Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Friday, January 10, 1862

Heard rumors from Fayetteville of a great battle and victory at Bowling Green. Three thousand of our men killed and wounded. Enemy driven into the river — camp taken. One adds thirteen thousand taken prisoners. Floyd captured, says another. Fort Sumter retaken, says a third, and so on. Rode to Raleigh [slip of the pen for Fayetteville] with Avery, — very muddy — twenty-five miles in five to six hours. Rumors of the battle varied and conflicting. We ask all pickets and all we meet. As we approach Fayetteville the rumor loses strength. At Fayetteville, “Nothing of it, Colonel,” says a soldier. So we go.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 183

Secession Ordinance of Kentucky

Whereas the Federal Constitution, which created the Government of the United States, was declared by the framers thereof to be the supreme law of the land and was intended to limit the powers of said Government to certain general specified purposes, and did expressly reserve to the States and people all other powers whatever; and the President and Congress have treated this supreme law of the Union with contempt, and usurped to themselves the power to interfere with the rights and liberties of the States and the people against the expressed provisions of the Constitution, and have thus substituted for the highest forms of rational liberty and constitutional government, a central despotism, founded upon the ignorant prejudices of the masses of Northern society, and, instead of giving protection with the Constitution to the people of fifteen States of this Union, have turned loose upon them the unrestrained raging passions of mobs and fanatics, and because we seek to hold our liberties, our property, our homes, and our families, under the protection of the reserved powers of the States, have blockaded our ports, invaded our soil, and waged war upon our people for the purpose of subjugating us to their will; and

Whereas our honor and our duty to posterity demand that we shall not relinquish our own liberty, and shall not abandon the right of our descendants and the world to the inestimable blessings of constitutional government: Therefore,

Be it ordained. That we do hereby forever sever our connections with the Government of the United States, and, in the name of the people, we do hereby declare Kentucky to be a free and independent State, clothed with all power to fix her own destiny and to secure her own rights and liberties; and

Whereas the majority of the legislature of Kentucky have violated their most solemn pledges, made before the election, and deceived and betrayed the people; have abandoned the position of neutrality assumed by themselves and the people, and invited into the State the organized armies of Lincoln; have abdicated the government in favor of the military despotism which they have placed around themselves, but can not control, and have abandoned the duty of shielding the citizens with their protection; have thrown upon our people and the State the horrors and ravages of war, instead of attempting to preserve the peace, and have voted men and money for the war waged by the North for the destruction of our constitutional rights; have violated the express words of the Constitution by borrowing five millions of money for the support of the war, without a vote of the people; have permitted the arrest and imprisonment of our citizens and transferred the constitutional prerogatives of the executive to a military commission of partisans; have seen the right of habeas corpus suspended without an effort for its preservation, and permitted our people to be driven in exile from their homes; have subjected our property to confiscation, and our persons to confinement in the penitentiary as felons, because we may choose to take part in a contest for civil liberty and constitutional government against a sectional majority waging war against the people and institutions of fifteen independent States of the old Federal Union, and have done all these things deliberately against the warnings and vetoes of the governor and the solemn remonstrances of the minority in the senate and house of representatives: Therefore,

Be it further ordained, That the unconstitutional edicts of a factious majority of a legislature thus false to their pledges, their honor, and their interests, are not law, and that such government is unworthy of the support of a brave and free people; and that we do therefore declare that the people are thereby absolved from all allegiance to said government, and that they have a right to establish any government which to them may seem best adapted to the preservation of their rights and liberties.

Section 1. The supreme executive and legislative power of the provisional government of this Commonwealth, hereby established, shall be vested in a governor and ten councilmen, one from each of the present Congressional districts, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum to transact business. The governor and councilmen to be elected by the members of this convention in such manner as this convention may prescribe.

Sec. 2. The governor and council are hereby invested with full power to pass all laws necessary to effect the objects contemplated by the formation of this government. They shall have full control of the army and navy of this Commonwealth, and the militia thereof.

Sec 3. No law shall be passed, or act done, or appointment made, either civil or military, by the provisional government, except with the concurrence of a majority of the council and approval of the governor, except as herein specially provided.

Sec. 4. In case of a vacancy in the gubernatorial office, occasioned by death, resignation, or any other cause, the council shall have power to elect a governor, as his successor, who shall not, however, be a member of their own body.

Sec. 5. The council hereby established shall consist of one person selected from each Congressional district in the State, to lie chosen by this convention, who shall have power to fill all vacancies from any cause from the district in which such vacancy shall occur.

Sec. 6. The council shall have power to pass any acts which they may deem essential to the preservation of our liberty and the protection of our rights, and such acts, when approved by the governor, shall become law, and as such shall be sustained by the courts and other departments of the government.

Sec. 7. The governor shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint all judicial and executive and other officers necessary for the enforcement of law and the protection of society under the extraordinary circumstances now existing, who shall continue in office during the pleasure of the governor and council, or until the establishment of a permanent government.

Sec. 8. The governor shall have power, by and with the consent and advice of the council, to conclude a treaty with the Confederate States of America, by which the State of Kentucky may be admitted as one of said Confederate States upon an equal footing in all respects with the other States of said Confederacy.

Sec. 9. That three commissioners shall be appointed by this convention to the Government of the Confederate States of America, with power to negotiate and treat with said Confederate States for the earliest practicable admission of Kentucky into the Government of said Confederate States of America, who shall report the result of their mission to the governor and council of this provisional government, for such future action as may be deemed advisable, and, should less than the full number attend, such as may attend may conduct such negotiation.

Sec. 10. So soon as an election can be held, free from the influence of the armies of the United States, the provisional government shall provide for the assembling of a convention to adopt such measures as may be necessary and expedient for the restoration of a permanent government. Said convention shall consist of one hundred delegates, one from each representative district in the State, except the counties of Mason and Kenton, each of which shall be entitled to two delegates.

