Article regarding Civil War events occurring in Kentucky during 1861

Stickles, Arndt

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Western Kentucky UniversityTopSCHOLAR®Faculty/Staff Personal Papers WKU Archives Records2-16-1962UA37/37 The Year 1861 in Brief Review ofAmerican Civil War with Emphasis on KentuckyArndt SticklesFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/fac_staff_papersPart of the Military History Commons, Political History Commons, and the United StatesHistory CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty/Staff Personal Papers by anauthorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact todd.seguin@wku.edu.Recommended CitationStickles, Arndt, "UA37/37 The Year 1861 in Brief Review of American Civil War with Emphasis on Kentucky" (1962). Faculty/StaffPersonal Papers. Paper 54.http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/fac_staff_papers/54( ( Tflli Y ,,1..1. 1861 1:: mU:-l' I~ ..... VI .... ~i OF A;,.;.auCAJr CIVIL .j'l~l ~jITH K .l')JI,~rs o:~ KJ';mUCKY The brief sunu:ary of leading evnnts in 1861, the 0poning year of' the terrible c)'isLs which befell the United States , attellpts only to brinb then in their sequence with little of detaiL It is inportant to note ttlat all through tne hittQr ca,npaign for priJsiden"tt in tile sunmer of 1860, Southern leaders rcpeat:·~dly w3.rned tnat silOllln Abraham LincDln be clectm, the South woul d se(;c«e. South Carolina made good t his t hreat and scdedect December 20, 1860 0 3eforc the end of January, 1861, Alabama, Florida, GeoJ:'~ia, Lcnisi.ann , ississiopi , i:. id 'Te'.:iS folloiTOO s'lit . The die :vas cast nore certainly tban ~ll om Ceasar crossed t.l\3 _rub:;'COll <l:1r; the '!los t t errible Civil liar in l'odcrn History began . TIle SE->ven, aJl cotton states, WL.icil had svceded , sent. delc3at ~s to a cmvent ioll asseMbled at -:ontgom8l)', Alabama, on February 8 ~ I t adopt.ed a provisional constitution and organ: zed the Confeder acy . A provlsj anal conl.iross was 0!'bani7-'!<i , wbich chose Jef~·eraon Lavis of }.1Lssissip:)i as President, ar:d Alexarrlcr H. St::!phens of Georgia. as V: ce- Presid8nt . '1'h Southern leaders ignored laxf,l1ly eV8ry otl,er is sure OXCf\Jt slavery in t heir denW1ciations of policies tnat they felt til8 ::orth had i!TI!Josoo upon tiO<~I . The:,;e leaders knew tl,at three- fourt hs of the population of the seceded states did not o\m slaves; howev er , t{"«:~,v r'"!ason ~d rightly that tho fear of freed negroes everywhere in their midst , wO'lld inaucc the nO!1- Glave holding population or the seceded states to be loyal to secession rnovcTIll.mt . Soon after the .... 09.1· of Ji'ort Sumpter, South Carolina, on April 14, four other stutes , Arkansas , Tcmes see , Nort h Sarolina and Virt;inia seceded , now a tot al of eleven • .. It \'/ashington tnere W"dS faltt:tr· ng tirudity, and a do-nothing policy on the part of the out-go':'ne Buchanun admnistra:tion . It hud been lp.ga1ly udv".s·!d by high authority , that w·hiL~ sCl.!ession nas illegal, the eXp.clltive part of the n<ltiona1 govaJ'l1mcnt wus po~·rf>.l·l::::ss to pr .... vcnt it . T.ile Dyes of the country wel'C ( ( 2. on Abraha:n Lincoln when he vtas ushered in as presidcr t on arch L. ,'Ihat he wOllld do was fairly nell understood from his lnuugral address which affirmed what he had for several years assertL.u , ttlat while he Uelievl~ slavery as an instit<ltion was wrong , he had no intention of interfering where it \;3.s legally acceptoo in many states , but lias very explicit , as ,'/&'5 the platform of the 11epubl.Lcan party toat had elected hi:1l, that there rust be no more extension of the slave s~~sten into free territory of' the United States. It should be noted that when the firs t call for troops came SQ.)n aft er the southern attack on Fort Sumpter, Lincoln emphatically assert~,d the tro.)ps nust $i:4ve the Union, and he onitted areu; :mt on other issu~s . In Kentucky , the governor , Bariah Magoffin of Bare,:r County, was <l. stronG Southern sympathizer, but did try to hold the state neut ral as between Nort.h and South , which for much of 1861, was the policy of most leading citizens of all parties . He turned do.om Lincoln l s first call for troops after the fall of rort Sumpter very curt~, but at the same time, denied help very mildly to the South ' s siflilar call. As the year advanced , it be camp. clear tnat holding Kentucky neutral was chimerical and unr.Jal , and both sides began to establi~h camps for enlistment and evon invasion" The regular lagislature of Kentucky met in short sessions three times in the first half of the year still dr"arning about noutrality; fact- onlism and quarrels between the two houses prevented any r8al constructive legislation from passing . However , the last session, before it adjourned for the results of the regular Augus t elections , did vote- m.'-mey to arm tne state against out-side attack, both Union and Confederatl'! o The enlisting and oreani~ation of the [[orne Guards great~ helped ti,e rapidly Growing Union sentirnlmt, \'fhich was much aided because it was encouraged by thf-l nat~ onal ad.:ninistration at ~'iashington o It is easi4' underst ood that Pr\1sident Lincoln did not want to lose Kentucky . ( 3. Due to the poll tical am aecti anal disputes , a special election was held for members of Congress on June 20. The rivaJ:r:.! and bitter i'0eling in Kentucky was intense, but there VIa:::; really only one issue; is the candidate fOJ:' the Union or the Confederacy? The Union side e l ected nine out of t en congressmen the state was allotted. then . The Union 1'o1'c08 had a majority of SS , 000, ",,.hich was well distributed over t.le state . Only the firs t district GOmprd.s· ng tlJe extreme .restern part of the state, voted for dis - Union . How-aViVr , the Conf(!deracy had been successful in the capture of Fort SUr'lpter" in April; also , it won the firs t battle of Bull Run in J uly . 'These victories ereatly encouraged the South . The regular e18ction for state officials which is held in November now, W"d.S then held in AUGUst . Again , as in June , when conercss.m'm were chosen by a special election , Union sentiment vms predominant , strone;cr than ever , and sevent y- six members of the hundred , which the s tate constitution then as now allotted for its house of repTf~sentatives , were pro- Union . In the state senate consisting of thirt:r - eight members , only one-hali of the membership vrdS c:lOsen then, but the neVI senate had t;funty- seven for the Union , all very disheartening to the South . Simon Bolivar Buckner, born in Hart County in 1821, was appointed to 11est Point Academy in 1540 and .vas graduated with high honor in 18h4e Governor J.:agoffin had apoointed him as state adjutant- general; as such , he co~letcly reo["ganized the state militia, hUd it in such good condition that the pro-Unionis t chareed him with having nade the bes t possible cont ribution to the Confederacy . In July he resigned his position in Kentucky; in August, he was offered for the second time , a posi t ion in the Union arncr . ,-is betrreen l..he orrer as a brigadier- g,mcral by both the Union and Confederacy, he CllOse the latter and. received his commission in early September. On Septenber 10, Genera l Albert Sydney Johnston, now a full general in the Confodera te ilI'l'l\f , himself a Kentuckian and Hes t Pointer, was assigned t o ( 4. Tennessee and Kentucky ~ A few days later he decided to seize Bowling Gr ~en, then regarded as the most strategic point to guard t~ashville . The tmm had about 2500 population , had the In'lin line or the L &. N railroad. , river transportation , and a turnpike. It should 00 stated tnat the ra:i,.lroad branch line to ':emphis was in operation only as far as CJD.rksville . General Johnston had declared that the occupation of' Bowling Green yrd.S necessary as nan ac..