurate knowledge had
been obtained, of how Sill's and Dumont's detachments had deceived him
into the belief that they were the whole Federal army--General Bragg had
his entire army concentrated at Harrodsburg. The two armies then fairly
confronted each other, neither had any strategic experiments to fear, on
flank or rear, for Sill's division was making a wide and prudent circuit
to get to Buell, and Dumont was stationary at Frankfort. It would have
been a fair, square, stand up fight. It is, now, well known that there
was not the disparity in numbers which General Bragg and his friends
claimed to have existed. There was less numerical inequality, between
the armies, than there has been on many battlefields--where the
Confederate arms have been indisputably victorious. Buell's strength was
less than at any other period of the eight or ten days that a battle was
imminent. Sill had not gotten up--the Federal army was fifty-eight
thousand strong--minus the four thousand killed and wounded at
Perryville, and the stragglers. Buell had in his army, regiments and
brigades, of raw troops, thirty-three thousand in all. Bragg had not
more than five thousand; most of them distributed among veteran
regiments. There were no full regiments, nor even full companies of
recruits in Bragg's army, except in the Kentucky cavalry commands. The
two armies faced each other, not more than three miles apart. The belief
was almost universal, in each army, that next morning we would fight.
The troops thought so, and, despite the pouring rain, and their
uncomfortable bivouacs, were in high and exultant spirits. I know, for I
saw them late in the night, that some officers of high rank confidently
looked for battle, and were cheerful, and sanguine of victory.
What General Bragg really intended to do that night--perhaps he himself
only knows--and it is quite as probable that even he does not know. He
retreated on the next morning to Bryantsville. There was no undignified
haste about this movement--the troops moved off deliberately, and in
such order, that they could have been thrown quickly, if it had become
necessary, into line of battle. General Bragg manifested no great
anxiety to get away from the vicinity of his enemy, and Buell certainly
manifested no strong desire to detain him.
On the next day (the 12th), the army remained at Bryantsville, and took
up its march for Lancaster about ten o'clock of that night. It reached
Lancaster on the morning of the 13th, and divided. General Smith going
to Richmond, and over the Big hill, to Cumberland Gap, General Bragg
with the troops which had come into Kentucky under his immediate
command, passing through Crab Orchard.
It was hoped, and thought probable, that Buell would overtake and force
Bragg to fight at Crab Orchard. He did, indeed, come very near doing so.
Sending one division to Lancaster, he moved with the bulk of his army
toward Crab Orchard. He failed, however, to intercept Bragg, and the
latter moved on out of Kentucky.
Thus ended a campaign from which so much was expected, and which, had it
been successful, would have incalculably benefited the Confederate
cause. Able writers have exerted all their skill in apologies for this
campaign, but time has developed into a certainty, that opinion then
instinctively held by so many, that with the failure to hold Kentucky,
our best and last chance to win the war was thrown away.
Let the historian recall the situation, and reflect upon the influences
which in the, then, condition of affairs were likely to control the
destinies at stake, and he will declare, that with this retreat the pall
fell upon the fortunes of the Confederacy.
All the subsequent tremendous struggle, was but the dying agony of a
great cause, and a gallant people. At that period the veteran Federal
army of the West was numerically much inferior to what it ever was
again; and even after the accession of the recruits hastily collected at
Louisville, it was much less formidable than it subsequently became.
The Confederate army was composed of the veterans of Shiloh, and the
soldiers formed in the ordeal of Corinth. It was as nearly equal to the
Federal army, in numerical strength, as there was any chance of it ever
being, and the character of its material more than made up for any
inequality in this respect. No man, who saw it in Kentucky, will doubt
that it would have fought up to its full capacity. Never was there a
more fiery ardor, a more intense resolution pervading an army, than that
one felt, when expecting a battle which should decide whether they were
to hold Kentucky, or march back again, carrying the war once more with
them to their homes and firesides. Not even on the first day of Shiloh,
when it seemed that they could have charged the rooted hills from their
bases, were those troops in a temper to make so desperate a fight. But a
doting AEolus held the keys which confined the storm. It will be
difficult for any one who will carefully study the history of this
period, to avoid the conclusion that it was the crisis of the war. First
let the military situation be considered. While at almost every point of
subordinate importance the Confederates were holding their own, they
were at those points, where the war assumed its grand proportions, and
the issue was vital, carrying every thing before them.
