Reminiscences of General Basil W. Duke ..

Chapter I

The political and social conditions existing in both sections which induced Civil Strife — The militant character of the American people which made compromise impossible — The various manifestations of this feeling and its many phases — The filibustering expeditions — The American volunteer, his aptitude for military service and the readiness with which he acquires the instruction and habits of a soldier. 3

Chapter II

The Bluegrass region of Kentucky — Its topography and the character of the soil — Its ante-bellum social life — The old-fashioned barbecue shooting match — The breeding of the thoroughbred and love of the race-horse — The recollections of early youth still haunting old age 19

Chapter III

Outbreak of the Civil War — Political sentiment in Missouri — Struggle for control — Blair and his Wide-Awakes — Organization of the Minute Men — Raising the Southern flag — Lyon — Governor Jackfon requests President Davis to furnish arms for capture of St. Louis arsenal — I am sent on this secret mission — The Swan carries arms from New Orleans to St. Louis — Vigilance committee thinks me a Federal spy — Am threatened with hanging — The Swan safely reaches St. Louis and arms successfully distributed — Capture of General Frost's command by Lyon — Alarm at Jefferson City — Burning of bridges — Preparations made to resist attack — I am informed that I have been indicted by the Federal Grand Jury — Armistice concluded between Generals Price and Harney — I go to Kentucky to be married — Return to Missouri but take service with General Hardee's forces at Pocahontas, Ark. — The Shamrock Guards — Receive my first lessons in scouting — General Hardee is ordered to Kentucky and I go there also — Attempt to reach Lexington to see my wife, but am intercepted — Stampede at Elizabethtown — I escape capture by the generous aid of a Federal colonel, afterward an associate justice of . the Supreme Court 3*

Chapter IV

Gen. M. Jeff Thompson, of Missouri — I visit his camp to obtain recruits from his brigade of Missouri State Guards for the Confederate service — A brief conversation with him induces me to leave viii CONTENTS

without an effort to recruit — His headquarters at Memphis and his canoe fleet — A review of his brigade by some English officers and the sequel — "Camp Boone" visited by a commissioner sent from Hopkinsville, Ky. — What he didn't tell those who sent him, when he returned — The relations which existed between Morgan's men and Wolford's — How Major Coffee observed his parole, and how it resulted in a visit to Richmond — The extraordinary gift of speech of "Captain Sam" — How it gained him victory in political discussion and caused other wagon trains to give his the right of way — He comes to grief before a court martial — How soldiers liked strong drink and how cavalrymen procured it — How I got into trouble by trying to prevent them 79

Chapter V

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston — His early service in the United States Army — Resigns and goes to Texas at the date of the Texan struggle for independence — Is appointed Commander of the Texan Army — Duel with Gen. Felix Houston — Service in the struggle — Life in Texas — Reenters the United States Army — Service in the Mexican War — Commands the expedition sent to Utah when the Mormons threaten revolt — His exalted character — Instances of his influence and control over all who approached him — His conduct and death at Shiloh lOO

Chapter VI

Irregular warfare and its usually relentless ferocity — Guerillas and bushwhackers — Champe Ferguson and "Tinker" Dave Beattie ■ — Morgan's use of the telegraph in war — Ellsworth, his success as an operator — How he ran a foot jrace with a jockey "up" — "Parson" Wynne, who condemned "horse pressing" but thought a "compulsory" trade sometimes excusable — Profanity; how General de Polignac expressed his inability to understand camp slang, and how another Frenchman expressed his admiration of Forrest — Major John S. Throckmorton, of Kentucky I20

Chapter VII

Gen. Roger W. Hanson — His service in Mexico with Gen. John S. Williams, and how the record subsequently figured in a political canvass — His service in the Confederate Army and death at the Battle of Murfreesboro — Gen. Humphrey Marshall, his ability and eccentricities — How Mr. Davis utilized one of his infirmities — George W. Johnson, first Provisional Governor of Kentucky during the Civil War — His heroic death at Shiloh — Col. George St. Leger Grenfell — His early life as a soldier of fortune — Subsequent service in the English Army — Service with Morgan — Takes part in effort to release Confederate prisoners at Chicago — Is arrested, tried and convicted, and drowned in an attempt to escape from the Dry Tortugas — Col. J. Stoddard Johnston — His gallant and efficient service — He issues proclamations in Kentucky and, fleeing from arrest, mistakes friends for Yankees . . 138

CONTENTS ix

Chapter VIII

The Fidette, a periodical which appeared between "raids" — Sport in the army, horse racing, cock fighting and cards — a Gander-pulling at Christmas — Mumble-peg under fire — The Civil War in Shelbyville — Captain Armstrong's company and Captain Armstrong's uniform — A new way to repel cavalry — The effect of Captain Armstrong's uniform on his own men — An optical illusion, I mistake a boy on a pony for a warrior on a charger — A camp under snow i6o