-t of sfllf-defense rendered by the action of the govornmrmt of Kentucky and by the evidence of intended movements of the Fedoral forces . It This makes plain what General Johnston thought of Kentucky neutrality. He arrived in October and established headquarters in the Samuel D. Blackburn house at the corner of loth and Adams Streets . As per the order of General Johnston, General Buckner on September 18 , entered Bowling Green aft.er a march from' unfordville lfith a small arnw of rav{ recruits , some cavalry, mostly infantry . Ho established hi·.self in WlIilt was then callt.,>d by the Confederacy the Central Division of Kentucky"~ He S0t up his headquarters in tnc home of John YounGlove, a prominont citizen . This home was located on State Street, between Eleventh and Twelfth , on the left 5 i.de as one leaves Park Row- and faces :7ost-ward . General Buckner at once rro.de an address to the people explaining why he carnl'} with an armed for(;e . Likewise , he wrote to Governor 1:.agoffin pr·:>mising to l.ave the city if the .Fed!-~ral troops Viould leave the st,,,te at places they had invaded at that time . It should be noted here that Conred~rate tro.Jps hHd in curly September seized Columbus and Hickman in 11estern Kentucky; General Grant for the Un:!.on had siezed Paducah on September 6 ; General Zollicoffer had on September 14 estab-lis ned a Confed~rate f:>rt at Cumberland Ford in l';Usti)rn Kentucky. It will be of interest to give an a"1proxi. ate esti.llIate at the end of 1861, of too enlistment of both Union and Confederate soldiers in Kentucky . Both si.des maintai.ned that tile response to volunteer.i ng of mon of military age was unsatisi'aetory , but tho Official i§:r ",w"",c",o"rrl""s state tllat 26 , 372 F.len had enlistod ( ( 5. in Kentucky Union regiments . A report made in February, 1662, b;:.' the Confederate Secret ary of dar , silO'l'fS that only '(,950 men from Kentucky had by t hat date j oined the Confederate arm;y " Those figures bear evidenc e of tne proponderate Union spnt~ mont as stated above, but it SHould bo noted trlat even if these figures are accurate , they do not fully state t he case . There is abundant evidence thc.t throughout the year many hundreds of Kentuck-ien s enlisted in tim regir:mnts of border s tates , true of both pro- Union a.nd pro-Confl~derate partisans 't.ho are not counted in either of the above reports . lor several weeks after the a:.c1'i val of General Buckner in Bovding Green, he SDent his time foraging , recruitinG in neighboring counties , in seizine control of the operation of tile railroad , and in destroying br::"dges . By a specific order from General Johnston , he destroyed the fine new bridge across Groen River at '~nfordville ; a task he did not r~lish doine , but r caUz0d it must be done to aid in holding Union forces north of the river . About this time, February 8, 1862 , General Bucknr reporLed to the Conf~dorate ':rar Offico at Idclmond he now had an ef fective army- of 6000 mp.J1 at Bowline Green . Nothing has been said about the pr.!ss of the state . Prior to tr-.e Auellst elec tion , the press had not b"~en nolested about its utteranC8s or circulatioll o After the election and its Union victory, too leeislature began to regulate the prr;ss . In LOuisville t11e paper tHat most ably sUPOlorted the Southern cause was tne Courier; als o in Inuisville , the Journal edit ed by the able George Do Prentice , who (iad loyally supported neutralit y , had now becone the leading Union paper in the stute , indued r a ted as the ablest defender of t he Union cause south of the Oh i o faver . He violent~, almos t dai~, attacked the Soutrlerners in Kentucky and elsewhere ; no otner cri t i c ever lambasted such leaders as Buc kner , Breckinridge , and General Hor gan as he did . The Union forces in the latter part of th~ year dcci dc>d tite l egislature should now regulate the press , and the loui sville Courier was among tile first to be suspend8d~ One of its editors , :rouben Durrett , V/aS ar.'estcd and imprisoned ; ( 6. another editor , N. N. HaldcnDn fled to Bowling Green . 