I have tried to categorize the clippings in my 'miscellaneous' drafts into posts sorted by decade, and then by topic. For some topics, the clippings are editorials or other more general articles that do not currently fit into other posts. Also, these topics are not comprehensively covered by the clippings here. Some of these clippings are not fully transcribed.
The topics within this particular tangent post are as follows:
The topics within this particular tangent post are as follows:
DESCRIPTIONS OF LOCALITIES - ROADS, RAILROADS, BUILDINGS, ETC
ABOLITIONISTS
THE CIVIL WAR
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU IN KY / FEDERAL TROOPS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS / PENALTIES & SENTENCING
POLITICAL FEELING / PUBLIC OPINION ABOUT CRIME
CRIME STATISTICS / UBIQUITY OF CRIME
REGULATORS / MOB VIOLENCE
MISCELLANEOUS
(if you Ctrl+F search for an equal sign "=" then you can skip down through each topic heading)
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DESCRIPTIONS OF LOCALITIES - ROADS, RAILROADS, BUILDINGS, ETC
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[] Excerpt from "A Trip to East Tennessee." Louisville Daily Journal, Louisville, KY. August 4, 1866. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[August 4, 1866] -
BURNSIDE RAILROAD.
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ABOLITIONISTS
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CLAIMED BY DEATH IS J. G. FEE
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THE CIVIL WAR
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[] "Letter from Crab Orchard." The Louisville Daily Courier, Bowling Green, KY. November 26, 1861. Page 1. Newspapers.com. (Bowling green not a typo)
[November 26, 1861] -
Letter from Crab Orchard.
CRAB ORCHARD, KY., Nov. 17.
The 14th Ohio had the right of the column. Shortly before 8 o'clock, it marched solemnly by the camp of the 17th Ohio, its band mournfully playing the Dead March -- thus expressing the emotions of the troops. It was followed by Standart's and Kenney's batteries, with the baggage trains of each of the foregoing corps. The 17th Ohio fell in their rear, and its sarcastic lads, keenly appreciating the occasion, burst into a satirical paraphrase of their favorite regimental ditty, one strain of which runs somewhat thus:
During the first mile we passed one baggage wagon capsized in a creek. Its load of commissary stores and baggage were lost. The desolate teamster and jaded horses, bedaubed with mud, gazed at it dismally and hopeless as we moved forward. Further up the hill a half dozen wagons was stuck, and the poor animals could not move them. A few hundred yards further, barrels of bread were tossed out of wagons and left to destruction in the forests. A stranger to the facts, passing would have said, here is a terrified army fleeing from a pursuing enemy.
Going up the mountain, we pass Tennesseans; some are still pushing on desperately. Yonder is one prone on a bed of leaves. His head is bolstered on a rotten stump; -- Exhaustion is graphically pictured on his livid complexion and in his silent form. He is unconscious, while he sleeps the sleep of distress, that the driving rain is beating mercilessly upon him. My comrade startles me -- "Is he dead?" Oh no, he's only an exhausted soldier. He wears no shoulder straps with a silver star on each. But it is yet early in the day. Surely it is not time for soldiers to yield to fatigue. They have marched only one night, and have slept the whole of one or two hours on the damp, frosted soil.
At last the ascent is accomplished by a few. We look back with a sigh of relief, and turn away again with emotions of regret and disgust at the sorrowful and weary file of men, still toiling through the mire, and gazing wistfully to the top. But here is a picture. On the top of a rock on the crest of the hill, there sits a Toledo lad, writing a letter. He protects the precious page from the rain with his hat, and the big drops patter on his bare head. He looks care worn and way worn; but his eye is bright, his hand steady. From head to foot he is encased in a thick plastering of clay, and moisture drips from his sleeves. -- He replies to my comrade. "No Colonel, I've not given out; I'm a little tired though. I'll make it, Colonel -- I'll never give up.
Why in the name of humanity does not the commander send back messengers to halt this column? Is there imminent danger ahead? Cannot these failing men be halted for a day of rest? At least let messengers be dispatched to inspire them to march, march, march, to resist the foe. Anything to renew their spirit. But look at these wagon loads of sick soldiers. See them shivering in saturated blankets, seated in pools of water which drip from their clothing as it pours from the clouds. Hear their unceasing, discordant, and harrowing chorus of coughing. Here are candidates for the grave. But the order is stern -- "Bring all your sick." "Oh," said one of the Surgeons to me, "that was the cruelest order officer ever give. I protested in vain. I urged that it would kill my patients. But come they must. I shall lose perhaps thirty or forty of my regiment, and it will plant consumption in the lungs of two hundred more.
And here is another picture. We splash along tediously through the mire, and mounted officers encourage their men by kind words of sympathy. Nearly all relieve feeble soldiers by carrying their knapsacks and muskets. Col. Steedman, long racked with chills and fever, and scarce able to sit his horse, rides with his scattered columns. Col. Connell, suffering from illness, bears the burden of a sick soldier's knapsack. Col. Coburn dismounts, and pushes through the mud, while a feeble lad rides his charger. The Captains on foot emulate their superiors, and encourage them by example.
At Rockcastle river the column is victoriously over Wildcat. The dismal train halts at the ferry, in the mud and rain. The jaded men fall asleep on the sod of a neighboring meadow, waiting the slow process of crossing all that column in one small float. The teamsters stuff their worn out animals with corn. A few, in desperation, plunge into the ford where the water is swift, and some narrowly escape a watery grave. The 14th Ohio loses two wagons and contents including twenty-five or thirty thousand rounds of ammunition. The 17th loses a wagon and 26,000 rounds of ammunition at the ferry. The Tennesseans lose two wagons and contents, with three horses, and the 38th Ohio loses one wagon. How much more was lost I do not know.
This was morning, but the column was long after night in crossing. Afterwards through the day the scenes already feebly described, increased and assumed more aggravating forms. The road constantly became more wretched. Men flung away their knapsacks and stalked onward in utter desperation, their officers refusing to see insubordination. Some stumbled and fell by the wayside, where they lay, and slept the sleep of exhaustion. And the sick in the uncovered wagons, and those accursed ambulances, were racked and jounced over rocks and ruts until their weak bones ached, their countenances testifying to their utter wretchedness. And thus, hour after hour, through mud, and slime, and rain, over rocks and rails, and logs up the roughest and steepest grades, and down the ruggedest descents, our weary, footsore, exhausted soldiers and jaded teams struggled and toiled in pain all that miserable day and far into the night; for even at midnight feeble stragglers staggered into Mount Vernon, where the 14th and 17th rested, to find their comrades.
This night the poor lads went to bed supperless, for fatigue was overpowering, and sleep sweeter than meat. Some of them marched fourteen, some sixteen miles that day -- thirteen the night and morning before. This day's work was more disastrous than ordinary battles. God knows how many sturdy constitutions it wrecked; how many brave volunteers it will kill.
But I had almost forgot the episode of the day. The few Tennesseans who had manfully breasted the task with Ohio and Indiana, were mere stragglers. Their officers were scattered as badly as the men. The privates were huddled in shivering groups along the route. It seems as if they never could be collected. A hundred yards or so below a house where I halted for luncheon there was a party of perhaps a hundred or more. There were two or three with me, bitterly denouncing the countermarch. At that moment an officer rode down the highway, proclaiming joyfully, "Tennesseans and Kentuckians are ordered back to London!" The hundred below set up a great shout of joy as if they had attained the summit of their desires, and those with me started back almost running bidding a glad good-bye. Alas! poor fellows, you were twenty-four miles from London, exhausted, wet, muddy, almost out of provisions, without tents, and no houses or barns to shelter you from the storm. London will be another charnel house for patriot Tennesseans. If there was cause for a forced march of the entire brigade from London to Crab Orchard, why order back the Tennesseans and Kentuckians, before they had approached within fifteen miles of Crab Orchard? If there was no adequate cause for the march, why was not the whole column halted for rest, which it so sorely needed? If there was reason to apprehend that the brigade would be cut off unless it made the forced march, why send the Tennesseans and Kentuckians back to be sacrificed? Who will answer?
MT. VERNON, Nov. 15.
Thank God, the sun shines to-day. We learn, this morning, that the 38th Ohio encamped five miles below here late last night. During the night, a tree was blown down in the camp, and five men, including three Tennesseans, were seriously injured. Two have died, and two more are reported fatally hurt.
The 33d Indiana is moving forward slowly in the rear, somewhere. The 44th and 17th Ohio lads are bowling ahead cheerily by company, because the sun shines and the roads improve, besides the forced march must end to-day. The brigade can go no further until it gathers its scattered fragments.
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[] "Our Army Correspondence." Elyria Independent Democrat, Elyria, OH. January 1, 1862. Page 2. Newspapers.com.
[January 1, 1862] -
CAMP SPALDING, Lebanon, Ky. }
Dec. 22, 1861. }
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[] Excerpt from "Official Report of Col. John H. Morgan." Fayetteville Weekly Observer, Fayetteville, NC. August 11, 1862. Page 2. Newspapers.com.
[August 11, 1862] -
OFFICIAL REPORT OF COL. JOHN H. MORGAN.
HEADQUARTERS, MORGAN'S COMMAND,
Knoxville, Tenn., July 30, 1862.
To Major General E. Kirby Smith, Commanding Department of East Tennessee:
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[] Excerpt from "From the West and Southwest." The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA. August 13, 1862. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[August 13, 1862] -
One of the papers copies the following from the Louisville Journal:
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[] "The Bandit Morgan in Kentucky." The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA. August 27, 1862. Page 2. Newspapers.com.
[August 27, 1862] -
From the Augusta (Ga.) Southern Confederacy.
By the following it will appear that Colonel Owens must have been en route for Lebanon. :--
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[] "From Kentucky." Daily True Delta, New Orleans, LA. October 27, 1864. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.
[October 27, 1864] -
From Kentucky.
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU IN KY / FEDERAL TROOPS
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[] "Freedmen's Bureau in Kentucky." Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cincinnati, OH. January 1, 1866. Page 6. Genealogybank.com.
[January 1, 1866] -
Freedmen's Bureau in Kentucky -- Address of Gen. Fisk to the Freedmen -- Circular.
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[] Excerpt from "From Washington." Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cincinnati, OH. February 7, 1866. Page 3. Genealogybank.com.
[February 7, 1866] -
GEN. FISK.
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[] "Freedmen's Affairs in Kentucky." Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. August 28, 1866. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.
[August 28, 1866] -
Freedmen's Affairs in Kentucky.
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There is a great need of a branch of the Freedmen's Bureau at this place, to minister to the necessities of our new branch of American citizens, or rather citizen-ized animals. Most of them are obliged to labor for their substance, though they do so under protest, expecting to be relieved from this burden as soon as the matter can be brought before their friends in Congress. []
[] Excerpt from "From Crab Orchard." Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. January 24, 1868. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.
[January 24, 1868] -
The militia company of the county, Captain Sim Bryant, is assembled here today to be disbanded. The Casey and Marion militia, comprising Kentucky's entire military establishment, are also being mustered out of service at Lebanon and Liberty. These companies were organized some three months since to aid civil officers in making arrests and preserving the peace. Their campaigns have displayed a plentiful lack of discipline, due chiefly to our clumsy militia law, yet they have done very fair service, and have inspired the "bushwhacking" region hereabouts with the most edifying and salutary awe. []
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS / PENALTIES & SENTENCING
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[] Excerpt from "From Somerset." The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY. October 5, 1866. Page 4. Newspapers.com.
[October 5, 1866] -
FROM SOMERSET.
...
Every grade of crime from the highest known to the law, down to the slightest misdemeanors cognizable by a Grand Jury, is represented. By far the largest division is for violations of the liquor law, and the residue originating from violence engendered by the use of the aforesaid liquor.
[August 4, 1866] -
BURNSIDE RAILROAD.
To one who has taken as many wearing jaunts by stage as I have, from Nicholasville to Stanford, the question recurs with twofold importance. Will Kentucky enterprise continue this road to the mountains, and catch from Cincinnati's grasp the commerce of that section? The mountain people of Kentucky and Tennessee want communication with Louisville or Cincinnati. They have iron, coal, zinc, saltpeter, lead, petroleum in abundance, and timber that is unsurpassed for variety and quantity. Who will make the effort? is the mooted question in the mountain counties. The people are not passive on the subject. Every county through which the road will pass will contribute largely in lands and money in aid of the enterprise. If the Burnside Road is constructed, the people of Pulaski, Wayne, and Whitley counties will contribute liberally. They want only an opportunity to prove their sincerity. Counties bordering on these will also subscribe in aid of the undertaking, and I feel confident, from an intercourse of eight months with them in the interests of a road, that in the counties lying along the line surveyed by the engineers sent out by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, and in the counties contiguous to these, at least eight hundred thousand dollars, and two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, can be procured as a donation.
The people are anxiously awaiting an opportunity to do something for the work. Let the right men take the matter in hand, and, in addition to the two millions bonus already raised and tendered by Cincinnati, will be the prize that is offered by the mountain counties.
Everybody in this section has lost confidence in Cincinnatians. Why not the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company take the matter in hand, and, deflecting from Stanford to the right, reap for Louisville the incalculable benefits accruing from the mountain trade?
SOMERSET
Like other war-battered towns, presents in the condition of its business houses rather a shabby and dilapidated aspect, compared to the neat and cleanly appearance it wore ere the disturbances of the war cast a blight on trade and ushered in the chaos and confusion of morals and socialisms. The dwelling-houses generally are comely on their appearance, and the revival of trade and travel, the resuscitation of the old-time civilities before prejudices estranged families, and the new life that religion begins to show, have lighted sad faces with new smiles, and the community seems to be happy in the hope that enterprise and energy have ins tore a success and prosperity to which that of the days before the war was only a foretaste.
The advantages of this village as a place of residence, with a railroad connection with the cities North and the mountain county South, are, in point of health of climate, beauty of site, proximity to haunts that are wild, and scenery that is beautiful and sublime, unsurpassed by those of any other village of the State.
WATERING PLACES.
These favorite places of resort in Southwestern Kentucky cannot offer the present year accommodations for their visitors. The patrons of Rock Castle, Sublimity and Crab Orchard Springs, find it difficult indeed to procure, at this time, anything like comfortable quarters during their stay. It is in contemplation by the proprietors, I learn; to so enlarge for the coming year, and attract by the inviting comforts and beauties of their rival resorts, that families and individuals, desiring retirement, with the advantages of rural scenery, healthy country air, and the benefits of the medicinal virtues of the water, may find in these resorts quite as inviting retreats from the cares of life, the heat of cities and the noise and bustle of the streets, as could be found in other States or on the seashore.
FOR THE MOUNTAINS.
From Somerset, the trip through the mountains must be prosecuted on horseback. I had for company, and my star was never luckier, an estimable lady friend, and a Welsh gentleman, who has been in this country several months as correspondent for the London Times. To find one of my craft from across the broad waters, on a note-hunting errand, was a freak of good fortune, the happier for being unexpected.
POINT BURNSIDE.
This place, just at the confluence of South Fork with the Cumberland, and formerly Point Isabel, takes it present title from having been made by Gen. Burnside his base of supplies for that remarkably arduous campaign of his for the occupation of Knoxville.
Of all that city of store-houses, boarding houses, work-shops, bakeries, granaries, dwellings, and offices, erected at such an immense cost by the Government, but two remain. The little valley that hides itself among the hills is checkered now with cornfields and meadows. In place of the busy hundreds and thousands that plied the work of war, we have now but the bare, grim earth-works, with their rotting abatis of felled timber, and a few lone chimneys.
The place is destined erelong, I think, to become a site of one of the busiest and most prosperous towns in the State. All the railroad surveys select this place as the crossing-point on the Cumberland. As the head of navigation on the main river, with the turbulent South Fork, which then will be made navigable, uniting with the main stream, to this point will tend the mineral, coal, and lumber riches of the up-country for barter and sale to the merchants from Nashville and from Cincinnati. The point is owned at present, I believe, by Gen. Wilder, of Indiana.
CROPS.
In these sheltered coves, corn will yield from fifty to sixty bushels per acre. On the plateau beyond, the land here corresponding with that in the vicinity of Somerset, the yield will be from twenty to fifty bushels. The average, however, will not be greater than thirty bushels. The average of Pulaski county in corn will not be greater than thirty-five bushels, if indeed it reaches that. Oats are unusually fine. []
The people are anxiously awaiting an opportunity to do something for the work. Let the right men take the matter in hand, and, in addition to the two millions bonus already raised and tendered by Cincinnati, will be the prize that is offered by the mountain counties.
Everybody in this section has lost confidence in Cincinnatians. Why not the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company take the matter in hand, and, deflecting from Stanford to the right, reap for Louisville the incalculable benefits accruing from the mountain trade?
SOMERSET
Like other war-battered towns, presents in the condition of its business houses rather a shabby and dilapidated aspect, compared to the neat and cleanly appearance it wore ere the disturbances of the war cast a blight on trade and ushered in the chaos and confusion of morals and socialisms. The dwelling-houses generally are comely on their appearance, and the revival of trade and travel, the resuscitation of the old-time civilities before prejudices estranged families, and the new life that religion begins to show, have lighted sad faces with new smiles, and the community seems to be happy in the hope that enterprise and energy have ins tore a success and prosperity to which that of the days before the war was only a foretaste.
The advantages of this village as a place of residence, with a railroad connection with the cities North and the mountain county South, are, in point of health of climate, beauty of site, proximity to haunts that are wild, and scenery that is beautiful and sublime, unsurpassed by those of any other village of the State.
WATERING PLACES.
These favorite places of resort in Southwestern Kentucky cannot offer the present year accommodations for their visitors. The patrons of Rock Castle, Sublimity and Crab Orchard Springs, find it difficult indeed to procure, at this time, anything like comfortable quarters during their stay. It is in contemplation by the proprietors, I learn; to so enlarge for the coming year, and attract by the inviting comforts and beauties of their rival resorts, that families and individuals, desiring retirement, with the advantages of rural scenery, healthy country air, and the benefits of the medicinal virtues of the water, may find in these resorts quite as inviting retreats from the cares of life, the heat of cities and the noise and bustle of the streets, as could be found in other States or on the seashore.
