EXPEDITION TO POCOTALIGO. 593 retary Chase, the next day, of this ad- and General Terry's 2d brigades of the dress at the church, he said :-"I have 10th Army Corps, assigned to the despoken to the élite of Boston, the solid partment. They were landed at Macand the scientific and the literary men kay's Point, at the confluence of Broad of that learned city; I have spoken to and Pocotaligo rivers, on the morning of the fashionable crowds of New York in the 22d, and immediately proceeded tothe Academy of Music; I have spoken wards the village of Pocotaligo, eleven to the rich and proud citizens of New miles distant. "The line of march,' Orleans; I have spoken to multitudes in writes a correspondent who participated almost every State in the Union, but I in the fight, "was taken up soon after do not think I ever addressed any audi- ten, the section of Lieutenant Henry's ence whose presence touched me more battery being at the head of the column, deeply than the sable multitude to whom with skirmishers of the 47th PennsylI endeavored to utter words of encour-vania regiment. Advancing slowly over agement and hope yesterday. And, my an admirable road for seven miles, we dear governor, they are encouraged, and failed, during the march, of encounterthey do hope; and I feel that it is pos- ing the enemy, who had prudently resible to convert the officers and soldiers coiled from a meeting until it should take from their unjust and ungenerous preju-place beyond range of our gunboats, aldices, and to make them the firm, fast, though the nature of the ground over sympathizing friends of those unfortun- which we passed afforded many excelate blacks. Already I find a very great lent positions for defence. The road change, and some of my thinking offi- alternated through dense woods, and cers, who were most gloomy and most through marshes, only passable over a despondent when I first arrived, are now narrow causeway, save at one or two full of cheerful hope." points. Choosing a position at the opposite end of this causeway, the enemy opened a furious fire of shell and canis True to his promise, of keeping his troops in activity, though unable from the fewness of his command of attempt-ter on our advancing column, which was ing any movement of magnitude, General Mitchel presently set on foot several expeditions, the most important of which was designed to destroy the bridges on the Charleston and Savannah railroad in the vicinity of Pocotaligo and Coosawhatchie. The movement was made by a combined land and naval force, which left Hilton Head on the night of the 21st of October. The troops, under the com-lery until it could be repaired. Meanmand of General Brannan, who had recently led an expedition to the St. John's river, attacked the fortification on St. John's Bluff, and ascending the river to Jacksonville, again temporarily occupied that town, consisted of detachments of the New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania regiments, from General Brannan's 1st promptly met by the battery under Lieutenant Henry. Immediately the order was given by General Brannon for his brigade to form line of battle, the centre resting on the causeway. After a brisk · fire of both musketry and artillery the rebels retired to the dense woods in their rear, tearing up the causeway-bridge, which delayed the advance of our artil while, the 1st brigade pressed on to the woods, which they penetrated, driving the enemy before them, and closely followed by the 2d brigade, under General Terry, who came up with a cheer, and were quickly in the engagement. Here the fight, it may be said, fairly commenced-the enemy's sharpshooters picking off our men rapidly. The artilwhile the bridge was being repaired, and lery fire from our side was not slackened we act force of the rebels, of course, it was not long before the batteries went forward to the work in support of the infantry. This action began between twelve and one, and lasted about an nour, ending in the retreat of the rebels to another position at Frampton's plantation, which lies two miles beyond. The enemy were closely followed, and after a fight more hotly contested than the first, our troops were again victorious, the second time driving the rebels from their well-chosen position, and two miles beyond, which brought them up "While these events were taking place to Pocotaligo bridge (not the railroad between the main forces on either side, bridge), over which they crossed, taking Colonel Barton, of the 48th New York, shelter behind earthworks on the farth- with three hundred of his own men and est side. To this point our troops near-fifty of the 3d Rhode Island Regiment, ly approached, but found farther pro- under command of Captain J. H. Gould, gress impossible, as the bridge had been went up the Coosawhatchie river, concut by the enemy on his retreat. This fact we construe into a clear acknowledgment of his defeat. Although these events are thus briefly noted, it required upward of five hours of impetuous and gallant fighting to accomplish them. At no one time was the entire field of combat in view from a given point, and I therefore find it impossible to speak in detail of the operations of my own regiment. Both brigades participated in the action, and both Generals Brannan and Terry were constantly under fire, leading and directing the movements of their men, awakening enthusiasm by their personal bravery and the skillful manner in which they maneuvered their commands. Frequently, while the fight was progressing, we heard the whistles of the railroad trains, notifying us of reinforcements for the rebels, both from Charleston and Savannah, and even if we had had facilities for crossing the river, it would have been unwise to have made the attempt in view of these circumstances. General Brannan therefore ordered a retreat, which was conducted in a most orderly manner; the regiments retiring in successive lines, carrying off their dead and wounded, and leaving no arms or ammunition on the field. Of the