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498]
- Condition of Kentucky, 498.
-- John H. Morgan and his guerrillas, 499.
-- Morgan driven from Kentucky, 500.
-- Forrest in Tennessee, 501.
-- E. Kirby Smith's invasion of Kentucky, 502.
-- Cincinnati threatened by the Confederates, 503.
-- Wallace's defense of Cincinnati, 504.
-- Bragg's March toward Kentucky
-- cavalry fight near McMinnsville, 505.
-- Bragg's invasion of Kentucky, 506.
-- his proclamation to the Kentuckians, 507.
-- Buell turns upon Bragg, 508.
-- battle near Perryville, 509.
-- Bragg's flight from Kentucky, 511.
-- General Grant in Tennessee, 512.
-- capture of Iuka by the Confederates, 513.
-- battle of Iuka, 514.
-- movements of General Ord, 515.
-- a visit to the luka battle — ground, 516.
-- graves of Ohio soldiers, 517.
-- the Confederates approaching Corinth, 518.
-- battle of Corinth, 519.
-- fierce contest at Fort Robinett
-- repulse of the Confederates
-- Rosecrans pursues them, 522.
-- Buell superseded by Rosecrans, 523.
We 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;
1 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,
2 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.
3 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 Headquarters at
Hilton Head.
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.
4 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, including
[
499]
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, recruit from the ranks of the secessionists, and prepare the way for a formidable invasion by
Bragg.
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.