Sec. 11. An auditor and treasurer shall be appointed by the provisional government, whose duties shall be prescribed by law, and who shall give bond with sufficient security for the faithful discharge of the duties of their respective offices, to be approved by the governor and council.

Sec. 12. The following oath shall be taken by the governor, members of the council, judges, and all other officers, civil and military, who may be commissioned and appointed by this provisional government: "I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm), in the presence of Almighty God, and upon my honor, that I will observe and obey all laws passed by the provisional government of Kentucky. So help me God.""

Sec. 13. The governor shall receive, as his salary, $2,000 per annum, and the councilmen, $6 per diem, while in session, and the salary of the other officers shall be fixed by law.

Sec. 14. The constitution and laws of Kentucky, not inconsistent with the acts of this convention, and the establishment of this government, and the laws which may be enacted by the governor and council, shall be the laws of this State.

Sec. 15. That whenever the governor and council shall have concluded a treaty with the Confederate States of America, for the admission of this State into the Confederate Government, the governor and council shall elect two Senators, and provide by law for the election of members of the House of Representatives in Congress,

Sec. 16. The provisional government hereby established shall be located at Bowling Green, Ky., but the governor and council shall have power to meet at any other place that they may consider appropriate.

Done at Russellville, in the State of Kentucky, this 20th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1861.

(Signed)

H. C. BURNETT,

President of the convention, and member from Trigg County.

R. McKEE,

Secretary, and member from Louisville.

T. L. BURNETT,

Assistant secretary, and member from Spencer County.

T. S. BRYAN,

Assistant secretary, and member from Christian County.

W. M. COFFEE, of Ballard County.

A. D. KINGMAN.

W. J. LUNSFORD.

3. J. CUNNINGHAM, of Grayson County.

JOHN J. GREEN.

J. P. BURNSIDE.

GEORGE W. MAXSON.

ROBERT S. FORD, of Hardin County.

WILLIAM JOHNSTON, of Hardin County.

WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, of Hart County.

W. S. SHOWDY, of Hart County.

J. J. GROVES, of Hart County.

J. W. CROCK KTT, of Henderson County.

B. W. JENKINS, of Henry County.

L. M. LOWE, of Hopkins County.

GREEN MALCOLM, of Jefferson County.

B. K. IIORNSBY, of Jefferson County.

WILLIAM K. DANIEL, of Jessamine County.

D. P. BUCKNER, of Kenton County.

C. BENNETT, of Livingston County.

C. N. PENDLETON, of Logan County.

JAMES M. BEALL, of Logan County.

JOHN W. MALONE, of Logan County.

E. D. RICKETTS, of Louisville, First district.

J. A. PENTON, of Louisville, Second district.

GEORGE P. TALBOT, of Louisville, Third district.

J. G. P. HOOE, of Louisville, Fourth district.

H. W. BRUCE, of Louisville, Fourth district.

R. McKEE, of Louisville, Fourth district.

R. L. COBB, of Lyon County.

WILLIS B. MACHKN, of Lyon County.

GEORGE R. MERRITT, of Lyon County.

J. C. GILBERT, of Marshall County.

WILLIAM E. RAY, of Marion County.

L. M. RAY, of Marion County.

MICHAEL McARTY, of Marion County.

JOHN BURNAM, of Warren County.

J. H. D. McKEE, of Anderson County.

JAMES A. McBRAYER, of Anderson County.

W. TOWSLEY, of Ballard County.

J. P. BATES, of Barren County.

R. W. THOMAS, of Barren County.

N. A. SMITH, of Barren County.

W. K. EDMUNDS, of Barren County.

C. W. PARRISH, of Barren County.

J. W. EYARTS, of Barren County.

WILLIAM F. BELL, of Barren County.

S. S. SCOTT, of Barren County.

W. R. CUNNINGHAM, of Bourbon County.

SAMUEL H. McBRIDE, of Boyle County.

DORSEY B. BOWERS.

WILLIAM N. GAITHER.

JAMES W. MOORE.

HARDY S. LYPERT.

L. K. CHILTON.

JOHN J. THOMAS.

ROBERT McKEE.

STEPHEN EDWARDS.

P. C. BARNETT.

D. MATHEWSON, of Galloway County.

P. S. HAMLIN, of Galloway County.

T. M. JONES, of Galloway County.

ALEXANDER WESSON, of Galloway County.

FRANCIS W. DODDS, of Galloway County.

WILLIAM T. MATHES, of Galloway County.

C. A. DUNCAN, of Galloway County.

A. J. HOLLAND, of Galloway County.

H. L. GILTNER, of Galloway County.

THOMAS T. BARRETT.

ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE.

J. S. GIBBON.

R. B. ALEXANDER.

E. R. WOODWARD, of Metcalfe County.

E. M. BRUCE, of Nicholas County.

J. J. CONOVER, of Owen County.

OWEN DORSEY, of Oldham County.

GEORGE W. JOHNSON, of Scott County.

A. KEENE RICHARDS, of Scott County.

WILLIAM B. CLARK, of Simpson County.

B. W. WILLIAMS, of Simpson County.

T. L. BURNETT, of Spencer County.

J. A. RUSSELL, of Todd County.

W. B. HARRISON, of Todd County.

G. LINE, of Todd County.

H. H. POSTON, of Trigg County.

W. H. MURTRIE, of Trigs County.

ROBERT WOLDRIDGE, of Trigg County.

ANDREW CUNNINGHAM, Jr., of Trigg County.

J. Y. NEWKIRK, of Trimble County.

WILLIAM D. RAY.

WILLIAM J. PAYNE, of Union County.

S. D. BLACKBURN, of Warren County.

SANDFORD LYNE, of Woodford County.

JOHN W. ARNETT.

ROBERT A. BRECKENRIDGE, of Washington County.

WARREN LYTTLETON JENKINS, of Webster County.

THOMAS S. BRYAN, of Christian County.

J. F. BELL, of Galloway County.

A. R. BOONE, of Graves County.

H. M. ROSE, of Graves County.

J. A. PERTLE, of Graves County.

J. D. SCAFF, of Graves County.

JOHN RIDGWAY, of Graves County.