ex voyed by the Patroon, to within two miles of the town of the same name. Landing this force here, a march was made to the village through which runs the railroad. Arrived there, they commenced tearing up the rails, but had scarcely engaged in the work when a long train of cars came from the direction of Savannah, filled with troops. This train was fired into by our party, killing the engineer and a number of others. Several soldiers jumped from the cars while they were in motion, and were wounded. One was taken prisoner thirty muskets were captured, and colors of the Whippy Swamp Guards taken from the color-bearer, who was killed by our fire. The work of tearing up the rails was not accomplished in time to prevent the onward progress of the train, and our men afterward completed the job-also cutting the telegraph, and bringing away a portion of the wire with them. Colonel Barton next attempted to reach the railroad bridge, for the purpose of firing it, but was unable, as it was protected by a battery of three guns. Fearing that his retreat might be cut off by the enemy's cavalry, he gave the order to retire to the steamboat, which was done success DEATH OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 595 fully. His men had nearly all embarked curred at Port Royal. Captain J. C. when the cavalry boldly came directly Williams, an aid on General Mitchel's under the guns of the Planter and Pa- staff, Captain L. A. Warfield, chief comtroon, and fired upon both steamers. A missary of subsistence, and Colonel N. few round of canister dispersed them, W. Brown, of the 3d Rhode Island arand the only damage which they inflicted tillery, fell victims to the disease, and was the serious wounding of Lieutenant General Mitchel, sickening, was removed J. B. Blanding, of the 3d Rhode Island to Beaufort, where he died on the 30th artillery." The Union loss in these of October. General Brannan, who sucunprofitable engagements was thirty-two ceeded to the command as the senior killed, and one hundred and eighty officer in the department, in a general wounded. The enemy left fifteen or order, recorded the energy of his adtwenty of their dead on the field, from ministration, and the Christian principle which it was inferred that their loss was which inspired it. 'Brief as his career severe. Two caissons filled with ammu- in the Department of the South, yet had nition were captured from them at an he already won the esteem and regard opportune moment when the powder of of all by his energy and activity, in the assailants was nearly exhausted. directing the movements of the corps against the adjoining rebels, and the firmness and tempered justice with which he conducted the administrative duties of the department. He died with the calm fortitude of a believing Christian, and while we lament the death of a gallant soldier and a kind friend, let us en The climate, meanwhile, was telling on the health of the troops of the department. The sick list in several of the regiments was increasing to an alarming degree. As the month wore on several undoubted cases of yellow fever oc 24, 1862. * Port Royal Correspondence New York Times, October deavor to emulate the virtues and sol+ General Halleck's Report, December, 1862. dierly qualities of our late commander." CHAPTER LXXVI. REBEL INVASIONS OF KENTUCKY, JULY-OCTOBER, 1862. WHEN General Halleck, after the enemy had been driven from Corinth, and Memphis had been restored to the Union, in the beginning of July, was called to the position of General-in-Chief at Washington, the military commands of the Department of the Mississippi were thus distributed The main body of the army, under command of Major-General Buell, was to the east of Corinth, between Huntsville and Stevenson, on the northern border of Alabama, moving toward Chattanooga the key of eastern Tennessee and the great line of Confederate railway communication with the Southwest. West of the Tennessee river, on the confines of Tennessee and Mississippi, Major-General Grant held the line from Memphis to Iuka, protecting the railways from Columbus south. MajorGeneral Curtis was in command of a force at Helena, Arkansas, and Brigadier-General Schofield of the troops in southwestern Missouri. "These several armies," says General Halleck, "spread along a line of some six hundred miles, from the western borders of Arkansas to Cumberland Gap, and occupying a strip in turn, where Union troops were at hand, and intercepted in his movements, when the members of his command at times were severely dealt with, he constantly manages, by his knowledge of the region and the friendly aid of sympathizers, by his presence of mind and ac tivity, to bring off his shattered forces, who disperse to meet again on some early occasion to inflict new injury and create fresh terror and alarm. Bold and unscrupulous, he was the foremost of the of country more than one hundred and fifty miles in width, from which the enemy's forces had recently been expelled, were rapidly decreasing in strength from the large numbers of soldiers sent home on account of real or pretended disability. On the other hand, the enemy's armies were greatly increased by an arbitrary and rigidly enforced conscription. With their superiority in numbers and discipline they boldly determined to reoccupy Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and, if possible, to in-partisan leaders, the Ashbys, Jenkinses, vade the states of Ohio, Indiana, and and others, who promptly sprang up, the Illinois, while our attention was dis- natural and inevitable offspring of the tracted by the invasion of Maryland rebellion. and Pennsylvania, and an extended Indian insurrection on the western frontiers." The months of July and August were marked by the efforts of the guerrilla parties of the confederates along the borders of Tennessee and Kentucky, and even in the heart of the latter state. In this comprehensive scheme of rebel aggression much reliance was evidently placed upon the aid which would be giv-Raids