'l'h''Jre \wile the Confederate arrqy Vias in control , Haldeman set up a rd.niature pross and issued the Courier . Toward the end of the year , no paper cO-lId c irculate in the state if it was thought dangerous to tne Union . Union camps for enlistrr!::!nt uoc<lr:\e plentiful, the Union flaG VIaS by legislatlve decree , to fly avo!" the state bu11d-'ngs , and other laws to strengthen toe cause w~re rapidly passed . The press supported the le~isl&ture lO,yally . I,any of tile bills passed and pr e-sented to Governor ?lagaffin, ware quickly vetoed but were qnic kly passed over the veto and becane laws . Under threat of impeachment , the govprnor had at least to pretend he was enforcing the laws of the ste.te . In t he rrd.dst of this confusion and turmoil , there was held -'_n tne Odd Fellows P.all in Russellville , a meeting called the Sovereignty Convention . It solemnly declared , for example , that they would resent by armed force the paym..mt of taxes to support the Lincoln legislature as they called i t . After the passage of a number of l' lawsu many of which were fantastic und.)r the c ircum-stances , it adjourned in November. It had decr'eed that Bo.vling Green snould be toe Capital of Ken ucky , because of the prot6ction of the Confedcrate arrrv there. Among its r.>any passed ll lawsl1 was one that establish~d a legislative council with t he power to choose state 0 ficials whep needed . For governor, George if. Johnson was chosen , and he with other appointed state offic ials of his group, proclaimed t!.emselves to be the true Kentuck} 5t<...te governr.l.,:mt. The Union pross ridiculed t he whole proc(wding without restr aint . Governor }-agoffin, bes ide his troubles with a Union l egis l atu r e , ned to deny that " Governor" Johnson and associates had any legal authority wi1at.,)ver in the commonwealth . By the end of the first year of the war, all anti-Union papers had been supJ'8sscd and Confederate camps got very little mail from anywhero. ( The Confederate goverrun~nt at Richmond admitted K ,ntucky as a state , it was allotted ten c ongressmen, and two senators. The new Confederate staLe governrent was practicB. ... .ly inoperative from the beginning and never gain(:d any authol'i ty or power. The year 1861, facing a crisis trlBt threatened the existence of the republic itself , dragged to an uncertain, tumult uous close " Fortunately , only one event occurred which threatened serious for0ign entanglement, the so- called Trent affair . Two Confederate env oys , Uessrs . 1,:USon and Slidell, were sent to England ostensibly to get help for their cause . They boarded a British unarmed mail steamer at Havana in November . Soon after thei r sailing Captain Otarles i'lilk(,s commanding the San Jacinto stoiJPed the Trent on the high sea, removed the envoys and sent them to Boston . The British press was infuriated ; the American Union press extolllX'! Capt&in Uilkes . Through the good graee and aid of Prinee Alber t , husband of Queen Victoria, and the common sense of the Lincoln administrat'"on, tue Vlnole matter was amicably settled the day after Christmas " The envoys Vlore free to go on their way unrnoL:sted . Captain ,'{ilkcs had v iolated international la\'lo No decisive battles had as yet been fOJ1ght , but both sides of our divided country , welOC grimJ-y deterinined to begin action over a much rlore extensive area at the beginning of the new year , 1862 . Writ ten by : Arndt M. Stickles Jackson , Mississippi February 16, 1962 

UA37/37 The Year 1861 in Brief Review of American Civil War with Emphasis on Kentucky

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UA37/37 The Year 1861 in Brief Review of American Civil War with Emphasis on Kentucky

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