BLANTON DUNCAN, of Louisville.

PHILIP B. THOMPSON, of Mercer County.

Z. McDANIEL, of Monroe County.

W. N. WAND, of Muhlenburgh County.

A. F. WILLIAMS, of McCroskin County.

JOHN M. JOHNSON, of McCroskin County.

WILLIAM G. BULL1TT, of McCroskin County.

H. H. HUSTON, of McCroskin County.

JOHN Q. A. KING, of McCroskin County.

WILLIAM E. MINER, of Nelson County.

JOHN C. BRODHEAD, of Nelson County.

JOHN J. DENNIS, of Calhoun, McLean County.

J. L. GREGORY, of Calhoun, McLean County.

SOURCE: Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, Vol. 1, p. 537-40

Abraham Lincoln to Major General Henry W. Halleck, December 31, 1861

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 31, 1861.

General HALLECK,  Saint Louis, Mo.:

General McClellan is sick. Are General Buell and yourself in concert? When he moves on Bowling Green, what hinders it being re-enforced from Columbus? A simultaneous movement by you on Columbus might prevent it.

A. LINCOLN.

(Similar dispatch to Buell same date.)

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 524

Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell to Abraham Lincoln, January 1, 1862

LOUISVILLE, KY., January 1, 1862.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President:

There is no arrangement between General Halleck and myself. I have been informed by General McClellan that he would make suitable disposition for concerted action. There is nothing to prevent Bowling Green being re-enforced from Columbus if a military force is not brought to bear on the latter place.

 D.C. BUELL,

 Brigadier-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 526

Major General Henry W. Halleck to Abraham Lincoln, January 6, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,

Saint Louis, January 6, 1862.

To His Excellency the PRESIDENT:

In reply to your excellency's letter of the 1st instant,^† I have to state that on receiving your telegram I immediately communicated with General Buell and have since sent him all the information I could obtain of the enemy's movements about Columbus and Camp Beauregard. No considerable force has been sent from those places to Bowling Green. They have about 22,000 men at Columbus, and the place is strongly fortified. I have at Cairo, Fort Holt, and Paducah only about 15,000, which, after leaving guards at these places, would give me but little over 10,000 men with which to assist General Buell. It would be madness to attempt anything serious with such a force, and I cannot at the present time withdraw any from Missouri without risking the loss of this State. The troops recently raised in other States of this department have without my knowledge been sent to Kentucky and Kansas.

I am satisfied that the authorities at Washington do not appreciate the difficulties with which we have to contend here. The operations of Lane, Jennison, and others have so enraged the people of Missouri, that it is estimated that there is a majority of 80,000 against the Government. We are virtually in an enemy's country. Price and others have a considerable army in the Southwest, against which I am operating with all my available force.

This city and most of the middle and northern counties are insurrectionary – burning bridges, destroying telegraph lines, &c. – and can be kept down only by the presence of troops. A large portion of the foreign troops organized by General Frémont are unreliable; indeed, many of them are already mutinous. They have been tampered with by politicians, and made to believe that if they get up a mutiny and demand Frémont's return the Government will be forced to restore him to duty here. It is believed that some high officers are in the plot. I have already been obliged to disarm several of these organizations and I am daily expecting more serious outbreaks. Another grave difficulty is the want of proper general officers to command the troops and enforce order and discipline, and especially to protect public property from robbery and plunder. Some of the brigadier-generals assigned to this department are entirely ignorant of their duties and unfit for any command. I assure you, Mr. President, it is very difficult to accomplish much with such means. I am in the condition of a carpenter who is required to build a bridge with a dull ax, a broken saw, and rotten timber. It is true that I have some very good green timber, which will answer the purpose as soon as I can get it into shape and season it a little.

I know nothing of General Buell's intended operations, never having received any information in regard to the general plan of campaign. If it be intended that his column shall move on Bowling Green while another moves from Cairo or Paducah on Columbus or Camp Beauregard, it will be a repetition of the same strategic error which produced the disaster of Bull Run. To operate on exterior lines against an enemy occupying a central position will fail, as it always has failed, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. It is condemned by every military authority I have ever read.

General Buell's army and the forces at Paducah occupy precisely the same position in relation to each other and to the enemy as did the armies of McDowell and Patterson before the battle of Bull Run.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 H. W. HALLECK,

 Major-General.

[Indorsement. ]

The within is a copy of a letter just received from General Halleck. It is exceedingly discouraging. As everywhere else, nothing can be done.

A. LINCOLN.

JANUARY 10, 1862.

__________

† See page 926.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 532-3

Abraham Lincoln to Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell and Major General Henry W. Halleck, January 13, 1862

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, January 13, 1862.

Brigadier-General BUELL:

MY DEAR SIR: Your dispatch of yesterday is received, in which you say, "I have received your letter and General McClellan's, and will at once devote all my efforts to your views and his." In the midst of my many cares I have not seen nor asked to see General McClellan's letter to you. For my own views, I have not offered, and do not now offer them, as orders; and while I am glad to have them respectfully considered, I would blame you to follow them contrary to your own clear judgment, unless I should put them in the form of orders. As to General McClellan's views, you understand your duty in regard to them better than I do.

With this preliminary I state my general idea of this war to be that we have the greater numbers and the enemy hits the greater facility of concentrating forces upon points of collision; that we must fail unless we can find some way of making our advantage an overmatch for his; and that this can only be done by menacing him with superior forces at different points at the same time, so that we can safely attack one or both if he makes no change; and if he weakens one to strengthen the other, forbear to attack the strengthened one, but seize and hold the weakened one, gaining so much.

