CALHOUN MAKES HIS REPORT.
By keeping off the main roads and avoiding the towns, Calhoun had no
trouble in making his way back into Tennessee. He had been gone nearly a
month, and was glad to see his old command, who gave him a royal welcome.
He was showered with questions as to where he had been, but to each and
every one he would laugh and say, “Be glad to tell you, boys, but can’t.”
“Thought you had deserted us,” said his scouts.
“Not till death,” replied Calhoun. “I was on a secret mission. The General
knows where I was.”
“It’s all right then, but mark my word, there will be some deviltry going
on shortly,” one of them remarked, sagely.
As General Breckinridge was greatly interested, Calhoun did not make his
report until that General could meet with Morgan. Then Calhoun gave a
detailed account of all he had seen and heard. He was listened to with
breathless attention.
“His report agrees perfectly with all I have heard,” remarked
Breckinridge, much pleased. “I have had a dozen different agents in the
North, and they all agree.”
“But you have not given us your own conclusions, Lieutenant,” said Morgan.
“It might seem presumptuous in me,” answered Calhoun.
“By no means; let us hear it,” replied both generals.
Calhoun, thus entreated, gave the conclusions he had formed, not from what
had been told him by the leaders of the Knights of the Golden Circle, but
from his own observations. He was listened to with evident interest.
“Your conclusions seem to be at utter variance with all that was told you,
and every fact given,” said Breckinridge. “You admit that dissatisfaction
in the Democratic party is almost universal over the way the war is being
conducted; you say that we have not been deceived regarding the numbers of
the Knights of the Golden Circle, that there are eighty thousand of the
order in Indiana alone, of whom forty thousand are armed; as you know,
every member of that order has taken an oath not to take up arms against
the South; that they believe in states’ rights; that they will resist by
force the tyranny of the Federal government; and yet you say it is your
belief that if General Morgan should invade the state, not a hand would be
raised to help him. I cannot understand it.”
“I will try to make myself plain,” said Calhoun. “The Democratic party is
sick and tired of the war, and want it stopped. They believe we can never
be whipped, and in that they are right. But they love the Union, revere
the old flag. They indulge the vain hope that if the war were stopped, the
Union might be restored. We know how foolish that hope is. I speak of the
rank and file. Many of their leaders are notoriously disloyal, but they
deceive the people with fine words. They make the party believe that if
the Republican party were only defeated, things would be as they were.
“As to the Knights of the Golden Circle, the great mass who join it are
told it is only a secret political society. They scarcely comprehend its
oaths; they are kept in ignorance of the real motives of the order. These
Knights hate the party in power with a bitter hatred. They are friendly to
the South, believe we are right; but mark my word, they will not fight for
us. They are armed, but their idea is to resist the draft. Go among them
to-day, and not one in a thousand would enlist to fight in the Southern
army. Fighting is the last thing they want to do for either side. For
these reasons I conclude that if General Morgan invaded Indiana he would
receive no direct aid from the Knights of the Golden Circle. I confess
these conclusions are entirely different from what the leaders told me.
“As for the leaders, they are heart and soul with us. They want us to
succeed. If they dared they would rise in revolt to-morrow. They are doing
all they can, without open resort to arms, to have us succeed. But they
are a band of conspirators. They want us to succeed, because they want
utterly to destroy the Federal Union. They want to break loose and form a
Northwest Confederacy. They dare not tell their followers this, but it is
what they are working for.”
When Calhoun had stated his opinion, both Breckinridge and Morgan asked
him many questions. He was then dismissed. Unknown to Calhoun there were
three or four other Southern officers present, who had also been in the
North. They were called in, and questioned on the points raised by
Calhoun. Every one differed with him. They believed that if an opportunity
were presented the Knights would rise almost to a man at the call of their
leaders.
Breckinridge and Morgan held an earnest consultation. Morgan was greatly
disappointed over Calhoun’s report, for he had set his heart on making a
raid into Indiana and Ohio. He believed it would be the greatest triumph
of his life, and with the Northwest in open revolt, the independence of
the South would be assured.
“Lieutenant Pennington must be mistaken,” said Breckinridge. “My
acquaintance in the North is extensive, and I believe my friends there
will do just as they say they will.”
Before Morgan and Breckinridge parted, it was fully agreed that Morgan
should make the raid. But when the subject was broached to Bragg, that
general absolutely refused to sanction it. He gave Morgan permission to
make a raid into Kentucky and capture Louisville if possible. That was as
far as he would go, and even with that object in view, he limited Morgan’s
force to two thousand.
