|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
FORMATION OF THE 10TH KENTUCKY CALVARY
(EXCERPTS
FROM 10TH KY.CALVARY BY JOHN BRITON WELLS III)
For
a few, brief hours on October 4, 1862, the hopes of pro-Southern ,
Kentuckians
seemed realized. The Confederate campaign for Kentucky remained ,
unchecked
as General Braxton Bragg prepared to install a new Governor in the
recently
occupied state capitol. The Honorable Richard C. Hawes was formally
introduced
to the cheering crowd as "your powerful chief magistrate."
However,
Governor Hawes had barely concluded his inaugural address
before
the distant roar of Union artillery shattered the triumph. Less than eight
hours
after his inauguration, Confederate Governor Hawes accompanied Bragg's
retreating
forces out of Frankfort. The battle for Kentucky remained to be
fought,
but the abandonment of the capitol caused many Confederate sympathizers
to
already sense defeat.
Less
than four days later, the standoff battle of Perryville ended all hopes
for
Kentucky's liberation. At a council of war held on October 12th, Bragg and t
virtually
all of the senior officers present voted to retreat. By the time the main !
Confederate
armies passed through Cumberland Gap, the only sizable Confeder-
ate
force still in the state was the "Army of Eastern Kentucky. "
Commanded
by Kentuckian and Brigadier General Humphrey Marshall, I
the
"Army of Eastern Kentucky" was composed mostly of Virginia and Ken-
tucky
mountaineers. Initially forming the eastern-most wing of Bragg's advance, to
the
army moved from its base in southwestern Virginia in late August through
the
mountains into the heart of the Bluegrass. Ironically, the army was camped
near
Lexington when the campaign climaxed at Perryville, so these mountain '
men
were destined to be mere bystanders when the fate of their native state was ,
decided.
The
Confederacy's failure to hold Kentucky shattered the morale of
Marshall's
command. Captain E. O. Guerrant, a member of Marshall's staff,
described
the subsequent retreat in his diary as "the funeral march of dead hopes
and
joys and expectations." One of Marshall's regiments was the 5th Kentucky
Infantry.
Organized for twelve months service on October 21, 1861, the 5th was
composed
of "hardy, raw-boned, brave mountaineers." Known as the "Ragga-
muffin
Regiment," this was the unit described by the pro-Confederate Louisville
Courier
in 1861 as "burning with desire to drive out the Abolitionist hordes of
King
Lincoln, who have dared invade the sacred soil of Kentucky." However,
these
mountain rebels were different from their Bluegrass brethren. As a result
of
generations of geographical isolation and separatist social tradition, they were
a
more locally-oriented people. Parochial issues and conflicts dominated their
political
decision-making while national concerns often were of secondary inter-
est.
To the mountain men, "the sacred soil of Kentucky" meant their native
hills
and
bottoms.
Frustrated,
Gen. Marshall wrote to the Confederate Secretary of War "when it was
expected they [the 5th Kentucky Infantry] were to leave Kentucky... they said
their time was out, and they would not march out of Kentucky willingly."
The commanding officer of the 5th, Colonel Hiram Hawkins, in a dispatch to
Governor Hawes, added "they refuse to retreat out of the State I am
convinced that they prefer to be with us, and fight for us;
they
cannot quit their country and leave it in the hands of the enemy."
By
the time the retreat reached the little town of Hazel Green in Wolfe when the
war broke out, Marshall reported that the 5th would proceed no farther and
"wanted an honorable discharge.
"
Refusing to re-enlist, they ignored Marshall's pleas remain in the service.
Finally, on October 20th Marshall relented and the 5th Kentucky
Infantry was mustered out of service. Captain Guerrant lamented, magnificent
regiment vanished!
Guerrant's
assessment proved to be a bit too pessimistic. General Marshall observed that in
spite of the refusal to retreat into Virginia and the demand for discharges, he
believed that the mountain rebels eventually would continue fight. "After a
little rest [they will] re-enter the service, for they know they could not stay
at home." Unquestionably, some members of the regiment home never to take
up arms again, but the vast majority of the
return
to the Confederate standard. Indeed, enough veterans and recruits remained in
camp to provide the nucleus for a reorganized 5th Kentucky Infantry.
Led
by Colonel Hawkins, the regiment later saw distinguished service as part of
Kentucky's
celebrated "Orphan Brigade."
At
the same time many officers of the old organization merely regarded.
disbandment
as a long-awaited opportunity to reorganize the "Raggamuffins" as
stood
mountain
cavalry. Captain Ben Caudill of Letcher County had already made his Colonel
company
the core of a mounted infantry regiment. The former Baptist minister, they
had
nine full companies at Whitesburg by the time the old 5th ceased to exist. j was
This
unit became known variously as the 10th Kentucky Mounted Rifles and the the
13th
Kentucky Cavalry. Furthermore, Captain William Jason Fields of Carter
County
found many of his former comrades of the 5th willing to join his newly
formed
command, known officially as Fields' Kentucky Partisan Rangers.
Other
"Raggamuffins" organized as new companies of the 2nd Battalion of
Confederate
Kentucky
Mounted Rifles, or attached themselves individually to other mountain wards
commands.
But the local caveat remained. Marshall noted that even Caudill's East
new
command :'commenced to desert when it was expected they were to leave embark in
Kentucky.