To illustrate: Suppose last summer, when Winchester ran away to reenforce Manassas, we had foreborne to attack Manassas, but had seized and held Winchester. I mention this to illustrate and not to criticise. I did not lose confidence in McDowell, and I think less harshly of Patterson than some others seem to. In application of the general rule I am suggesting every particular case will have its modifying circumstances, among which the most constantly present and most difficult to meet will be the want of perfect knowledge of the enemy's movements.  This had its part in the Bull Run case; but worse in that case was the expiration of the terms of the three-months' men.

Applying the principle to your case, my idea is that Halleck shall menace Columbus and "down-river" generally, while you menace Bowling Green and East Tennessee. If the enemy shall concentrate at Bowling Green do not retire from his front, yet do not fight him there either, but seize Columbus and East Tennessee, one or both, left exposed by the concentration at Bowling Green. It is a matter of no small anxiety to me, and one which I am sure you will not overlook, that the East Tennessee line is so long and over so bad a road.

Yours, very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

[Indorsement]

JANUARY 13, 1862.

Having to-day written General Buell a letter, it occurs to me to send General Halleck a copy of it.

A. LINCOLN.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 928-9

Diary of Edward Bates, December 31, 1861 – First Entry

Ever since last date, the weather has been mild and beautiful. . . .

I do wonder at the slowness of our military movements. Byrnside's expedition has not yet sailed.⁵⁷ He says he is ready, he says he is ready and yet he does not go — And the Naval men say that they are ready, and yet they do not go—

And just so with Butler's expedition⁵⁸ — It does not go. Meanwhile, all this charming weather is lost, and I fear that, at last, they will start just in time to catch the storms of winter.

I hear that a Reg[imen]t. of Caval[r]y has been sent to Sherman, in S. Carolina.⁵⁹

[Marginal Note.] Jan.y. 4 [1862]. I hear today, that Gen Sherman has taken a point on the Charleston and Savanna[h] R. R. near to Charleston[.]

We are expecting daily important news from the West. A great battle is imminent, near Bowling Green K.y. between the insurgents under A. S. Johns[t]on⁶⁰ and Buckner⁶¹ and our army under Buell.⁶² If Halleck⁶³ can only cooperate, and simultaneously, move upon Columbus, we may [stand] to win advantages decisive of the war. But I fear that their arrangements are not as perfect as they ought to be.

There is an evident lack of system and concentrated intelligence — Of course, I did not expect exact system and method in so large an army raised so suddenly, but surely, many of the deficiencies ought before now, to have been corrected.

For months past (and lately more pressingly) I have urged upon the President to have some military organization about his own person — appoint suitable aid[e]s — 2 — 3 — or 4 — to write and carry his orders, to collect information, to keep the needful papers and records always at hand, and to do his bidding generally, in all Military and Naval affairs. I insisted that, being “Commander in chief” by law, he must command — especially in such a war as this. The Nation

requires it, and History will hold him responsible.

In this connexion, it is lementable [sic] that Gen McClellan — the General in chief, so called — is, and for some time has been incapacitated by a severe spell of illness (and Genl. Marcy,⁶⁴ his chief of Staff — and father in law, is sick also[)]. It now appears that the Genl. in chief has been very reticent — kept his plans absolutely to himself, so that the strange and dangerous fact exists, that the Sec of War and the Prest. are ignorant of the condition of the army and its intended operations!

I see no reason for having a Genl. in chief at all. It was well enough to call the veteran Lieut. Genl. Scott so, when we had no enemies in the [sic] in the field, and no army but a little nucleus

of 15.000 men. But now that we have several mighty armies and active operations spreading over half a continent, there seems to me no good sense in confiding to one general the command of the whole; and especially, as we have no general who has any experience in the handling of large armies — not one of them ever commanded 10.000 under fire, or has any personal knowledge of the complicated movements of a great army.

If I were President, I would command in chief — not in detail, certainly — and I would know what army I had, and what the high generals (my Lieutenants) were doing with that army.⁶⁵

As to the Slidell and Mason affair, see my notes, elsewhere, at large.⁶⁶

__________

⁵⁷ See supra, Nov. 29, 1861.

⁵⁸ See loc. cit.

⁵⁹ See supra, Nov. 13, 1861.

⁶⁰ Albert S. Johnston, West Point graduate of 1826 who had served in the U. S. Army, 1826-1834, in the Texas Army, 1836-1837, in the Mexican War, and again in the U. S. Army from 1849 until he resigned when Texas seceded. He served with distinction in high command in the Confederate Army until he was killed in battle on April 6, 1862. At this time he was commanding in Kentucky.

⁶¹ Simon B. Buckner of Kentucky, West Point graduate of 1844, had served in the Army in Mexico and on the frontier, but had resigned in 1855. He had organized an effective Kentucky militia in 1860-1S61 and commanded Kentucky's troops during the period of her neutrality. He tried to keep both Confederate and Union forces out of Kentucky, but when this failed he threw in his lot with the Confederates, became a brigadier-general, and at this time was fighting under Johnston.

⁶² Don Carlos Buell of Indiana: West Point graduate of 1841 who had served in Mexico; officer in the Army, 1841-1861; brigadier-general of volunteers in 1861. He had been sent by McClellan to command the Army of the Ohio and to organize the Union forces in Kentucky. He marched on Bowling Green on February 6, 1862, and drove the Confederates temporarily back into Tennessee.

⁶³ Supra, Nov. 13, 1861, note 37.

⁶⁴ Randolph B. Marcy, West Point graduate of 1832 who had served In Mexico, on the frontier, and in Florida. He was McClellan's chief-of-staff until McClellan was displaced and then he was sent to the West on inspection duty.

⁶⁵ For an interesting study of this problem of the assumption of supreme military command by Lincoln see Sir Frederick Maurice's Robert E. Lee, the Soldier, 73-75, 223-224, and his Statesmen and Soldiers of the Civil War, 59-117.

⁶⁶ Supra, Nov. 16, Nov. 27, Dec. 25, 1861.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, The Diary of Edward Bates, published in The Annual Report Of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930 Volume 4, p. 217-9

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, February 9, 1862

CAMP PIERPONT, VA., February 9, 1862.