FOR THE MOUNTAINS.
From Somerset, the trip through the mountains must be prosecuted on horseback. I had for company, and my star was never luckier, an estimable lady friend, and a Welsh gentleman, who has been in this country several months as correspondent for the London Times. To find one of my craft from across the broad waters, on a note-hunting errand, was a freak of good fortune, the happier for being unexpected.
POINT BURNSIDE.
This place, just at the confluence of South Fork with the Cumberland, and formerly Point Isabel, takes it present title from having been made by Gen. Burnside his base of supplies for that remarkably arduous campaign of his for the occupation of Knoxville.
Of all that city of store-houses, boarding houses, work-shops, bakeries, granaries, dwellings, and offices, erected at such an immense cost by the Government, but two remain. The little valley that hides itself among the hills is checkered now with cornfields and meadows. In place of the busy hundreds and thousands that plied the work of war, we have now but the bare, grim earth-works, with their rotting abatis of felled timber, and a few lone chimneys.
The place is destined erelong, I think, to become a site of one of the busiest and most prosperous towns in the State. All the railroad surveys select this place as the crossing-point on the Cumberland. As the head of navigation on the main river, with the turbulent South Fork, which then will be made navigable, uniting with the main stream, to this point will tend the mineral, coal, and lumber riches of the up-country for barter and sale to the merchants from Nashville and from Cincinnati. The point is owned at present, I believe, by Gen. Wilder, of Indiana.
CROPS.
In these sheltered coves, corn will yield from fifty to sixty bushels per acre. On the plateau beyond, the land here corresponding with that in the vicinity of Somerset, the yield will be from twenty to fifty bushels. The average, however, will not be greater than thirty bushels. The average of Pulaski county in corn will not be greater than thirty-five bushels, if indeed it reaches that. Oats are unusually fine. []
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ABOLITIONISTS
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[] Fee, John G. Autobiography of John G. Fee. Chicago, IL: National Christian Association, 1891. Available on GoogleBooks. Accessed February 16, 2020. Excerpts from Chapter 5.
Excerpts from the Autobiography of John G. Fee:
Prior to my baptism, Mr. C[assius] M. Clay had returned from Mexico and had requested that I send to his care a box of my "Anti-slavery Manuals." I had done so. He distributed these largely in this part of Madison County. Friends of freedom here had united in a request that I visit them and preach to them. I did so early in the spring of 1853. After I had preached to the people some nine sermons, thirteen persons came out as professed followers of Christ. Most of these had been baptized and came from their former slaveholding fellowships. The others were baptized, and all united as a church and for a time worshiped in the old Glade meeting house. After some days, I left the little flock and returned to my home in Lewis County.
...
About this time Bro. George Candee came; and whilst he and I were chopping wood, then piled up in my yard, we talked up the idea of a more extended school - a college - in which to educate not merely in a knowledge of the sciences, so called, but also in the principles of love in religion, and liberty and justice in government; and thus permeate the minds of the youth with these sentiments.
With a purpose to survey the field and look out the best location, we took our horses and rode out into Rockcastle County, and visited a community in which I had preached a few discourses during the preceding year. We thought we had there found the place, and unfolded our plans to a friend. He entered with commendable zeal into the plan and was ready to deed lands for the enterprise.
As a preparatory step we induced friends to help in the erection of a house as a place for the school, and for public worship. The building was speedily enclosed, a few sermons preached, and Otis B. Waters, a student from Oberlin, Ohio, was introduced as teacher of the school. Soon some enemy of the movement reduced the building to ashes.
Friends there were intimidated and wholly unwilling to make any other effort at building. I kept up a monthly appointment in the community, in groves and private houses.
Brother Candee went into Pulaski County and started a school there. Speedily the house there was burned. From thence he went to McKee, the county seat of Jackson County. I kept headquarters at Berea, with regular appointments there, and in three other adjoining counties.
A Bro. Richardson, a man of excellent spirit, came. He went on to Williamsburg, the county seat of Whitley County, where Bro. Myers has successfully labored. Bro. Richardson there began a school, but soon felt the unfriendly embrace of a mob and left.One of my appointments for regular preaching, at this time, was at Dripping Springs, in Garrard County, near to Crab Orchard. The slave power was, as ever, vigilant - called a meeting of citizens at Crab Orchard, and a venerable minister of the Gospel (?) presided over their deliberations. They gravely resolved that I should not further preach nor distribute Abolition documents in that county.
...
Soon after the mobbing at Dripping Springs, Garrard County, I went again eighteen miles distant, to my regular monthly appointment in Rockcastle County. My wife taking her babe in her arms, leaving our other little ones at home with a good friend, went with me. When we arrived, we found an orderly congregation of people, and larger than we had expected, assembled in the grove, according to previous arrangement.
Soon after I had commenced preaching, a band of men, about thirty in number, rode up, dismounted and posted themselves outside the congregation. Soon it was manifest that they were in doubt as to what was the better course to pursue. Unobserved by me, and without any previous knowledge of his intent, there stood behind me a strong, robust man; and, though it was now early summer, he had on a large overcoat, with large side pockets, evidently not empty. Under his overcoat, as I was afterward informed, there was seen the handle of a huge knife, evidently not made by Wostenholm & Sons. This man (Roberts) said not a word, nor moved a step. His known sympathy with liberty and free speech, bespoke to others his silent purpose. I followed the plan of my sermon, concluded, and knelt down, with many others, and called on a brother to lead in prayer - he was silent. I then called on a venerable minister of the Gospel, usually fervent in prayer, and he, too, remained silent. I prayed, and then, after further conversation with some three persons who had confessed sorrow for sin and trust in Jesus, we went with the congregation to a stream of water near by, and there, upon the repeated profession of their faith in Christ, I baptized the three, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.Soon after the baptism and before we left the ground, my wife, other friends and myself, were warned not to return - that if we did, we would certainly meet a large force, and I not be allowed to speak. I replied, "The Lord willing, I will meet my appointment." My wife told them that, if living, I would come.
...
Mr. [Cassius] Clay himself came not to my house for thirteen months; and when the time came for me to go back to my next appointment in Rockcastle County, not only were the magistrates, alluded to previously, secure at home, but many others also remained. The prospect for a college, a living church, life itself, was waning. The "narrow way" still existed.
Soon after the celebration at Slate Lick, the time for my next appointment in Rockcastle County came. That the now drooping spirits of remaining friends might be cheered by my personal presence, and that all things might be in readiness for worship on Lord's Day, I mounted my horse the day previous, and rode out, some eighteen miles, to the place appointed for preaching. On my way I called at the house of one of the magistrates previously referred to. He could not be found. I then rode on to the house of the man who had been apparently most interested in our work. I saw in a moment that he, too, was utterly discouraged, - no spirit in him - afraid to go to the place appointed for preaching, though on his own premises. He was willing to shelter me for the night, - but that was all.Then next morning the heavens themselves were overcast with clouds; and about the time for the gathering of the people, the rain commenced descending. The house provided for the expected congregation was small and soon filled, almost exclusively with women. The arbor, constructed as a shade for men, in front of the house, would not shield them from the falling rain. They dispersed to neighboring houses. This was the opportunity for the mob foretold at the time of the previous appointment.
As I was afterward informed, the mob was at this time lying in ambush, waiting to see if Mr. Clay and his personal friends would be present. They knew that immediately after the mob at Dripping Springs Mr. Clay had said, "Free speech shall be maintained, and Fee shall be heard"; and strong demonstrations for the maintenance of such had been made; but these men also knew that since that time Mr. Clay, as at the celebration at Slate Lick, had expressed disapproval of my radical sentiments in regard to the Higher Law. They were now waiting to see if Mr. Clay's difference of sentiment would neutralize his zeal for free speech, and cause his absence on this occasion. Finding him not present, and no armed forces ready to defend me, some forty or fifty men quickly surrounded the house in which I was preaching; and a portion of them, with show of previously-concealed weapons, rushed into the house, and with violence pulled me out of it, tearing my coat, and one man struck me a violent blow, but without inflicting lasting injury.
The mob had taken the precaution to have my horse in readiness, and demanded that I mount and be ready to march. I saw that this, under existing circumstances, was probably the best thing to do.
The leader of the mob said to me, "We will now take you out of this county; and if you return again it will be at the peril of your life." I calmly replied, "I am in your hands, but I will make no pledges to men, for the present or the future." The crowd started with me for Crab Orchard, nine miles distant.
The men having me in charge were not silent. Like all others conscious of guilt, they sought to justify themselves by criminating others. I was neither sullen nor silent. I vindicated my right as a native citizen, and as a Christian minister, to speak as occasion offered, and appealed to their own sense of honor and of right. One by one of the number dropped out of the crowd.
We had not proceeded many miles until suddenly there descended upon us a drenching rain; - like the dew on Nebuchadnezzar: as described by Milton, it "dipped us all over." By common consent we all took shelter in a farm house near to the roadside. The "man of the house" had a kind look and a pleasant manner. Seeing a large Bible on a small table, I said to him, "We can not travel whilst the rain is falling so heavily, and if you are willing we will read a portion of Scripture and pray." He assented pleasantly, and I turned to the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, and read, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, * * * Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? * * Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer"; - and so to the end of that chapter, so full of instruction and precious promise. I knelt down and prayed. Soon the rain ceased. We all mounted our horses; but seven of the number turned back. Nine persevered in their purpose to take me out of the county, and brought me to Crab Orchard, where, much to my comfort, I saw no crowd of hostile men waiting to receive me, as was expected.
The mission of the nine to take me out of the county was now ended; but feeling that they must say something they asked me if I would "take something to drink," - they meant whisky.
These men, as their manner indicated, doubtless thought they were acting magnanimously to offer a "treat" - even to an Abolitionist. I, in a quiet manner, replied, "I drink nothing stronger than cold water; and if you will give me a cup of that I shall be much obliged." This they quickly brought to me, and after drinking it, I bade them good evening and started toward my home.
It was now near sunset. I rode on some two or three miles, and coming to the small log-house of a poor man, I asked the privilege of spending with him the night. This he kindly granted. Early the next morning I was again on my horse, and in a few minutes was in the well known road leading from Dripping Springs to Berea.
...
A crisis came to Berea. For weeks there was a reign of terror. The male members of the church, with others who were friends, held three formal councils, to which I was invited. These men entreated that I leave; saying, "There is an overwhelming feeling against you; your friends cannot protect you; the mob will kill you and destroy your property." I replied, "I came here to do my duty, and when the mob shall come they will find me at my post."
For weeks, not a man came through our little rustic gate, save Otis B. Waters, the teacher, and "Ham" Rawlings, the tried friend oft referred to. He would come "every few days," and on leaving, would say, "Quist (Christ) was a Wadical (Radical)," and drop large tears of affection over our little children as he was bidding them "good-by."
These were dark days, - days in which we could walk only by faith, not by sight, - taught to "endure as seeing Him who is invisible."
I kept up appointments for preaching in the school-house. For a time the congregation was composed of women, save one or two male members. Some men who were friends stood around in the forest, some with guns near by.
After a time fears subsided, a few men came in, some souls were converted, the little school went on until the close of the term. Then Bro. Waters returned to Oberlin, Ohio, to further prosecute his studies in preparation for the Gospel ministry.
It was notoriously true that sudden destruction came upon the leaders of these latter mobs, as had been true in Lewis, Mason and Bracken Counties. Here in Madison County, one of the violent men in the mob was stabbed six times and fell dead; another was shot in his yard; another shot whilst sitting in his house; another stabbed, and after lingering some days died.
So of the Dripping Spring mob: - two of the leading violent men were shot; a third cut to pieces with a bowie-knife. So in the Rockcastle mob the destruction came speedily and numerous. Men of that reckless class faintly saw a providence, and among themselves banded around the saying, "Old Master is against us." []
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[] Clay, Cassius M. Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches. Vol. 1. Cincinnati, OH: J. Fletcher Brennan & Co., 1886. Available on GoogleBooks. Accessed February 16, 2020. Excerpts taken from Chapters 4 and 12.
[] Clay, Cassius M. Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches. Vol. 1. Cincinnati, OH: J. Fletcher Brennan & Co., 1886. Available on GoogleBooks. Accessed February 16, 2020. Excerpts taken from Chapters 4 and 12.
Excerpt from Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches, Vol. 1:
From the Washington Republic.
* INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE.
We have received for publication the following correspondence. It will command the wide interest and attention with which every thing is received by the public from Cassius M. Clay, than whom a more gallant spirit does not live:
October 8, 1857.
To the Editor of the Republic:
The inclosed correspondence was not designed, when written, for publication; but as Mr. Davis's letter evidently was intended to elicit from me something for general explanation, I have thought it best, and no breach of confidence, to send his letter and this reply at once to the press. Your obedient servant,
C. M. Clay.
Cabin Creek, Lewis Co., Ky., Friday, October 2, 1857.
Dear Sir: — In common with multitudes of the friends of freedom, I learned with regret of the disturbances which have taken place in Rockcastle County; and I was also sorry to learn, through the Cincinnati Commercial, that you did not feel at liberty to interpose your powerful influence for the maintenance of that freedom of speech which has been enjoyed through the blessing of Providence on your exertions; and I fear that friends in the Northern States will misapprehend your withdrawal of aid from Brother Fee, and infer that your zeal is slackening in the cause of universal liberty.
I fear, too, that what you say about Brother Fee's position tending to revolution and insurrection may inflame the mob.
But, of course, my impressions come from reports received from that region, and I know not the state of things as well as one on the ground.
Would the determination on your part to secure to him the right of speech produce the impression that you indorsed the principles of the radical Abolitionists? I think not. The slaveholders and pro-slavery men who met a few weeks ago in Madison did not think so. Judge Reid, formerly of this Circuit Court, did not think he was sanctioning the course of Brother Fee when he here charged the grand-jury not to bring in a bill against him.
I wish, sir, you would use your influence in behalf of the unrestrained utterance of what this godly man honestly believes true. I am quite sure that the people of the free States would appreciate the action, and that your magnanimity in this respect would not be lost on the South.
I should be happy to hear from you soon. Respectfully,
James S. Davis.Mr. C. M. Clay.
October 8, 1857.
Rev. And Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 2d instant is received. I have avoided writing any thing upon the subject of the late mobs in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, preferring to lie myself under misapprehension rather than do any thing which might seem calculated to increase the embarrassment of our mutal friend, the Rev. John G. Fee. But since you put direct questions to me, with regard to our relative position, I do not feel at liberty to refuse a reply, and to assume whatever responsibility may rightly rest upon me.In the first place, then, I did not withdraw my influence from him, but he his from me. We acted together, from before 1848, upon the basis of Constitutional opposition to slavery. On the 4th of July, 1856, against my urgent advice and solemn protest, he publicly, from the stump, not in the capacity of a minister of the Gospel, but as a politician, made avowals in substance of the doctrines of the Radical Abolitionists. That is, as I understand him, slavery being contrary to the higher law — the law of Nature and of God — is "no law," unconstitutional, and void, and ought not to be enforced by judge or citizen. In consequence of this separation from the Republican Party, the Central Club of our State called a meeting, and elected another Corresponding Secretary in Mr. Fee's stead, he being present, and silent, at the meeting. In taking his position, then, he separated himself from me and my party; and now, when his own action brings him into trouble, to blame me is unjust and absurd.
You complain that I characterized "Radicalism" as "revolutionary and insurrectionary." I think it is. And, having induced some of our citizens to embark their fortunes in this move against slavery, I have felt it my highest duty to keep them upon safe and legal grounds. The Radicals propose a fundamental change in our Government, and in a way not prescribed by the Constitution, but in violation of it. The distinguished head and front of the Radical Abolitionists, the Hon. Gerrit Smith, in his late Chicago speech, expressly declares the move a "revolutionary" one. Now, looking upon Mr. Fee's position as such, I am against it; and, whilst I denounce all mobs, I can give him neither "aid nor comfort." To talk of maintaining the liberty of speech in such connection, without indorsing his doctrines, is absurd. Such a propagandism in a slave State is not a thing of "speech" or debate, but a state of revolution and insurrection against "the powers that be."
If there is "no law," moral, divine, nor human, to hold the slave, then the slave is as free as the master. If the slave is as free as the master, he has a right to resist the master. If he slays the master, he is acting under moral and legal self-defense, and not only does not deserve punishment by the courts or otherwise; but can demand, and ought to receive, "aid and comfort" from every Radical Abolitionist the world over. If all this is not "insurrectionary and revolutionary," and indictable, and punishable with death under our statutes, whenever an overt act on the part of the slave shall give fact to theory, then I know nothing of law or logic. To all this I am opposed — now, in the past, and in the future. First, because I am in favor of a peaceable and fraternal solution of the slave question. History teaches me that political institutions grow, and are not made; and sudden changes have always been the cause of a retrocession, and not progress. I am ready to make sacrifices, not for a coup de main, but for the gradual and stable advancement of civilization and humanity. Second, because my regard for the black race would lead me to deprecate an issue which, in my judgment, would drive them to the wall. Third, because, if such issue as extermination should ever threaten either race, I am for my own, the white race, against all other races on earth.
I have thus answered you frankly and fully. I stand now, where I have always stood, upon Republican ground — the rule of the majority, and constitutional opposition to slavery. And, having spent fortune and lost friends and caste, and repeatedly risked my life in defense of the constitutional liberty of the whole human race, I feel that I can afford to look with contempt upon the idea that I am "slackening in my zeal," because I do not choose to follow the lead of every one who, however conscientious, may jeopard a good cause by fanaticism or folly. With regard to Mr. Fee, personally, I entertain toward him the most friendly feelings. I consider him honest and godly, as you say. He is a man of ability and pure mind. In the wide verge of life, destiny separates us; he, and those who act with him, must reap the good and evil of their deeds!
