[
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- Position of the armies in the Mississippi Valley
-- General Halleck in command of the Department of Missouri, 179.
-- his rigorous treatment of influential secessionists, 180.
-- fugitive slaves excluded from military camps
-- Pope in Missouri
-- Price's appeal to the Missourians, 181.
-- activity of the Confederates
-- battle on the Blackwater, 182.
-- Halleck declares martial law in St. Louis
-- Price driven out of Missouri, 183.
-- Hunter's operations in Kansas, 184
-- treason in New Mexico, 185.
-- loyalty and disloyalty within its borders
-- General Canby and Colonel Sibley, 186.
-- battle of Valverde
-- Texas Rangers, 187.
-- Sibley's victories in, and final expulsion from New Mexico, 188.
-- Albert Sidney Johnston in the West
-- a Provisional Government in Kentucky, 189.
-- War in Southern Kentucky, 190.
-- battle of Prestonburg, 191.
-- forces of Generals Buell and Zollicoffer in Kentucky, 192.
-- military movements in Eastern Kentucky
-- the Confederates on the Cumberland, 193.
-- battle of Mill Spring, 194.
-- its results
-- death of Zollicoffer, 195.
-- Beauregard sent to the West, 196.
-- the Confederates in Kentucky and Tennessee, 197.
-- their fortifications in those States
-- a naval armament in preparation at St. Louis, 198.
-- Foote's flotilla
-- preparations to break the Confederate line, 199.
-- Thomas's movements toward East Tennessee, 200.
-- expedition against Fort Henry, 201.
-- operations of gun
-- boats on the Tennessee River
-- torpedoes, 202.
-- attack on Fort Henry, 203.
-- capture of the post
-- scene just before the surrender, 204.
-- effects of the fall of Fort Henry, 205.
Foward the close of the autumn of 1861, the attitude of the contending parties, civil and military, in the great basin of the
central Mississippi Valley was exceedingly interesting.
We left the
National army in
Southern Missouri, at the middle of November, dispirited by the removal of their favorite leader, slowly making their way toward
St. Louis under their temporary commander,
General Hunter, while the energetic Confederate leader,
General Price, was advancing, and reoccupying the region which the Nationals abandoned.
1 We left
Southern Kentucky, from the mountains to the
Mississippi River, in possession of the
Confederates.
Polk was holding the western portion, with his Headquarters at
Columbus;
General Buckner, with a strongly intrenched camp at
Bowling Green, was holding the center; and
Generals Zollicoffer and
Marshall and others were keeping watch and ward on its mountain flanks.
Back of these, and between them and the region where the rebellion had no serious opposition, was
Tennessee, firmly held by the
Confederates, excepting in its mountain region, where the most determined loyalty still prevailed.
On the 9th of November, 1861,
General Henry Wager Halleck, who had been called from
California by the
President to take an active part in the war, was appointed to the command of the new Department of Missouri.
2 He had arrived in
Washington on the 5th,
and on the 19th took the command, with
Brigadier-General George W. Cullum, an eminent engineer officer, as his chief of staff, and
Brigadier-General Schuyler Hamilton as assistant chief.
Both officers had been on the staff of
General Scott.
The Headquarters were at
St. Louis.
General Hunter, whom
Halleck superseded, was assigned to the command of the Department of Kansas.
3 General Don Carlos Buell had superseded
General Sherman, and was appointed commander of the Department of the Ohio;
4 and the Department of
Mexico, which included only the territory of
New Mexico, was intrusted to
Colonel E. R. S. Canby.
Such was the arrangement of the military divisions of the territory westward of
the Alleghanies late in 1861.
[
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General Halleck was then in the prime of life, and he entered upon his duties with zeal and vigor.
He was possessed of large mental and physical energy, and much was expected of him. He carefully considered the plan arranged by,
Fremont for clearing the States of
Kentucky,
Tennessee,
Missouri, and
Arkansas of armed insurgents, and securing the navigation of the
Mississippi by sweeping its banks of obstructions, from
Cairo to New Orleans.
5 Approving of it in general, he pushed on the great enterprise with strong hopes of success.
Halleck's first care was to establish the most perfect discipline in his army, to overawe the secessionists, and to relieve the loyal people of
Missouri of the effects of the dreadful tyranny inflicted by the latter, many of whom were engaged in armed bands in plundering the inhabitants, desolating the property of Union men, and destroying railways and bridges.
Refugees were then crowding into the
Union lines by thousands.
Their miseries cannot be described.
Men, women, and children were stripped, plundered, and made homeless.
Naked and starving, they sought refuge and relief in
St. Louis.
Seeing this, the commander determined to apply an effectual remedy.
In a
general order, he directed the
Provost-Marshal of
St. Louis (
Brigadier-General Curtis) to inquire into the condition of these refugees, and to take measures for quartering them “in the houses of avowed secessionists,” and for feeding and clothing them at the expense of that class of citizens, or others known to have been guilty of giving “assistance and encouragement to the enemy.”
He also further ordered
wealthy secessionists to contribute for the support of these refugees, and that all who should not voluntarily do so should be subjected to a levy, either in money, food, clothing, or quarters, to the amount of ten thousand dollars each.
This order was rigidly enforced, and many wealthy citizens were made to pay liberal sums.
One prominent merchant, named
Engel, who ventured to resist the order by appealing to the civil courts, was ordered out of the Department.
This was the last appeal of that kind.
Determined to put a stop to the continual outflowing of information to the
Confederates from within his lines,
Halleck issued some very stringent orders.
The earliest of these was
Order No. 3,
which forbade fugitives entering or remaining within his lines, it having been represented to him that they conveyed contraband information out of them.
6 This order was a subject of much comment, because of its seeming tenderness for the rebellious slaveholder, and cruelty toward the bondman seeking
[
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freedom.
That it was a mistake, subsequent experience fully demonstrated; for throughout the war the negro, whether bond or free, was uniformly the friend and helper of the
National cause.
General Halleck had been misinformed, and upon that misinformation he acted with the best intentions, one of which was to prevent the betrayal of the secret of his camps, and another that he might keep clear of the questions relating to masters and slaves,
7 in which
Fremont had been entangled, to his hurt.
In the order of the 4th of December, concerning the treatment of avowed secessionists,
Halleck further directed that all rebels found within his lines in the disguise of pretended loyalty, or other false pretenses, or found giving information to the insurgents, should be “arrested, tried, and, if condemned, shot as spies.”
This and all other orders, concerning the disloyalists by whom he was surrounded, were enforced; and he directed that any one attempting to resist the execution of them should be arrested and imprisoned, to be tried by a military commission.
Many offenders being women, it was declared that “the laws of war make no distinction of sex.”
To enforce these laws, it was necessary to use military power, especially in the suppression of the bands of marauders who were then sweeping over the country.
He accordingly sent
General John Pope, who, as we have already observed, had been active in that Department, to disperse the encampments of these guerrillas in
Western Missouri.
Pope had been acting with vigor during the latter part of summer and the early autumn.
The people of a district where outrages were committed had been held responsible for them.
He had quartered his troops on such inhabitants, and required from them contributions of horses, mules, provisions, and other necessaries.