The Confederate Government had at length adopted the policy of massing
its troops, and the effect was instantly seen. In Virginia, General
Lee's onset was irresistible. His army burst from the entrenchments
around Richmond, like the lava from the volcano, and the host of
McClellan, shrank withered, from its path. Driving McClellan to his new
base, and leaving him to make explanations to his soldiery, "Uncle
Robert" fell headlong upon Pope, and Pope boasted no more. Forcing the
immense Federal masses disintegrated and demoralized back to Washington,
General Lee crossed the Potomac and pushed into Maryland. Jackson took
Harper's Ferry, while General Lee fought the battle of Antietam with
forty thousand men, and again crippled McClellan.
Although the Confederate army recrossed the Potomac on the 18th of
September, McClellan did not follow, but remained inactive and by no
means certain (as his dispatches show) that his great adversary would
not return to attack him. It was not until late in October, that the
Federal army again advanced, and its march was then slow and irresolute.
It will be seen then, that on the 17th, the day on which Bragg took
Munfordsville, General Lee was fighting in Maryland. Ought not General
Bragg to have risked a battle (with his superior force) in Kentucky,
which (if successful), would have ruined the army opposed to him and
have laid the whole Northwest open to him, unless McClellan had
furnished the troops to oppose him, and have placed himself at the mercy
of Lee?
General Bragg did not (of course) know, on the 17th of September, 1862,
that the battle of Antietam was being fought, but he knew that General
Lee had achieved great successes, and that he was marching into
Maryland. Again, what effect are we at liberty to suppose that a
decisive victory won by General Bragg, at Perryville, on the 6th of
October, would have had upon the general result. General Buell, pressed
by Bragg's entire army, would have had some trouble to cross the Ohio
river, after reaching Louisville; and the defense of the Western States
would have been then intrusted with many misgivings to his shattered
army. And yet the West would have been left with no other defense,
unless the army of the Potomac had (in the event of such a necessity)
been weakened and endangered, that reinforcements might go to Buell. It
may be said that all this is hypothetical. Of course it is. But what
General ever yet inaugurated and conducted a campaign, or planned and
fought a battle, and banished such hypotheses altogether from his
calculations? Why then should they be forbidden in the criticism of
campaigns and battles? It is not infallibly certain that General Bragg
could have defeated Buell. Nothing is positively certain in a military
sense, not even the impregnability of a work built by a West Pointer,
and pronounced so by a committee of his classmates. War is a game of
various and varying chances. What I mean to urge, is, that General Bragg
should, under all the circumstances, have, by all the rules of the game,
risked the chances of a battle. But if there were strong military
reasons why an effort should have been made to accomplish decisive
results in this campaign, there were other and even stronger reasons for
it, to be found in the political condition, North and South. The
Confederacy, alarmed by the reverses of the winter and spring, had just
put forth tremendous and almost incredible efforts. The South had done
all that she could be made to do by the stimulus of fear. Increased,
aye, even sustained exertion could have been elicited from her people,
only by the intoxication of unwonted and dazzling success. No additional
inducement could have been offered to the soldiers, whom pride and
patriotism had sent into the field, to remain with their colors, but the
attraction of brilliant victories and popular campaigns. No incentive
could have lured into the ranks the young men who had evaded the
conscription and held out against the sentiment of their people, but the
prospect of a speedy and successful termination of the war. But there
are few among those who were acquainted with the people of Tennessee,
Alabama, and Mississippi, and their temper at that time, who will not
agree with me, that a great victory in Kentucky, and the prospect of
holding the State, perhaps of crossing the Ohio, would have brought to
Bragg's army more Tennesseeans, Alabamians and Mississippians, than were
ever gotten into the Confederate service, during the remaining two years
and a half of the war. Such a victory would have undoubtedly added more
than twenty thousand Kentuckians to the army, for accurate computation
has been made of that many who were ready to enlist, as soon as Bragg
had won his fight. Five thousand did enlist while it was still uncertain
whether the Confederate army would remain in the State. It is not
perfectly certain that more than five thousand volunteers were ever
obtained, in the same length of time, in any seceded State. All of these
men, too, followed the army away from Kentucky. Some of General Bragg's
friends have assigned, as one reason, why he left Kentucky without an
effort to hold her, that he was disappointed in not receiving more
recruits from the State. It is highly probable that such was the case.
