BURNSIDE SUPERSEDED.

497

991

discontent in the army." He was competent to issue the order on his own responsibility; but, in compliance with judicious advice, he submitted it to the President. Mr. Lincoln was perplexed. He appreciated the patriotism and soldierly qualities of Burnside, yet he could not consent to the suspension or dismissal of the officers named, even had there been greater personal provocation. He talked with Burnside as a friend and brother, and it was finally arranged that the General should be relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, and await orders for further service. This was done, and Major-General Hooker succeeded him in the command." arrangement made at that time, whereby the country might be best served, was highly creditable to the President and to General Burnside.

Here we will leave the Army of the Potomac in winter quarters on the Rappahannock, and consider the stirring events in the great Valley of the Mississippi since the siege of Corinth, and the capture of New Orleans and Memphis.

1 In that order Generals Hooker, Brooks, and Newton were named for ignominious dismissal from the service, and Generals Franklin, W. F. Smith, Cochran, and Ferrero, and Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Taylor, were to be relieved from duty in the Army of the Potomac. Generals Franklin and Smith, without the knowledge of Burnside, wrote a joint letter to the President on the 21st of December, expressing their belief that Burnside's plan of campaign could not succeed, and substantially recommending that of McClellan, by the James River and the country on its borders. The President replied that they were simply suggesting a plan fraught with "the old difficulty," and he appeared to be astonished, as Franklin had distinctly advised bringing the army away from the Peninsula.

2 January 26, 1863. By the order relieving Burnside from the command, Franklin was also relieved. So also was General Sumner, at his own request. He soon afterward died, at Syracuse, New York.

498

CONDITION OF KENTUCKY.

CHAPTER XIX.

EVENTS IN KENTUCKY AND NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI.

E left the Lower Mississippi, from its mouth to New Orleans, in possession of the forces under General Butler and Commodore Farragut, at the beginning of the summer of 1862; and at the same time that river was held by the National forces from Memphis to St. Louis. General Thomas was at the head of a large force holding Southwestern Tennessee, and Generals Buell and Mitchel were on the borders of East Tennessee, where the Confederates were disputing the passage of National troops farther southward and eastward than the line of the Tennessee River. Beauregard's army was at Tupelo and vicinity, under General Bragg. Halleck had just been called to Washington to be General-in-Chief, and Mitchel was soon afterward transferred to the command of the Department of the South, with his head-quarters at Hilton Head.

3

Although the great armies of the Confederates had been driven from Kentucky and Tennessee, the absence of any considerable Union force excepting on the southern borders of the latter State, permitted a most distressing guerrilla warfare to be carried on within the borders of those commonwealths by mounted bands, who hung upon the rear and flanks of the National forces, or roamed at will over the country, plundering the Union inhabitants. The most famous of these guerrilla leaders was John H. Morgan, already mentioned. He professed to be a leader of cavalry attached to the Confederate army, and so he was, but such license was given to him by the Confederate authorities, that he was as frequently a commissioned free-booter in practice as a leader of horsemen in legitimate warfare.

Morgan's first exploit of much consequence having the semblance of regularity was his invasion of Kentucky with about twelve hundred followers, under the conviction that large numbers of the young men of his native State would flock to his standard, and he might become the liberator of the commonwealth from the "hireling legions of Lincoln." He left Knoxville, in East Tennessee, on the 4th of July, crossed the Cumberland Mountains, and entered Kentucky on its southeastern border.

On the 9th of July, Morgan, assisted by Colonel Hunt, routed a detachment of Pennsylvania cavalry under Major Jordan, at Tompkinsville, in Monroe County, when the commander and nineteen others were made prisoners, and ten were killed or wounded. The assailants lost ten killed, inclu2 See page 296. 4 See page 264.

1 See the latter part of chapter XIII.

3 See

page

294.

MORGAN AND HIS GUERRILLAS.