He had organized Committees of Safety, on which were placed prominent secessionists, charged to preserve the peace; and in a short time comparative good order was restored.
Now
Pope was charged with similar duties.
On the 7th of December, he was assigned to the command of all the
National troops between the
Missouri and
Osage Rivers, which included a considerable portion of
Fremont's army that fell back from
Springfield.
Price was advancing.
He had made a most stirring appeal by proclamation to the Missourians to come and help him, and so help themselves to freedom and independence.
The Governor (
Jackson), he said, had called for fifty thousand men, but only five thousand had responded.
“Where are those fifty thousand men?”
he asked.
“Are Missourians no longer true to themselves?
Are they a timid, time-serving race, fit only for subjugation to a despot?
Awake! my countrymen,” he cried, “
to a sense of what constitutes the dignity of the true greatness of a people. . . . Come to us, brave sons of the
Missouri Valley!
Rally to our standard!
I must have the fifty thousand men. . . . . Do you stay at home for protection?
More men have been murdered at home than I have lost in five successive battles.
Do you stay at home to secure terms with the enemy?
Then I warn you the day soon may come when you will be surrendered to the mercies of that enemy, and your substance given to the Hessians and the Jayhawkers.
8 . . . Leave
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your property to take care of itself.
Come to the Army of Missouri, not for a week or a month, but to free your country.
Strike till each armed foe expires!
Strike for your country's altar fires!
Strike for the green graves of your sires,
God and your native land!
Be yours the office to choose between the glory of a free country and a just government, or the bondage of your children.
I, at least, will never see the chains fastened upon my country.
I will ask for six and a half feet of
Missouri soil in which to repose, for I will not live to see my people enslaved.
”
This appeal aroused the disaffected
Missourians, and at the time when
Pope was ordered to his new field of operations, about five thousand recruits, it was said, were marching from the
Missouri River and beyond to join
Price.
To prevent this combination was
Pope's chief desire.
He encamped thirty or forty miles southwest from
Booneville, at the middle of December, and after sending out some of the First Missouri cavalry, under
Major Hubbard, to watch
Price, who was then at
Osceola with about eight thousand men, and to prevent a reconnaissance of the main column of the Nationals, he moved his whole body
westward and took position in the country between
Clinton and
Warrensburg, in
Henry and
Johnson counties.
There were two thousand Confederates then near his lines, and against these
Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, of the Seventh Missouri, was sent with a considerable cavalry force that scattered them.
Having accomplished this,
Brown returned to the main army,
which was moving on
Warrensburg.
Informed that a Confederate, force was on the
Blackwater, at or near
Milford, North of him,
Pope sent
Colonel Jefferson C. Davis and
Major Merrill to flank them, while the main body should be in a position to give immediate aid, if necessary.
Davis found them in a wooded bottom on the west side of the
Blackwater, opposite the mouth of
Clear Creek.
His forces were on the east side, and a bridge that spanned the
Blackwater between them was strongly guarded.
This was carried by assault, by two companies of the Fourth Regular Cavalry, under
Lieutenants Gordon and
Amory, supported by five companies of the First Iowa cavalry.
Gordon led the charge in person, and received several balls through his cap. The Confederates were driven, the bridge was crossed, and a pursuit was pressed.
Unable to, escape, the fugitives, commanded by
Colonels Robinson,
Alexander, and
Magoffin (the latter a brother of the
Governor of
Kentucky), surrendered.
The captives were one thousand three hundred in number, infantry and cavalry; and with them the Nationals gained as spoils about eight hundred horses and mules, a thousand stand of arms, and over seventy wagons loaded with tents, baggage, ammunition, and supplies of every kind.
At about midnight the prisoners and spoils were taken into
Pope's camp, and the next day the victors and the vanquished moved back in the direction of
Sedalia,
Pope's starting-place.
In the space of five days the infantry had marched more than one hundred miles, and the cavalry double that distance.
During that time they had captured nearly fifteen hundred prisoners, with the arms and supplies just mentioned.
They had swept the
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whole country west of
Sedalia, in the direction of
Kansas, far enough to foil the attempts of recruits to reach
Price in any considerable numbers, and to compel him to withdraw, in search of safety and subsistence, toward the borders of
Arkansas.
Among the captured on the
Blackwater, were many wealthy and influential citizens of
Missouri.
This event dealt a stunning blow to secession in that State for the moment, and
Pope's short campaign gave great satisfaction to all loyal people.
Halleck complimented him on his “brilliant success,” and feeling strengthened there by, he pressed forward with more vigorous measures for the complete suppression of the rebellion in his Department westward of the
Mississippi River.
On the 23d of December he declared martial law in
St. Louis; and by proclamation on the 25th this system of rule was extended to all railroads and their vicinities.
9 At about the same time
General Price, who had found himself relieved from immediate danger, and encouraged by a promise of re-enforcements from
Arkansas, under
General McIntosh, concentrated about twelve thousand men at
Springfield, where he put his army in comfortable huts, with the intention of remaining all winter, and pushed his picket-guards fifteen or twenty miles northward.
This demonstration caused
Halleck to concentrate his troops at
Lebanon, the capital of
Laclede County, northeastward of
Springfield, early in February, under the chief command of General (late
Colonel)
S. R. Curtis.
These were composed of the troops of
Generals Asboth,
Sigel,
Davis, and
Prentiss.
In the midst of storms and floods, over heavy roads and swollen streams, the combined forces moved on
Springfield in three columns, the right under
General Davis, the center under
General Sigel, and the left under
Colonel (soon afterward General)
Carr.
On the same day they met some of
Price's advance, and skirmishing ensued; and on the following day about three hundred Confederates attacked
Curtis's picket-guards, but were repulsed.
This feint of offering battle was made by
Price to enable him to effect a retreat.
On the night of the 12th and 13th
he fled from
Springfield with his whole force.
Not a man of them was to be seen when
Curtis's vanguard, the Fourth Iowa, entered the town at dawn the next morning.
There stood their huts, in capacity sufficient to accommodate ten thousand men. The camp attested a hasty departure, for remains of supper and half-dressed sheep and hogs, that had been slain the previous evening, were found.
Price retreated to
Cassville, closely pursued by
Curtis.
Still southward he hastened, and was more closely followed, his rear and flanks continually harassed during four days, while making his way across the
Arkansas border to
Cross Hollows.
10 Having been re-enforced by
Ben McCulloch, near a range of hills called
Boston Mountains, he made a stand at
Sugar Creek, where, in a brief engagement, he was defeated,
and was again compelled to fly. He halted at
Cove Creek, where, on the 25th, he reported
[
184]
to his wandering chief,
Jackson, saying, “Governor, we are confident of the future.”
General Halleck, quite. as “confident of the future,” was now able to report to his Government that
Missouri was effectually cleared of the armed forces of insurgents who had so long infested it, and that the
National flag was waving in triumph over the soil of
Arkansas.
In accomplishing this good work, no less than sixty battles and skirmishes, commencing with
Booneville at the middle of June,
11 and ending at the middle of the succeeding February,
had been fought on
Missouri soil, resulting in an aggregate loss to both parties, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of about eleven thousand men.
12
While
Halleck was thus purging
Missouri,
Hunter, with his Headquarters at
Fort Leavenworth, was vigorously at work in
Kansas, on the west of it.