If an able General had marched into his enemy's territory, depending
upon fighting an early and hardly contested battle against a veteran
army, with the assistance of recruits just obtained, and whom he could
not have yet armed, his friends would have concealed (if possible) his
design, or if unable to do so, would have confessed it a weakness
unworthy of their chief, for which they blushed. But it is not difficult
to believe that General Bragg entertained just such a plan. The
Kentuckians had not the confidence in the ultimate success of the
Confederate cause, to induce them to enlist in the Confederate service,
risking every thing, immediately sacrificing much, as they did so, when
they saw a magnificent Confederate army decline battle with a Federal
force, certainly not its superior. General Bragg was not only a very
shrewd judge of human nature, but even he might have known that the
irresolution and timidity he showed from the first day he put foot in
Kentucky, was not the way to inspire confidence in any people--it
certainly was the worst method he could have adopted to win the people
of Kentucky.
And now, to consider the effect which such a Confederate success would
have in the North: I do not allude to the effect it would have had upon
the wishes and plans of President and Cabinet, upon the views of the
Congress, nor upon the arrangements of politicians and the patch work
of their conventions, but to the direction it might have given the
popular mind and the popular feeling. Men who were then serving in the
Confederate army, know little, of course, of the temper of the Northern
people, at that time, but many were impressed with the idea, then,
strengthened by conversation with Northern men since, that, if ever the
Northern people doubted of subjugating the South, it was at that period.
Immense efforts had been made, immense sums had been expended, immense
armies had been sent against them, and still the Southern people were
unconquered, defiant, and apparently stronger than ever. Would it have
been possible to strengthen this doubt into a conviction that the
attempt to subdue the Southern people was hopeless, and the war had
better be stopped? Volunteering was no longer filling the Federal
armies. Now, if the Confederate arms had been incontestably triumphant,
from the Potomac to the Ohio, if Northern territory had been in turn
threatened with general invasion, and if the option of continuing a war,
thus going against them, or making peace, had been submitted at the
critical moment to the Northern people, how would they have decided?
Would they have encouraged their Government to draft them--or would they
have forced the Government to make peace? The matter was, at any rate,
sufficiently doubtful to make it worth while to try the experiment. When
that scare passed off, it is the firm conviction of more than one man
who "saw the war out" that the last chance of Confederate independence
passed away.
The Northern people then learned, for the first time, their real
strength; they found that bounties, and the draft, and the freedmen, and
importations from the recruiting markets of the whole world, would keep
their armies full, and nothing could have made them despond again. The
war then became merely a comparison of national resources. Something was
undoubtedly gained by the march into Kentucky, but how little in
comparison with the golden opportunity which was thrown away. Had the
combatants been equally matched, the result of this campaign might have
been a matter for congratulation; but when the Confederacy was
compelled, in order to cope with its formidable antagonist, to deal
mortal blows in every encounter, or come out of each one the loser, the
prisoners, artillery, and small arms taken, the recovery of Cumberland
Gap and a portion of Tennessee, and the supplies secured for the army,
scarcely repaid for the loss of prestige to Confederate generalship, and
the renewal of confidence in the war party of the North.
When Bragg moved out of Kentucky, he left behind him, uncrippled, a
Federal army which soon (having become more formidable than ever before)
bore down upon him in Tennessee. The inquest of history will cause a
verdict to be rendered, that the Confederacy "came to its death" from
too much technical science. It is singular, too, that the maxims which
were always on the lips of the military _savants_, were often neglected
by themselves and applied by the unlettered "irregulars." The academic
magnates declared in sonorous phrase that struck admiration into the
very popular marrow, the propriety of a General "marching by interior
lines, and striking the fragments of his enemy's forces with the masses
of his own;" while Forrest, perhaps, after doing that very thing, would
make it appear a very ordinary performance, by describing it as "taking
the short cut, and getting there first with the most men."