Is not the news from Tennessee glorious? ^l  It is very important in a strategical point of view, as it enables us to get in the rear of both Columbus and Bowling Green, and cut off the communication and supplies from these places, compelling their evacuation, which effected, we can attack them in the open field. Dranesville, Mill Spring, and Fort Henry prove most conclusively that they are not invincible, and will run just as soon, if not sooner, than we will. They have had a most beneficial effect on our morale, and I think all hands are now here looking forward to the period when we can do something.

___________

¹ The surrender of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, February 6, 1862. The Federal troops under Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, and the gun-boats under Commodore A. H. Foote, defeated the Confederate troops under Brigadier-General Tilghman. The Confederates surrendered after the attack by the gunboats and just as the Federal troops arrived.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 245

LOUISVILLE, Feb. 3, [1862]

Capt. H. M. Fogg, of Nashville, a member of Zollicoffer’s staff, who was wounded near Somerset, is dead.  Maj. Cliff, surgeon of Somerset, is here and will be sent to Bowling Green on Tuesday, to be exchanged. – It is thought that Gen. Buell will arrange for the exemption of all surgeons from arrest hereafter.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport Iowa, Tuesday Morning, February 4, 1862, p. 1

The Rebels taking a gloomy View of their Situation

The following significant article from the Richmond Examiner of the 16th inst., shows that the rebels are uncomfortably oppressed by the view of their present situation:

* * * “While the political leaders of the South have been reposing in dreams of approaching peace and while our accomplished captains of engineers have been expending their remarkable scientific ingenuity in the erection of works as wonderful, and almost as extensive and quite as valuable as the Chinese wall to resist invading forces from a given direction, the enemy have gradually and at leisure gathered up their immense resources and concentrated their tremendous energies to envelope the Confederacy with their armies and fleets and to penetrate the interior from some one of many alternate points.  Although they can now do nothing, they have their general programme in perfect order for execution when the weather changes in the ordinary course of the earth around the sun and it this moment we find ourselves in the face of superior forces wherever we look whether to the North, the East, or the West, or the South itself.  General Sydney [sic] Johnston has to strain every nerve to prevent the military as well as the geographical heart of the country from slipping out of his grasp.  Generals Joseph Johnson [sic] and Beauregard are held by McClellan on the Potomac as in a vice.  A gigantic armament is ready to attempt the descent of the Mississippi, and their fleet on the Atlantic seacoast and the Gulf are too freshly before the attention to require remembrance.  Such are the fruits of a policy purely defensive.  Without even the hesitancy which would come of a possible interruption, the enemy have thus surrounded the Southern Confederacy, and if permitted to repeat as often as may be desired their efforts to penetrate its heart, they will necessarily attain the place and the time where success awaits them.

“There is now but one chance of success from the net that has been coolly drawn around us. – it is to concentrate our energy on one point, and cut it through, to convert our defensive into an offensive war, and transfer the scene of at least part of these hostilities to the enemy’s own country.  Situated as we are it is only possible at one point – and that is Kentucky.  If the forces that we are dispersing to the four corners of the continent every day to meet the new menaces were collected under the hand of General Sydney Johnson [sic] till a column was formed sufficient to enable him to manoeuvre with some possibility of success over the plains of that region he might hurl back the army in front of him, at present, and penetrate the State of Ohio.  The attainment of the object would render worthless all the plans of the enemy.  The circle of armies would be in the condition of the constrictor whose back has been broken, the scene of war would be transferred to his own territory, and everyone who has witnessed the ravages of armies in any of the invaded districts of Virginia knows what a precious blessing is designated in that brief phrase.  He would be attacked beyond his defences.  The alarm and confusion of the United States would paralyze its Government and its Generals, and the entire arrangement by which we suffer now and dread great disasters in future would be immediately reversed.

“At present Gen. Johnson confronts superior forces of the enemy under Buell, one of the most cautious painstaking and able Generals on the other side.  General Buell has now; immediately in front of Johnson, an army of seventy six thousand men (Yes, 110, men – Eps) and can bring to bear on us, and other given points, thirty thousand more.  What the Confederate commander has may not be stated, but it is probably enough to hold his present strong position against any numbers that might attack him there or pass him on either side, get to his rear and cut off his supplies.  This he can do by leaving a sufficient army in front of Gen. Johnson while he can still send upon the right or left flank a force as large as he leaves behind.  That this is the plan of Buell is now no longer doubtful.  He has placed a force of 8,000 men at Glasgow, thirty miles to the eastward of Bowling Green threatening the rear of Gen. Johnson while it is within easy supporting distance of two other posts held in strong force by the enemy.  If the plan of Buell is successful it may result in a great disaster.  To defeat him it is absolutely necessary that more men should at once be sent to Bowling Green.  Gen. Johnson must have a force sufficient to attack Buell in front with a good chance of success and by so doing will not only defeat his scheme on the centre of the Confederacy, but immediately transfer the war to the State of Ohio, and thus save the whole South from the great danger of being overrun in the first fine weather of the coming spring.

“We are satisfied that, beyond the flattering possibilities of a foreign intervention, the only rational hope we can entertain of a speedy termination of this war, is to be found in an offensive campaign across the Ohio, from the point that Gen. Johnson now defends.  The best line of advance imaginable to strike at the vitals of the North which are the Lake States, is that through Kentucky.  The country is a plain, the people are not actively hostile, supplies without stint and the great resources of the North are beyond.  The enemy understand this and are making tremendous efforts to secure Kentucky to them without the possibility of escape.  This season of inaction, from the inclemency of the skies, is a precious boon of Providence to us, we can now determine on a plan, and prepare for its execution in a short time, that will render naught and abortive all the costly and complicated devices of the adversary.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 4

From Kentucky

NEW YORK, Jan. 25. – A Memphis dispatch of the 21st reports that 12,000 Federals are at Murray, Ky., threatening Fort Henry and the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, their object being to cut off communication between Columbus and Bowling Green.  The report is perhaps founded on the recent movements from Cairo.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 4

Signs of Despair among the Rebels

The tone of the Southern press grown more and more desponding.  We observe several recent articles from Southern newspapers which show that hope and confidence are wavering in view of the situation.  It is quite evident that there is a foreboding of the end now apparently near and inevitable.