13 The general plan of his treatment of the rebellion, which was rife on the
Missouri border, was set forth in a few words addressed to the Trustees of
Platte City,
concerning an outlaw named
Gordon, who, with a guerrilla band, was committing depredations and outrages of every kind in that region.
Hunter said, “Gentlemen, I give you notice, that unless you seize and deliver the said
Gordon to me at these Headquarters within ten days from this date, or drive him out of the country, I shall send a force to your city with orders to reduce it to ashes, and to burn the house of every secessionist in your county, and to carry away every negro.
Colonel Jennison's regiment will be intrusted with the execution of this order.”
Jennison, who was the commander of the First Kansas cavalry, was well known to the people as an ardent anti-slavery champion during the civil war in
Kansas in 1855,
14 and a man ready to execute any orders of the kind.
That letter, the power given to
Jennison, and a proclamation issued by the latter a short time before,
15 made the secessionists very circumspect for a while, and “all quiet in
Kansas” was a frequent report in the
Spring of 1862.
Active and armed rebellion was at this time co-extensive with the slave-labor States.
Colonel Canby found it ready to meet him even in the remote region of
New Mexico, in the shape of invaders from
Texas.
Like
Halleck and
Hunter, he attacked the monster quickly and manfully.
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We have seen the loyal people of
Texas bound hand and foot by a civil and military despotism after the treason of
General Twiggs.
16 The conspirators and their friends had attempted to play a similar game for attaching
New Mexico to the intended Confederacy, and to aid
Twiggs in giving over
Texas to the rule of the
Confederates.
So early as 1860,
Secretary Floyd sent
Colonel W. H. Loring, of
North Carolina (who appears to have been an instrument of the traitor), to command the Department of New Mexico, while
Colonel George B. Crittenden, an unworthy son of the venerable
Kentucky senator, who had been sent out for the same wicked purpose as
Loring, was appointed by the latter, commander of an expedition against the Apaches, which was to start from Fort Staunton in the
Spring of 1861.
It was the business of these men to attempt the corruption of the patriotism of the officers under them, and to induce them to lead their men into
Texas and give them to the service of the rebellion.
One of these officers (
Lieutenant-Colonel B. S. Roberts, of
Vermont), who had joined
Crittenden at Fort Staunton, perceiving the intentions of his commander, refused to obey any orders that savored of a treasonable purpose, and procuring a furlough, he hastened to Sante Fe, the Headquarters of the Department, and denounced
Crittenden to
Colonel Loring.
He was astonished when, instead of thanks for his patriotic service, he received a reproof for meddling with other people's business, and discovered that
Loring was also playing the game of treason.
Roberts was ordered back to Fort Staunton, but, found an opportunity to warn
Captain Hatch, the commander at
Albuquerque, and
Captain Morris, who held
Fort Craig (both on the
Rio Grande), as well as other loyal officers, of the treachery of their superiors.
The iniquity of
Loring and
Crittenden soon became known to the little army under them, and they found it necessary to leave suddenly and unattended.
Of the twelve hundred regular troops in
New Mexico, not one proved treacherous to his country.
Loring and
Crittenden made their way to
Fort Fillmore, not far from
El Paso and the
Texas border, then commanded by
Major Isaac Lynde, of
Vermont.
They found a greater portion of the officers there ready to engage in the work of treason.
Major Lynde professed to be loyal, but, if so, he was too inefficient to be intrusted with command.
Late in July, while leading about five hundred of the seven hundred troops under his control toward the village of
Mesilla, he fell in with a few
Texas insurgents, and, after a slight skirmish, fled back to the fort.
He was ordered to evacuate it, and march his command to
Albuquerque.
Strange to say, the soldiers were allowed to fill their canteens with whisky and drink when they pleased.
A large portion of them were drunken before they had marched ten miles, and then, as if by previous arrangement, a Texas force appeared on their flank.
The soldiers who were not prostrated by intoxication wished to fight, but, by order of a council of officers, with
Lynde at their head, they were directed to lay down their arms as prisoners of war.
Lynde's commissary,
Captain A. H. Plummer, who held seventeen thousand dollars in Government drafts, which he might have saved, handed them over to
Baylor, the commander of the insurgents.
For this cowardice or treachery,
Lynde was simply dismissed from the army, and
Plummer was reprimanded
[
186]
and suspended from duty for six months. Thus, at one sweep, nearly one-half of the
Government troops in
New Mexico were lost to its service.
The prisoners were paroled, and then permitted to go on to
Albuquerque.
Their sufferings from thirst on that march were terrible; some of them seeking to quench it by opening veins and drinking their own blood!
It was now thought that
New Mexico would be an easy prey to the
Texas insurgents.
Miguel A. Otero, its delegate in the National Congress, had endeavored, by a published address,
to incite the inhabitants of
New Mexico to rebellion, while
Governor Abraham Rencher, of
North Carolina, took measures to defend the
Territory against the insurgents.
His successor,
Henry Connolly, was equally loyal.
So also
were the people; and when, at this juncture of affairs,
Colonel Canby arrived as
Commander of the Department, he was met with almost universal sympathy.
He successfully appealed for a regiment of volunteers to the
Governor of the neighboring
Territory of Colorado, and these, with his few regular troops and
New Mexico levies, made quite a respectable force in numbers, when
Canby was informed that
Colonel Henry H. Sibley, a major by brevet in the
National army, and a Louisianian, who had abandoned his flag and put himself at the head of a band of insurgents known as Texas Rangers, some of them of the worst sort, was invading the
Territory.
His force was formidable in numbers (twenty-three hundred) and in experience, many of them having been in successive expedition s against the Indians.
Sibley issued a proclamation to the people of
New Mexico, in which he denounced the
National Government and demanded from the inhabitants aid for and allegiance to his marauders.
Confident of success, he moved slowly, by way of
Fort Thorn, and found
Canby at
Fort Craig, on the
Rio Grande,
prepared to meet him. A reconnaissance satisfied him that, with his light field-pieces, an assault on the fort would be foolish.
He could not retreat or remain with safety, and his military knowledge warned him that it would be very hazardous to leave a well-garrisoned fort behind him. So he forded the
Rio Grande at a point below
Fort Craig, and out of reach of its guns, for the purpose of drawing
Canby out. In this he was successful.
Canby at once threw a force across the river,
17 to occupy a position on an eminence commanding the fort, which it was thought
Sibley might attempt to gain.
In the afternoon of the following day, some cavalry, under
Captain Duncan, and a battery were sent across, and drew a heavy cannonade from the
Texans.
The infantry were nearly all thrown into confusion, excepting
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187]
Colonel Kit Carson's regiment.
The panic was so great that
Canby ordered a return of all the forces to the fort.
That night the exhausted mules of the
Texans became unmanageable, on account of thirst, and scampered in every direction.
The National scouts captured a large number of these, and also wagons, by which
Sibley was greatly crippled in the matter of transportation.
At eight o'clock the next morning,
Canby sent
Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts, with cavalry, artillery, and infantry,
18 across the
Rio Grande; and at
Valverde, about seven miles north of the fort, they confronted the vanguard of the
Texans under
Major Pyron, who were making their way toward the river.