It was a great misfortune to the Confederacy, too, that Fabius ever
lived, or, at least, that his strategy ever became famous. Every
Confederate General who retreated, when he might have fought
successfully, and who failed to improve an opportunity to punish the
enemy, had only to compare his policy to that of Fabius, and criticism
was silenced. Perhaps, if history had preserved the reports of Hannibal,
the "Fabian policy" would not have become so reputable. At any rate, it
is safe to assume that, had Rome been situated on the same side of the
Mediterranean as Carthage, and had she been a seceded state, inferior
in wealth, numbers, and resources, which the latter was trying to
"coerce," Fabius would have been a most injudicious selection as
commander-in-chief. Historians are agreed, I believe, that if the advice
of this classic "Micawber," to the consuls Livius and Nero, had been
followed by them, the battle of "The Metaurus" would not have been
fought, the two sons of the "Thunder-bolt" would have effected their
junction, and would, in all probability, have forced the legions to
another and final "change of base."
This campaign demonstrated conclusively the immense importance to the
Confederacy of the possession of East Tennessee, and the strategic
advantage (especially for offenso-defensive operations) which that vast
natural fortress afforded us. While that region was firmly in the
Confederate grasp, one half of the South was safe, and the conquests of
the Federal armies of the rest were insecure. It is apparent at a glance
that so long as we held it, communication between the armies of Northern
Virginia and of Tennessee would be rapid and direct; co-operation,
therefore, between them would be secure whenever necessary. While these
two armies could thus practically be handled almost as if they were one
and the same, communication between the Federal army of the Potomac and
that of the Ohio was circuitous, dilatory, and public. No advance of the
enemy through Tennessee into Georgia or Alabama could permanently
endanger the integrity of the Confederate territory, while the flank and
rear of his army was constantly exposed to sudden attack by formidable
forces poured upon it from this citadel of the Confederacy.
Not only would the safety of invading armies be compromised, and their
communications (even if confined to the Tennessee rivers), be liable at
any time to be destroyed, but a sudden irruption from East Tennessee
might (unless an army was always ready to meet it), place the most
fertile portions of Kentucky, perhaps, even a portion of the territory
of Ohio, in the hands of the Confederates. The success clearly attending
the Confederate strategy in the first part of this campaign, would
seem, too, to establish the fact, that, until the concentration for
decisive battle becomes necessary, an army may (under certain
circumstances), be moved in two or more columns, upon lines entirely
independent of each other, and even widely apart, but which lead to a
common goal--and its operations will be more efficient--than if it be
marched _en masse_, by one route.
The advantages to be derived from such a disposition (as regards
freedom, and rapidity of movement, and facility of obtaining supplies),
are at once apparent, but certain strategic advantages besides, may, in
some cases, be thus secured. To attempt it, in moving against a strong
enemy, already posted at the objective point, would be to give him the
opportunity of attacking and crushing the columns separately. But when,
as was the case in this campaign of General Bragg, two armies make a
race for the occupation of a certain territory which is to be fought
for, the army which is divided, while on the march, if the columns are
all kept on the same flank of the enemy, can be worked most actively and
as safely. More can be accomplished by such a disposition of forces, in
the partial engagements and lighter work of the campaign, and the morale
of the troops will be all the better when the detachments are again
combined. Such campaigns might be made more frequently than they are,
and with success.
When the army was concentrated at Harrodsburg, on the night of the 10th
of October, Colonel Morgan was ordered to take position about six miles
from the town, on the Danville pike, and picket the extreme left flank.
Desirous of ascertaining what was before him--as he could see the
camp-fires of the enemy stretching in a great semi-circle, in front of
Harrodsburg--Colonel Morgan during the night, sent Captain Cassell to
reconnoiter the ground in his front. The night was rainy and very dark.
The position of both armies, of the main body of each, at least, was
distinctly marked by the long lines of fires which glared through the
gloom, but we had not lighted fires, and Morgan thought that any body
of the enemy which might be confronting him, and detailed upon similar
duty, would exercise the same prudence. Cassell returned about daylight,
and reported that he had discovered, exactly in front of our position,
and about a mile and a quarter from it, a small body of cavalry on
picket, and a few hundred yards to their rear, a force of infantry,
perhaps of one regiment. He stated positively, also, that one piece of
artillery had passed along a narrow lane, which connected the point
where the cavalry was stationed with the position of the infantry. The
intense darkness prevented his seeing the tracks made by the wheels, but
he had satisfied himself, by feeling, that, from the width of the tire,
and the depth to which the wheels had sunk into the soft earth, they
could only have been made by artillery. This report was verified on the
next day, in every particular.