Morgan apparently acquiesced in this decision of his commander; but in his
heart he resolved to disobey if, when he neared Louisville, he found
conditions at all favorable for the invasion of Indiana.
Some time had passed since Morgan had made a raid, and the news that they
were again to ride north, probably clear to Louisville, was welcomed by
the rough riders. To them a raid was but a holiday. It did not take Morgan
long to prepare. His men were always ready to move. “To Louisville,” was
the cry, “we want to call on George D.,” meaning George D. Prentice, the
editor of the Louisville _Journal_.
In all probability few men in the Confederate army knew that Morgan was on
another raid, until he was well on his way. This time he entered Kentucky
farther east than was his custom, and the first intimation the Federals
had that he was in the state, he was crossing the Cumberland River at
Burkesville. This was on the second day of July. The alarm was given. The
frenzied Federals telegraphed right and left for troops to head off
Morgan. It was thought that he intended to strike the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad again at his favorite place—Bacon Creek. General Judah
hurried from Tompkinsville with a brigade to head him off, but his advance
under General Hobson was struck at Marrowbone, and hurled back. This left
Morgan an open road to Columbia, and that place fell an easy prey on the
3d.
Leaving General Hobson to pursue Morgan, General Judah hurried back to
Glasgow to bring up another brigade. But General Judah never overtook
Morgan until days afterwards, and then he caught him at Buffington Island.
As for Hobson, he stuck to Morgan’s trail as an Indian sticks to the trail
of his enemy. He followed him all through Kentucky, all through Indiana,
all through Ohio, never but a few hours behind, yet never in striking
distance until Buffington Island was reached.
After leaving the forces of Judah and Hobson in the rear, Morgan had
nearly an open road to Louisville. The 4th found him at the crossing of
Green River on the road between Columbia and Campbellsville. Here a
portion of the Twenty-fifth Michigan, under Colonel Moore, was strongly
fortified, and a charge made by Morgan was bloodily repulsed. As both
Judah and Hobson were close in his rear, it would take too much time to
bring these determined men to terms, and so Morgan, much to his regret,
was forced to leave them, and pass on. The 5th of July found him at
Lebanon. The garrison under Colonel Hanson fought desperately, but was
forced to capitulate, and Lebanon with all its stores and three hundred
and fifty prisoners was again in Morgan’s hands.
The next day found him at Bardstown, where twenty-five men of the Fourth
Regular Cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Sullivan, threw
themselves into a livery stable, strongly fortified it, and refused to
surrender. Here Morgan made a mistake. He should have left them and passed
on; but angered that he should be defied by so few men, he determined to
capture them and it delayed him twenty-four precious hours. So enraged
were his men over what they considered the obstinacy of the brave little
band, that they began to misuse the prisoners, but Morgan stopped them,
saying: “The damned Yankees ought to be complimented on their pluck.”
Never, in any of his raids, had Morgan met with so fierce resistance as on
this one. Cut to the quick by the numerous criticisms which had been
published in Northern papers, that cowardice prompted nearly every one of
the surrenders to Morgan, these troops fought long after prudence should
have caused them to surrender.
From Bardstown Morgan moved to Shepherdsville. He was now within striking
distance of Louisville. Here it was that he fully decided, if he had not
done so before, upon the invasion of Indiana, instead of attempting the
capture of Louisville. At Shepherdsville he was on the Louisville and
Nashville Railroad, where a long bridge spans the Salt River. But he did
not stop to capture the garrison which guarded the bridge, nor did he
attempt to burn it; time was too precious. Instead, he rode straight west,
and on the 9th was in Brandenburg. Before him rolled the Ohio River,
beyond lay the green hills of Indiana. It was the first time he had led
his men clear to the Ohio River. The sight of Yankee land aroused them to
the utmost enthusiasm. They would have attempted to cross if ten thousand
foes had opposed them.
Calhoun had had the advance into Brandenburg with instructions to sweep
through the place, stopping for nothing, and to capture any steamboats
which might be at the landing. This he did. Far in advance of the main
body, he galloped into the town, to the astonishment and dismay of its
citizens.
Two small steamboats were lying at the landing, and before the terrorized
crews could cut the hawsers and drift out into the stream, Calhoun and his
men were on board and the boats were theirs.
The means of crossing the river were now in Morgan’s hands. But a fresh
danger arose. A gunboat came steaming down the river from Louisville and
opened fire. Morgan brought every piece of his artillery into action, and
for two hours the battle raged. Then the gunboat, discomfited, withdrew
and went back to Louisville, leaving the way open. There was now nothing
to prevent Morgan from crossing the river.