The batteries opened upon
Pyron, and he recoiled.
Desultory fighting, mostly with artillery, was kept up until some time past noon, when
Canby came upon the field, and took command in person.
In the mean time,
Sibley, who was quite ill, had turned over his command to
Colonel Thomas Green, of the Fifth Texas regiment.
Canby, considering victory certain for his troops, was preparing to make a general advance, when a thousand or more Texans, foot and horse, under
Colonel Steele, who had gathered in concealment in a thick wood and behind sand-hills, armed with carbines, revolvers, and
bowie-knives, suddenly rushed
forward and charged furiously upon the batteries of
McRea and
Hall.
The
Texas cavalry, under
Major Raguet, charged upon
Hall's battery, and were easily repulsed; but those on foot, who made for McRea's battery, could not be checked.
His grape and canister shot made fearful lanes in their ranks, but they did not recoil.
They captured the battery, but not without encountering the most desperate defenders of the guns in McRea and his artillerists, a large number of whom, with their commander, were killed.
McRea actually sat upon his gun, fighting his foe with his pistol until he was shot.
The remainder of the Nationals, with the exception of
Kit Carson's men and a few others, panic-stricken by the fierce charge of the
Texans, fled like sheep before wolves, and refused to obey the commands of officers who tried to rally them.
That flight was one of the most disgraceful scenes of the war, and
Canby was compelled to see victory snatched from his hand when it seemed secure.
The surviving
Nationals.
took refuge in
Fort Craig.
Their loss was sixty-two killed and one hundred and forty-two wounded. The loss of the
Texans was about the same.
Sibley well comprehended the situation.
The fort could not be taken,
[
188]
and the spirit shown by a large portion of
Canby's troops satisfied him that, notwithstanding his loss of transportation by the capture of his mules and wagons, he need not fear a pursuit.
So, passing on and leaving his wounded at
Socorro, thirty miles above
Fort Craig,
Sibley pressed forward to
Albuquerque, fifty miles farther, which was at once surrendered.
His destination was
Santa Fe, and he was marching with perfect confidence of success there, when his vanguard, under
W. R. Scurry, was met near Fort Union, in the
Canon Glorietta, or Apache Pass, fifteen miles from the capital of
New Mexico, by about thirteen hundred National troops, under
Colonel John P. Slough.
These were mostly Colorado Volunteers, with a few regulars.
A greater part of these had just traversed the mountain wilderness from
Denver, and during the latter part of their journey, after hearing of
Sibley's approach to
Santa Fe, they had marched at the rate of forty miles a day. In that narrow defile, where flanking was out of the question, a very severe fight between the infantry and artillery of both parties occurred,
in which the
Texans were victorious, after a loss of thirty-six killed and sixty wounded. The National loss was twenty-three killed and fifty wounded.
20
Sibley entered
Santa Fe without further resistance.
His army was greatly crippled, and the people were either indifferent or actively opposed to him. He seized whatever property might be useful to him, and hoped to hold his position; but a month had not elapsed before he was compelled to fly back to
Albuquerque, which he had made his depot of supplies, for these were threatened by the forces of
Colonel Canby, approaching from below.
He accomplished that purpose, but was so satisfied that he could not hold
New Mexico, that he evacuated
Albuquerque on the 12th of April,
leaving his sick and wounded in hospitals there and at Santa Fe. After skirmishing with his opponents along the river, each party moving on opposite sides of the stream, and perceiving imminent danger to his whole command,
Sibley fled under cover of the night to the mountains, with his scanty provisions on pack mules, dragging his cannon over rugged spurs and along fearful precipices, for ten days. Then he again struck the
Rio Grande at a point where he had ordered supplies to meet him. He then made his way to
Fort Bliss,
21 in
Texas,
a wiser if not a happier man.
Canby did not follow him over the mountains, but returned to
Santa Fe, and reported to the
Secretary of War that
Sibley, who had been compelled to evacuate
New Mexico, had left behind him, “in dead and wounded, and in sick and prisoners, one-half of his original force.”
Let us now observe events eastward of the
Mississippi River, within the Departments of
Generals Halleck22 and
Buell,
23 having a connection with the
[
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grand plan for expelling the
Confederates from
Kentucky, and liberating
Tennessee from their grasp.
We have seen how the loyalists in the
Kentucky Legislature foiled the efforts of the
Governor and his political friends to link the fortunes of that State with those of the “Southern Confederacy.”
These efforts were met, as we have observed, by the occupation of the whole southern portion of the commonwealth by Confederate troops, all of which were within the Department
commanded by
General Albert Sidney Johnston.
That officer had been an able veteran in the army of the
Republic, and was then about sixty years of age. He was a Kentuckian by birth, and his sympathies were with the conspirators.
He was on duty in
California when the war was kindling, and was making preparations, with other conspirators there, to array that State on the side of the
Confederacy,
24 when he was superseded in command by
Lieutenant-Colonel E. V. Sumner, of
Massachusetts.
Johnston then abandoned his flag, joined the conspirators in active rebellion, and was appointed by
Jefferson Davis to the command of the “Western Department,” with his Headquarters at
Nashville.
Under the shadow of
Johnston's protection, and behind the cordon of Confederate troops stretched across the
State, the disloyal politicians of
Kentucky proceeded to organize an independent government for the commonwealth.
They met at
Russellville, the capital of
Logan County, in the southern part of the
State, on the 29th of October.
They drew up a manifesto, in which the grievances of
Kentucky were recounted, and the action of its Legislature denounced.
They then called upon the people of the
State to choose, “in any manner” they might see fit, “delegates to attend a ‘Sovereignty convention,’ ” at
Russellville, on the 18th of November.
At the appointed time, about two hundred men from fifty-one counties, not elected by the people, assembled, and with difficult gravity adopted a “
Declaration of Independence,” and an “Ordinance of Secession,”
and then proceeded to organize a “Provisional Government,” by choosing a governor, a legislative council of ten, a treasurer, and an auditor.
25 Bowling Green was selected as the new capital of the
State.
Commissioners were appointed to treat with the “Confederate Government,” for the admission of
Kentucky into the league;
26 and before the close of December the arrangement was made, and so-called
[
190]
representatives of that great commonwealth were chosen by the “Legislative council”
to seats in the “Congress” at
Richmond.
27 The
people had nothing to do with the matter, and the ridiculous farce did not end here.
All through the war, disloyal Kentuckians pretended to represent their noble old State in the supreme council of the conspirators, where they were chosen only, a great portion of that time, by the few
Kentuckians in the military service of
Jefferson Davis.
While these political events in
Kentucky were in progress, military movements in that quarter.were assuming very important features.
General Johnston concentrated troops at
Bowling Green, and
General Hardee was called from
Southeastern Missouri, to supersede
General Buckner in command there.
The forces under
General Polk at
Columbus were strengthened, and
Zollicoffer, having secured the important position of
Cumberland Gap, proceeded to occupy the rich mineral and agricultural districts around the upper waters of the
Cumberland River.
He issued a proclamation
to the people of
Southeastern Kentucky, declaring, in the set phrases used by all the instruments of the conspirators, when about to plant the heel of military despotism upon a community, that he came as their “liberator from the
Lincoln despotism” and the ravages of “Northern hordes,” who were “attempting the subjugation of a sister Southern State.”