Your obedient servant,C. M. Clay.
Rev. Jas. S. Davis, Cabin Creek, etc., Ky. []
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[] Clay, Cassius M. Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches. Vol. 1. Cincinnati, OH: J. Fletcher Brennan & Co., 1886. Available on GoogleBooks. Accessed February 16, 2020. Excerpts taken from Chapters 4 and 12.
Excerpt from Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches, Vol. 1:
[] Clay, Cassius M. Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches. Vol. 1. Cincinnati, OH: J. Fletcher Brennan & Co., 1886. Available on GoogleBooks. Accessed February 16, 2020. Excerpts taken from Chapters 4 and 12.
Excerpt from Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Memoirs, Writings, and Speeches, Vol. 1:
When John G. Fee was maltreated and driven by violence from preaching near Crab Orchard, in Lincoln County, because he opposed slavery, I made an appointment to speak in the same place myself on the slavery issue. If we were not allowed to speak freely according to our constitutional rights, our whole scheme for emancipation failed. I therefore felt that it was necessary to set my life upon the cast of the die. And there, surrounded by armed followers, I took the ground which was much commented upon, and noted in the nation. The legend goes, and was so illustrated by an engraving, that I placed a pistol on the book-board, and a Bible by its side, saying: "For those who obey the rules of right, and the sacred truths of the Christian religion, I appeal to this Book; and to those who only recognize the law of force, here is my defense," laying my hand upon my pistol. Thus related, it would seem that I had made a prepared and threatened exhibition of my courage and prowess, when, in fact, I was exerting all my powers of appeal and argument to avoid a conflict; for 'such avoidance was victory. Had I laid my pistol on the bookboard, some enemy was most likely to seize it. I had my carpet-bag with my arms and notes, as usual, at my feet, unseen; and the Bible on the board was always left there in the country meeting-houses.
Again, as the slave-power of Lincoln, in meeting at the county capital, Stanford, had passed resolutions threatening with death the discussion of the slavery question — more in reference to myself than to Fee—I at once made an appointment to speak in Stanford. This, silly people thought, was useless bravado. But our strength was a moral strength, and must rest, like physical battles, upon successful defense. No body knew this better than the slave-holders. So, as they had made an issue with both Fee and myself, they saw that they had placed themselves in a fatal position; that if I spoke with safety, their policy of intimidation was broken forever; and the boldest of them feared the result, in a commonwealth where so small a portion of the voters were slave-holders, if I was put to death in the exercise of admitted constitutional rights. They, therefore, knowing that I would speak or die, sent a committee of their most prominent men from Lincoln to my house, thirty miles away, with instructions to approach me in a friendly spirit, and advise me of the dangers of my attempt. I received the committee with cordiality at my own house, where I now write; and, after hearing them with respectful attention, I said: "Gentlemen, say to your friends, that I appreciate their kindness in sending you to advise with me; but, God willing, I shall speak in Stanford on the day named." So, as I foresaw, there was a square division of opinion on the part of my opponents; whilst my friends were solid. The upshot was that the court-house, being one of the largest in the State, was crowded to overflowing. The excitement was intense, but I was heard without a single interruption. This was a signal victory to me and my cause; for, if I was victorious in the blue-grass region, the very stronghold of slavery, I might claim an easy triumph elsewhere.
It was in the same court-house, in 1872, that I made my speech in favor of the autonomy of the States, by the invitation of the same men, where I was received with unbounded enthusiasm. The Cincinnati Commercial, and other leading journals of all parties, sent their reporters; and my speech, like most of my efforts in oratory, as reported and unrevised, will be published in my "Writings and Speeches."
So long as my noble friend, Fee, stood on constitutional ground with myself, he shared my security; but, when he followed the Abolition idea of ignoring the Constitution, and was reinforced by adventurers using force also, he and, I believe, forty persons were driven by violence from Berea. It was claimed by Fee's enemies at the time, that I approved, or, at least, assented to, this course; all of which was untrue. Fee voluntarily took his own ground, and I took mine. To have followed him would have been disastrous to my life, and those of my followers. He was at first a non-resistant; but, further along, allowed his friends to use force. I had determined to stand and defend my position to the death. Time proved that I was right. []
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[] "Claimed By Death is J. G. Fee." The Courier Journal, Louisville, KY. January 12, 1901. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[] "Claimed By Death is J. G. Fee." The Courier Journal, Louisville, KY. January 12, 1901. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[January 12, 1901] -
CLAIMED BY DEATH IS J. G. FEE
Noted Abolitionist Suddenly Expires at Berea.
Berea, KY., Jan. 11. -- (Special.) -- John G. Fee, the venerable founder of Berea College and the life-long adherent to the time-honored principles of abolition, has taken his leave for the great beyond. He passed quietly and very suddenly away this evening at 6:30 o'clock surrounded by his surviving daughter and grandchildren. He had been unusually well for the last few days, but after taking his supper he lay down and life ended almost instantly.
Moves to Madison County.
In the spring of 1853 he was invited to Madison county, where Cassius M. Clay had already been at work agitating the anti-slavery idea. He conducted a protracted meeting in the old Glade church and subsequently Mr. Clay offered to give him a far on the site of the present village of Berea if he would become the settled pastor. Mr. Fee accepted ten acres of ground and moved his family to the new location. The erection of a schoolhouse followed and the college idea followed as a natural consequence. Mr. Fee and a few friends whom he had interested in his work built schoolhouses in Rockcastle and Pulaski counties. These buildings were burned by mobs. A school at Williamsburg was broken up by violence. At Dripping Springs, where he made regular appointment to preach, a mob drove him out of the village. Similar treatment was encountered in Rockcastle and elsewhere. []
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THE CIVIL WAR
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[] "Letter from Crab Orchard." The Louisville Daily Courier, Bowling Green, KY. November 26, 1861. Page 1. Newspapers.com. (Bowling green not a typo)
[November 26, 1861] -
Letter from Crab Orchard.
(Special Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial.)
Retreat of the Wildcat Brigade from the Mountains of Kentucky -- Disgraceful Culmination and Termination of the Cumberland Gap Expedition.
CRAB ORCHARD, KY., Nov. 17.
My last letter was written from Coburn near Crab Orchard. The Wildcat brigade, or sorrowful fragments of it, had but just staggered into camp after its disastrous retreat from London, and its tattered remains were still straggling up the rugged road miles in the rear, animated by the hope of finally reaching a haven of rest. As that wretched struggle with the elements, over execrable roads, will be remembered by five thousand abused volunteers as long as they retain their faculty of memory, it deserves description.
You will remember that Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 13th, Gen. Schoepf issued an order requiring all the troops to be ready to march at eight o'clock that evening. Commanders of corps were directed to carry with them all their sick, leaving such baggage and stores as could not be transported. Previously there had been rumors of an advance, and when the order to prepare to move was issued to the troops, it was received with exultation. The Tennesseeans were especially delighted, and prepared with alacrity to return to their firesides. It had been currently reported that letters had been received by prominent Tennesseans from friends at Louisville and Washington, assuring them that the Cumberland Gap expedition would soon be pushed to an issue. This order, therefore, confirmed the report, and I am told that Hon. Andy Johnson, Gen. Carter, Col. Byrd, Col. Spears, and others, were elated at the prospect of an immediate fruition of their hopes. They did not seem to comprehend that the order concerning the sick implied a retrograde movement. But when informed of the fact, they were overwhelmed with sorrow and indignation. Mr. Johnson turned from his informant, and entered into his hotel without one word, in utter despair.
The information was withheld from the troops until they were moving, when the fact flashed upon them, and they denounced it with the vehemence of disappointed soldiers. Many of the Tennesseans displayed a strong mutinous spirit. Some swore they would not a recede a foot of the ground which had been conquered; others expressed determination to desert and return to Tennessee at all hazards, and many wept with vexation and despair. Their officer appealed earnestly to their patriotism, announcing to them that Gen. Thomas has ordered them to countermarch in order to meet the rebels, who were reported moving toward Crab Orchard in strong force to cut them off, and that a retrograde movement was necessary to save the expedition. It was also stated by officers of various regiments, that Zollicoffer was reported marching up from Tennessee with a strong column to form a junction with Buckner, to penetrate the Blue Grass country. Such were the facts and statements prior to the hour of marching. The subsequent facts will appear in the following diary:
LONDON, KY., Nov. 13.
Long before 8 o'clock, P.M., most of the troops of the Wild Cat Brigade, with three days' rations in their haversacks, were prepared to march. The sick who could be removed -- and there were many too feeble to walk, yet able to ride -- were transferred to those wretched instruments of torture to the ill or the healthy -- two wheeled ambulances -- and to common army wagons, some of which were uncovered, thus exposing suffering men to the raw night air. But many poor bed ridden fellows who were necessarily left remained confined to the hospitals, a prey to harrowing apprehensions of captivity. Of course surgeons and guards were detailed to minister to their wants and protect them until they should be removed. -- But how many men were closely packed in ambulances and wagons I could not learn. Col. Steedman would not leave any, and he had over one hundred stowed away as comfortably as possible. The surgeon of the 33d Indiana, horrified at the order, protested vehemently, but he was informed decisively, the order from Headquarters is that all the sick must be removed, and orders must be obeyed. He still protested that removal would result in the death of some of his patients, and he was told to quarter them with private families at London. But the 33d Indiana brought away one hundred and eighty-nine sick. I did not inquire how many were removed by other regiments, but the number was large. Besides many feeble fellows just discharged from the hospitals, but yet unfit for duty, shouldered their muskets and donned their heavy knapsacks preferring the cruelties of a forced march to the hazards of captivity.
The 14th Ohio had the right of the column. Shortly before 8 o'clock, it marched solemnly by the camp of the 17th Ohio, its band mournfully playing the Dead March -- thus expressing the emotions of the troops. It was followed by Standart's and Kenney's batteries, with the baggage trains of each of the foregoing corps. The 17th Ohio fell in their rear, and its sarcastic lads, keenly appreciating the occasion, burst into a satirical paraphrase of their favorite regimental ditty, one strain of which runs somewhat thus:
"Old Zollicoffer can't take us,
Can't take us, can't take us,
On a long summer's day."
It was impromptu at the Wild Cat fight; so was the song as they retreated:
"Old Zollicoffer can't catch us,
Can't catch us, can't catch us,
Cause we're running away."
More forcible than elegant, and more expressive than poetical.
And so each regiment, followed by its baggage train and sad procession of invalids, moved up the road melancholy and mad. Most of the Tennesseans had fallen in behind the 14th Ohio, and moved on sullen and sorrowful, bitterly expressing their disappointment, and denouncing the frauds with which they had been deluded. Some were imbued with the idea that they were to march up the Somerset road, -- about three miles above London -- to meet the enemy, and agreed to go that far but not beyond. Upon reaching that point, the head of the column failed to halt. A few Tennesseeans madly broke from the ranks and moved back towards camp. Several threw themselves sullenly on the ground, and refused to march.
As we moved forward they continued to leave the ranks in pairs and squads. Then squads multiplied into sections, sections into platoons, and platoons almost into whole companies. A private came back from the front and appealed to an officer to stop the deserters. He said the regiment was disorganized -- the men were going back to Tennessee; their officers could do nothing with them. The poor fellows, with despairing exceptions, continued to proclaim their loyalty, but could not stand the disappointment. Occasionally a stout-hearted fellow would proclaim his determination to follow the flag wherever orders carried him -- "but it's hard on Tennesseeans boys," he would say to the Buckeyes. In a march of four miles we must have passed 200 stragglers. Some were lying prone on the ground, sobbing; some stood by the highway swearing defiantly; others leaned against the fence, sullenly, undetermined whether to move one way or the other. Here was the Adjutant of the regiment, addressing a squad, "For God's sake boys move on. Look at the Ohioans. Don't let them beat you. You are fighting for the Union. Let's keep Tennesseeans together. Come, boys." "Well, Adjutant," said one, "It will do for you who ride to talk, but we who do nothing but march up and down this infernal road, don't appreciate it." "Get on my horse and I'll walk," said the Adjutant, and the transfer was made. And so the column trudged onward heavily, and halted for jaded teams to dislodge a wagon from the mire, or pushed ahead, leaving vehicles to be extricated by whomsoever would do it. At midnight there was a long line of straggling Tennesseeans, from the head of their column clean back to their camp. It was marked by a lurid hue of the atmosphere, illumined by their blazing bivouac fires in the forests, around which they huddled in shivering groups. -- Hardly a nucleus for the regiment was left in column, though many stout fellows pushed on, determined to follow where orders commanded. But there were pitiful scenes, and heart touching.
Soon after midnight, the 14th Ohio and the artillery men, after scaling Wildcat heights, flung themselves headlong on the ground. None were covered that night -- or morning -- save by blankets and a veneering of cold, white frost. The sick, too, in the open wagons, lay shuddering and shivering and moaning in the sharp, cutting atmosphere of a November morning. The 17th Ohio halted and biovouacked at two o'clock, in the camp which Zollicoffer's rebels had occupied the night before their repulse. I have told you where the Tennesseans were, but I know not where was the remainder of the brigade. The Kentucky 3d, (Garrard's) I believe, did not move that night. I know not why. The 38th Ohio and the 33d Indiana pushed forward to the summit of Wildcat, and halted not long before day. The teams were also moving all night long.
The necessity to carry the sick obliged us to leave much stores and ammunition. I am told we left twenty-two tons of ammunition at London. And yet, readers, we were making a forced march to prevent the enemy from cutting us off, or to save Blue Grass.
Strange that soldiers should leave their ammunition and march to meet the enemy. At Pitman's we met thirteen wagons loaded with commissary stores, en route from Camp Dick Robinson for London. These were unloaded immediately, and proceeded to London for patients and stores. Some of the regiments had necessarily left their tents and camp equipage, so that even had fatigue permitted them to pitch tents they could not have enjoyed the luxury.
Nov. 14th -- A heavy storm of rain roused the bivouachers from sleep. Their blankets and clothing were saturated with water. -- The morning was most dismal. Wildcat Heights crowned with a heavy coronal of mist, frowned in dreary and discouraging attitude before us. The roads were already worked into a thick muck, and the pathway on the edges where the troops walked were slimy and slippery. Beyond was Rockcastle river, swift, and reported unfordable. -- But the word was en avant. The lads partook of their cold rations and hot coffee, and took up the toilsome march. Every step was laborious to the sturdy, agonizing to the feeble. Knapsacks almost too heavy under fairest auspices, were now doubly burdensome, and the pack horse load was increased by the aggravating weight of water which soaked blankets and heavy army overcoats, and the nasty slime which splashed and plastered each man's breeches as high as his knees in front and rear, and filled his shoes until they overflowed with slush.
During the first mile we passed one baggage wagon capsized in a creek. Its load of commissary stores and baggage were lost. The desolate teamster and jaded horses, bedaubed with mud, gazed at it dismally and hopeless as we moved forward. Further up the hill a half dozen wagons was stuck, and the poor animals could not move them. A few hundred yards further, barrels of bread were tossed out of wagons and left to destruction in the forests. A stranger to the facts, passing would have said, here is a terrified army fleeing from a pursuing enemy.Going up the mountain, we pass Tennesseans; some are still pushing on desperately. Yonder is one prone on a bed of leaves. His head is bolstered on a rotten stump; -- Exhaustion is graphically pictured on his livid complexion and in his silent form. He is unconscious, while he sleeps the sleep of distress, that the driving rain is beating mercilessly upon him. My comrade startles me -- "Is he dead?" Oh no, he's only an exhausted soldier. He wears no shoulder straps with a silver star on each. But it is yet early in the day. Surely it is not time for soldiers to yield to fatigue. They have marched only one night, and have slept the whole of one or two hours on the damp, frosted soil.
At last the ascent is accomplished by a few. We look back with a sigh of relief, and turn away again with emotions of regret and disgust at the sorrowful and weary file of men, still toiling through the mire, and gazing wistfully to the top. But here is a picture. On the top of a rock on the crest of the hill, there sits a Toledo lad, writing a letter. He protects the precious page from the rain with his hat, and the big drops patter on his bare head. He looks care worn and way worn; but his eye is bright, his hand steady. From head to foot he is encased in a thick plastering of clay, and moisture drips from his sleeves. -- He replies to my comrade. "No Colonel, I've not given out; I'm a little tired though. I'll make it, Colonel -- I'll never give up.
Why in the name of humanity does not the commander send back messengers to halt this column? Is there imminent danger ahead? Cannot these failing men be halted for a day of rest? At least let messengers be dispatched to inspire them to march, march, march, to resist the foe. Anything to renew their spirit. But look at these wagon loads of sick soldiers. See them shivering in saturated blankets, seated in pools of water which drip from their clothing as it pours from the clouds. Hear their unceasing, discordant, and harrowing chorus of coughing. Here are candidates for the grave. But the order is stern -- "Bring all your sick." "Oh," said one of the Surgeons to me, "that was the cruelest order officer ever give. I protested in vain. I urged that it would kill my patients. But come they must. I shall lose perhaps thirty or forty of my regiment, and it will plant consumption in the lungs of two hundred more.
And here is another picture. We splash along tediously through the mire, and mounted officers encourage their men by kind words of sympathy. Nearly all relieve feeble soldiers by carrying their knapsacks and muskets. Col. Steedman, long racked with chills and fever, and scarce able to sit his horse, rides with his scattered columns. Col. Connell, suffering from illness, bears the burden of a sick soldier's knapsack. Col. Coburn dismounts, and pushes through the mud, while a feeble lad rides his charger. The Captains on foot emulate their superiors, and encourage them by example.
At Rockcastle river the column is victoriously over Wildcat. The dismal train halts at the ferry, in the mud and rain. The jaded men fall asleep on the sod of a neighboring meadow, waiting the slow process of crossing all that column in one small float. The teamsters stuff their worn out animals with corn. A few, in desperation, plunge into the ford where the water is swift, and some narrowly escape a watery grave. The 14th Ohio loses two wagons and contents including twenty-five or thirty thousand rounds of ammunition. The 17th loses a wagon and 26,000 rounds of ammunition at the ferry. The Tennesseans lose two wagons and contents, with three horses, and the 38th Ohio loses one wagon. How much more was lost I do not know.