and assaults were the order of the en to the regular invading force by a day. At daybreak on the morning of system of partisan or guerrilla warfare, Sunday, 13th of July, an unexpected atwhich had been already set on foot in tack was made upon the Union brigade, the department, with no little success, under command of General Thomas T. by a redoubtable leader in this branch Crittenden, in charge of Murfreesboro, of the service, John Morgan of Kentuc- by a cavalry force over three thousand ky. A thriving planter at the outbreak in number, of Texan, Georgia, Alabama of the rebellion, he gave the whole and Tennessee troops, led by Brigadierstrength of an energetic and determined General N. B. Forrest, a rival of Mornature to its service. Thoroughly ac- gan in these flying expeditions. The quainted with the temper and resources Union effective force at the place was of the people, familiar with the roads only about eight hundred. The attack and communications of the country, a was made with great vigor by about popular leader of the desperate and dis-eight hundred Texans and Georgians affected, we find him throughout the war upon a detachment of the 9th Michigan ever recruiting his desultory bands of cav- volunteers, about two hundred in numalry, and constantly on the aggressive; at ber, stationed three-fourths of a mile one time attacking a railway train, plun-east of the town. Overpowered by the dering the mails and property in transitu and imprisoning the passengers, or destroying the rails and cars; at another, falling upon a supply train or an isolated detachment of the Union forces, tarrying in the prosperous regions of eastern and middle Kentucky-sure at no long interval to furnish a paragraph to the newspapers of some fresh daring act of outrage and depredation. Often attacked superior force, the men fell back to the main camp, when they maintained an action of twenty minutes with the enemy, inflicting heavy injury on their pursuers. The Michigan regiment in this part of the affair lost one officer and twelve men killed, and three officers and seventy-five men wounded, among whom was its colonel, William W. Duffield. The enemy now closing in, the whole A REBEL RAID IN KENTUCKY. 597 force, including the 3d Minnesota regi- ardy by the Hessian invader. Let the ment, and a squadron of Kentucky cav-stirring sense of the late Richmond fight alry, after some ineffective fighting was compelled to surrender. On receipt of the intelligence of the capture, General Buell, in command of the Army of the Ohio, issued an order, commenting with great severity upon the remissness of the Union command in being surprised and not making more effectual resistance. The prisoners, including General Crittenden, were carried to Chattanooga, whence the expedition had been sent forth, and a large quantity of ammunition and stores was brought away or destroyed. The news of this capture created no little excitement at Nashville, where an attack was feared, and an active enlistment in the home guard took place. The citizens, however, were speedily renerved by news of the retirement of the enemy, though the vicinity continued to be much harrassed by guerrillas. Simultaneously with this surprise of Murfreesboro' came a fresh raid into Kentucky of the guerrilla leader Colonel Morgan. Crossing into Kentucky from Knoxville with about nine hundred men, he issued, on the 10th of July, at Glasgow, a proclamation to the inhabitants, in which allusion was made to the defeats before Richmond, which had doubtless given a strong impulse to his undertaking. "Kentuckians," said he, "I am once more among you. Confiding in your patriotism and strong attachment to our Southern cause, I have, at the head of my gallant band, raised once more our Confederate flag, so long trampled upon by the Northern tyrants, but never yet disgraced. Let every true patriot respond to my appeal. Rise and arm. Fight against the despoiler! Fight for your families! your homes! for those you love best! for your conscience! and for the free exercise of your political rights, never again to be placed in jeop * Colonel Duffield to Colonel J. B. Fry, A. A. G., July 23, 1862. constantly be before you. Our brave army there and everywhere is victorious. McClellan and his foreign hordes are groveling in the dust. Our independence is an achieved fact. We have bought it with privation and suffering, and sealed the contract with the seal of blood. Be not timorous, but rise, one and all, for the good cause, to clear out dear Kentucky's soil of its detested invaders. Kentuckians! fellow-countrymen! you know you can rely upon me." Relying upon the sympathy and aid of a portion of the inhabitants to increase his numbers and support his forces, Morgan pushed rapidly forward to the centre of the state, took possession of Lebanon, where he freely helped himself to supplies from the abundant government commissary stores and the property of the townspeople, and but for the effective loyal organization might have made a successful demonstration upon Frankfort or Lexington. Hovering about these cities, and destroying the railway coumunication with Cincinnati, on the 17th of July, at the head of a motley force of some two thousand Kentuckians, Tennesseeans, Georgians, Mississippians, Texans and South Carolinians, with two pieces of artillery, he fell upon a body of about three hundred and forty men at Cynthiana, in Harrison county-volunteers and home guards, for the most part poorly armed and undisciplined, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Landrum. The Union pickets had hardly been driven in before the enemy commenced shelling the town. Colonel Landrum disposed his little force to the best advantage, placing a number of his men at the bridge over the Licking river and his single artillery piece, a brass 12-pounder, under Captain Glass, of Cincinnati, in the public square, commanding the different approaches. The enemy came in force at the bridge was dislodged and by every road, street and by-path; the |