In the mean time,
General Buell had organized a large force at
Louisville, with which he was enabled to strengthen various advanced posts, and throw
forward, along the line of the railway toward
Bowling Green, about forty thousand men, under
General Alexander McD.
McCook. As this strong body advanced, the vanguard of the
Confederates, under
General Hindman (late member of Congress from
Arkansas), fell back to the southern bank of the
Green River, at Mumfordsville, where that stream was spanned by one of the most costly iron bridges in the country.
29 This was partially destroyed, in order to impede the march of their pursuers.
The latter soon constructed a temporary one.
For this purpose, a greater portion of
Colonel August Willich's German regiment (the Thirty-second Indiana), forming
McCook's vanguard, were thrown across the river, where they were attacked,
at Rowlett Station, by a regiment of mounted Texas Rangers, under
Colonel Terry, supported by two
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regiments of infantry and a battery of six guns.
The
Nationals, though greatly outnumbered, and attacked chiefly by cavalry and artillery, repulsed the assailants with ball and bayonet, killing
Terry and thirty-two others, wounding about fifty, and losing eight killed and ten wounded themselves.
30 In this work they were aided by a battery on the north side of the river.
Seeing re-enforcements crossing, the
Confederates withdrew toward
Bowling Green, slowly followed by the Nationals.
In the mean time, stirring scenes were in progress in the extreme eastern part of
Kentucky, and movements there caused a brief diversion of a part of
Buell's army from the business of pushing on in the direction of
Tennessee.
Humphry Marshall was again in the field, at the head of about twenty-five hundred insurgents, and at the beginning of January was intrenched in the neighborhood of
Paintsville, in
Johnston County, on the main branch of the
Big Sandy River, that forms the boundary between
Kentucky and
Virginia.
Colonel James A. Garfield, one of the most energetic young men of
Ohio, was sent with the Forty-second Ohio and Fourteenth Kentucky regiments, and three hundred of the Second Virginia cavalry, to dislodge him.
Garfield followed the course of the river in a march of greatest difficulty and danger, at an inclement season.
When
Marshall heard of his approach, he fled in alarm up the river toward
Prestonburg.
Garfield's cavalry pursued, and, in an encounter with those of
Marshall,
at the mouth of Jennis's Creek, they killed some, and drove the others several miles.
On the following day,
Garfield also set out with about eleven hundred of his force in pursuit, and overtaking
Marshall in the forks of
Middle Creek, three miles above
Prestonburg, where he was strongly posted with three cannon on a hill, he gave battle, fought him from one o'clock in the afternoon until dark, and drove him from all his positions.
Garfield, having been re-enforced by seven hundred men from
Paintsville, was enabled to make the victory for the Unionists at the
battle of Prestonburg, as it is called, complete.
The National loss was two killed and twenty-five wounded. That of the insuregents was estimated at sixty killed, and about one hundred wounded or made prisoners.
31 The ponderous
Marshall was not heard of afterward as a military leader.
Because of his services on this occasion,
Garfield was commissioned
a brigadier-general of volunteers.
[
192]
This victory on the Big Sandy was soon followed by another of the greatest importance, on the borders of the
Cumberland River, farther westward.
Zollicoffer, as we have observed, had established himself in the region of the upper waters of the
Cumberland.
At the close of the year
he was strongly intrenched at
Beech Grove, on the north side of that river, opposite
Mill Spring, in
Pulaski County, at the bend of the stream where it receives the
White Oak Creek.
On a range of hills that rise several hundred feet above the river, and with water on three sides of him, he had constructed a series of fortifications; and on the opposite, or south side of the
Cumberland he had also erected supporting works.
There he had gathered a large part of his force, composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery; and there, early in January,
he was joined by
Major-General George B. Crittenden, already mentioned,
32 who had been discharged from the
National army because of his intemperance, and had espoused the cause of the conspirators, while a brother was in the military service of, the
Government, in the same State.
He ranked
Zollicoffer, and assumed the chief command.
On the same day he inflicted a long and bombastic proclamation on the “people of
Kentucky,” closing with the appeal, “Will you join in the moving columns of the
South, or is the spirit of
Kentucky dead?”
At this time
General Buell had under his command about one hundred and fourteen thousand men, composed chiefly of citizens of
Ohio,
Indiana,
Illinois,
Michigan,
Wisconsin,
Minnesota,
Pennsylvania, and loyalists of
Kentucky and
Tennessee, with about one hundred and twenty-six pieces of artillery.
33 This large army was divided into four grand divisions, commanded respectively by Brigadier.
Generals Alexander McDowell McCook,
Ormsby M. Mitchel,
George H. Thomas, and
Thomas L. Crittenden, acting as major-generals, aided by twenty brigade commanders.
These divisions occupied a line across the
State, nearly parallel to that held by the
Confederates.
McCook's, as we have observed, was in the vicinity of Mumfordsville.
Brigadier-General William Nelson was
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193]
about ten miles farther east, with a considerable force, and
Mitchel's was held as a reserve to aid
McCook in his contemplated attack on
Hindman, at
Cave City.
General Thomas was at
Columbia, midway between
Bowling Green on the west, and
Somerset on the east, and
Crittenden was in the extreme eastern part of the
State, in the direction of
Cumberland Gap.
To
General Thomas was assigned the duty of attacking the
Confederates at
Beech Grove and
Mill Spring, where, at the middle of January, there were about ten thousand effective men, with nearly twenty pieces of artillery.
If successful there,
Thomas was to push on over the
Cumberland Mountains into the great valley of
East Tennessee, seize the railway that traversed that region, and afforded quick communication between the Confederate armies in the
West and in
Virginia, and liberate the East Tennesseeans from their terrible thrall.
It was a great work to be performed, and
Thomas was precisely the man for the task.
He entered upon it with alacrity.
He divided his force, giving a smaller portion to the care of
General Schoepf at
Somerset, while he led the remainder in person, in a flank movement from
Columbia, by way of
Jamestown.
He reached Logan's Cross Roads, ten miles from
Beech Grove, on the 17th,
where, during the prevalence of a heavy rain-storm, he gathered his troops and made disposition for an immediate attack.
In the mean time the
Confederates had left their intrenchments, and had marched to meet him.
General Crittenden, satisfied that
Zollicoffer's position was untenable against superior numbers,
34 had determined to take the offensive.
The
Fishing Creek, which lay between the forces of
Thomas and
Schoepf, was so swollen by the rain that he hoped to strike the Nationals before these divisions could unite.
He called a council of war on the evening of the 18th, when it was unanimously agreed to make the attack.
35 Zollicoffer was immediately ordered to lead the column.
He started at midnight,
Carroll's Brigade following his.
36 Following these as a reserve were the Sixteenth Alabama,
Colonel Wood, and
Branner's and
McClellan's battalions of cavalry.
The whole force was between four and five thousand strong.
At early dawn,
Zollicoffer's advance met the
Union pickets.
General Thomas had been advised of this movement.
He had made!
dispositions accordingly, and the pickets, encountered by the
Confederate vanguard, were of
Woolford's cavalry.