Chapter IX

Gen. John C. Breckinridge — His military service and capacity — Conduct at Shiloh, Chickamauga, and with the Army of Northern Virginia — Conduct in independent command — Battle of Baton Rouge — Battle of New Market — Defence of the Department of South-western Virginia — Battle of Saltville — Drives the enemy out of Bull's Gap and routs him — Combat at Marion — Is appointed Secretary of War 176

Chapter X

Gen. William Preston — His ante-bellum career as member of Congress and minister to Mexico — Part taken in the political agitation of 1 861 — Enters the Confederate Army — Serves on Albert Sidney Johnston's staff at Shiloh — Promoted to brigadier and then to major general — Splendid conduct at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga — Appointed minister to Mexico — Meeting with the bandit chief Cortinas — Life in Kentucky after the war 195

Chapter XI

The negro in the South before and during the war — Slavery in its economic and political aspects — General treatment of the negroes, and relations between master and slave — Character of the negro and plantation life — Hog-killing times and Christmas — Negro humour, his superstition, "spirits and witches" — The "Old Mammy," and the coloured "Boss" — Effect upon the negro of enlistment in the army and emancipation 223

Chapter XII

Superstition and lack of superstition among the soldiers of the Civil War — A certain belief in "luck," in omens and presentiments — Incidents of warfare which do not go into history — Tragedy harsher than battle, courts martial, and executions — An ideal encampment and a sudden summons to leave it 243

Chapter XIII

Southern hospitality during the war — Depreciation of Confederate money — High prices and small returns — A big game of poker — How

X CONTENTS

a. Tennessee cavalryman "belted" the wrong horse — Major "Dick" McCann; his adventures and eccentricities 35^

Chapter XIV

An examination of the muster rolls recalls many memories — How "Tom" Boss took charge of a steamboat pilot — How the volunteer soldier sometimes managed to "get away" with his officers — The debatable ground — How an honest farmer found it impossible to distinguish between Yankees and rebels and was fleeced by both — How "Bob" McWilliams acquired several bouquets and a good pair of breeches — That malarial and melancholy ditty, "Lorena" — The question of horseflesh — The practical manner in which a pedigree was disproven — General Morgan's favourite steeds, "Black Bess" and the "Bay Glencoe " — The Qjnfederate epic, " I Lay Ten Dollars Down." . . 272

Chapter XV

General Braxton Bragg — His conduct at Shiloh — His campaign in Kentucky in 1862 — The possibilities of that campaign — Its admirable conception, feeble execution, and ultimate failure — Unusually favourable strategic opportunities neglected — Failure to concentrate and fight between Green River and Louisville permits Buell to march to Louisville unmolested — Failure to concentrate at Perryville — Battle of Perryville — Declines battle at Harrodsburg and retreats from Kentucky

— Battle of Murfreesboro — Operations preceding Battle of Chickamauga — Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Missionary Ridge — Resigns command of the Army of Tennessee — Is made inspector general of

the Confederacy 297

Chapter XVI

Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy — His character and conduct the subjects of much misconception by friends and foes alike

— One whom history will vindicate — Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest — His post-bellum life — Quells a bully — Affair with General Kilpatrick — The hope of universal peace — Arbitration or preparation 330

Chapter XVII

Prison life — Devices employed by the captives to alleviate the woes of bondage — I am taken from the Ohio Penitentiary by a Federal officer, whose kindness to me gets him into some trouble — Fifty of us are sent from Fort Delaware to be placed under fire of Confederate batteries at Charleston — We remain three weeks on the brig Dragoon under the guns of the frigate Wahash — Fishing for sharks and discussing exchange -:- Exchange at last — Hospitably entertained at Charleston — When the bombardment is renewed, I am badly scared by our own guns — Rejoin my wife and little ones -gi

CONTENTS xi

Chapter XVIII

Consternation caused by news of Gen. Lee's surrender — Confederate troops in South-western Virginia seek to join Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina — We inarch through the mountain passes

— Skirmishing on mule-back — Five Confederate cavalry brigades escort Mr. Davis and his cabinet from Charlotte, N. C, to Washington, Ga. — Gen. Breckinridge, as Secretary of War commands escort — At Abbeville, Mr. Davis holds a council composed of the commanders of the five brigades — I am put in charge of the treasure brought from Richmond; it occasions me much care and concern! — Part of it is paid to the troops; I turn over the residue to the acting treasurer of the Confederacy and hear a touching homily on the evils wrought by gold — At Washington, Ga., Mr. Davis leaves us, ostensibly to escape — Final surrender and general parole — Experience of Confederate soldiers after surrender — How they made their way to their homes — My own experience in that regard 380