This was morning, but the column was long after night in crossing. Afterwards through the day the scenes already feebly described, increased and assumed more aggravating forms. The road constantly became more wretched. Men flung away their knapsacks and stalked onward in utter desperation, their officers refusing to see insubordination. Some stumbled and fell by the wayside, where they lay, and slept the sleep of exhaustion. And the sick in the uncovered wagons, and those accursed ambulances, were racked and jounced over rocks and ruts until their weak bones ached, their countenances testifying to their utter wretchedness. And thus, hour after hour, through mud, and slime, and rain, over rocks and rails, and logs up the roughest and steepest grades, and down the ruggedest descents, our weary, footsore, exhausted soldiers and jaded teams struggled and toiled in pain all that miserable day and far into the night; for even at midnight feeble stragglers staggered into Mount Vernon, where the 14th and 17th rested, to find their comrades.
This night the poor lads went to bed supperless, for fatigue was overpowering, and sleep sweeter than meat. Some of them marched fourteen, some sixteen miles that day -- thirteen the night and morning before. This day's work was more disastrous than ordinary battles. God knows how many sturdy constitutions it wrecked; how many brave volunteers it will kill.
But I had almost forgot the episode of the day. The few Tennesseans who had manfully breasted the task with Ohio and Indiana, were mere stragglers. Their officers were scattered as badly as the men. The privates were huddled in shivering groups along the route. It seems as if they never could be collected. A hundred yards or so below a house where I halted for luncheon there was a party of perhaps a hundred or more. There were two or three with me, bitterly denouncing the countermarch. At that moment an officer rode down the highway, proclaiming joyfully, "Tennesseans and Kentuckians are ordered back to London!" The hundred below set up a great shout of joy as if they had attained the summit of their desires, and those with me started back almost running bidding a glad good-bye. Alas! poor fellows, you were twenty-four miles from London, exhausted, wet, muddy, almost out of provisions, without tents, and no houses or barns to shelter you from the storm. London will be another charnel house for patriot Tennesseans. If there was cause for a forced march of the entire brigade from London to Crab Orchard, why order back the Tennesseans and Kentuckians, before they had approached within fifteen miles of Crab Orchard? If there was no adequate cause for the march, why was not the whole column halted for rest, which it so sorely needed? If there was reason to apprehend that the brigade would be cut off unless it made the forced march, why send the Tennesseans and Kentuckians back to be sacrificed? Who will answer?
MT. VERNON, Nov. 15.Thank God, the sun shines to-day. We learn, this morning, that the 38th Ohio encamped five miles below here late last night. During the night, a tree was blown down in the camp, and five men, including three Tennesseans, were seriously injured. Two have died, and two more are reported fatally hurt.
The 33d Indiana is moving forward slowly in the rear, somewhere. The 44th and 17th Ohio lads are bowling ahead cheerily by company, because the sun shines and the roads improve, besides the forced march must end to-day. The brigade can go no further until it gathers its scattered fragments.
An order from Headquarters meets us. -- The only one giving relief. The column goes late camp two miles below Crab Orchard. -- The lads, inspired, move briskly, and camp is at last in view.
In Camp. -- The 17th Ohio, excepting a few feeble stragglers, was first in camp. The 14th followed shortly after, but it had its stragglers two. Which regiment had not its large share? But Maney Richards, the enterprising teamster of the 17th, pushed in his wagons, and the Fairfield boys pitched their tents merrily. But the prospects for the other regiments was cheerless. -- Their wagons were far behind. Officers threatened to move where shelter could be found for the men, but orders must be all obeyed, and they prepared again to bivouack on the cold, cold ground, in the freezing atmosphere of drear November.
But now there is another order fresh from Headquarters at Crab Orchard. Exhausted as they are, soldiers are forbidden to burn rails. They must cut wood for bivouack fires, or sleep in the frosty atmosphere without fires. Orders must be obeyed. Twenty men are detailed to cut wood, and wagons are sent out. Sun set is approaching Headquarters, who forty hours ago knew the men were coming, knew they were suffering, had not provided axes. Yet the order was cut wood. Look at the field adjacent to camp, and see whether rails were burnt.
A member of the Fourteenth, coming in late, reports: -- "I saw a dead man of the Fourteenth, lying on the roadside beyond Mount Vernon." -- He died of exhaustion. Another says, "I saw another dead man on the roadside to-day." He died of exhaustion. A surgeon says: -- "I saw two men, yesterday, in the last stage of exhaustion. I gave them whisky to revive them. I could do nothing else. I was compelled to leave them with their comrades, and attend to the sick of my own regiment." They probably died of exhaustion.
Nov. 17th -- CRAB ORCHARD. -- The 38th Ohio and the 33d Indiana are coming in slowly. The former was more deliberate, but suffered its proportion. The latter are sleeping in the woods without tents. I know not whether the Tennesseans have got back safely to London.
There is not much beauty, or gaiety in a soldier's life, if it is like this. But the toil, and suffering, and sacrifices, and the manly efforts of brave men obeying orders under circumstances such as I have sketched, are very eloquent. Will soldiers respect, love, and cheerfully fight under officers who abuse them as slaves do brutes?
The amount of physical suffering caused by this march cannot be computed. None can tell how many sturdy frames will bend under disease contracted from this ruthless exposure. The mortality list of the regiments will shortly begin to make a record. Many of the sick who were dragged out of their beds in the London hospitals, to be tortured on the rugged roads, saturated with rain, and chilled with cold, must die. Many of the well must fall ill. Ah, well, there are only 250 sick in the 33d Indiana; only a couple of hundred or so sick in the 14th Ohio; only a hundred or so sick in the 38th Ohio; only several scores sick in the 17th Ohio; only a few hundreds altogether. If they die -- recruit the regiments.
The loss of property is nothing. The Government is rich. Only 30 horses belonging to the 17th Ohio were knocked up and rendered unfit for service, and one died; one wagon was lost and 26,000 pounds of ammunition; about the same report is made by the 14th Ohio; so with each of the regiments. But the moral effects of the countermarch is one of its worst features. The mountaineers of Kentucky regard it a retreat, and the prestige of the victory at Wildcat is turned against us. And so ended the great Cumberland Gap Expedition.
But I beg you to wait, readers, for an echo from the Wild Cat Brigade. If I mistake not, there will be a fierce growl ere long from the Tennessee camp, as vehement as the denunciation from "East Tennessee" which you read a day or two ago in the Commercial. And I am inclined to believe that if the indignant letters of the Ohio and Indiana boys are permitted to see the light of public print, none will think I have colored the foregoing picture.
W. D. B. []
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[] "Our Army Correspondence." Elyria Independent Democrat, Elyria, OH. January 1, 1862. Page 2. Newspapers.com.
[January 1, 1862] -
Our Army Correspondence
CAMP SPALDING, Lebanon, Ky. }
Dec. 22, 1861. }
FRIEND WASHBURN: -- We have nearly all survived the march from London. The health of our Regiment is passably good. I was as you probably are away, left back at Crab Orchard with the sick of the 14th, and a gay time I had of it, I can assure you. I had 130 on my hands, all more or less disabled from their fatiguing march. At the little town, Mt. Vernon, I stopped before reaching Crab Orchard, and was there with all of the sick for nearly a week, at one time, having 100, the next day 75, the third day 25, and so on, sending them forward to C. O. as fast as they were able to be moved. It was at that place that I lost young Starr. He really fell a victim to that march. I attended him at London and did not think him at all dangerous, but when he arrived at Mt. Vernon, I saw at once that his case was hopeless. He was a young man that I thought much of from the short acquaintance I had with him, and I felt very badly when I saw I must lose him. I did all I could to save him, but all to no purpose; he fell early in the cause of his country, and my God comfort his afflicted friends. I lost one other man at that place, and two others at Crab Orchard, making four out of the whole number of sick and exhausted, in all nearly 200. The 130 were at Crab Orchard when I arrived there after a week had passed. We have a very well regulated Hospital in this place under charge of Dr. Daniels, containing about 50 men. He has lost only one man, and there are only two or three others that I think dangerous, who I think will die. The diseases so far in Camp have been Typhoid fever and Dysentery. We hear that the rebel army are very much reduced in efficiency by disease. Small Pox is making havoc in their ranks to a great extent. I believe every man in our Regiment has been re-vaccinated, and at this time there is many on arm in a sling; but I think all are proof against Small Pox, and can fight Buckner with all his Myrmidons. We are now encamped upon a most beautiful spot sparsely covered with large timber, and the beautiful weather that we have had for the past two weeks has made camp life remarkably pleasant. Last night a rain set in, one of the regular Kentucky style. We do not get any such rains in Ohio. When it rains here, it comes straight down, and I think it the wettest rain I ever saw. We begin to anticipate a move from this place soon. The weather at present shows itself favorable, but as yet the roads are not quite enough cut up, but think they will be by the latter part of the present week if it continues to rain. Our Line Officers have just passed through the ordeal of an examination, not dissimilar I judge from the "Green Room["] of a Medical College. I talked with Captain to-day who was examined yesterday, he speaks very highly of the Board of Examiners. He says they are very gentlemanly in their manners, far unlike many of the regular army officers who think and ever say that the Volunteers who came out so nobly to the call of their country "are no better than so many dogs," and in fact, they are in some instances treated worse than that, as you and others can testify, if you believe the reports which you are daily called upon to read. I think as for our Regiment, we are not destined to the rough fare that we have passed through on this pursuit of Zollicoffer over the Wildcat Mountains. I think that the commission of a majority of our officers are not worth enough to take another such march upon such a route, but we have no fears of being put upon such routes again. We hear all sorts of rumors about Camp, about Buckner and his forces, intrenchments, &c., but you are really as well posted in all matter pertaining to Buckner, as we are here. Col. Steedman came into Camp last Thursday, looking very much improved, and received the hearty congratulations of all officers and men. I believe if there is a Colonel in the service who enjoys the good wishes, and is really beloved by his men, ours is that man. He is a favorite also in this State wherever he goes. Lieut. Col. Geo. P. Este, is a gentleman of fine appearance, and is well liked. Maj. Paul Edwards, our jovial Irish Major, is the life of the Camp -- he has a heart that's always open, and if he has an enemy in Camp, he is yet to be found. -- I think all Regiments are not as well blessed with good whole-souled officers as the 14th. We expect to see their grit tired soon. If they fight well, we can feel that the old Fourteenth has not lost any of their laurels won in West Virginia. S. []
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[] Excerpt from "Official Report of Col. John H. Morgan." Fayetteville Weekly Observer, Fayetteville, NC. August 11, 1862. Page 2. Newspapers.com.
[August 11, 1862] -
OFFICIAL REPORT OF COL. JOHN H. MORGAN.HEADQUARTERS, MORGAN'S COMMAND,
Knoxville, Tenn., July 30, 1862.
To Major General E. Kirby Smith, Commanding Department of East Tennessee:
I arrived at Richmond at 12 o'clock that night, and remained until the next afternoon, when I proceeded to Crab Orchard. I had determined to make a stand at Richmond, and await reinforcements, as the whole people appeared ready to rise and join me, but I received information that large bodies of cavalry under Gen. Clay Smith, and Cols. Woolford, Metcalf, Mundy, and Wynkoop, were endeavoring to surround me at this place. So I moved on to Crab Orchard. There I attached my portable battery to the telegraph leading from Stanford to Louisville, and learned the exact position of the enemy's forces, and directed my movements accordingly.
Leaving Crab Orchard at 11 o'clock, I arrived at Somerset, distant 28 miles, at sundown. I took possession of the telegraph, and countermanded all the previous orders that had been given by Gen. Boyle to intercept me, and remained in perfect security all night. I found a very large supply of commissary stores, clothing, blankets, shoes, hats, &c, at this place, which were destroyed. I also found the arms that had been taken from Gen. Zollicoffer, together with large quantities of shell and ammunition, all of which were destroyed. I also burned at this place, and Crab Orchard, about 130 government wagons.
From Somerset I proceeded to Monticello; and I left Knoxville on the 4th day of this month with about 900 men, and returned to Livingston on the 28th instant with nearly 1200, having been absent just 24 days, during which time I traveled over 1000 miles, captured 17 towns, destroyed all the government supplies and arms in them, dispersed about 1500 Home Guards, and paroled nearly 1200 regular troops. I lost in killed, wounded and missing, of the number that I carried into Kentucky, about 90.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
JOHN H. MORGAN, Acting Brig. Gen. C.S.A., R.A. Alston, A.A.G.
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[] Excerpt from "From the West and Southwest." The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA. August 13, 1862. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[August 13, 1862] -
One of the papers copies the following from the Louisville Journal:
We are told that the Union men of Lexington, Paris, Winchester, Lancaster, Versailles, Richmond, and the whole interior of Kentucky, are deeply disgusted at the fact that Morgan and his fellows got out of the State without being caught. There was the most miserable inefficiency somewhere. But where?
At Paris our troops in sufficient numbers came up with the rebels and might have attacked them. Col. Metcalfe was anxious to attack them, but he was not permitted to do so. He proposed to throw a force across the Winchester road, that their escape might be prevented, but in this he was overruled. The guerrillas were permitted to get greatly the start in their escape from Paris.
They went to Winchester and remained there long enough to commit all sorts of depredations, instead of keeping up their flight, but not even a straggler or laggard was over taken. They passed through Lancaster, Richmond, Crab Orchard, and numerous other places very leisurely, throwing out their pickets, enjoying their ease, feasting, robbing, and committing whatever outrages they pleased, and even travelling slow enough to take a couple of brass cannons with them, but the pursuing force never overtook them.
At one point in the pursuit, the Federal officer in command went to bed in the morning, giving strict orders that he should on no account be waked till 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and although important intelligence arrived in the meantime, as to the position and movements of the rebels, and officers and men were anxious and impatient to go forward, the quiet snooze of the leader could not be disturbed, and when at length the marauders left Monticello, in Wayne county, to pass into Fontress county, Tennessee, our "avengers" that were to have been, were at Stanford, twelve or fourteen hours behind, having there given up the pursuit.
We have talked with no one from the interior at all familiar with the subject, who does not believe that the guerrillas could have been overtaken and either captured or dispersed. Now, after a free and easy trip of ten or twelve days through Kentucky, they have gone off with their spoils, to return again, no doubt, as soon as they can obtain the necessary information from their spies to guide them in their route. Our people are disappointed and indignant. They do not wish to do injustice, but they believe there has been a criminal neglect of duty, and they are out of all manner of patience. []
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[] "The Bandit Morgan in Kentucky." The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA. August 27, 1862. Page 2. Newspapers.com.
[August 27, 1862] -
THE BANDIT MORGAN IN KENTUCKY.
Extraordinary Telegraphic Strategy.
A CURIOUS CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WAR.
The Intercepted Despatches by G. A. Ellsworth, Telegraphic Operator, Attached to Morgan's Band.
HIS OFFICIAL REPORT, ETC.
From the Augusta (Ga.) Southern Confederacy.
KNOXVILLE, July 30, 1862. -- Capt. R. A. ALSTON, A.A.G.: -- On the 16th of July, General Morgan, with myself and a body-guard of fifteen men, arrived at a point one-half a mile below Horse Cave, on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, where I took down the telegraphic wire and connected my pocket instrument, for the purpose of taking off all despatches as they passed through. Owing to a heavy storm prevailing south, the atmospheric electricity prevented me from communicating with Bowling Green or Nashville. The first I heard was Louisville calling Bowling Green. I immediately put on my ground wire southward, noticing particularly at the same time what change it would make in the circuit. It did make it stronger; but the storm mentioned affecting telegraphs more or less, Louisville did not suspicion anything wrong, and I answered for Bowling Green, when I received the following message: --
LOUISVILLE, July 10, 1862. -- To S. D. Brown, Bowling Green:-- You and Colonel Houghton move together. I fear the force of Col. Houghton is too small to venture to Glasgow. The whole force should move together, as the enemy are mounted. We cannot venture to leave the road too far, as they may pass round and ruin it.
J. T. Boyle, Brigadier General Commanding.
I returned the usual signal, "O. K.," after receiving the message.
Louisville immediately called Nashville: and I answered for Nashville, receiving business for two hours. This business was mostly of a private nature, and I took no copies. It could be plainly perceived from the tenor of the messages that Morgan was in the country, and all orders to send money or valuables by railroad were countermanded, as they supposed. Little did the operator at Louisville think all his work would have to be repeated the next day, and thus we were furnished with New York and Washington dates of that day. During the whole of this time it was raining heavily, and my situation was anything but an agreeable one, sitting in the mud with my feet in the water up to my knees. At eleven o'clock P.M., the General being satisfied that we had drained Louisville of news, concluded to close for the night, and gave me the following message, dating and signing: --
NASHVILLE, July 10, 1862. -- To HENRY DENT, Provost Marshal of Louisville: -- General Forrest, commanding a brigade, attacked Murfreesboro, routing our forces, and is now moving on Nashville. Morgan is reported to be between Scottsville and Gallatin, and will act in concert with Forrest, it is believed. Inform the General commanding.
Stanley Matthews, Provost Marshal.
I am not aware that General Morgan claims to be a prophet, or the son of a prophet; but Forrest did attack Murfreesboro and rout the enemy.
On arriving at Lebanon, July 12, I accompanied the advance guard into town, and took possession of the telegraph office immediately. This, as you know, was at half-past three, A.M. I adjusted the instrument and examined the circuit. No other operator on the line appeared to be on hand this early. I then examined all the despatches of the day previous. Among them I found the following:--
LEBANON, July 11th, 1862: -- General J. T. Boyle, Louisville, Ky.:-- I have positive information that there are 100 marauders in twenty miles of this place, on the old Lexington road, approaching Lebanon. Send reinforcements immediately. A. Y. Johnson, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding.