These fell slowly back, and
Woolford reported to
Colonel M. D. Manson, of the Tenth Indiana, who was in command of the Second Brigade, stationed in advance of the main body.
That officer formed his own and the Fourth Kentucky (
Colonel S. S. Fry) in battle order, at the junction of the
Somerset and Mill Spring Roads,
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194]
about five miles from the latter place, to await attack, and then sent a courier to inform
Thomas of the situation.
The commanding general hastened forward to view the position, when he found the
Confederates advancing through a corn-field, to flank the Fourth Kentucky.
He immediately ordered up the
Tennessee brigade and a section of artillery, and sent orders for
Colonel R. L. McCook to advance with his two regiments (Ninth Ohio,
Major Kaemmerling, and Second Minnesota,
Colonel H. P. Van Cleve) to the support of the vanguard.
The battle was opened at about six o'clock by the
Kentucky and
Ohio regiments, and
Captain Kinney's Battery, stationed on the edge of the field, to the left of the Fourth Kentucky.
It was becoming very warm when
McCook's reserves came up to the support of the Nationals.
Then the
Confederates  |
|
Map of the battle of Mill Spring.37 |
opened a most galling fire upon the little line, which made it waver.
At that moment it was strengthened by the arrival of the Twelfth Kentucky,
Colonel W. A. Hoskins, and the Tennessee Brigade, who joined in the fight.
The conflict became very.
severe, and for a time it was doubtful which side would bear off the palm of victory.
The
Nationals had fallen back, and were hotly contesting the possession of a commanding hill, with
Zollicoffer's Brigade, when that General, who was at the head of his column, and near the crest with
Colonel Battle's regiment, was killed.
The Confederate
General Crittenden immediately took his place, and, with the assistance of
Carroll's Brigade, continued the struggle for the hill for almost two hours. But the galling fire of the Second Minnesota, and a heavy charge of the Ninth Ohio with bayonets on the
Confederate flank, compelled the latter to give way, and they retreated toward their camp at
Beech Grove, in great confusion, pursued by the victorious
Nationals to the summit of Moulden's Hill.
From that commanding point
Standart's and
Wetmore's Batteries could sweep the
Confederate works, while
Kinney's Battery, stationed near Russell's house on the extreme left, opened fire upon the ferry, to prevent the
Confederates from escaping across the
Cumberland.
Such was the situation on Sunday evening,
at the close of the battle, when
Thomas was joined by the Fourteenth Ohio,
Colonel Stedman, and the Tenth Kentucky,
Colonel Harlan; also by
General Stedman, and the Tenth Kentucky,
Colonel Harlan; also by General
[
195]
Schoepf, with the Seventeenth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-eighth Ohio.
Disposition was made early the next morning to assault the
Confederate intrenchments, when it was ascertained that the works were abandoned.
The beleaguered troops had fled in silence across the river, under cover of the darkness, abandoning every thing in their camp, and destroying the steamer
Noble Ellis (which had come up the river with supplies), and three flat-boats, which had carried them safely over the stream.
38 Destitute of provisions and forage, the sadly-smitten Confederates were partially dispersed among the hills on the borders of
Kentucky and
Tennessee, while seeking both.
Crittenden retreated first to
Monticello, and then continued his flight until he reached
Livingston and Gainesborough, in the direction of
Nashville, in order to be in open communication with Headquarters at the latter place, and to guard the
Cumberland as far above it as possible.
Thus ended the
battle of Mill Spring (which has been also called the
Battle of Beech Grove,
Fishing Creek, and
Somerset), with a loss to the Nationals of two hundred and forty-seven, of whom thirty-nine were killed, and two hundred and eight were wounded; and to the
Confederates of
 |
|
Army Forge. |
three hundred and forty-nine, of whom one hundred and ninety-two were killed, sixty-two were wounded, and eighty-nine were made prisoners.
Among the killed, as we have seen, was
General Zollicoffer, whose loss, at that time, was irreparable.
39 The spoils of victory for
Thomas were twelve pieces of artillery, with three caissons packed, two army forges,
40 one battery wagon, a large amount of ammunition and small arms, more than a thousand horses and mules, wagons, commissary stores, intrenching tools,
[
196]
and camp equipage.
The men in their flight left almost every thing behind them, except the clothing on their persons.
41
This victory was considered one of the most important that had yet been achieved by the
National arms.
It broke the line of the
Confederates in
Kentucky, opened a door of deliverance for
East Tennessee, and prepared the way for that series of successful operations by which very soon afterward the invaders were expelled from both States.
The Government and the loyal people hailed the tidings of the triumph with great joy. The
Secretary of War, by order of the
President, issued an order announcing the event, and publicly thanking the officers and soldiers who had achieved the victory.
He declared the purpose of the war to be “to pursue and destroy a rebellious enemy, and to deliver the country from danger ;” and concluded by saying, “In the prompt and spirited movements and daring at
Mill Spring, the nation will realize its hopes,” and “delight to honor its brave soldiers.”
The defeat was severely felt by the
Confederates; for they were wise enough to understand its significance, prophesying, as it truly did, of further melancholy disasters to their cause.
The conspirators perceived the urgent necessity for a bold, able, and dashing commander in the
West, and believing
Beauregard to be such an one, he was ordered to
Johnston's Department,
and
General G. W. Smith, who had been an active democratic politician in New York city, was appointed to succeed him at
Manassas.
42 Crittenden was handled without mercy by the critics.
He was accused of treachery by some, and others, more charitable, charged the loss of the battle to his drunkenness.
All were compelled to acknowledge a serious disaster, and from it drew the most gloomy conclusions.
Their despondency was deepened by the blow received by the
Confederate cause at
Roanoke Island soon afterward;
43 and the feeling became one of almost despair, when, a few days later, events of still greater importance, and more withering to their hopes, which we are about to consider, occurred on the
Tennessee and
Cumberland Rivers.
44
So active and skillful had
Johnston been in his Department, in strengthening his irregular line of posts and fortifications for nearly four hundred
[
197]
miles across
Southern Kentucky, and within the
Tennessee border from
Cumberland Gap to
Columbus on the
Mississippi, that when
General Thomas had accomplished the first part of the work he was sent to perform, it was thought expedient not to push farther, seriously, in the direction of
East Tennessee just at that time.
It was evident that the
Confederates were preparing to make an effort to seize
Louisville,
Paducah,
Smithville, and
Cairo, on the
Ohio, in order to command the most important land and water highways in
Kentucky, so as to make it the chief battleground in the
West, as
Virginia was in the
East, and keep the horrors of war from the soil of the more Southern States.
As
Charleston was defended on the
Potomac, so New Orleans was to be defended by carrying the war up to the banks of the
Ohio.
Looking at a map of
Kentucky and
Virginia, and considering the attitude of the contending forces in each at that time, the reader may make a striking parallelism which a careful writer on the subject has pointed out.
46
Governed by a military necessity, which changing circumstances had created, it was determined to concentrate the forces of
Halleck and
Buell in a grand forward movement against the main bodies and fortifications of the
Confederates.
Thomas's victory at
Mill Spring had so paralyzed that line eastward of
Bowling Green, that it was practically shortened at least one-half.