The Richmond Examiner of the 16th of instance “sees but one chance of success from the net that has been coolly drawn around us, it is to concentrate our energy on one point and cut it through to convert our defensive into an offensive war and transfer the scenes of at least a part of these hostilities to the enemy’s own country.  Situated as we are, it is only possible at one point, and that is Kentucky.”

But since the time when the Examiner discovered one possible point in Kentucky the army of Zollicoffer, which held the key to Tennessee has been utterly routed and dispersed.  The examiner anticipated the movement and declared that if the plan of Buell – that is of flanking Bowling Green on either side – was successful, it must result in a great disaster.  “Its only hope then was in an offensive campaign across the Ohio from the point that Gen. Johnston now defends.”

But when the intelligence which had not then reached Richmond, of the utter rout of Humphrey Marshall’s forces at Prestonburg and of Zollicoffer’s defeat at Somerset, which took place three days afterwards, became fully know that “only hope” must have perished.

The Richmond Whig of the 17th apparently to counteract the discouraging effect of the Examiner of the day previous, said, “Let us turn for a moment to the West, Price, Polk, Marshall and Zollicoffer having whipped the cowardly mercenaries at every point.”  Of course this was intended to cheer up the despondent Southern ear, but how much more disheartening must be the reaction when the truth was known.

The Richmond Dispatch discovers that even in Richmond there are men who are loyal to the Union and the fervor of its denunciation of such indicate clearly the fear that Union sentiments may become contagious as the fortunes of the Confederacy from day to day become more gloomy.

The Trenton (Tennessee) Standard “regrets to say considerable evidence of disloyalty to the Confederate Government has been manifested in West Tennessee,” designating the counties of Carroll, Weakly and McNairy as the localities of formidable Unionism and resistance.  In that part of the State, too, where secession in the start, had unresisted and absolute sway.

The articles we recently published from the Memphis Argus, where filled with the most bitter hostility to Jeff. Davis and his conduct of the war.  There would be no utterances of that sort – no recrimination so intensely wrathful except in the abandonment of all hope of present success under his auspices.

All these things clearly denote the growing suspicion, at least in the minds of sharp intelligent observers of events, that the catastrophe is not very far off.  They perceive how completely they are beleaguered by hostile forces on every hand – that the Port Royal expedition is still in potential activity in the heart of South Carolina, that Burnside’s expedition, whatever the point to which it is directed, will meet no adequate opposing force; that Butler has a position on the Gulf coast where he can assail either Mobile or New Orleans at pleasure; that Lane’s expedition will soon move down through Arkansas and Louisiana irresistible.  In short, turn which way they will, now that the hope of our instant war with England, on which they counted, is dissipated, there is nothing but black, rayless despair. – {St. Louis Democrat.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 3

From Cairo

CAIRO, Man 28. – The river is still rising.  Six feet more will sweep over Fort Holt.

All kinds of reports are in circulation this evening in regard to a fight in Missouri.  The latest is that Gen. Payne is likely to cut off Jeff Thompson’s retreat at Sykestown, as it is believed that he cannot reach New Madrid by any other route, the late rains having filled the swamps with water, thus rendering them impassable.

Troops are still arriving.  A regiment from St. Louis arrived this evening.

Col. Doughtery made a contact with a Connecticut Yankee to-day for a new leg.  It is warranted superior to the original with the exception that should a ball strike it would bleed.

I learned from good authority to-day that the Chaplain in Col. Lawler’s regiment never makes his appearance except on pay day.

Quatermaster Baxter left for Washington on Saturday morning.  Capt. Turnley arrived to-day and will take possession as District Quartermaster.

Contractors are not so numerous as they were a few days ago.  Some of the railroad men are still smelling around after contracts.

CAIRO, Jan 29. – The 12th Iowa Regiment, Col. Wood, arrived yesterday.  It left for Smithland last evening.  It is armed with the Enfield rifle.

The 16th Illinois and the 18th Missouri Regiments are on the road hither.

The force composing the expedition which left Bird’s Point on Saturday are returning. – Nothing was accomplished except the capture of a number of Thompson’s men.

The country beyond Charleston was found to be infested with Guerilla bands who are plundering every one Union and rebel alike, but they would not make any stand for battle.

The Federal troops marched nearly to Sykestown.  Gen. Payne has determined to occupy Charleston.  For that purpose a regiment of infantry and a detachment of cavalry will remain at that place.

A large rebel mail containing several hundred letters, has been captured above this place on the Mississippi river.  It contained letters of importance from Bowling Green and other rebel camps.

It is now snowing hard here.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 2

Matters at Bowling Green & Conflict near at hand – Floyd and McCulloch at Bowling Green

(From the Nashville Banner, Dec. 30)

The Nashville Banner has an interesting letter from Bowling Green, dated the 30th ult., from which we gather the following extraction:

Ten days since an engagement of no small magnitude was imminent in the quarter – Divisions and columns and batteries were driving forward, and our leaders urging on the advance.  The enemy at Green river was in heavy force, and expecting continually to be joined by their entire and immense army, which was moving down, while their advance were thrown, menacingly, across the stream.  The two armies were thus in close proximity and advancing.  This state of things certainly justified the general expectation of an immediate fight, and quickened the public pulse as regarded the result.  Since that time considerable change has taken place in the military status.  Hindman’s forces, which formed our advance, have fallen back this side of Cave City, while the Federals, frightened by the warm reception given them by the lamented Col. Terry, have for the most part retreated beyond Green river.  The brigade of General Breckinridge is encamped about twelve miles above here while the Kentucky cavalry still remains in possession of Glasgow.  The Federal force this side of Green river is variously reported, but it is fair to presume, from the best information at hand, that it numbers from three to five thousand.  They, for the present seem disinclined to retake a hasty advance.

