Raiding with Morgan

by Byron A. Dunn

  CHAPTER XVI.

  CALHOUN MAKES HIS REPORT.

  By keeping off the main roads and avoiding the towns, Calhoun had notrouble in making his way back into Tennessee. He had been gone nearly amonth, and was glad to see his old command, who gave him a royal welcome.He was showered with questions as to where he had been, but to each andevery one he would laugh and say, "Be glad to tell you, boys, but can't."

  "Thought you had deserted us," said his scouts.

  "Not till death," replied Calhoun. "I was on a secret mission. The Generalknows where I was."

  "It's all right then, but mark my word, there will be some deviltry goingon shortly," one of them remarked, sagely.

  As General Breckinridge was greatly interested, Calhoun did not make hisreport until that General could meet with Morgan. Then Calhoun gave adetailed account of all he had seen and heard. He was listened to withbreathless attention.

  "His report agrees perfectly with all I have heard," remarkedBreckinridge, much pleased. "I have had a dozen different agents in theNorth, and they all agree."

  "But you have not given us your own conclusions, Lieutenant," said Morgan.

  "It might seem presumptuous in me," answered Calhoun.

  "By no means; let us hear it," replied both generals.

  Calhoun, thus entreated, gave the conclusions he had formed, not from whathad been told him by the leaders of the Knights of the Golden Circle, butfrom his own observations. He was listened to with evident interest.

  "Your conclusions seem to be at utter variance with all that was told you,and every fact given," said Breckinridge. "You admit that dissatisfactionin the Democratic party is almost universal over the way the war is beingconducted; you say that we have not been deceived regarding the numbers ofthe Knights of the Golden Circle, that there are eighty thousand of theorder in Indiana alone, of whom forty thousand are armed; as you know,every member of that order has taken an oath not to take up arms againstthe South; that they believe in states' rights; that they will resist byforce the tyranny of the Federal government; and yet you say it is yourbelief that if General Morgan should invade the state, not a hand would beraised to help him. I cannot understand it."

  "I will try to make myself plain," said Calhoun. "The Democratic party issick and tired of the war, and want it stopped. They believe we can neverbe whipped, and in that they are right. But they love the Union, reverethe old flag. They indulge the vain hope that if the war were stopped, theUnion might be restored. We know how foolish that hope is. I speak of therank and file. Many of their leaders are notoriously disloyal, but theydeceive the people with fine words. They make the party believe that ifthe Republican party were only defeated, things would be as they were.

  "As to the Knights of the Golden Circle, the great mass who join it aretold it is only a secret political society. They scarcely comprehend itsoaths; they are kept in ignorance of the real motives of the order. TheseKnights hate the party in power with a bitter hatred. They are friendly tothe South, believe we are right; but mark my word, they will not fight forus. They are armed, but their idea is to resist the draft. Go among themto-day, and not one in a thousand would enlist to fight in the Southernarmy. Fighting is the last thing they want to do for either side. Forthese reasons I conclude that if General Morgan invaded Indiana he wouldreceive no direct aid from the Knights of the Golden Circle. I confessthese conclusions are entirely different from what the leaders told me.

  "As for the leaders, they are heart and soul with us. They want us tosucceed. If they dared they would rise in revolt to-morrow. They are doingall they can, without open resort to arms, to have us succeed. But theyare a band of conspirators. They want us to succeed, because they wantutterly to destroy the Federal Union. They want to break loose and form aNorthwest Confederacy. They dare not tell their followers this, but it iswhat they are working for."

  When Calhoun had stated his opinion, both Breckinridge and Morgan askedhim many questions. He was then dismissed. Unknown to Calhoun there werethree or four other Southern officers present, who had also been in theNorth. They were called in, and questioned on the points raised byCalhoun. Every one differed with him. They believed that if an opportunitywere presented the Knights would rise almost to a man at the call of theirleaders.

  Breckinridge and Morgan held an earnest consultation. Morgan was greatlydisappointed over Calhoun's report, for he had set his heart on making araid into Indiana and Ohio. He believed it would be the greatest triumphof his life, and with the Northwest in open revolt, the independence ofthe South would be assured.

  "Lieutenant Pennington must be mistaken," said Breckinridge. "Myacquaintance in the North is extensive, and I believe my friends therewill do just as they say they will."

  Before Morgan and Breckinridge parted, it was fully agreed that Morganshould make the raid. But when the subject was broached to Bragg, thatgeneral absolutely refused to sanction it. He gave Morgan permission tomake a raid into Kentucky and capture Louisville if possible. That was asfar as he would go, and even with that object in view, he limited Morgan'sforce to two thousand.