Crittenden, as we have observed, had made his way toward
Nashville, and left the
Cumberland almost unguarded above that city; yet so mountainous was that region, and so barren of subsistence, that a flank movement
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198]
in that direction would have been performed with much difficulty and danger.
The great body of the
Confederate troops, and their chief fortifications, were between
Nashville and
Bowling Green and the
Mississippi River, and upon these the combined armies of
Halleck and
Buell prepared to move.
These fortifications had been constructed with skill, as to location and form, under the direction of
General Polk, and chiefly by the labor of slaves.
The principal works, were redoubts on
Island No.10, in the
Mississippi River, and at
Columbus, on its, eastern bank;
Fort Henry, on the
Tennessee River, and
Fort Donelson, on the,
Cumberland River.
The two latter were in
Tennessee, not far below the line dividing it from
Kentucky, at points where the two rivers approach within a few miles of each other.
During the autumn and early winter, a naval armament, projected by
Fremont for service on the
Mississippi River, had been in preparation at
St. Louis and
Cairo, for co-operation with the military forces in the
West.
It consisted, at the close of January,
of twelve gun-boats (some new and others made of river steamers), carrying one hundred and twenty-six heavy cannon and some lighter guns,
47 the whole commanded by
Flag-officer Andrew Hull Foote, of the
National navy.
Seven of these boats were covered with iron plates, and were built very wide in proportion to their length, so that on the still river waters they might have almost the steadiness of stationary land batteries when discharging their heavy guns.
The sides of these armored vessels were made sloping upward and downward from the water-line, at an angle of forty-five degrees, so as to ward off shot and shell; and they were so constructed that, in action, they could be kept “bow on,” or the bow toward the enemy.
Their hulls were made of heavy oak timber, with triple strength at the bows, and sheathed with wroughtiron plates two and a half inches in thickness.
Their engines were very powerful, so as to facilitate movements in action; and each boat carried a mortar of 13-inch caliber.
48
These vessels, although originally constructed for service on the
Mississippi River, were found to be of sufficiently light draft to allow them to navigate the
Cumberland and
Tennessee Rivers, into whose waters they were speedily summoned, to assist an army which
General Halleck had placed under the command of
General Grant, in an expedition against Forts
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Henry and
Donelson.
Notwithstanding repeated assurances had been given to
Mallory — the
Confederate Secretary of the Navy--that these forts would be, in a great degree, at the mercy of the
National gun-boats abuilding, that conspirator, who was remarkable for his obtuseness, slow method, and indifferent intellect, and whose ignorance, even of the geography of
Kentucky and
Tennessee, had been broadly travestied in “Congress,”
49 paid no attention to these warnings, but left both rivers open, without placing a single floating battery upon either.
This omission was observed and taken advantage of by the Nationals, and early in February a large force that had moved from the
Ohio River was pressing toward the doomed forts, whose
 |
|
Footers flotilla. |
capture would make the way easy to the rear of
Bowling Green.
By that movement the
Confederate line would be broken, and the immediate evacuation of
Kentucky by the invaders would be made an inexorable necessity.
Preliminary to this grand advance, and for the double purpose of studying the topography of the country, and for deceiving the
Confederates concerning the real designs of the Nationals, several reconnoissances, in considerable force, were made on both sides of the
Mississippi River, toward the reputed impregnable stronghold at
Columbus.
One of these minor expeditions, composed of about seven thousand men, was commanded by
General McClernand, who left
Cairo for
Fort Jefferson, and other places below, in river transports, on the 10th of January.
From that point he penetrated
Kentucky far toward the
Tennessee line, threatening
Columbus and the country in its rear.
At the same time,
General Paine marched with nearly an equal force from
Bird's Point, on the
Missouri side of the
Mississippi, in the direction of
Charleston, for the purpose of supporting
McClernand, menacing New Madrid, and reconnoitering
Columbus; while a third party, six thousand strong, under
General C. F. Smith, moved from
Paducah to
Mayfield, in the direction of
Columbus.
Still another force moved eastward to
Smithland, between the
Tennessee and
Cumberland Rivers; and at the same time gun-boats were patrolling the waters of the
Ohio and
Mississippi, those on the latter threatening
Columbus.
These reconnoitering
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200]
parties all returned to their respective starting places preparatory to the grand movement.
These operations alarmed and perplexed the
Confederates, and so puzzled the newspaper correspondents with the armies, that the wildest speculations about the intentions of
Halleck and
Buell, and the most ridiculous criticisms of their doings, filled the public journals.
These speculations were made more unsatisfactory and absurd by the movements of
General Thomas, immediately after the
Battle of Mill Spring, who, it was then believed by the uninformed, was to be the immediate liberator of
East Tennessee.
He had crossed the
Cumberland River in force, after the
battle of Mill Spring, at the head of navigation at Waitsboro, and had pushed a column on toward
Cumberland Gap.
Predictions of glorious events in the great valley between the
Alleghany and
Cumberland Mountains were freely offered and believed; but the hopes created by these were speedily blasted.
The movement was only a feint to deceive the
Confederates, and was successful.
To save
East Tennessee from the grasp of
Thomas,
Johnston sent a large body of troops by railway from
Bowling Green by way of
Nashville and
Chattanooga to
Knoxville, and when the
Confederate force was thus weakened in front of
Buell,
Thomas was recalled.
The latter turned back, marched westward, and joined
Nelson at
Glassgow, in
Barren County, on
Hardee's right flank.
In the mean time,
Mitchel, with his reserves that formed
Buell's center, had moved toward the
Green River in the direction of
Bowling Green.
These developments satisfied
Johnston that
Buell was concentrating his forces to attack his front, so he called in his outlying posts as far as prudence would allow, and prepared
for the shock of battle, that now seemed inevitable.
The combined movements of the army and navy against
Forts Henry and
Donelson, arranged by
Generals Grant and
C. F. Smith,
50 and
Commodore Foote, and approved by
General Halleck, were now commenced.
The chief object was to break the line of the
Confederates, which, as we have observed, had been established with care and skill across the country from the
Great River to the mountains; also to gain possession of their strongholds, and to flank those at
Columbus and
Bowling Green, in the movement for clearing the
Mississippi River and valley of all warlike obstructions.
Fort Henry, lying on a low bottom land on the eastern or righ tbank of the
Tennessee River,
in Stewart County, Tennessee, was to be the first object of attack.
It lay at a bend of that stream, and its guns commanded a reach of the river below it toward
Panther Island, for about two miles, in a direct line.
The fort was an irregular field-work, with five bastions, the embrasures revetted with sand-bags.
It was armed with seventeen heavy guns, twelve of which commanded the river.
Both above and below the fort was a
[
201]
creek defended by rifle-pits, and around it was swampy land with back-water in the rear.
It was strong in itself, and so admirably situated for defense, that the
Confederates were confident that it could not be captured.
At the time we are considering, the garrison in the fort and the troops in camp within the outer works, consisting of less than three thousand men,
51 were commanded by
Brigadier-General Loyd Tilghman, a Marylander, and graduate of West Point Academy, and it was supplied with barracks and tents sufficient for an army fifteen thousand strong.
General Halleck, as we have seen, had divided his large Department into military districts, and he had given the command over that of
Cairo to
General Grant.