Chapter XIX

Social and political changes effected in the South by the war — Material damage wrought — Effect of emancipation upon the negro — Influences which induced unrest and agitation; lack of regular judicial administration; political graft; the Carpet-bagger and the Scallawag

— Reconstruction — The Union League and the Ku-Klux Klan — Political conditions in Kentucky at the close of the war — Attitude of

the Southern whites toward the negroes 4O0

Chapter XX

Religious sentiment in army life — The "Exaggerated Ego"; some instances of it — A Kentucky apology — Some giants I have known — Baby " Bates and Fish Cook — How Cook defeated a Bill for the "better regulation of Shows and Circuses," requiring them to have their performances comply fully with advertisement, but thereby accomplished his own political ruin 416

Chapter XXI

An anecdote of Gen. John C. Breckinridge's early political career — The old time joint political discussion — One in which several distinguished gentlemen participated, but which became "personal" and serious consequences were threatened — The erroneous idea formerly prevalent in both the North and the South that the people of the two sections were utterly unlike — Some differences induced by environment; in the main all native-born white Americans much alike — The Southerner in fiction little like the Southerner in fact — Similarity between the Kentuckian and theTennesseean — A question of "Civilization" which might have produced frictjon — An orator who wouldn't be called to order 436 xii CONTENTS

Chapter XXII

The years between the Fall of the Confederacy and the establishment of the New Order — The struggle in the South for social and material reorganization — Talk of exodus to foreign lands; but few go away and nearly all go to work — The women of the South and the "Daughters of the Confederacy" — Cessation of duelling in the South, and how it was discouraged in Kentucky — The last, affair of honour in which I took part — "Lawlessness" in the South only a manifestation of the same spirit prevailing generally in the whole country — The "Unreconstructed Rebel" — Kentucky politics and politicians of the post-bellum period — Unfortunate prevalence of partisan spirit 459

Chapter XXIII

My life in Louisville — The kind of place it is, and why I like it — A brief sketch of its past history and some guarded remarks about its present population — The people I have known in Louisville; some famous journalists, lawyers, judges, physicians, and preachers, and some others who ought to have been famous — The Filson Club and the Salmagundi Club — The sort of philosophy age should cultivate 489

REMINISCENCES OF GENERAL BASIL W. DUKE

Chapter I

THE reminiscences contained in this volunae, of the Civil War and the period just preceding it, were, most of them, written for the Home and Farm, of Louisville, and with no thought at first of their publication other than in that paper. They are compiled and published in more permanent form in deference to the wishes of a number of those •who read them when they originally appeared.

They can scarcely be regarded as positive contributions to the history, so much as attempts to describe incidents characteristic of the period and its potential thought and feeling; but may help to illustrate some things which graver historical recital will expound when the time has come to construct the fabric of history with the material provided by the chroniclers. In writing them I had chiefly in mind the experiences of the soldier, the atmosphere of the camp, the gossip of the bivouac.

The history of no period can be justly written — certainly the character and meaning of no struggle which is in effect a social or political revolution can be correctly and graphically portrayed — unless the conditions of the times, the habits of thought then prevailing, and the predominant sentiment which influenced or incited popular action, be taken into account.

To no important and striking epoch of modern history is this rule of historical narration more applicable than to our great civil conflict — "the war between the states." For the treatment of this subject an abundance of the material ordinarily employed in historical composition has already been supplied. The "historical facts" have, in so far as such a thing is possible, been ascertained and agreed on. The writers on both sides of the controversy have been industrious in proclaiming all that investigation or research could procure. No document or declaration, perhaps, of the kind usually termed historical, has been overlooked; and ingenious use has been made of the results so obtained, in support of each contention.

The record has been so often quoted that the average reader; naay be excused some impatience if more than mere reference to it be attempted; and the arguments, pro and con, have become tedious from frequent repetition. We are familiar with all that! has been or can be said in defence of the effort made by the! South for separate and independent governmental existence, and with all that has been asserted in justification of the action taken by the North to maintain the integrity of the Union. We knowj why the people of the one section believed secession to be the' unpardonable political sin; and why the people of the other; regarded coercion as a brutal crime, not only against the American idea that all governments derive their just powers from the| consent of the governed, but against the liberty it has been thej chief purpose of our institutions to protect. Every "intelligent school-boy" in the South knows that the Southern people heldl that the Federal Constitution and the "more perfect union" that instrument was intended to construct was a compact formed between sovereign, equal, and independent states, and wereabsolutely convinced that the parties to such a contract hadi the right, for any reason in their own discretion sufficient, toi withdraw from it. Every boy in the North who h.a.S read a;; school history understands that the men who fought "to preserve the life of the Nation" believed the Union was not onlj^ of superior sanctity to any other institution of human creation, but that it was meant to be indissoluble and perpetual. The technical contentions and data on which they are founded are all on file for the use of the future historian; nor can he, nor need he, add anything to either.