Mentioning the return of the Texan Rangers the letter says:

They represent the Federals are being afraid of fight, and not anxious to attempt an advance.  They confirm the reported estimate of the army this side of Green river, via that it is from three to five thousand.  On the 29th, the Federals, in heavy force, estimated by some at seven thousand, appeared on the North bank of Green river opposite Brownsville, which is in Edmonson county, and distant from this place 24 miles.  Their actions and manners indicated a design to attempt the crossing of the river, if any such design, however, were entertained, it was abandoned, as none of them have been seen south of the river in that region.

THE CONFLICT NEAR AT HAND

Notwithstanding the falling back of troops on both sides, and the non occurrence of any exciting event during the past ten days, multiplied in numbers and more mighty on the rebound, the two armies are about rushing together for mastery in the conflict.  Our future, and perhaps yours, is to be decided, and soon, too, by the stern arbitrament of the sword.  Like Camilius of old, we throw our steel in the scales before the advancing and extorting Gauls, and tell them it is with that alone we purchase liberty.  The vast accessions referred to as being daily made to the Federal army, and the eagerness they exhibit to find out everything relating to our forces and movements, coupled with the fact that thirty thousand more of their mercenary hordes have been authorized for immediate service in Kentucky, show that they intend to move forward with every available means they can command.  On our side, every indication goes to show an early conflict impending.  Our generals, ever alert, exhibit increased vigilance and activity.  One day they are on the advance lines, the next, inspecting positions, the third reviewing their troops.  They are here, there and everywhere.  Vast reinforcements are pouring in at a rate more rapid than anything that has yet been witnessed.  On arrival, quarters are immediately assigned them, the localities being selected before they reach here.

The instructions are to be ready for any emergency.  A few days since, the Forty-first Tennessee, a full, brave and splendid looking regiment, reached here.  Just after them came three Mississippi regiments.  Yesterday, the entire force from Camp Beauregard arrived. – General Bowen’s entire division, 7,000 strong, are coming – two of the regiments reached here to-day.  They were the Twenty-second Mississippi, Col. Bonham, and the Twenty-second Tennessee.  The others will follow to-morrow.  General McCulloch, the world renowned Ben, is on his way here, with his redoubtable troopers, and General Floyd and his forces, it is stated this evening that he had arrived at Gallatin, whence he would take up his line of march for Scottsville, Kentucky. – If this be true, he is designed to co-operate with Zollicoffer.  Scottville, is twenty five miles east of this place, immediately on the main turnpike leading to the Central part of Kentucky.  Cavalry, artillery, and heavy batteries are also daily coming, in large quantities.  The great conflict, then, though it may not take place as soon as recent events may have led us to suppose, is near at hand, and cannot be deferred.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 1

Appearances indicate that Gen. McClellan’s plan . . .

. . . of operation is something as follows.  As a part of our forces in Kentucky shall advance into Tennessee the remainder, with those at Cairo will operate against Bowling Green.  Forcing the Confederates to abandon this position, their retreat will be cut off, and their condition will be precarious.  Meanwhile the Mississippi flotilla will proceed upon its mission.  If the Burnside expedition shall obtain possession of the North Carolina Railroad, the rebel connection between Virginia and the cotton states will be cut off.  The army at Manassas, thus isolated, must leave its entrenchments either to attack Gen. McClellan or retreat.  If the former result is not doubtful, if the latter, with what power will Gen. McClellan fall upon its rear?

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 1

An Incident of the Rebel Retreat from Bowling Green

The Louisville Journal says:  When General John Cabal Breckinridge started in retreat from Bowling Green, the Cavalry, under B. H. Helm was at Glasgow, and went by what is known as the upper turnpike to Nashville.  The infantry regiments went by the lower turnpike.  These roads unite near Goodlettsville, Tennessee. – When the infantry arrived at this point, Helm’s cavalry was only for miles distant; a report had gained credence that the approaching cavalry was the Union advance under General Mitchel.  This completely stampeded the Southern chivalry, and those gallant officers, all in search of their lost rights, put their men at a double quick, and after going at this pace for five miles and throwing away many knapsacks, blankets, arms, &c., they were overtaken by the cavalry, who had been considerably accelerated on seeing the road strewn with the aforesaid articles of war.  Col. Helm was as much surprised to find his brother rebels drawn up in line of battle in a cornfield as they were pleased and mortified at their disgraceful scare.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 1

From Louisville

LOUISVILLE, March 18. – Yesterday morning the train for Bowling Green to Nashville was intercepted at Gallatin by a party of rebel cavalry under the notorious Captain John Morgan who ran the train off the track and took prisoner about thirty bridge builders employed to erect a bridge over the Cumberland river.

A locomotive of the Memphis branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad exploded at Russelville depot yesterday, killing the engineer, conductor, porter and a brakeman.  This closes communication on the branch for the present.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 3

Brigadier General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February 3, 1862

HEADQUARTERS, CAMP OF INSTRUCTION,

BENTON BARRACKS (near St. Louis, Mo.),

Feb. 3,1862.

Dear Brother:

. . . . . . . . . .

I am still here at the Barracks doing my best to organize, equip, and prepare regiments for the coming Spring. . . .

I believe an attempt will be made on the Forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers in co-operation with Buell who finds with his 120,000 men he still needs help. I rather think they will come up to my figures yet. Halleck is expected to send them from 30,000 to 50,000 men. Had this been done early and promptly, the Confederates could not have made Bowling Green and Columbia next to impregnable. Until these places are reduced it will not do to advance far into Tennessee and I doubt if it will be done. East Tennessee cannot exercise much influence on the final result. West Tennessee is more important, as without the navigation of the Mississippi all commercial interests will lean to the Southern cause. If the Southern Confederacy can control the navigation of the lower Mississippi, and European nations from the mouths of the Mississippi, what can Missouri and Kentucky do? These are, however, questions for the future. . . .