At half-past seven, an operator, signing "Z," commenced calling "B," which I had ascertained by the books in the office was the signal for the Lebanon office. I answered the call, when the following conversation between "Z" and myself ensued:--
To Lebanon:-- What news? Any more skirmishing after your last message? Z.
To Z:-- No. We drove what little cavalry there was away. B.
To B:-- Has the train arrived yet? Z.
To Z:-- No. About how many troops on train. B.
To B:-- Five hundred Sixtieth Indiana, commanded by Colonel Owens. Z.
My curiosity being excited as to what station Z was, and to ascertain without creating my suspicion, I adopted the following plan: --
To Z:-- A gentleman here in the office bets me the segars you cannot spell the name of your station correctly. B.
To B:-- Take the bet. L-e-b-a-n-o-n J-u-n-c-t-i-o-n. Is that not right? How did you think I would spell it? Z.
To Z:-- He gives it up. He thought you would put two-b's in Lebanon. B.
To B:-- Ha! ha! ha! He is a green one. Z.
To Z:-- Yes, that's so. B.
To Z:-- What time did the train with soldiers pass, Z?
To B:-- 8:30 last night. B.
To Z:--Very singular where the train is. B.
To B:--Yes it is. Let me know when it arrives. Z.
At 8:20 Lebanon Junction called me up and said: --
To B:-- The train has returned. They had a fight with the Rebels at New Hope. The commanding officer awaits orders here.
To Z: Give us the particulars of the fight. Col. Johnson is anxious to know all about it. B.
To B:--Here is Moore's message to General Boyle: --
LEBANON JUNCTION, July 12, 1862. -- To General J. T. Boyle, Louisville:-- At eleven o'clock last night, at New Hope Station, part of my command encountered a force of Rebel cavalry posted on the country road one-half mile south of the railroad. After a brisk fire of musketry for twenty minutes the enemy was routed and fled. Skirmishers were sent out in different directions, but were unable to find the enemy. At three this morning, apprehending that an effort might be made to destroy the bridges in our rear, we moved down to New Haven and remained until after daylight, when the train went back to the scene of the skirmish. A Mr. Foreman, of Owen county, was found mortally wounded. He reported the Rebel force at five hundred and fifty, under command of Captain Jack Allen, and that they had fallen back towards Greensburg. One horse was killed and three captured. The books of the company were found in the field. Blood was found at different places, showing that the enemy was severely punished. No casualties on our side. Here with a train awaiting orders.
O. F. Moore, Commanding.
Lebanon Junction being the repeating station for Louisville business, he forwarded the following telegrams just from Louisville -- nine o'clock A.M. :--
LOUISVILLE, July 12, 1862. -- To Colonel Johnson, Lebanon :-- Leave good guard and join Col. Owens. Pursue the enemy and drive him out. Be cautious and vigorous. Make no delay. J. T. BOYLE, Brig. General Commanding.
By the following it will appear that Colonel Owens must have been en route for Lebanon. :--
LOUISVILLE, July 2, 1862. -- Colonel Owens, Lebanon :-- You will move after the enemy and pursue him. J. T. BOYLE, Brigadier General Commanding.
Up to the time of our leaving Lebanon, which was about noon, Colonel Owens had not arrived. General Morgan told me I could close my office; and to allay for that evening all suspicion at Lebanon Junction at not being able to communicate with Lebanon, I dispatched the operator as follows: --
To Z. -- Have been up all night and am very sleepy. If you have no objections I will take a nap until two or three o'clock. B.
To B. -- All right. Don't oversleep yourself. Z.
Wonder if I did!
We arrived at Midway, between Frankfort and Lexington, on the Louisville and Lexington Railroad, about ten o'clock A. M., the next day. At this place I surprised the operator, who was quietly sitting on the platform at his depot, enjoying himself hugely. Little did he suspect that the much-dreaded Morgan was in his vicinity. I demanded of him to call Lexington, and inquire the time of day, which he did. This I did for the purpose of getting his style of handling the "key" in writing despatches. My first impression of his style, from noticing the paper in the instrument, were confirmed. He was, to use a telegraphic term, a "plug" operator. I adopted his style of writing, and commenced operations. In this office I found a signal book, which proved to be very useful. It contained the calls for all the offices. Despatch after despatch was going to and from Lexington, Georgetown, Paris and Frankfort, all containing something in reference to Morgan.
On commencing operations at this place I discovered that there were two wires on the line along the railroad. One was what we term a "through wire," running direct from Lexington to Frankfort, and not entering any of the way offices. I found that all military messages were sent over that wire. As it did not enter Midway office I ordered it cut, this forcing Lexington on to the wire that did run through the office.
I tested the line, and found that by applying my ground wire it made no difference with the circuit, and as Lexington was headquarters, I cut Frankfort off. Midway was called. I answered and received the following: --
"Lexington, July 15, 1862. -- To J. W. Woolums, Operator, Midway -- Will there be any danger in coming to Midway? Is everything right? Taylor, Conductor."
I inquired of my prisoner (the operator) if he knew a man by the name of Taylor. He said that Taylor was conductor. I immediately gave Taylor the following reply: --
Midway, July 15, 1862. -- To Taylor, Lexington: -- All right, come on. No signs of any Rebels here. Woolums.
The operator in Cincinnati then called Frankfort. I answered, and received about a dozen unimportant despatches. He had no sooner finished, when Lexington called Frankfort. Again I answered, and received the following message: --
Lexington, July 15, 1862. -- To General Finnell, Frankfort -- I wish you to move the forces at Frankfort on the line of the Lexington Railroad immediately, and have the cars follow and take them up as soon as possible. Further orders will await them at Midway. I will in three or four hours, move forward on the Georgetown pike; will have most of my men mounted. Morgan left Versailles this morning, at eight o'clock, with 850 men, on the Midway road, moving in the direction of Georgetown.
Brig-Gen Ward.
This being our position and intention exactly, it was thought it proper to throw General Ward on some other track. So in the course of half an hour I manufactured and sent the following despatch, which was approved by Gen. Morgan.
"Midway, July 15, 1862. -- To Brigadier General Ward, Lexington: -- Morgan, with upwards of one thousand men, came within a mile of here, and took the old Frankfort road, bound, as we suppose, for Frankfort. This is reliable.
Woolums, Operator.
In about ten minutes Lexington again called Frankfort, when I received the following: --
Lexington, July 15, 1862. -- To Gen. Finnell, Frankfort. -- Morgan, with more than one thousand men, came within a mile of here, and took the old Frankfort road.
This despatch received from Midway and is reliable. The regiment from Frankfort had better be recalled.
General Ward.
I receipted[?] for this message, and again manufactured a message to confirm the information General Ward had received from Midway, and not knowing the tariff from Frankfort to Lexington, I could not send a formal message, so, appearing greatly agitated, I waited until the current was occupied, and broke in, telling them to wait a minute, and commenced calling Lexington. He answered with as much gusto as I called him. I telegraphed as follows: --
Frankfort to Lexington. -- Tell General Ward our pickets are just driven in. Great excitement. Pickets say the force of enemy must be two thousand. Operator.
It was now two o'clock P.M., and General Morgan wished to be off for Georgetown. I ran a secret ground connection, and opened the circuit on the Lexington end. This was to leave the impression that the Frankfort operator was skedaddling, or that Morgan's men had destroyed the telegraph.
We arrived at Georgetown about the setting of the sun. I went to the telegraph office, found it locked, inquired for the operator, who was pointed out to me on the street. I halted him and demanded admission into his office. He [..] [court?]eously showed me in. Discovering that his instruments had been removed, I asked where they were. He said that he had sent them to Lexington. I asked him what time he [had?] Lexington last. He said "nine o'clock, and since that time the line had been down." I remarked that it must be an extraordinary line to be in working condition when it was down, as I heard him sending messages to Lexington when I was at Midway at one o'clock. This was a stunner; he had nothing to say. I immediately tested the line by applying the ends of the wires to my tongue, and found the line "O. K." I said nothing to him, but called for a guard of two men to take care of Mr. Smith until I got ready to leave town. I did not interrupt the lines till after [ten?], when I put in my own instruments, and after listening an hour or two to the Yankee talking, I opened the conversation as follows, signing myself Federal Operator: --
To Lexington -- Keep mum; I am in the office, reading by the sound of my magnet, in the dark. I crawled in when no one saw me. Morgan's men are here, camped on Dr. Gano's place. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- Keep cool; don't be discovered. About how many Rebels are there? Lexington.
To Lexington -- I don't know. I did not notice. As Morgan's operator was asking me about my instruments, I told him I sent them to Lexington. He said d---d the luck, and went out. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- Be on hand, and keep us posted. Lexington.
To Lexington -- I will do so. Tell General Ward I'll stay up all night, if he wishes. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- Mr. Fuller wishes to know if the rebels are there. Cincinnati.
To Cincinnati -- Yes, Morgan's men are here. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- How can you be in the office and not be arrested? Cincinnati.
To Cincinnati -- Oh! I am in the dark, and am reading by the sound of the magnet. Georgetown.
This settled "Cincinnati." Question after question was asked me about the Rebels, and I answered to suit myself.
Things had been going on this way about two hours, when Lexington asked me where my assistant was. I replied, "Don't know." He then asked me, "Have you seen him to-day?" I replied "No." This was the last telegraphic I could do in Georgetown.
I then called on Mr. Smith, the operator, who was under guard in my room, and informed him that I would furnish him with a mule in the morning, and should be pleased to have him accompany me to Dixie, as I understood he was in the employ of the United States Government. This was anything but agreeable to him. I thought I had struck the young man in the right place, and remarked that had he not sent his instruments to Lexington I should have taken them in preference to his person. His face brightened, and an idea struck him very forcibly, from which he made a proposition. It was to furnish me the instruments if I would release him.
This I agreed to, as such instruments were of much more value to the Confederacy than Yankee telegraphers. I accompanied him to the servant's room, and there, under the bed, in a chest, we found the instruments. Mr. Smith having given me his word on honor that he would not leave town for the next twenty-four hours, he was set at liberty to visit his wife and the young Smiths.
On arriving at Cynthiana, I found that the operator had skedaddled. I tested the wires and found no fluid from either Covington or Lexington, nor were the wires in working order when I left the office next day.
At Paris the operator had made a clean sweep. He left the night before, taking all his instruments.
At Crab Orchard there was no office, and I had to put in my pocket magnet, which I did at eleven A.M. The first message I received was the following: --
Louisville, July 21, 1862. -- To Colonel Woodford, Danville -- Pursue Morgan. He is at Crab Orchard, going to Somerset. Boyle.
No sooner had the Danville operator receipted for this than the operator at Lebanon suggested the following: --
To Lebanon Junction -- Would it not be well for Danville offices below here to put on their ground wires when they send or receive important messages, as George Ellsworth, the Rebel operator, may be on the line between here and Cumberland Gap? Lebanon.
The operator at the Junction agreed with him, and said it would be a good idea, but it was not carried into effect.
We arrived at Somerset that evening. I took charge of the office. I ascertained from citizens that it had been closed three weeks, up to the very hour that our advance guard arrived in town. It was just opened by the operator from London, who came to work the instruments for the purpose of catching Morgan; but, unfortunately for Uncle Sam, the operator and all concerned, he had no time to either send or receive a message, but he had it in fine working condition for me. I had been in the office for some time when Stanford called Somerset and said: --
I have just returned from Crab Orchard, where I have been to fix the line. The Rebels tore it down. I left there at eight o'clock. The Ninth Pennsylvania cavalry had not then arrived. What time did you get in from London? Stanford.
To Stanford -- Just arrived and got my office working finely.
To Somerset -- Any signs of Morgan yet? He left Crab Orchard at 11:30 to-day. Stanford.
To Stanford -- No signs of him as yet. Somerset.
To Somerset -- For fear they might take you by surprise, I would suggest we have a private signal. What say you? Stanford.
To Stanford -- Good. Before signing, we will make the figure 7. Somerset.
This was mutually agreed upon.
I asked when Woolford would be at Somerset. He said Woolford had telegraphed Boyle that his force was green and insufficient to attack Morgan.
Seeing there was no use in my losing a night's rest, I told Stanford I would retire; that I had made arrangements with the pickets to wake me up in the case Morgan came in. The operator at Lebanon Junction urged me to sit up, but I declined, on the ground of being unwell. This did not satisfy him, but after arguing with him for some time, I retired.
July 22. -- Opened the office at seven o'clock, A.M.; informed the Stanford operator that Morgan had not yet arrived; made inquiries about different things; and after everything in the town belonging to the United States was destroyed, the General gave me a few messages to send -- one to Prentice, one to General Boyle, and one to Dunlap. They are hereto annexed.
I then telegraphed home, informing my relatives of my whereabouts, what I was doing, &c. I then transmitted the General's despatches as follows: --
Somerset, July 22, 1862. -- George D. Prentice, Louisville: -- Good morning, George D. I am quietly watching the complete destruction of all Uncle Sam's property in this little burg. I regret exceedingly that this is the last that comes under my supervision on this route. I expect in a short time to pay you a visit, and wish to know if you will be at home. All well in Dixie. John H. Morgan, Commanding Brigade.
General J. T. Boyle, Louisville: -- Good morning, Jerry. This telegraph is a great institution. You should destroy it, as it keeps you too well posted. My friend, Ellsworth, has all of your despatches since the 10th of July on file. Do you wish copies? John H. Morgan, Commanding Brigade.
Hon. George W. Dunlap, Washington City: Just completed my tour through Kentucky; captured seventeen cities, destroyed millions of dollars' worth of United States property; passed through your county, but regret not seeing you. We paroled fifteen hundred Rebel prisoners. Your old friend, John H. Morgan, Commanding Brigade.
(The foregoing despatches were well calculated to dumfound these Yankee dignitaries, who, no doubt, were half inclined to pronounce them some spiritual treak; but for concentrated audacity the following is unequalled:--Eds. Confed)
General Orders, No. 1. -- Headquarters, Telegraph Department of Kentucky, Confederate States of America, Georgetown, Ky., July 16, 1862. -- When an operator is positively informed that the enemy is marching on his station, he will immediately proceed to destroy the telegraph instruments and all materials in his charge. Such instances of carelessness as were [--?] on the part of the operator at Lebanon, Midway and Georgetown, will be severely dealt with. By order of A. Ellsworth, General Military Sup. C. S. Telag. Departm't. []
On commencing operations at this place I discovered that there were two wires on the line along the railroad. One was what we term a "through wire," running direct from Lexington to Frankfort, and not entering any of the way offices. I found that all military messages were sent over that wire. As it did not enter Midway office I ordered it cut, this forcing Lexington on to the wire that did run through the office.
I tested the line, and found that by applying my ground wire it made no difference with the circuit, and as Lexington was headquarters, I cut Frankfort off. Midway was called. I answered and received the following: --
"Lexington, July 15, 1862. -- To J. W. Woolums, Operator, Midway -- Will there be any danger in coming to Midway? Is everything right? Taylor, Conductor."
I inquired of my prisoner (the operator) if he knew a man by the name of Taylor. He said that Taylor was conductor. I immediately gave Taylor the following reply: --
Midway, July 15, 1862. -- To Taylor, Lexington: -- All right, come on. No signs of any Rebels here. Woolums.
The operator in Cincinnati then called Frankfort. I answered, and received about a dozen unimportant despatches. He had no sooner finished, when Lexington called Frankfort. Again I answered, and received the following message: --
Lexington, July 15, 1862. -- To General Finnell, Frankfort -- I wish you to move the forces at Frankfort on the line of the Lexington Railroad immediately, and have the cars follow and take them up as soon as possible. Further orders will await them at Midway. I will in three or four hours, move forward on the Georgetown pike; will have most of my men mounted. Morgan left Versailles this morning, at eight o'clock, with 850 men, on the Midway road, moving in the direction of Georgetown.
Brig-Gen Ward.
This being our position and intention exactly, it was thought it proper to throw General Ward on some other track. So in the course of half an hour I manufactured and sent the following despatch, which was approved by Gen. Morgan.
"Midway, July 15, 1862. -- To Brigadier General Ward, Lexington: -- Morgan, with upwards of one thousand men, came within a mile of here, and took the old Frankfort road, bound, as we suppose, for Frankfort. This is reliable.
Woolums, Operator.
In about ten minutes Lexington again called Frankfort, when I received the following: --
Lexington, July 15, 1862. -- To Gen. Finnell, Frankfort. -- Morgan, with more than one thousand men, came within a mile of here, and took the old Frankfort road.
This despatch received from Midway and is reliable. The regiment from Frankfort had better be recalled.
General Ward.
I receipted[?] for this message, and again manufactured a message to confirm the information General Ward had received from Midway, and not knowing the tariff from Frankfort to Lexington, I could not send a formal message, so, appearing greatly agitated, I waited until the current was occupied, and broke in, telling them to wait a minute, and commenced calling Lexington. He answered with as much gusto as I called him. I telegraphed as follows: --
Frankfort to Lexington. -- Tell General Ward our pickets are just driven in. Great excitement. Pickets say the force of enemy must be two thousand. Operator.
It was now two o'clock P.M., and General Morgan wished to be off for Georgetown. I ran a secret ground connection, and opened the circuit on the Lexington end. This was to leave the impression that the Frankfort operator was skedaddling, or that Morgan's men had destroyed the telegraph.
We arrived at Georgetown about the setting of the sun. I went to the telegraph office, found it locked, inquired for the operator, who was pointed out to me on the street. I halted him and demanded admission into his office. He [..] [court?]eously showed me in. Discovering that his instruments had been removed, I asked where they were. He said that he had sent them to Lexington. I asked him what time he [had?] Lexington last. He said "nine o'clock, and since that time the line had been down." I remarked that it must be an extraordinary line to be in working condition when it was down, as I heard him sending messages to Lexington when I was at Midway at one o'clock. This was a stunner; he had nothing to say. I immediately tested the line by applying the ends of the wires to my tongue, and found the line "O. K." I said nothing to him, but called for a guard of two men to take care of Mr. Smith until I got ready to leave town. I did not interrupt the lines till after [ten?], when I put in my own instruments, and after listening an hour or two to the Yankee talking, I opened the conversation as follows, signing myself Federal Operator: --
To Lexington -- Keep mum; I am in the office, reading by the sound of my magnet, in the dark. I crawled in when no one saw me. Morgan's men are here, camped on Dr. Gano's place. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- Keep cool; don't be discovered. About how many Rebels are there? Lexington.