Colonel Morgan, at an early hour, attacked the cavalry, with a portion
of his command, drove them back to the point indicated by Captain
Cassell, as that one where he had seen the infantry, and sure enough, as
he rode down upon it, he received a volley from a regiment of infantry
posted behind a stone fence, and was opened upon by a single piece of
artillery. The perfect accuracy with which Captain Cassell, under
circumstances peculiarly unfavorable, noted every detail of the enemy's
strength, position, etc., elicited the admiration of all of his
comrades, and among them, were perhaps, as shrewd, practiced, and daring
scouts as ever lived.
About 1 or 2 P.M., learning that General Bragg was falling back to
Bryantsville, Colonel Morgan sent pickets to Harrodsburg; these soon
sent word that the enemy had entered that place. About the same time our
scouts brought us information that the enemy were in Danville
also--about four miles from our position. Having an enemy, now, upon
three sides of him, and finding that General Bragg's rear was
unmolested, Colonel Morgan concluded, in the absence of instructions to
fall back also. He accordingly struck across the country to Shakertown,
reaching that place, about 4 P.M. Colonel Morgan had always respected
the peaceful and hospitable "Shakers," and had afforded them, whenever
it became necessary, protection, strictly forbidding all members of his
command to trespass upon them in any way. We were consequently great
favorites in Shakertown, and on this occasion derived great benefit from
the perfect rectitude of conduct which we had always observed--"in that
part of the country." The entire community resolved itself into a
culinary committee, and cooked the most magnificent meal for the
command. It was with deep regret that we tore ourselves away on the next
morning.
Colonel Morgan received orders, on the 12th, to proceed to Nicholasville
and remain there until the next day. On the 13th we followed the army
and reached Lancaster about midday. In the afternoon the enemy, with
whom General Wheeler had been skirmishing all day, advanced upon
Lancaster, and opened upon the troops, collected about the place, with
artillery. A little sharp shooting was also done upon both sides. Two
guns belonging to Rain's brigade of infantry, which was General Smith's
rear-guard, were brought back and replied to the enemy's fire. One man
of this section killed, was the only loss sustained upon our side. The
cannonading was kept up until dark. We held the town during the night.
Only one division of Buell's army (as has already been stated), was sent
to Lancaster.
On the morning of the 14th, we moved slowly away from Lancaster, our
command forming (with Colonel Ashby's) the extreme rear-guard of General
Smith's corps. We were not at all pressed by the enemy, and on the 15th
halted at Gum Springs twenty-five miles from Richmond. Colonel Morgan
obtained permission from General Smith to select his own "line of
retreat" from Kentucky, with the understanding, however, that he should
protect the rear of the infantry until all danger was manifestly over.
He represented to General Smith that he could feed his men and horses,
and have them in good condition at the end of the retreat, by taking a
different route from that pursued by the army, which would consume
every thing. He explained, moreover, how in the route he proposed to
take, he would cross Buell's rear, taking prisoners, capturing trains,
and seriously annoying the enemy, and that establishing himself in the
vicinity of Gallatin again, he could, before he was driven away, so tear
up the railroad, once more, as to greatly retard the concentration of
the Federal army at Nashville. It was perfectly apparent to General
Smith, that all this could be done, and that, when Morgan reached the
portion of Tennessee which he indicated, he would be in exactly the
proper position to guard one flank of the line, which Bragg's army would
probably establish. He accorded him, therefore, the desired permission,
and on the 17th, when the infantry had gotten beyond Big Hill and were
more than thirty miles from an enemy, Colonel Morgan turned over to
Colonel Ashby the care of "the rear" and prepared to leave Kentucky in
his own way. Colonel Ashby had proven himself competent to the
successful discharge of even more important duty.
Colonel Morgan's force consisted at this time, counting troops actually
with him, of the Second Kentucky (with the exception of one company),
Gano's regiment (the Third Kentucky), and Breckinridge's battalion which
had rejoined us at Lancaster--in all about eighteen hundred men. Cluke's
and Chenault's regiments had gone with General Smith. The time and
situation were both propitious to such an expedition as he contemplated.
No such dash was looked for by the enemy who believed that every
Confederate was anxious to get away as rapidly as possible by the
shortest route. The interior of Kentucky and the route Morgan proposed
to take were clear of Federal troops, excepting detachments not strong
enough or sufficiently enterprising to give him much cause for
apprehension.