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman letters: correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 139

Matters Settled, So Far

After the great disasters with which the war opened there was a very general and natural disposition at the North to attribute superior skill to the rebel commanders, if not better fighting qualities to the rank and file of their armies.  And they were not at all modest in arrogating to themselves the largest military superiority in every respect.  The boast that one southern man was equal to any half-dozen Yankees was not mere brag; the southerners believed it, and it was this noting that gave them such confidence of easy success in the rebellion.  The war has corrected these errors of opinion.  The rebels no longer talk of the superiority of their generals, or the more soldierly qualities of their men.  Indeed, they are very free to depreciate some of their ablest commanders and to disparage the courage of their soldiers, since the recent unexpected defeats.

It needs no great amount of military science to see that in the matter of strategy the southern leaders have been completely out-generaled.  Napoleon’s three conditions of success – to keep our forces united, to leave no weak point unguarded, and to seize with rapidity on important points – have been admirably adhered to on our side, while the enemy has been most thoroughly misled as to the general plan of the campaign, and has been compelled by superior strategy to abandon his most important and best fortified positions.  We may search the records of the most brilliant campaigns for a more admirable military movement than that up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, by which the evacuation of Bowling Green, Nashville and Columbus by the rebel armies was compelled, simply by the reduction of the forts on these two rivers.  And it was a genuine surprise to the rebel leaders, notwithstanding their general success in ferreting out the plans of the government.  They believed their western line impregnable, and the whole country looked to see it broken only by direct assault upon their strongholds.  With such an astounding record of defeats and retreats in a single month, it is not strange that the southern people begin to distrust the alleged superiority of their military commanders.

Their conceit as to the better fighting qualities of their men has collapsed with equal suddenness.  Indeed the fighting at Bull Run and Ball’s Bluff had opened their eyes with astonishment as to the courage of northern soldiers. – Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Roanoke Island have settled that matter, and the secession papers now concede that we are at least their equals in courage and endurance.  It is true that at Fort Donelson some desperate fighting was done by the rebels, but it was in the attempt to break through our lines and escape, under the inspiration of Pillow’s lie that if they were captured they would all be hung or shot.  At Roanoke Island the rebels did not fight well; they trusted wholly to the protection of their entrenchments, and when these were assaulted they fled as far as they could and then surrendered.  The southern papers justly reproach Wise’s army with cowardice.  But it has been true every where that the rebels have relied on their strong positions and defences rather than on the courage of their men, and when driven from their strongholds they have nowhere yet made a stand and encountered the Yankees in a fair and open fight.

Another boast of the Southerners has been that their armies were composed of gentlemen, and they really seemed to think themselves degraded by fighting with the “northern mudsills.”  We have seen something lately of the material of the rebel armies, and we find the officers vastly inferior to our own in intelligence and gentlemanly qualities, and the common soldiers for the most part ignorant and degraded to an extent scarcely conceivable at the north. – Thanks to our common schools, such ignorance and brutality as is general among the rebel rank and file is impossible in the free states.  In this ignorance lies the strength of the rebellion.  The conspirators have found these untaught men easy dupes; they have believed the false stories told them of the evil designs of the General Government and the Northern people, and their astonishment at the kind and generous treatment they have received as prisoners is manifestly sincere.  The correction of the false prejudices of the Southern people by the presence of our invading armies is one of the most important gains of the campaign, because it destroys they animus of the rebellion, so far as the Southern people are concerned, and prepares the way for a radical restoration of the Union.  It is impossible that they shall not forever discard the leaders who have deceived them to their hurt, just as soon as they come to understand the true state of the case.  But the fact that the rebellion is a fraud on the part of the leaders and delusion on the part of the Southern people does by no means preclude the necessity of fighting the thing out.  On the contrary, that is the only way to reach the evil and correct it.  It is impossible to undeceive the people of the South by any other process than the defeat and destruction of the rebel armies and the re-establishment of the authority of the government in every State.  Successful fighting will dissipate all error and prejudices and settle all vexed questions.  Talk about amnesty, conciliation, compromise, or any indirect method of adjustment, is only a waste of time and strength. – The thing is to be fought through; the disease is too radical to be cured in any other way, and when the last rebel army is dispersed, and the last rebel conspirator hung or banished, it will be time enough to take up the political problems growing out of the rebellion – and then we shall probably find that the war itself has solved the most difficult and important of them. – {Springfield Republican.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 2

The London Times on the Fall of Fort Henry

A success has been achieved by the Federal arms in the reduction of a work called Fort Henry, on the Tennessee river, and the capture of its garrison, consisting of sixty men.  The narrative of the action does not present any feature of interest.  It was the usual American fighting a long cannonade on both sides with little loss, and then a surrender, hailed with loud rejoicings by the victors.  In this case there would hardly have been a casualty had not a shot struck the boiler of one of the gunboats and scalded to death thirty-two of her crew.  But though as a military exploit, the capture of Fort Henry calls for little notice, yet the intelligence is interesting as showing the position of the contending parties in the West, and the course with which the warfare in that region is taking.

Gen. Beauregard, who is said to have taken a command of the Confederate army of the West, has no doubt been directed to defend the country in the neighborhood of Bowling Green, and to prevent any march from that region to Nashville, the capital of Tennessee.  Provided he refrains from the foolhardiness which led to the late defeat, it is probable that the advance of the Federal troops southward can be effectually checked by an inferior force holding the strong positions which present themselves in a rough forest country.

The scheme of the Federals for the deliverance of Kentucky and the invasion of Tennessee, if carried out with energy, will test the strength of the South in that region severely.  Of the resources of the Confederates is difficult to form an estimate, but it is probable that they do not want men, however deficient they may be in arms and gunpowder. – The dispatch of Gen. Beauregard shows that they are fully aware of the importance of the Western campaign, and as the North also has an active General at the head of its army, we look for a display of energy on both sides as soon as the spring is sufficiently advanced.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 2