To Lexington -- I don't know. I did not notice. As Morgan's operator was asking me about my instruments, I told him I sent them to Lexington. He said d---d the luck, and went out. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- Be on hand, and keep us posted. Lexington.
To Lexington -- I will do so. Tell General Ward I'll stay up all night, if he wishes. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- Mr. Fuller wishes to know if the rebels are there. Cincinnati.
To Cincinnati -- Yes, Morgan's men are here. Georgetown.
To Georgetown -- How can you be in the office and not be arrested? Cincinnati.
To Cincinnati -- Oh! I am in the dark, and am reading by the sound of the magnet. Georgetown.
This settled "Cincinnati." Question after question was asked me about the Rebels, and I answered to suit myself.
Things had been going on this way about two hours, when Lexington asked me where my assistant was. I replied, "Don't know." He then asked me, "Have you seen him to-day?" I replied "No." This was the last telegraphic I could do in Georgetown.
I then called on Mr. Smith, the operator, who was under guard in my room, and informed him that I would furnish him with a mule in the morning, and should be pleased to have him accompany me to Dixie, as I understood he was in the employ of the United States Government. This was anything but agreeable to him. I thought I had struck the young man in the right place, and remarked that had he not sent his instruments to Lexington I should have taken them in preference to his person. His face brightened, and an idea struck him very forcibly, from which he made a proposition. It was to furnish me the instruments if I would release him.
This I agreed to, as such instruments were of much more value to the Confederacy than Yankee telegraphers. I accompanied him to the servant's room, and there, under the bed, in a chest, we found the instruments. Mr. Smith having given me his word on honor that he would not leave town for the next twenty-four hours, he was set at liberty to visit his wife and the young Smiths.On arriving at Cynthiana, I found that the operator had skedaddled. I tested the wires and found no fluid from either Covington or Lexington, nor were the wires in working order when I left the office next day.
At Paris the operator had made a clean sweep. He left the night before, taking all his instruments.
At Crab Orchard there was no office, and I had to put in my pocket magnet, which I did at eleven A.M. The first message I received was the following: --
Louisville, July 21, 1862. -- To Colonel Woodford, Danville -- Pursue Morgan. He is at Crab Orchard, going to Somerset. Boyle.
No sooner had the Danville operator receipted for this than the operator at Lebanon suggested the following: --
To Lebanon Junction -- Would it not be well for Danville offices below here to put on their ground wires when they send or receive important messages, as George Ellsworth, the Rebel operator, may be on the line between here and Cumberland Gap? Lebanon.
The operator at the Junction agreed with him, and said it would be a good idea, but it was not carried into effect.
We arrived at Somerset that evening. I took charge of the office. I ascertained from citizens that it had been closed three weeks, up to the very hour that our advance guard arrived in town. It was just opened by the operator from London, who came to work the instruments for the purpose of catching Morgan; but, unfortunately for Uncle Sam, the operator and all concerned, he had no time to either send or receive a message, but he had it in fine working condition for me. I had been in the office for some time when Stanford called Somerset and said: --
I have just returned from Crab Orchard, where I have been to fix the line. The Rebels tore it down. I left there at eight o'clock. The Ninth Pennsylvania cavalry had not then arrived. What time did you get in from London? Stanford.
To Stanford -- Just arrived and got my office working finely.
To Somerset -- Any signs of Morgan yet? He left Crab Orchard at 11:30 to-day. Stanford.
To Stanford -- No signs of him as yet. Somerset.
To Somerset -- For fear they might take you by surprise, I would suggest we have a private signal. What say you? Stanford.
To Stanford -- Good. Before signing, we will make the figure 7. Somerset.
This was mutually agreed upon.
I asked when Woolford would be at Somerset. He said Woolford had telegraphed Boyle that his force was green and insufficient to attack Morgan.
Seeing there was no use in my losing a night's rest, I told Stanford I would retire; that I had made arrangements with the pickets to wake me up in the case Morgan came in. The operator at Lebanon Junction urged me to sit up, but I declined, on the ground of being unwell. This did not satisfy him, but after arguing with him for some time, I retired.
July 22. -- Opened the office at seven o'clock, A.M.; informed the Stanford operator that Morgan had not yet arrived; made inquiries about different things; and after everything in the town belonging to the United States was destroyed, the General gave me a few messages to send -- one to Prentice, one to General Boyle, and one to Dunlap. They are hereto annexed.
I then telegraphed home, informing my relatives of my whereabouts, what I was doing, &c. I then transmitted the General's despatches as follows: --
Somerset, July 22, 1862. -- George D. Prentice, Louisville: -- Good morning, George D. I am quietly watching the complete destruction of all Uncle Sam's property in this little burg. I regret exceedingly that this is the last that comes under my supervision on this route. I expect in a short time to pay you a visit, and wish to know if you will be at home. All well in Dixie. John H. Morgan, Commanding Brigade.
General J. T. Boyle, Louisville: -- Good morning, Jerry. This telegraph is a great institution. You should destroy it, as it keeps you too well posted. My friend, Ellsworth, has all of your despatches since the 10th of July on file. Do you wish copies? John H. Morgan, Commanding Brigade.
Hon. George W. Dunlap, Washington City: Just completed my tour through Kentucky; captured seventeen cities, destroyed millions of dollars' worth of United States property; passed through your county, but regret not seeing you. We paroled fifteen hundred Rebel prisoners. Your old friend, John H. Morgan, Commanding Brigade.
(The foregoing despatches were well calculated to dumfound these Yankee dignitaries, who, no doubt, were half inclined to pronounce them some spiritual treak; but for concentrated audacity the following is unequalled:--Eds. Confed)
General Orders, No. 1. -- Headquarters, Telegraph Department of Kentucky, Confederate States of America, Georgetown, Ky., July 16, 1862. -- When an operator is positively informed that the enemy is marching on his station, he will immediately proceed to destroy the telegraph instruments and all materials in his charge. Such instances of carelessness as were [--?] on the part of the operator at Lebanon, Midway and Georgetown, will be severely dealt with. By order of A. Ellsworth, General Military Sup. C. S. Telag. Departm't. []
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[] "Letter from the 90th Regiment." Lancaster Gazette, Lancaster, OH. November 13, 1862. Page 3. Newspapers.com.
[November 7, 1862] -
Letter From the 99th Regiment.
EDITORS GAZETTE: -- I again embrace an opportunity of boring your readers with an account of the travels and adventure of "ye Ninetieth" since you last heard from me. I wrote you on the 13th ult; while camped at the beautiful town of Danville. We were then of the opinion that a terrific battle would be fought in that part of the State -- that Buell's "splendid strategy" would culminate and a finishing stroke given to rebellion in the Southwest. Such were our expectations up till the morning of the 14th, when news reached us that ubiquitous Bragg -- true to the instincts of Southern bravery and chivalry -- had evaluated his position and was then far on his way to a safe retreat to a more congenial clime, and, as a matter of necessity, we had to follow after. We had good roads till we passed through Crab Orchard, and then came the "tug of war." By the time we arrived at Mt. Vernon, we had again come up with the enemy, but he did not feel disposed to grant us a trial of our arms and prowess; but seemed more inclined to make better time in his Southward course, and to impede our progress by obstruction of roads, felling of trees, &c, at which time he chose the most dangerous portion of the road, at which the passage of our trains would be the most difficult, and which would not allow us to proceed until the obstructions were removed. On down to Wild Cat we went, clambering over highest hills, along the most declivitous passages found among the Rockcastle hights[sic]. We rested one night upon the battle ground of Wild Cat, made memorable just one year before. We saw the position occupied by the combatants in that engagement; off to the left being the position held by four companies of the 17th Ohio.
On Saturday, 18th ult, we left this place
Letter From the 99th Regiment.
Camp at Glasgow, Ky,
Nov. 7th, 1862.
EDITORS GAZETTE: -- I again embrace an opportunity of boring your readers with an account of the travels and adventure of "ye Ninetieth" since you last heard from me. I wrote you on the 13th ult; while camped at the beautiful town of Danville. We were then of the opinion that a terrific battle would be fought in that part of the State -- that Buell's "splendid strategy" would culminate and a finishing stroke given to rebellion in the Southwest. Such were our expectations up till the morning of the 14th, when news reached us that ubiquitous Bragg -- true to the instincts of Southern bravery and chivalry -- had evaluated his position and was then far on his way to a safe retreat to a more congenial clime, and, as a matter of necessity, we had to follow after. We had good roads till we passed through Crab Orchard, and then came the "tug of war." By the time we arrived at Mt. Vernon, we had again come up with the enemy, but he did not feel disposed to grant us a trial of our arms and prowess; but seemed more inclined to make better time in his Southward course, and to impede our progress by obstruction of roads, felling of trees, &c, at which time he chose the most dangerous portion of the road, at which the passage of our trains would be the most difficult, and which would not allow us to proceed until the obstructions were removed. On down to Wild Cat we went, clambering over highest hills, along the most declivitous passages found among the Rockcastle hights[sic]. We rested one night upon the battle ground of Wild Cat, made memorable just one year before. We saw the position occupied by the combatants in that engagement; off to the left being the position held by four companies of the 17th Ohio.
On Saturday, 18th ult, we left this place
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[] "From Kentucky." Daily True Delta, New Orleans, LA. October 27, 1864. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.
[October 27, 1864] -
From Kentucky.
GUERRILLA DEPREDATIONS -- DEFENCELESS CONDITION OF UNION MEN.
(From the Louisville Journal, Oct. 17.)
We are amazed at the extent and long continuance of the guerrilla operations in Kentucky and the almost perfect impunity with which they are carried on. Such things seem almost incredible. It is difficult to realize that they can be true. Owen county has for months been the headquarters of large numbers of the marauders. From that point they pursue their work of plunder in all directions through eight or ten of the neighboring counties and parts of counties, that is, Carroll, Trimble, Boone, part of Henry, part of Franklin, part of Scott, part of Gallatin, part of Grant, and parts of other counties. Throughout all this long and broad extent of territory, Jessee's band, sometimes going in a single body and sometimes seperating into a dozen of fifteen squads, neither retrain themselves in their depredations nor are restrained by anybody else. They take horses wherever they can find them; they seize merchants' goods, so that the merchants, in despair, have given up the attempt to keep anything; they rob houses and travelers of money, watches, jewelry, and clothing, sparing no Union man or family, and not even any rebel sympathizers except such as give them valuable help in the prosecution of their raids. There is a portion of Owen covered with woods and hills, and to the covert of these the guerrillas fly to hid themselves whenever a military expedition is set on foot against them; but, as soon as the expedition disappears, they sally forth again upon their atrocious enterprises. There is, therefore, no mode of keeping them down and preventing their ruinous predatory excursions, unless by having a Federal force stationed permanently in the vicinity. At present there is less security of life and property for the population of that region than there would be if they were living in a state of nature. And yet Owen county, we believe, is not more than fifty miles from either Louisville, Lexington, or the capital of Kentucky.
There is an equally bad condition of things in other parts of Kentucky We learn that the guerrillas have taken Owensboro, Lewisport and Hawesville, that they captured and sacked Brandenburg, in Meade county, on Thursday, and that, at the last accounts, a gang was on its way to Hardinsburg and other towns. For months three or four hundred of the 8th Kentucky rebel cavalry, organized as guerrillas, have been committing spoliations and all other kinds of outrages throughout Daviess, Henderson, Meade, Hardin, Union, Barren, and indeed all the surrounding countrythe people having no more protection than if the region they inhabit belonged to the rebel Confederacy. And in the counties further South, those on and near the Tennessee line, matters are, if possible, still worse, the guerrillas meeting with no resistance from either citizens or troops, but having their own will and way in their robberies, burnings and persecutions of every description. Men there do not dare, in one case in a hundred, avow themselves Union men or friends of the Government or to do an act or speak a word indicative of loyalty lest their lives should pay the penalty of their audacity. In the meanwhile, those who would gladly defend themselves if they had the least chance, are without arms, and consequently as powerless as infancy in the bloody and remorseless grasp of their and the country’s enemies.
One of the worst results of this wretched condition of things in Kentucky, is that the late draft is rendered nugatory if not worse than nugatory. Everybody knows that thousands of persons in Kentucky, who have desired to remain at home, but who, if compelled to fight at all, prefer fighting on the rebel side. Such persons in very large numbers have joined and are daily joining the guerrilla bands, the excursions of these bands throughout almost every portion of the State affording to the conscripts every facility they could desire for that purpose. Moreover, where the drafted men do not join the guerrillas of their own accord, they are diligently hunted up, seized, and compelled into the rebel service. We are informed, that, of all the men drafted in Owen for instance, scarcely one can now be found by the Federal authorities except in the guerrilla ranks. []
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[] Excerpt from Columns 1 and 2. Mount Vernon Signal, Mt. Vernon, KY. June 30, 1899. Page 2. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069561/1899-06-30/ed-1/seq-2/
[June 30, 1899] -
mcclary letter, civil war rockcastle county (bottom of column 1, continued on top of column 2)
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[] Excerpt from Columns 1 and 2. Mount Vernon Signal, Mt. Vernon, KY. June 30, 1899. Page 2. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86069561/1899-06-30/ed-1/seq-2/
[June 30, 1899] -
mcclary letter, civil war rockcastle county (bottom of column 1, continued on top of column 2)
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU IN KY / FEDERAL TROOPS
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[] "Freedmen's Bureau in Kentucky." Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cincinnati, OH. January 1, 1866. Page 6. Genealogybank.com.
[January 1, 1866] -
Freedmen's Bureau in Kentucky -- Address of Gen. Fisk to the Freedmen -- Circular.
BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED LANDS, STATES OF KY. AND TENN.,
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE.
NASHVILLE, Dec. 26, 1865.
Freedmen of Kentucky: The Constitution of the United States has been so amended that hereafter no one can be held as a slave anywhere in this country except as a punishment for crime. All the colored people, therefore, in the State of Kentucky are free; and your friend, the Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, desires to address you a few plain words.
I. First of all, you should be grateful to your Heavenly Father, who has broken your bonds, and conferred upon you the inestimable boon of freedom.
II. You should recognize your high obligations to the Federal Government, which, in its mighty struggle with the great rebellion and in its triumph, has been true to the interests of freedom, and has fulfilled its pledge to the oppressed.
III. You should love Kentucky, for it is a noble old State--your native State--your home and the home of your children, and now a free State!
IV. I advise you to remain in your old homes, and that you enter into good contracts with your former owners and masters. You have been associated with them for many years. You are bound to the old homes by many ties; and most of you, I trust, will be able to get on as well with your late masters as with as with any one else. But if your former masters will not make fair contracts with you, giving you good wages or a share of the crop, you will have a perfect right to go where you can do better.
V. Let me warn you specially against flocking into the towns and cities. There are too many people in the towns and cities already. Hundreds, unless they speedily remove to the country, will, I fear, fall victims to pestilence. The small pox is now prevalent, and in a few weeks the cholera may be among us. In the crowded cities you will wear your lives away in a constant struggle to pay high rent for miserable dwellings and scanty allowances of food. Many of your children, I greatly fear, will be found wandering through the streets as vagrants, plunging into the worst vices, and filling the workhouses and the jails. By all means seek healthy homes in the country.
VI. Now that you are free, and will enjoy the fruits of your own industry, enter upon your new life with a hearty will. You begin it with little besides your hands, but by patient industry and economy, you may soon earn and save enough money to purchase a home of your own, and furnish it with many of the comforts of life.
VII. Let each man turn his heart and his thoughts toward providing a good home for his wife and children, and to aid in the care of his aged parents. Carefully guard and keep sacred the marriage relation. Be lawfully wedded. "Taking up with each other" is an abominable practice, and must perish with the institution which gave it birth.
VIII. Every attention should be given to the education of your children. Purchase books for them, and employ good teachers. You have numerous friends in the country who will aid you in the establishment and support of schools. Be resolved that your children shall be taught reading, writing and arithmetic, at least.
IX. Let the past be forgotten. Trust all with respect. Avoid disputes. Demonstrate to the people of Kentucky, and to the world, by your faithful observance of the laws, by your sobriety and good morals, and by your thrift, that you are not only qualified for the precious blessing of freedom, but for the high and responsible duties of citizens of the Commonwealth.
X. Until the enactment and enforcement of State laws, giving you full protection in person and property, impartial justice will be secured to you by the strong arm of the National Government.
CLINTON B. FISK,
Brevet Major Gen. and Ass't Com'r.
CIRCULAR.
BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN AND ABANDONED LANDS, STATES OF KENTUCKY AND TENN., ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE,
NASHVILLE, TENN., Dec. 26, 1865.
Circular No. 10.
The ratification of the Constitutional Amendment forever abolishing and prohibiting slavery in the United States having been officially announced to the country by proclamation of the Secretary of State, dated Dec. 18th, 1865, this Bureau extends its supervision over persons recently held as slaves in the State of Kentucky.
On the basis of impartial justice this Bureau will promote industry and aid in permanently establishing peace and securing prosperity in the State.
Agencies of the Bureau will be established at points easy of access, and while Superintendents will be cautioned against supervising too much, the fair adjustment of the labor question will receive their earnest attention. They will see that contracts are equitable and their inviolability enforced upon both parties.No fixed rate of wages will be prescribed by the Bureau, nor will any community or combination of people be permitted to fix rates. Labor must be free to compete with other commodities in an open market.