This was enlarged late in December,
so as to include all of
Southern Illinois,
Kentucky west of the
Cumberland River, and the counties of
Eastern Missouri south of
Cape Girardeau.
Grant was therefore commander of all the land forces to be engaged in the expedition against
Fort Henry.
53 To that end he collected his troops at the close of the reconnaissance just mentioned, chiefly at
Cairo and
Paducah, and had directed
General Smith to gain what information he could concerning the two
Tennessee forts.
Accordingly, on his return, that officer struck the
Tennessee River about twenty miles below
Fort Henry, where he found the gun-boat
Lexington patrolling its waters.
In that vessel he approached the fort so near as to draw its fire, and he reported to
Grant that it might easily be taken, if attacked soon.
The latter sent the report to
General Halleck.
Hearing nothing from their chief for several days afterward,
Grant and
Foote united, in a letter to
Halleck,
in asking permission to storm
Fort Henry, and hold it as a base for other operations.
On the following day
Grant wrote an urgent letter to his commander setting forth the advantages to be expected from the proposed movement, and on the 30th an order came for its prosecution.
54 The enterprise was
[
202]
immediately begun, and on Monday morning, the 2d of February,
Flag-officer Foote left
Cairo with a little flotilla of seven gun-boats
55 (four of them armored), moved up the
Ohio to
Paducah, and on that evening was in the
Tennessee River.
He went up that stream cautiously, because of information that there were torpedoes in it, and on Tuesday morning,
at dawn, he was a few miles below
Fort Henry.
Grant's army, composed of the divisions of
Generals McClernand and
C. F. Smith, had, in the mean time, embarked in transports, which were convoyed by the flotilla.
These landed a few miles below the fort, and soon afterward the armored gun-boats (
Essex, St. Louis, Carondelet, and
Cincinnati) were sent forward by
Grant, with orders to move slowly and shell the woods on each side of the river, in order to discover concealed batteries, if they existed.
At the same time the
Conestoga and
Tyler were successfully engaged, under the direction of
Lieutenant Phelps, in fishing up torpedoes.
56
[
203]
By the morning of the 6th, every thing was in readiness for the attack, which was to be made simultaneously on land and water.
McClernand's division
58 moved first, up the eastern side of the
Tennessee, to get in a position between
Forts Henry and
Donelson, and be in readiness to storm the former from the rear, or intercept the retreat of the
Confederates, while two brigades of
Smith's division,
59 that were to make the attack, marched up the west side of the river to assail and capture half-finished Fort Hieman,
60 situated upon a great hill, and from that commanding point bring artillery to bear upon
Fort Henry.
There had been a tremendous thunder-storm during the night, which made the roads very heavy, and caused the river to rise rapidly.
The consequence was, that the gun-boats were in position and commenced the attack some time before the troops, who had been ordered to march at eleven: o'clock in the morning, arrived.
The little streams were so swollen that they had to build bridges for the passage of the artillery; and so slow was the march that they were compelled to hear the stirring sounds of battle without being allowed to participate in it.
61
It was at half-past 12 o'clock at noon when the gun-boats opened fire.
The flotilla had passed
Panther Island by the western channel, and the
armored vessels had taken position diagonally across the river, with the unarmored gun-boats
Tyler,
Lexington, and
Conestoga, in reserve.
The fort warmly responded to the assault at the beginning (which was made at a distance of six hundred yards from the batteries), but the storm from the
[
204]
flotilla was so severe, that very soon the garrison became panic-stricken.
Seven of the guns were dismounted, and made useless; the flag-staff was shot away; and a heavy rifled cannon in the fort had bursted, killing three men. The troops in the camp outside the fort fled, most of them by the upper Dover road, leading to
Fort Donelson, and others on a steamer lying just above
Fort Henry.
General Tilghman and less than one hundred artillerists in the fort were all that remained to surrender to the victorious
Foote.
62
The Confederate commander had behaved most soldierly throughout, at times doing a private's duty at the guns.
His gallantry,
Foote said in his report, “was worthy of a better cause.”
Before two o'clock he hauled down his flag and sent up a white one, and the battle of
Fort Henry ceased,
after a severe conflict of little more than an hour.
63 It was all over before the land troops arrived, and neither those on the
Fort Henry side of the river, nor they who moved against Fort Hieman, on the other bank of the stream, had an opportunity to fight.
The occupants of the latter had fled at the approach of the Nationals without firing a shot, and had done what damage they could by fire, at the moment of their departure.
“A few minutes before the surrender,” says
Pollard, “the scene in and around the fort exhibited a spectacle of fierce grandeur.
Many of the cabins in and around the fort were in flames.
Added to the scene were the smoke from the burning timber, and the curling but dense wreaths of smoke from the guns; the constantly recurring, spattering, and whizzing of fragments of crashing and bursting shells; the deafening roar of artillery; the black sides of five or six gun-boats, belching fire at every port-hole; the volumes of smoke settled in dense masses along the surrounding back-waters; and up and over that fog, on the heights, the army of
General Grant (10,000), deploying around our small army, attempting to cut off its retreat.
In the
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midst of the storm of shot and shell, the small force outside of the fort had succeeded in gaining the upper road, the gun-boats having failed to notice their movements until they were out of reach.
To give them further time, the gallant
Tilghman, exhausted and begrimed with powder and smoke, stood erect at the middle battery, and pointed gun after gun. It was clear, however, that the fort could not hold out much longer.
A white flag was raised by the order of
General Tilghman, who remarked, ‘It is vain to fight longer.
Our gunners are disabled — our guns dismounted; we can't hold out five minutes longer.’
As soon as the token of submission was hoisted, the gun-boats came alongside the fort and took possession of it, their crews giving three cheers for the
Union.
General Tilghman and the small garrison of forty were taken prisoners.”
64
The capture of
Fort Henry was a naval victory of great importance, not only because of its immediate effect, but because it proved the efficiency of gun-boats on the narrow rivers of the
West, in co-operating with land troops.
On this account, and because of its promises of greater achievements near, the fall of
Fort Henry caused the most profound satisfaction among the loyal people.
Halleck announced the fact to
McClellan with the stirring words, “
Fort Henry is ours!
The flag of the
Union is re-established on the soil of
Tennessee.
It will never be removed.”
Foote's report, brief and clear, was received and read in both Houses of Congress, in open session; and the
Secretary of the Navy wrote to him, “The country appreciates your gallant deeds, and this Department desires to convey to you and your brave associates its profound thanks for the service you have rendered.”
The moral effect of the victory on the
Confederates was dismal, and drew forth the most serious complaints against the authorities at
Richmond, and especially against
Mallory, the so-called “
Secretary of the Navy.”
Painful apprehensions of future calamities were awakened; for it was felt that, if
Fort Donelson should now fall, the
Confederate cause in
Kentucky,
Tennessee, and
Missouri must be ruined.
The first great step toward that event had been taken.
The National troops were now firmly planted in the rear of
Columbus, on the
Mississippi, and were only about ten miles by land from the bridge over which was the railway connection between that post and
Bowling Green.
There was also nothing left to obstruct the passage of gunboats up the
Tennessee to the fertile regions of
Northern Alabama, and carrying the flag of the
Republic far toward the heart of the
Confederacy.
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Tail-piece — delivery of a sword. |