499

ding Colonel Hunt. On the following day Morgan issued a characteristic proclamation to the citizens of Kentucky, declaring that he and his followers (who from the beginning to the end were mere guerrillas, in the fullest sense of that term) appeared as their liberators, and saying:-"Everywhere the cowardly foes have fled from my avenging arm. My brave army," he continued, "is stigmatized as a band

of guerrillas and marauders. Believe it not. I point with pride to their deeds as a refutation of this foul assertion." He declared that the Confederate armies were rapidly advancing to their protection, and said:-"Greet them with the willing hands of fifty thousand of Kentucky's bravest sons. Their advance is already with you." Morgan's men, at that time, really formed the advance of the Confederate hosts, whose business was to terrify the Unionists of Kentucky, reIcruit from the ranks of the secessionists, and prepare the way for a formidable invasion by Bragg.

a July, 1862.

Morgan's force was soon increased by several hundred recruits from the young men of Kentucky, and he roamed about the heart of the State, plundering and destroying with very little molestation. On the 12th he attacked and defeated Unionists under Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston at Lebanon, Kentucky, the termination of the Lebanon branch of the Louisville and Nashville railway. He captured the place, and made the commander and twenty-six soldiers and Home Guards prisoners. His raid was so rapid and formidable that it produced intense excitement throughout the State. General Boyle, who was in command at Louisville, issued a proclamation' ordering every able-bodied man to "take arms, and aid in repelling the marauders ;" and directed him, if he did not, to remain in his house forty-eight hours under the penalty of being shot if found out of it.

July 3.

July 17.

Morgan pressed on toward the Ohio. On the 14th he destroyed the long railway bridge between Cynthiana and Paris, and the next day he laid waste a portion of the track of the Lexington and Louisville railway, and the telegraph along its border. Two days afterward he led his entire force' against three hundred and fifty Home Guards at Cynthiana, on the Covington and Cincinnati railway, under Lieutenant-Colonel Landrum. These maintained a severe fight with the guerrillas, but were overpowered and dispersed after losing thirteen killed and thirty-four wounded, and inflicting a loss on the assailants of twenty-four killed and seventy-eight wounded.

Cincinnati was now not far distant, and Morgan cast longing eyes toward its treasures of every kind. His approach had inspired it and its

1 Morgan's force was now about 2.200 in number, and was composed of three regiments, comprising Kentuckians, Tennesseeans, Georgians, Mississippians, Texans, and South Carolinians.

500

MORGAN DRIVEN FROM KENTUCKY.

neighbors on the Kentucky shore with terror, and its capture appeared to be probably an easy task. But Morgan went no farther northward at this time, for Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, with a superior cavalry force, was on his track, and he retreated southward by way of Richmond, and rested at Clarksville, on the Cumberland,' which, with a large quantity of military stores, was captured a month later" by nine hundred Aug. 19, roving Confederates under Colonel Woodward.'

1862.

Morgan's

band, on the retreat, was practically nothing but a marauding party, everywhere stealing horses and robbing stores, without inquiring whether their plunder belonged to friend or foe. Other marauding bands, mostly Kentuckians, were harassing the citizens of that commonwealth throughout its length and breadth, and terror prevailed in all its borders.

Another bold leader of Confederate horsemen at this time was BrigadierGeneral N. B. Forrest, who commanded the Second Brigade of cavalry.

1 See page 232.

2 The garrison consisted of a portion of the Seventy-first Ohio regiment, under Colonel Mason.

3 At about this time guerrillas entered Henderson (July 15), on the Ohio below Louisville, and robbed the hospital there of its blankets and other supplies. Piloted by some Indiana traitors, the same party crossed the river, captured the hospital at the village of Newburg (July 21), paroled the sick found there, and carried away the supplies. A few days before, some guerrillas dashed into Memphis, captured the militia force stationed there, robbed the stores, and fled with their plunder.

This picture shows the appearance of the front of the Capitol or State-House at Nashville, looking toward the Cumberland below the city. In the immediate foreground are seen the earth-works thrown up directly in front of the granite steps leading up to the entrance, and near the group of three persons is seen the platform for cannon at an angle of the works. The fine lamp-posts and lamps seen in the picture, which flank the steps at each of the four great entrances, are made of iron, the group of figures being life-size and beautifully modeled. A portion of the city is seen below, and the Cumberland and ranges of hills beyond in the distance. This was the appearance when the writer made the sketch, in May, 1866.

5 See page 218.