Parties can make any trade or agreement that is satisfactory to themselves; and, so long as advantage is not taken of the ignorance of the freed people to deprive them of a fair and reasonable compensation for their labor, either in stipulated wages or a share of products, there will be no interference.
Until the enactment and enforcement of State laws guaranteeing to the freemen ample protection in person and property, Freedmen's Courts will be established for the adjudication of cases in which they are involved.
The Assistant Commissioner earnestly invites the cordial and hearty cooperation of the civil authorities, and of all good citizens of Kentucky, in the important work of adjusting the new relations arising from the total abolition of slavery.
CLINTON B. FISK,
Brevet Maj. Gen., Ass't Com'r.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KENTUCKY,
LOUISVILLE, Dec. 27, 1865.
The foregoing 'Circular' of Brevet Major Gen. C. B. Fisk, Assistant Commissioner, meets my cordial approval, both in its spirit and in its excellent suggestions.
JOHN M. PALMES.
Major General Commanding. []
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[] Excerpt from "From Washington." Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cincinnati, OH. February 7, 1866. Page 3. Genealogybank.com.
[February 7, 1866] -
GEN. FISK.
Major General Fisk starts West to-night, and upon his arrival in Kentucky he will at once produce the evidence upon which the statements in his Cincinnati speech were made. The General has written a letter in reply to the action of the committee of investigation in his case, appointed by the rebel Legislature of Kentucky, which will appear in a few days. If anything can humiliate the rebels of that State, it will be the condition of affairs which Gen. Fisk will prove to exist there.
AMENDMENTS TO FREEDMEN'S BUREAU BILL.
The Freedmen's Bureau bill, as passed the House today, differs from the Senate bill in the following particulars: The salary of sub-district agents is fixed at $1,200, instead of $1,500. The number of clerks allowed the assistant commissioners is three instead of six. The operations of the Bureau are confined to States in which, on the 1st of July, 1866, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was suspended. It is provided that no person shall be deemed s destitute, suffering, or dependent on the Government for support, who, being able to find employment, could by proper industry and exertion avoid such destitution, suffering or dependence; and at the end of the Sea Island section, which confirms the negroes in their occupancy for three years, is a clause providing that whenever the former owners of lands occupied under Gen. Sherman's field order, make application for the restoration of said lands, the Commissioner is authorized upon the agreement, and with the written consent of said occupants, to procure by rent or purchase, or assign, under the provision of the bill, other lands for them, not exceeding forty acres for each occupant. It is believed these amendments will be agreed to by the Senate. []
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[] "Freedmen's Affairs in Kentucky." Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. August 28, 1866. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.
[August 28, 1866] -
Freedmen's Affairs in Kentucky.
Major General Howard has received the following report of the operations of the bureau and the condition of the freedmen in the State of Kentucky, from Brevet Brigadier General John Ely, chief superintendent and inspector of freedmen's affairs here:
Returns received from superintendents and agents in different parts of the State show that the colored people, with but few exceptions, are industriously at work. As among the whites, there are some who prefer a life of vagrancy and idleness, and these have been taken in charge by the bureau officers and compelled to labor for their support, instead of being dependents upon the more industrious of their race. The civil authorities refuse to co-operate with the bureau officers in their endeavors to properly care for vagrants, as they persistently ignore the constitutionality and legality of the bureau. The number of vagrants is, however, limited, and it is estimated that ninety-five per cent of the freedmen are self-supporting.
The colored people are making strong efforts to open and maintain schools but have met with strong and malignant opposition from a class of lawless whites self-styled "regulators," who have, in several cases, broken up the schools and driven the teachers from their posts of duty. At Glasgow, Barren county, the teacher and scholars were twice driven from the school building. Becoming discouraged, they concluded to abandon all further attempts to maintain the school, when an officer of the bureau took the matter in charge, and advised the older scholars to take arms with them for their protection. The sheriff of the county visited the school shortly afterward, for the evident purpose of again driving away the teacher and scholars; but seeing the preparations for defense he wisely concluded to make no further demonstration. Since that time the school has met with no further molestation from either the sheriff or his friends. The bureau officers have determined to aid the colored people in reopening and maintaining schools which have been closed by force, and it is deemed essential that a superintendent of schools be appointed, who will bring to the notice of benevolent associations the necessities of the colored people, and obtain assistance in money, books, and teachers.
We find the above in Forney's Chronicle, but doubt its authenticity. It is not probable that any such occurrence as is spoke of took place in Barren county, and it is still more improbable that Gen. Ely gave any such incendiary advice to the negroes as stated. []
---
[] Excerpt from "Freedmen's Affairs." Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. October 17, 1866. Page 4. Genealogybank.com.
[October 17, 1866] -
KENTUCKY REGULATORS--OFFICIAL REPORT OF GEN. JEFF. C. DAVIS.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16. -- Brevet Major General Jeff C. Davis, Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of Kentucky, in his report to the Commissioner, dated October 8, gives an account of the outrages committed by a lawless organization lately sprung up in that State, known by the name of "Regulators." He states that there were sixty-six cases of violence towards the colored population reported during the month of August, for which only eight arrests were made. These outrages were generally robbing and whipping negroes, and were usually perpetrated at night by white men in disguise; styling themselves "Regulators." The small number arrested is owing to, first, the inability of the sufferers to identify by name, under oath, the persons who commit the crimes; second, the want of cavalry troops to make arrests, the "Regulators" being generally mounted and armed. In none of these cases has there been any action of the State civil authorities in arresting and punishing the offenders. Of the eight men arrested, one was released on account of the informality of the evidence, and one on a writ of habeas corpus, before being delivered to the General's headquarters. He was turned over by the United States Marshal for trial before the United States Circuit Court for this District.
In the latter part of August last reliable information was received at the office of the Chief Superintendent of the Bureau that over one hundred negroes were forced by the regulators to leave their homes in Gallatin county and fly to Indiana for safety. Five of the Gallatin county regulators have been identified and arrested, and the same action will be taken with the rest as soon as proper evidence of identify can be procured.
CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT ELY ON FREEDMEN'S AFFAIRS IN KENTUCKY.
Washington, Oct. 16. -- Brevet Brigadier General Ely, Chief Superintendent and Inspector for the Freedmen's Bureau in Kentucky, has furnished the commissioner with a synopsis of the operations of the Bureau in that State during August. Gen. Ely reports that in the refugees' and freedmen's hospital for the whole State, at Louisville, Ky., there were remaining, on the 1st of September, 131 patients, to whom there were issued during August 3,180 rations.
The average rate of all wages paid to freedmen during the month was $4053[?], with rations, for field hands, house servants, &c. Fifteen schools were in session. []
---
[] "Freedmen's Affairs." Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. October 24, 1866. Page 4. Genealogybank.com.
[October 24, 1866] -
FREEDMEN'S AFFAIRS.
FREEDMEN IN KENTUCKY -- REPORT OF GEN. JEFF C. DAVIS
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23. -- Brev. Maj. Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for the State of Kentucky, has forwarded to Gen. Howard a report of the operations of the Bureau in that State for the month of September.
It is reported that the freedmen are generally of industrious habits. In some districts disagreements have arisen in regard to settlements between employers and the freedmen, where the latter have been interested in the share of the crop as payment for their labor, and as the season advances, cases of trouble will become more numerous, for the reason that the employer and the laborer can scarcely ever agree as to the quantity and value of the crop.
Another source of loss to the freedmen is their frequently being driven away by bands of men styling themselves Regulators.
There has been a marked decrease in the number of outrages committed by whites upon the freedmen.
The number of schools is increasing, there being now thirty-five, most of which have colored teachers, and they are supported by subscription from the parents of the freed children. []
---
[] Excerpt from "Letter From Somerset." The Courier Journal, Louisville, KY. November 16, 1866. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[November 16, 1866] -
FROM SOMERSET.
...
---
[January 24, 1868] -
The militia company of the county, Captain Sim Bryant, is assembled here today to be disbanded. The Casey and Marion militia, comprising Kentucky's entire military establishment, are also being mustered out of service at Lebanon and Liberty. These companies were organized some three months since to aid civil officers in making arrests and preserving the peace. Their campaigns have displayed a plentiful lack of discipline, due chiefly to our clumsy militia law, yet they have done very fair service, and have inspired the "bushwhacking" region hereabouts with the most edifying and salutary awe. []---
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS / PENALTIES & SENTENCING
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[] Excerpt from "From Somerset." The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY. October 5, 1866. Page 4. Newspapers.com.
[October 5, 1866] -
FROM SOMERSET....
Every grade of crime from the highest known to the law, down to the slightest misdemeanors cognizable by a Grand Jury, is represented. By far the largest division is for violations of the liquor law, and the residue originating from violence engendered by the use of the aforesaid liquor.
There is a peculiar, benignant, charitable philanthropy about our laws concerning crimes perpetrated under the influence of whisky, modifying the offense to the conditions of the inebriate. In the case of murder, if the perpetrator is sober the crime loses none of its enormity; but if intoxicated, his offense will be manslaughter, justifiable or excusable homicide, as his condition may warrant. Whisky mitigates the punishment and robs the law of its vindicatory principle. If democratic doctrine can apply to ethics, and the will of the majority be allowed to control, whisky would be declared "king" and his divine right fully established that "the king can do no wrong." []
---
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POLITICAL FEELING / PUBLIC OPINION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITICAL MATTERS here [Pulaski County] are dead. The Federal office-holders are rapidly forming their minds to the President's policy, and I hope none will be changed; they certainly cannot be bettered in this district. Conservative men think they can make a different showing of the vote here on the next occasion for a vote. []
[] "Kentucky Politics." Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cincinnati, OH. July 22, 1867. Page 3. Genealogybank.com.
[July 22, 1867] -
Kentucky Politics.
Correspondence of the Cincinnati Gazette.
The condition of affairs in Kentucky is but a repetition of that which has prevailed in other Slave States, but without the apologies presented for it elsewhere. In Kentucky, electors must be free, white and twenty-one -- hence the body of voters are pure as driven snow, or would be but for the weakness of human nature, so frequently displayed below Mason Dixon's line. []
POLITICAL FEELING / PUBLIC OPINION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[] Excerpt from “From Pulaski County.” Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. September 27, 1866. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.
[September 27, 1866] -
POLITICS, &C.
Politics here [Pulaski], since the August election, is at a stand still. You are doubtless aware that this county is of a radical complexion. It is thought, however, if a test vote were taken that a majority would be for Andrew Johnson and his restoration policy, though not a few would be in favor of any course rather than to sustain him. His triumphant journey through the North is doing much to change opinion here, and the friends of order and justice are hopeful that at no distant day the people will come to their senses and work for the good of the whole country. []
---
[] Excerpt from “From Pulaski.” Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. November 20, 1866. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.
[November 20, 1866] -
POLITICAL MATTERS here [Pulaski County] are dead. The Federal office-holders are rapidly forming their minds to the President's policy, and I hope none will be changed; they certainly cannot be bettered in this district. Conservative men think they can make a different showing of the vote here on the next occasion for a vote. []
---
[July 22, 1867] -
Kentucky Politics.Correspondence of the Cincinnati Gazette.
SOMERSET, KY., July 16.
The redoubtable champhion of latter-day Democracy, John L. Helm, delivered one of his characteristic speeches here on Tuesday the 9th inst. At ten o'clock the night before, a beautiful flag, printed on both sides, with the names of Col. S. M. Barnes, for Governor, and Major Wm. N. Owens, for Representative to the State Legislature, was thrown across the main street from the store of C. B. Bachellu to Hail's Block, and as it swung out into the night air, was greeted with cheers and the firing of anvils--the nearest substitute for cannons afforded here since the war. This flag was designed by Miss Belle Caldwell, of this place, and is pronounced by all parties to be a beauty. From its position and size, it was the first thing observed by Mr. Helm, when he came in, about eleven o'clock on the 9th, on the Crab Orchard road. On being asked, during the day, what he thought of it, he observed, that "it was all he could expect of Pulaski county." He spoke about three hours, to a tolerably good house, with no opposition, and without exciting the least enthusiasm. His egotism, or, more properly speaking, self-conceit, was, of course, the most prominent portion of his address. He endeavored to explain his votes on the school tax and railroad schemes, in the Legislature last winter; but no person listening was able to discover the point. He voted for white scholars to get, per capita, eighty cents per year of the School Fund, and colored to receive two dollars and fifty cents. He did not mention the latter, however, nor institute any comparison between the two colors. His next point was his vote on the Enabling act, before the State Senate, authorizing Pulaski county to vote $200,000 to the great Southern Railroad projected by a Cincinnati company.
He said, among other things, that the projected road was to run parallel with the Kentucky Central Road; not attain at any point a departure of more than six miles from said road. Of course this was known by many present to be false, as the road is designed, except at the termini of Covington & Lexington, to pass through an entirely different tier of counties, and being distant from the Kentucky Central from twenty to thirty miles. From this point his remarks verged off into one of the ablest rebel efforts made in Kentucky, and fell like ice on the minds of his hearers.
This county, out of a voting population of about three thousand, have a strait out Union majority of one thousand. This being assumed, very little effort was made for Rice in the May election, as his prospect was considered a certainty. A few of the faithful, led by Capt. W. D. Carpenter, late of the well known Kentucky cavalry, are determined that rebel Democrats and thirty party men will have more to do in August than they did in May, and from the best calculations, it is estimated that the Union vote here will be the largest ever cast. With a view of showing Mr. Helm what effect his speech had on the populace, Capt. Carpenter, immediately after Helm had closed, called a crowd together under the flag, and mounting the steps of a store, made a short speech, which, owing to the crowd, I could not press near enough to catch, but which, from the applause, must have interested those who were fortunate in hearing. After his remarks, three cheers for the new flag and the Union ticket, led by Col. Barnes, were proposed, and given with a vengeance. If we had a few more of Capt. Carpenter's stripe distributed throughout the State, rebel Democratic rule would be of short duration in Kentucky.
TYROL. []
He said, among other things, that the projected road was to run parallel with the Kentucky Central Road; not attain at any point a departure of more than six miles from said road. Of course this was known by many present to be false, as the road is designed, except at the termini of Covington & Lexington, to pass through an entirely different tier of counties, and being distant from the Kentucky Central from twenty to thirty miles. From this point his remarks verged off into one of the ablest rebel efforts made in Kentucky, and fell like ice on the minds of his hearers.
This county, out of a voting population of about three thousand, have a strait out Union majority of one thousand. This being assumed, very little effort was made for Rice in the May election, as his prospect was considered a certainty. A few of the faithful, led by Capt. W. D. Carpenter, late of the well known Kentucky cavalry, are determined that rebel Democrats and thirty party men will have more to do in August than they did in May, and from the best calculations, it is estimated that the Union vote here will be the largest ever cast. With a view of showing Mr. Helm what effect his speech had on the populace, Capt. Carpenter, immediately after Helm had closed, called a crowd together under the flag, and mounting the steps of a store, made a short speech, which, owing to the crowd, I could not press near enough to catch, but which, from the applause, must have interested those who were fortunate in hearing. After his remarks, three cheers for the new flag and the Union ticket, led by Col. Barnes, were proposed, and given with a vengeance. If we had a few more of Capt. Carpenter's stripe distributed throughout the State, rebel Democratic rule would be of short duration in Kentucky.
TYROL. []
---
[] Excerpt from "Lawlessness." Albany Evening Journal, Albany, NY. December 26, 1868. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.
[December 26, 1868] -
The condition of affairs in Kentucky is but a repetition of that which has prevailed in other Slave States, but without the apologies presented for it elsewhere. In Kentucky, electors must be free, white and twenty-one -- hence the body of voters are pure as driven snow, or would be but for the weakness of human nature, so frequently displayed below Mason Dixon's line. []
---
FROM SOMERSET
...
The time of the Court has thus been employed in the call of the docket, and continuance of cases. Our criminal calendar is full to repletion, there being some two or three hundred indictments, which appear to have gained a right by prescription to remain in Court, having remained there, "time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." The present Grand Jury has added over one hundred to the number, with flattering prospects of an augmentation of cases this week. Every grade of crime from the highest known to the law, down to the slightest misdemeanors cognizable by a Grand Jury, is represented. By far the largest division is for violations of the liquor law, and the residue originating from violence engendered by the use of the aforesaid liquor.
LETTER FROM SOMERSET
...
A succession of amusing incidents occurred in our Circuit Court, which has just closed its session here. Our criminal calendar numbered some two or three hundred indictments--a very large number for so small a community as ours (?)--including crimes of every grade, except murder, which, when committed under the influence of whisky--and it is seldom or never committed through any other--is by our local potvalient, chivalry code converted into an offense of a lighter grade. These several hundred cases engaged the attention of the court for several days in the call of the docket, and I should judge that a majority of these were continued for the reason that the defendants had absconded. The call and proceeding were as follows: Commonwealth vs. John Smith, indicted for stealing a horse, being called does not respond. Our vigilant guardian of the public weal, the able and indefatigable prosecutor, asks of the Sheriff, "Where is John Smith, and why process has not been served on him?" To which interrogatory the said Sheriff makes answer, "Gone to the Ellinois." Another, Ben. Butler; indictment for stealing spoons and obtaining goods under false pretences; to whose default Sheriff answers, "Gone to the Ingian." A third, "To the Ohio," and so on through the callendar, showing an exode of fugitives from justice to a purifying extent. If our courts of justice exert such a powerful influence in incouraging emigration to the States of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio as represented in the Pulaski Circuit Court, we may not look for any political regeneration of those States for years to come, unless they change their habits of life and become honest men.
The most cursory reader of the newspapers of the day must have noticed that of late crime has fearfully increased in the land. Like the Eastern scourge, it appears to visit us in an epidemic form. And what is more noticeable, its ravages are not confined to any one particular section, but appear to be universal in their sweep. It is true of the South, that, while nearly all the "outrages" with which she is accredited are political fictions, yet far too many tragedies actually occur to indicate a healthy state of society. But the East, the North, the West, all are far ahead of the South in that respect -- and especially the East, the land of moral ideas. Not a day but we are shocked with the details of some horrid cruelty practised toward children among our Puritan friends -- murder, so foul and unnatural as to strike down pour, old, and defenceless women in the dead hour of night -- ravishments, rapes, seductions, child-murder, elopments, robberies, murders, arsons, in short, every species and phase of crime, have become so common in America that scarcely any attention is paid to their details. We have become so callous as a people, and we are beginning to place no higher estimate upon the life of a human being than we do upon the existence of a hare.
