According to orders
from our General, McNairy moved from Camp Hall. Leaving his wagon train and
camp equipage two or three hundred yards north of Mr. A. R. West's, and within
one mile of Mill Springs, he crossed the river with the main portion of his
Battalion, and took headquarters for the night with Branner's Battalion.
According to orders
previously mentioned, McNairy, having set out from Camp Hall with his battalion
early in the morning, got to the river opposite Rowena in advance of the
detachment from Beech Grove, and ordered Sergeant McLin to cross the river with
Company E and enter the town of Rowena, if he did not meet a superior force.
McLin crossed and boldly entered the town with about thirty men dismounted; but
he found no organized force of Federals there, and if any home guards were
there they did not make any show of resistance. About this time our cavalry
from Beech Grove came dashing into Rowena from an opposite direction, and a
warm collision was now about to ensue, but both parties happily discovered
their mistake just in time to prevent any damage.
After McLin's squad
had recrossed the river McNairy destroyed the ferry-boats and canoes which the
enemy had collected at that place.
Our Colonel
complimented McLin and his followers for having so boldly entered the enemy's
town, unsupported, and without knowing any thing about what force they might
have met.
I suppose that it
was only "home guards" that had been annoying our scouts at Rowena,
and that they fled on hearing of the approach of our men.
Our battalion
returned to Camp Hall, and the detachment that went down the north side of the
river returned with eleven prisoners. They reported that three of the enemy
were killed, and that one of our men was drowned in attempting to cross the
river.
When the news
reached Columbia last night that the Confederates were at Rowena, General Boyle
ordered a part of Wolford's and a part of Haggard's cavalry to Rowena and
Creelsborough.1 The latter place is between Rowena and Burkesville.
Wolford followed as far as Jamestown, and reported that our men left that place
between midnight and daylight this morning,2 but Colonel Haggard
reported thus:
Creelsborough, December 13, 1861, 1 A. M.
General Boyle:
DEAR
SIR: We reached this place at dark, expecting an attack. every moment since our
arrival. I placed pickets out upon every road reaching this place.
Our
pickets from the Rowena road have just come in, bringing us information that is
reliable that three hundred men had crossed the river at that point this
evening, and a large force on the opposite bank were crossing (said to be three
thousand at least).
D.
R. HAGGARD,
Colonel
Cavalry.3
Our men had all
returned to their camps several hours before Colonel Haggard penned the above
"reliable information.”
On the 12th General
Boyle wrote to General Thomas thus:
The
rebel cavalry who crossed the Cumberland into Russell County (at Rowena) have,
it is reported, killed fifty or sixty of the loyal and defenseless citizens.4
Though he wrote as
follows to Thomas the next day:
The
people, even the good Union people, circulate the most devilish lies in regard
to the enemy, and our own scouts, without they are selected with care, are not
reliable.
The
rebels were at Rowena and shot two or three men, but killed none.5
1 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 494.
3 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 497.
4 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 494.
5 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 498.
As Captain Allison
was now relieved from escort duty, and also of his prisoners, and as the sick
boys were improving, he and I went to camps, leaving three of our company to
wait on the four sick. We found the battalion at Camp Hall, where I left
it the third instant.
Our battalion moved
about ten miles that afternoon and camped for the night within six miles of
Mill Springs.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second
Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 97-8
According to orders
from Zollicoffer, McNairy moved his battalion back to Camp Hall, where he
remained for about nine days longer.
COMMENTARY.
It would seem that
while at Richmond, in the latter part of last month, Major-General George B.
Crittenden was directed by President Davis to proceed to East Tennessee, assume
command of all the forces under Zollicoffer, and with ten additional regiments,
to be furnished by the President, move into Kentucky at once. Accordingly
Crittenden arrived at Knoxville and assumed command “about the first day of
December.1
On the 6th he
dispatched for the ten regiments,2 and on the 8th he received the
following from the Secretary of War:
The
President desires that you return to Richmond and report to him without delay.3
On the 16th he wrote to the Adjutant and Inspector-General, S. Cooper, at Richmond, as follows:
General
Zollicoffer is threatened by a much superior force in front and one nearly
equal on his left flank. He has been ordered by me to recross the river.
He
asks for six pieces, twenty-four pounders or eight inch howitzers. Colonel
Powell's regiment has been ordered from the railroad to join Zollicoffer
immediately, and Colonel Leadbetter informed, so that he can replace the guard
it withdraws.
To
make General Carroll's brigade effective it is necessary to obtain eight
hundred muskets, which are known to be in ordnance office at Memphis. Please
order William R. Hunt, ordnance officer at that point, to forward them
immediately to this place, subject to my order.4
1 Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 763.
4 “So ordered same day.” Rebellion
Records, Vol. VII., p. 770.
McNairy's Battalion moved up to “Camp Hall,” within seven miles of Monticello and within sixteen miles of Mill Springs, where it remained several days.
Having learned that one of my brothers, W. C. Hancock, was sick at headquarters, I went to see and wait on him. On reaching Mr. West's I found that J. W. Kennedy, E. L. Ewing, B. F. Odom, and John Herriman, all belonging to Allison's company, were sick, as well as my brother. Notwithstanding Mr. West was a “Union man," he was very kind to us, especially to our sick boys.
SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 89
Brother Ben and four others of Allison's Company left Mr. West's to rejoin our battalion at Camp Hall, seven miles beyond Monticello.
Zollicoffer sent out two companies of cavalry to see if they could learn what had become of the enemy.
Before reaching the upper ford on Fishing Creek they found a Federal cavalry picket, consisting of one company of Wolford's Regiment, under Captain Dillon.
This company broke and a lively chase ensued.
Lieutenant Dine was posted a little beyond the upper ford, on the road leading to Somerset, with about thirty infantry from the Thirty-fifth Ohio1 (Colonel Van Derveer). Dillon's fugitives refused to halt or give Dine's men any assistance, but pressed on to camp near Somerset. When our men struck the infantry picket above mentioned, they (the enemy) were soon killed, captured or dispersed, after which our cavalry followed Dillon's men nearly to Somerset. According to Zollicoffer's report, the enemy's loss was ten killed and sixteen captured, one of whom was badly wounded; and our loss one man and one horse wounded, and two horses killed. I take the following from Colonel Van Derveer's report:1
We killed one of their officers in command of the advance, one of their horses, and captured one horse. Our own loss was one killed, one wounded, and fifteen missing.
In reference to the above affair General Schoepf wrote to General Thomas thus:
The cavalry under my command, as usual, behaved badly. They are a nuisance, and the sooner they are disbanded the better.
Is there no such thing as obtaining a
regiment of reliable cavalry? Such a regiment is indispensable with this
brigade at this time. The absence of such troops has kept me in the saddle
until I am nearly worn down with fatigue.3
1 Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 9.
2 Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 8.
All of our company, except eight, had rejoined the battalion at Camp Hall. Our sick boys and wounded prisoners—still at Mr. West's—were improving
McNairy's scouts, on the south side of the river, continued to be annoyed by the enemy's firing across the river at them from Rowena, some thirty miles below Mill Springs. Zollicoffer having now “determined to punish the enemy” at that place, ordered McNairy to go down the south side of the river the next day to a point opposite Rowena, while another detachment of cavalry was to go from Beech Grove* down the north side to the same place.
* This was the name of Zollicoffer's camp on the north side of the river.