  Morgan apparently acquiesced in this decision of his commander; but in hisheart he resolved to disobey if, when he neared Louisville, he foundconditions at all favorable for the invasion of Indiana.

  Some time had passed since Morgan had made a raid, and the news that theywere again to ride north, probably clear to Louisville, was welcomed bythe rough riders. To them a raid was but a holiday. It did not take Morganlong to prepare. His men were always ready to move. "To Louisville," wasthe cry, "we want to call on George D.," meaning George D. Prentice, theeditor of the Louisville _Journal_.

  In all probability few men in the Confederate army knew that Morgan was onanother raid, until he was well on his way. This time he entered Kentuckyfarther east than was his custom, and the first intimation the Federalshad that he was in the state, he was crossing the Cumberland River atBurkesville. This was on the second day of July. The alarm was given. Thefrenzied Federals telegraphed right and left for troops to head offMorgan. It was thought that he intended to strike the Louisville andNashville Railroad again at his favorite place--Bacon Creek. General Judahhurried from Tompkinsville with a brigade to head him off, but his advanceunder General Hobson was struck at Marrowbone, and hurled back. This leftMorgan an open road to Columbia, and that place fell an easy prey on the3d.

  Leaving General Hobson to pursue Morgan, General Judah hurried back toGlasgow to bring up another brigade. But General Judah never overtookMorgan until days afterwards, and then he caught him at Buffington Island.

  As for Hobson, he stuck to Morgan's trail as an Indian sticks to the trailof his enemy. He followed him all through Kentucky, all through Indiana,all through Ohio, never but a few hours behind, yet never in strikingdistance until Buffington Island was reached.

  After leaving the forces of Judah and Hobson in the rear, Morgan hadnearly an open road to Louisville. The 4th found him at the crossing ofGreen River on the road between Columbia and Campbellsville. Here aportion of the Twenty-fifth Michigan, under Colonel Moore, was stronglyfortified, and a charge made by Morgan was bloodily repulsed. As bothJudah and Hobson were close in his rear, it would take too much time tobring these determined men to terms, and so Morgan, much to his regret,was forced to leave them, and pass on. The 5th of July found him atLebanon. The garrison under Colonel Hanson fought desperately, but wasforced to capitulate, and Lebanon with all its stores and three hundredand fifty prisoners was again in Morgan's hands.

  The next day found him at Bardstown, where twenty-five men of the FourthRegular Cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Sullivan, threwthemselves into a livery stable, strongly fortified it, and refused tosurrender. Here Morgan made a mistake. He should have left them and passedon; but angered that he should be defied by so few men, he determined tocapture them and it delayed him twenty-four precious hours. So enragedwere his men over what they considered the obsti
nacy of the brave littleband, that they began to misuse the prisoners, but Morgan stopped them,saying: "The damned Yankees ought to be complimented on their pluck."

  Never, in any of his raids, had Morgan met with so fierce resistance as onthis one. Cut to the quick by the numerous criticisms which had beenpublished in Northern papers, that cowardice prompted nearly every one ofthe surrenders to Morgan, these troops fought long after prudence shouldhave caused them to surrender.

  From Bardstown Morgan moved to Shepherdsville. He was now within strikingdistance of Louisville. Here it was that he fully decided, if he had notdone so before, upon the invasion of Indiana, instead of attempting thecapture of Louisville. At Shepherdsville he was on the Louisville andNashville Railroad, where a long bridge spans the Salt River. But he didnot stop to capture the garrison which guarded the bridge, nor did heattempt to burn it; time was too precious. Instead, he rode straight west,and on the 9th was in Brandenburg. Before him rolled the Ohio River,beyond lay the green hills of Indiana. It was the first time he had ledhis men clear to the Ohio River. The sight of Yankee land aroused them tothe utmost enthusiasm. They would have attempted to cross if ten thousandfoes had opposed them.

  Calhoun had had the advance into Brandenburg with instructions to sweepthrough the place, stopping for nothing, and to capture any steamboatswhich might be at the landing. This he did. Far in advance of the mainbody, he galloped into the town, to the astonishment and dismay of itscitizens.

  Two small steamboats were lying at the landing, and before the terrorizedcrews could cut the hawsers and drift out into the stream, Calhoun and hismen were on board and the boats were theirs.

  The means of crossing the river were now in Morgan's hands. But a freshdanger arose. A gunboat came steaming down the river from Louisville andopened fire. Morgan brought every piece of his artillery into action, andfor two hours the battle raged. Then the gunboat, discomfited, withdrewand went back to Louisville, leaving the way open. There was now nothingto prevent Morgan from crossing the river.