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CRIME STATISTICS / UBIQUITY OF CRIME
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[] Excerpt from "From Somerset." The Courier Journal, Stanford, KY. October 5, 1866. Page 4. Newspaper.com.
[October 5, 1866] -
FROM SOMERSET...
The time of the Court has thus been employed in the call of the docket, and continuance of cases. Our criminal calendar is full to repletion, there being some two or three hundred indictments, which appear to have gained a right by prescription to remain in Court, having remained there, "time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." The present Grand Jury has added over one hundred to the number, with flattering prospects of an augmentation of cases this week. Every grade of crime from the highest known to the law, down to the slightest misdemeanors cognizable by a Grand Jury, is represented. By far the largest division is for violations of the liquor law, and the residue originating from violence engendered by the use of the aforesaid liquor.
There is a peculiar, benignant, charitable philanthropy about our laws concerning crimes perpetrated under the influence of whisky, modifying the offense to the conditions of the inebriate. In the case of murder, if the perpetrator is sober the crime loses none of its enormity; but if intoxicated, his offense will be manslaughter, justifiable or excusable homicide, as his condition may warrant. Whisky mitigates the punishment and robs the law of its vindicatory principle. If democratic doctrine can apply to ethics, and the will of the majority be allowed to control, whisky would be declared "king" and his divine right fully established that "the king can do no wrong." []
---
[] Excerpt from "Letter From Somerset." The Courier Journal, Louisville, KY. November 16, 1866. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[November 16, 1866] -
LETTER FROM SOMERSET...
A succession of amusing incidents occurred in our Circuit Court, which has just closed its session here. Our criminal calendar numbered some two or three hundred indictments--a very large number for so small a community as ours (?)--including crimes of every grade, except murder, which, when committed under the influence of whisky--and it is seldom or never committed through any other--is by our local potvalient, chivalry code converted into an offense of a lighter grade. These several hundred cases engaged the attention of the court for several days in the call of the docket, and I should judge that a majority of these were continued for the reason that the defendants had absconded. The call and proceeding were as follows: Commonwealth vs. John Smith, indicted for stealing a horse, being called does not respond. Our vigilant guardian of the public weal, the able and indefatigable prosecutor, asks of the Sheriff, "Where is John Smith, and why process has not been served on him?" To which interrogatory the said Sheriff makes answer, "Gone to the Ellinois." Another, Ben. Butler; indictment for stealing spoons and obtaining goods under false pretences; to whose default Sheriff answers, "Gone to the Ingian." A third, "To the Ohio," and so on through the callendar, showing an exode of fugitives from justice to a purifying extent. If our courts of justice exert such a powerful influence in incouraging emigration to the States of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio as represented in the Pulaski Circuit Court, we may not look for any political regeneration of those States for years to come, unless they change their habits of life and become honest men.
There is a great need of a branch of the Freedmen's Bureau at this place, to minister to the necessities of our new branch of American citizens, or rather citizen-ized animals. Most of them are obliged to labor for their substance, though they do so under protest, expecting to be relieved from this burden as soon as the matter can be brought before their friends in Congress. []
---
[] Excerpt from Column 3. The Courier Journal, Louisville, KY. February 12, 1867. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[February 12, 1867] -
The most cursory reader of the newspapers of the day must have noticed that of late crime has fearfully increased in the land. Like the Eastern scourge, it appears to visit us in an epidemic form. And what is more noticeable, its ravages are not confined to any one particular section, but appear to be universal in their sweep. It is true of the South, that, while nearly all the "outrages" with which she is accredited are political fictions, yet far too many tragedies actually occur to indicate a healthy state of society. But the East, the North, the West, all are far ahead of the South in that respect -- and especially the East, the land of moral ideas. Not a day but we are shocked with the details of some horrid cruelty practised toward children among our Puritan friends -- murder, so foul and unnatural as to strike down pour, old, and defenceless women in the dead hour of night -- ravishments, rapes, seductions, child-murder, elopments, robberies, murders, arsons, in short, every species and phase of crime, have become so common in America that scarcely any attention is paid to their details. We have become so callous as a people, and we are beginning to place no higher estimate upon the life of a human being than we do upon the existence of a hare.
Upon the floor beside us is a pile of papers through which we have just glanced, and it was the frequency with which narratives of crime in their columns greeted our eye that induced us to pen this article. Why, in a half hour's time, we have read the particulars of a dozen robberies planned and carried out on the most gigantic scale. Outrages upon women, violent assaults, burglaries, summary executions by Judge Lynch, and murders are reported as occurring everywhere. The atrocity of the rapidly succeeding instances is not so much a matter of note as their frequency. Every horror, almost before we get the full details, is supplemented by something still more horrible. It is lamentable, indeed, that the very frequency of these cases has made the public mind callous to crime; and it is remarkable, too, that the great majority of these crimes of late have not been committed in the large cities, but in quiet country towns and in the rural districts. Some of the lawlessness that obtains at present is due, no doubt, to the late war, which has returned to private life a restless population, which, when not actively employed in something good, is sure to stray into all manner of excesses. The war has certainly schooled the American mind to hold human life as something cheaper than it was considered six years ago. But the almost general indifference now to law and order, as well as to the consequences of the acts of lawlessness, is greatly due, in our opinion, to the example set in disregarding the fundamental law of the land as written in the Constitution; in setting at naught the decisions of the highest court in the land, unless those decisions chime with the edicts of a caucus; and in threats to depose the Chief Magistrate of the country, unless he consents to become the President of a party. With such examples before them, it is not unnatural that the people at large should feel at liberty to break lesser laws; and to commit, by comparison, lesser crimes. []
---
Lynch Law.
MATTERS IN LEBANON
...
As I do not desire to insult "Judge Lynch's" active and industrious "court" by calling it a mob, I beg to say that the Judge has held another "session" since the publication of his proceedings in the Journal of the 18th inst. The "docket" published did not notify me to what point he adjourned on Nov. 24, 1866, but his actions since then have enlightened me. If the Judge expects his proceedings properly published he ought to notify newspaper men in order to secure their attendance. If he finds himself and friends misrepresented, he must remember that correspondents write what they hear, and not what they know. []
LEXINGTON, KY., July 29.
But, aside from those slanders, and disconnected with political feelings, it is true that in some localities in this State disturbances have been common, and have resulted in abuses which fill the rest of our people with shame and anxiety. It seems that a set of bad characters, some of the sediment of a long civil war, infested Mercer and some adjoining counties at the return of peace, and by their depredations afford an excuse for the formation of a band of Regulators. This, as usual, made matters worse, and now there is hardly a week passes but there is more or less of assassination and lynch law. Scoundrels turn out as Regulators, to pillage and murder, and then the real, Regulators murder them for doing such lawless things in their name. We hear one week that one set of Regulators have been abusing citizens in one locality, and the officers of the law seem unable to detect or arrest them; but the next week we hear that another set of Regulators have come from another county in the night time, discovered the perpetrators, and hung them. []
James Baker, killed by ten or twelve disguised men, in Pulaski county; no arrests made; "Baker was called out of his house in the latter part of the night, seized, dragged a short distance and shot to death--his body riddled;" so says the record. It continues, "Baker has the character of a law-abiding, peaceful and good citizen; Baker was a decided Union man, and was reputed to have some influence in his neighborhood; his father and several brothers, one of whom lost an entire arm in the war as a Federal soldier, have left the country since the murder (13th of June, 1868)--driven off." Is it not a singular circumstance that so many Union men are murdered by masked mobs? But this is the peace, good will and the kind spirit of fraternity that exists in this State, which Gov. Bramlette was so eager to proclaim to the Democrats of Indiana. Governor Bramlette will probably be refreshed by the following additional information from the neighborhood of Baker's murder. It will also explain to some extent why several more votes were not polled for the Union candidate for Governor. It is this: "Some three or more men have been taken from their houses and cruelly whipped in the same section; one of them, who was so abused a few days before the August election, was a soldier in the Mexican war, and who, in the late war, has been regarded as an honorable man, good citizen, and is now a Justice of the Peace. All these men who were whipped (one, at least, had his house burned also), were Union men." These outrages were committed in the night by masked men. These same regulators stuck up their mysterious K. K. K. signed notices threatening anyone who should talk about these affairs. But, thank God, the spirit of freemen was alive and strong in the Union men of Pulaski. They gave notice to the Democrats of that county that if any more such outrages occurred, that they would hold these innocent lambs of Democracy in the neighborhood of the outrages responsible therefor; and stranger still to say, from the time of that notice, those outrages ceased. A few words, fitly spoken, how wonderful is their power! But the Pulaski county Unionists are not the only ones that have given the "masked murderers" warning. The gallant boys of Jackson county have also sent a notice to them promising to take care not only of themselves, but to help the Madison county Unionists inflict summary punishment upon those who think themselves above the law. []
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REGULATORS / MOB VIOLENCE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[] "Lynch Law." Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY. May 24, 1866. Page 3. Newspapers.com.
[May 24, 1866] -
Lynch Law.
We regret to see in our midst and in other parts of the State a disposition on the part of the people to take the law into their own hands, and mete out summary punishment against offenders, without appealing to the courts of justice, which afford ample protection to all whose rights are infringed upon by the reckless and the lawless.
This spirit is especially manifest in cases where the offenders are colored people. Whatever exasperating causes may exist, and foul soever as the deed of the offender, no apology exists for the summary lynching of the guilty party by an infuriated mob, guided by passion rather than by reason. In all such cases these acts are highly reprehensible, and detract from our dignity as a people, and cast, in one sense, odium upon our courts of justice, as being either unwilling or incompetent to protect our civil and social relationship, and mete our impartial and equal justice to the injured and the offender. Scarcely a day passes but horrible details reach us of some person or persons who, for the commission of some heinous crime, have been taken from the hands of the law, sometimes while on trial, and sometimes from jail or on the way to jail, and hung or otherwise killed. When such culprits are arrested for the purpose of being arraigned before the proper judiciary tribunals of the country for trial, how much better would it be for them to have their trial before a jury who would pronounce the proper penalty, thus giving restitution to the injured and vindicating the supremacy of the law, to which we must all look for the protection of our rights and the redress of our wrongs. We sincerely trust that people will act more calmly in this matter, and that each one will refrain from acts of violence, and labor for the just enforcement of the laws under which he lives. []
---
[] Excerpt from "Matters in Lebanon." The Courier Journal, Louisville, KY. December 24, 1866. Page 1. Newspapers.com.
[December 24, 1866] -
MATTERS IN LEBANON...
As I do not desire to insult "Judge Lynch's" active and industrious "court" by calling it a mob, I beg to say that the Judge has held another "session" since the publication of his proceedings in the Journal of the 18th inst. The "docket" published did not notify me to what point he adjourned on Nov. 24, 1866, but his actions since then have enlightened me. If the Judge expects his proceedings properly published he ought to notify newspaper men in order to secure their attendance. If he finds himself and friends misrepresented, he must remember that correspondents write what they hear, and not what they know. []
---
[] Excerpt from "Ku-Klux in Kentucky, Curious Bands of Regulators." Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cincinnati, OH. July 31, 1868. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.
[July 31, 1868] -
LEXINGTON, KY., July 29.
The eccentricities of Kentuckians will never cease. The beauty of their women, the fatness of their cattle, fleetness of their horses, size and strength of their men, is only equaled by the personal habits of this grand and peculiar people. Not long since an organization was started near Crab Orchard for the suppression of laziness and drunkenness. The "Clan" as it was called, was said to be made up of both Union men and rebels, the Union men predominating, and their object was to regulate the labor and manners of their county. If a fellow was found loafing at a cross roads grocery too much, he was notified to stop it, or he would be flogged within an inch of life; if a fellow was drinking too much, he received notice to clew up, or take a threshing; if a man neglected his family, or run after other women, a threat of a rope or a rawhide generally brought him to a realizing sense of his duty. Those men, in the administration of their justice, were perfectly impartial, threshing rebels and Union men alike, and failing utterly to discriminate on account of color. When the doings of the band were reported to the military authorities at Lexington, they refused to interfere with them, and an officer expressed himself so highly pleased with the operations of the gang that he declared if he knew the chief he would invite him to Lexington, as there were several men in the town who might be larruped, with the best possible advantage to society.
[Baker?] One of the acts of the Clan is thus related: An old man who lived in the country, and was rich, was so miserly that he denied his family almost the necessaries of life. The band notified him that he must do better, but failing to properly notice the admonition given him, the gang seized him one night and took him out to the woods, where they tied him to a tree and then stripped him naked to the waist, after which, they proceeded to read to him certain charges. Among other things it was alleged that he was rich, yet he lived in a mean and beggarly manner, having no decent furniture, carpets, nor anything else in his house; that he had worn the same coat for a dozen years, until it was filthy and greasy; that he had compelled his daughter, almost a young woman, to go into the market town in her bare feet and with insufficient clothing on; that he had deprived his wife and daughter of hoops, tyrannically and brutally declaring they were of no use. The committee, therefore, after mature deliberation on all of his offenses, had awarded him a penalty of one hundred lashes on the bare skin. The old man begged hard to be let off, and promised to do better. The committee finally agreed to give him three days' grace on all the charges, except the last one, for which they gave him five rousing cuts. Next day the old fellow went to town and bought three hundred dollars worth of stuff, not forgetting the hoops for both wife and daughter. It is said that when the old fellow gets obstreperous a hint from his wife that perhaps the regulators will be round soon again subdues him in an instant, and he buys them what they want with astonishing will. The family profess themselves well satisfied with the operations of the Clan, and are now living in a decently furnished and well carpeted house, while daddy sports a brand new coat, for which he paid the (to him) enormous sum of twelve dollars, bu there was no help for it. This curing of a miser is certainly one of the most remarkable we ever heard of, and in itself not a bad thing. []
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[] Excerpt from "Mob Law in Mercer--The Remedy." Louisville Courier, Louisville, KY. September 15, 1868. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.
[September 15, 1868] -
But, aside from those slanders, and disconnected with political feelings, it is true that in some localities in this State disturbances have been common, and have resulted in abuses which fill the rest of our people with shame and anxiety. It seems that a set of bad characters, some of the sediment of a long civil war, infested Mercer and some adjoining counties at the return of peace, and by their depredations afford an excuse for the formation of a band of Regulators. This, as usual, made matters worse, and now there is hardly a week passes but there is more or less of assassination and lynch law. Scoundrels turn out as Regulators, to pillage and murder, and then the real, Regulators murder them for doing such lawless things in their name. We hear one week that one set of Regulators have been abusing citizens in one locality, and the officers of the law seem unable to detect or arrest them; but the next week we hear that another set of Regulators have come from another county in the night time, discovered the perpetrators, and hung them. []
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[] Excerpt from "Kentucky, A Model Democratic State." Cincinnati Daily Gazette, Cincinnati, OH. September 19, 1868. Page 4. Genealogybank.com.
[September 19, 1868] -
James Baker, killed by ten or twelve disguised men, in Pulaski county; no arrests made; "Baker was called out of his house in the latter part of the night, seized, dragged a short distance and shot to death--his body riddled;" so says the record. It continues, "Baker has the character of a law-abiding, peaceful and good citizen; Baker was a decided Union man, and was reputed to have some influence in his neighborhood; his father and several brothers, one of whom lost an entire arm in the war as a Federal soldier, have left the country since the murder (13th of June, 1868)--driven off." Is it not a singular circumstance that so many Union men are murdered by masked mobs? But this is the peace, good will and the kind spirit of fraternity that exists in this State, which Gov. Bramlette was so eager to proclaim to the Democrats of Indiana. Governor Bramlette will probably be refreshed by the following additional information from the neighborhood of Baker's murder. It will also explain to some extent why several more votes were not polled for the Union candidate for Governor. It is this: "Some three or more men have been taken from their houses and cruelly whipped in the same section; one of them, who was so abused a few days before the August election, was a soldier in the Mexican war, and who, in the late war, has been regarded as an honorable man, good citizen, and is now a Justice of the Peace. All these men who were whipped (one, at least, had his house burned also), were Union men." These outrages were committed in the night by masked men. These same regulators stuck up their mysterious K. K. K. signed notices threatening anyone who should talk about these affairs. But, thank God, the spirit of freemen was alive and strong in the Union men of Pulaski. They gave notice to the Democrats of that county that if any more such outrages occurred, that they would hold these innocent lambs of Democracy in the neighborhood of the outrages responsible therefor; and stranger still to say, from the time of that notice, those outrages ceased. A few words, fitly spoken, how wonderful is their power! But the Pulaski county Unionists are not the only ones that have given the "masked murderers" warning. The gallant boys of Jackson county have also sent a notice to them promising to take care not only of themselves, but to help the Madison county Unionists inflict summary punishment upon those who think themselves above the law. []
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http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016924/1840-05-09/ed-1/seq-1/ far right
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014968/1841-10-01/ed-1/seq-1/
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MISCELLANEOUS
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[] "Old Times." The Interior Journal, Stanford, KY. June 14, 1872. Page 1. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038328/1872-06-14/ed-1/seq-1/
[June 14, 1872] -
stagecoaches to mount vernon in the 1820s
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"how grandfathers committed crime" contains specifics of some antebellum local murders
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1882-12-19/ed-1/seq-2/
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85052020/1883-12-21/ed-1/seq-3/
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April 18, 1840. Page 3. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025180/1840-04-18/ed-1/seq-3/
[April 18, 1840] -
[April 18, 1840] -
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016924/1840-05-09/ed-1/seq-1/ far right
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014968/1841-10-01/ed-1/seq-1/
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