Immediately, I directed Caudill to remain in Kentucky with his mercy of the
command
until further orders." Although they did fight outside the hills on ,
".I
occasion,
the primary goal of the mountain rebels was to protect their homes "
against
"the Abolitionist hordes of King Lincoln.
Determined
to follow Caudill's example, a number of former "Raggamuffins”
met
at Hazel Green to plan the organization of another new command.
Benamin
F. Day, a Morgan countian with prior service in the 27th Virginia
Infantry,
later recalled that Captains George R. Diamond of ..Lawrence County
Henry
Chapman Swango of Wolfe County, as well as Lieutenants Western
W.
Cox of Morgan County and Andrew Jackson Harris of Floyd County were
foremost
in attendance. Led by Andrew Jackson May, late colonel of the 5th '
Kentucky
Infantry, these mountain officers set out to recruit a regiment of
Cavalary
in the region between Piketon (now Pikeville) and West Liberty.
Known
throughout the Big Sandy River Valley for his fighting abilities, Andrew
Jackson"
Jack" May was the logical choice to lead the recruiting effort. A
resident
of Morgan County and a native of Floyd County, the thirty-two year :
attorney
raised a full company of Confederate volunteers in West Liberty when
the
war broke out. His ancestral home in Prestonsburg became a rallying
and
training center for Confederates from throughout the mountain region. May
also
had the distinction of commanding a detachment of the 5th Kentucky
first
major clashes in the mountains. His large scale ambush of Brigadier General
William "Bull" Nelson's Federals at the Battle of Ivy Mountain on
November 8, 1861, made him a hero overnight.
Writing
to Kentucky ,Confederate Congressman James W. Moore on February 26, 1863, he
afterwards revealed the reasons behind his decision to organize a new command.
Kentuckians,
he argued, were not willing to "go into another state and embark
in
this Revolution" while their homes and families remained at the , mercy of
the enemy.
"Kentuckians
are willing to fight," he continued, "but they want to fight in
Kentucky.”
May
supported his views by reminding Moore that the Confederate government had thus
far failed to protect the "lives, rights and property of Kentuckians."
He was convinced that thousands of Kentuckians would enlist if they could serve
in their native state. However, he warned that few were willing to serve beyond
its borders while Kentucky was "overrun by the foe.” May also recognized
the importance of defending southwestern Virginia and used it as an additional
reason for raising an East Kentucky regiment. In
addition
to serving as the gateway to Kentucky, southwestern Virginia was critical to the
overall Confederate war effort.
It
was also true that the time seemed ripe for Confederate recruiting in
Kentucky.
The outcry against Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
threatened
to undermine Union support in the crucial border state. While the
proclamation
did not apply to Kentucky, Lincoln's measure was loudly Condemned by many
Unionists. Scores of Kentucky Union officers openly resisted
the
measure, while many others tendered their resignations. May observed that i
"great
numbers of the Kentucky troops are deserting Lincoln's service, some
regiments
nearly breaking up." Many Kentucky Confederates, including May
himself,
hoped that the increasing hostility against Lincoln's administration
would
strengthen the Confederacy's hand. "Evidently," he noted, "our
cause is
progressing
throughout the state".
Although
East Kentucky has traditionally been regarded by historians as a
Unionist
stronghold, the region gave thousands of volunteers to the Confederate
cause.
Published results show clear-cut victories in the counties of Letcher, Pike,
Floyd, Breathitt, and Morgan. "Southern Rights" candidates also made
strong showings in Wolfe, Magoffm, and Perry.
Although
mountaineers did join the Union Army in large numbers, recent re-
search
suggests that the numbers of combatants supplied to both sides were
more
equal than previously suggested.
Determining
the reasons for this pro-Southern sentiment has confounded
historians
of the region. The vast majority of the recruits for May's new
regiment
were residents of the Kentucky counties of Pike, Floyd, Morgan,
Breathitt,
Lawrence, Wolfe, and Johnson, along with Buchanan County situated
just
across the Virginia border. Slavery was almost non-existent in this rugged
mountain
territory.
The
Louisville Courier later reported that Jack May's men not only sang
'Dixie"
and cheered for "Jeff Davis," but cursed "slave-stealers"
all through the
fight
at Ivy Mountain. Indeed, so convinced were mountaineers at Lincoln's
election
symbolized an abolitionisy triumph that their Unionist neighbors were
not
referred to as "Yankees," but rather as "Lincolnites" or
"Abolitionists." The
mountain
rebels were not about defending slavery per se, but only as much as it
'was
a part of their traditional way of life, a society they believed to be
threatened
by the radical "outsiders."
On
November 6, 1862, John M. Elliott reported to Confederate President
Jefferson
Davis that" A. J. May thinks if he could get authority to recruit a
regiment
he would... (raise) some one thousand men." Elliott requested authority in
May's stead noting that the ex-colonel was "a gallant gentleman and the
most
popular leader that resides in Eastern Kentucky. "
Finally,
on December 29, 1862, May, armed with General Marshall's
approval,
gathered up twenty Kentuckians in Russell County, Virginia. Crossing
the
frontier into Pike County, he set out to organize the scattered groups of
recruits
into a command that would spark a Confederate resurgence in the
Cumberland’s.
webmaster@civilwar.morganco.freeservers.com
Let Us Pray Our For Troops In Foreign Lands
The Civil War in Morgan County 2003
Free Southern Graphics at:
http://cybergifs.com/confederate/indexr1.html
Home