Likewise, every cause or provocation which conduced to* incite the conflict has received as thorough discussion and as"; equally clear exposition. No statement now made could pre-| sent more forcibly than has been done the chief issue of th^ fierce debate, or show more plainly how the persistent agitation! of the question of slavery, in its varied phases, inflamed sec-| tional passion and resentment, and suggested to the disputants! the thought that it could be settled only by civil war.

No amount of dissertation could make us understand more distinctly that a few men in the North sought the abolition of slavery, at any cost, for the sake of humanity; that otherl

'thought it not in accord with the spirit of the age and an economic 'mistake; and a still greater number objected for political and 'commercial reasons to its introduction into territories which ■would soon become states.

We shall never comprehend more perfectly the irritation with 'which the South regarded what it deemed unjust interference ■with an institution in which immense proprietary interests were 'involved; and which was recognized and guaranteed protection •by every muniment that had given the Union claim to-jespect, •and the government — the product of that Union — title to ■demand allegiances. We know, as well as we shall ever know, •that the resentment burned hotter because the Southern people 'felt that they were not responsible for the existence of slavery, ^and that it had been unloaded on them by the communities 'whence came the clamour for its abolition. i We know that the South dreaded with reason, as subsequent 'experience demonstrated, the effect of sudden and arbitrary ^emancipation, and believed it would be compelled, by an overi whelming free-soil majority, if the slave-holding states remained in the Union.

Both sections were alarmed. The one feared an unrestricted : extension of slavery into the public domain; the other feared its abolition. The South saw safety only in secession. The North i believed that, with the dissolution of the Union, permanent peace upon this continent would be impossible. There was ! assuredly an intelligible apprehension, if not a sufficient casus 'belli, on both sides.

Nevertheless, it will always be more or less a matter of wonder that, serious as was the dispute, it could not have been adjusted without resort to arms. At this date, and to the generation born since the close of the war, it is doubtless incomprehensible that a people descended from the same ancestry; speaking the same language; inheriting the same patriotic traditions; entertaining, in the main, identical ideas regarding the purpose of political institutions and the functions of government, and cherishing a similar hope for the happiness and glory of the country in which they lived — should have obstinately rejected compromise and insisted upon war. Even the veteran of that war, now distant from the influences which induced it, must remember with some bewilderment, and marvel mildly, at least, when he recalls the irresistible impulse which urged him mto the fight.

The population of the United States is to-<lay nearly thrice as numerous and distinctly less homogeneous than it was in i86l,; The area covered by the states which now compose the Union is greater, the interests represented more diversified than then. Consequently, it might be thought that occasion for dangerous dispute and the occurrence of internecine altercation is more to be apprehended now than at that date. Happily, no sectionalj diiference — the most potent incentive to such quarrel — exists, although we can see how trouble might come in other ways. Yet no man fears that popular discontent, however extensive; political or factional dissension, however bitter; or eyen the most extreme phase of social reform or experiment — will ever receive such general and formidable expression. There may be frequent exhibitions in future American history of sporadic revolt and partial insurrection, but it is not at all probable that this country will again witness another domestic disturbance of like magnitude.

One very excellent reason why more caution will be observed hereafter, in this respect, than was exercised by the men of 1861 ; is at once suggested. The experience and stern teachings of that former four years of devastating strife will long linger in the national memory and serve as wholesome warning. But, independently of this consideration, it is not difficult to explain why the generation by which that war was waged was more willing and more apt for such ultimate measures than any subsequent generation would or could be.

The temper of the people at that date and their racial traditions inclined them more readily to such action. The bulk of the white population was still of British ancestry. The Celtic and Dutch settlers of earliest arrival in the country had become commingled and closely identified with that element. Each of these stocks had inherited a jealous regard for personal liberty and popular rights, and a disposition to maintain them.

Moreover, there was more leisure and a greater inclination to consider such matters then than now; and questions which were topics of great doubt and discussion then were very effectually determined afterward by the logic of the sword.

The attention of men at that time was not directed to so many subjects as the crowded conditions of to-day make necessary; but those which were considered produced a profounder impression.

It should be taken into account that modern commercialism, while it breeds bickerings in smaller affairs, induces a conservative feeling in respect of public and governmental conduct. Popular grievances have multiplied with the increase of population and the vast heterogeneous immigration of the past thirty or forty years; but their very frequency and diversity prevent any large class or number of people from enlisting in their advocacy. It is much easier to inaugurate a strike or establish a boycott than to organize the extensive and determined resistance which would amount to civil War.

More than anything else, however, which made war possible was the aggressive, assertive spirit and war-like temper characteristic, at that period, of the people of the whole country. This disposition had been developed and cultivated by the conditions of previous American life — had been an almost habitual feature of that life — since the days when the first settlers fought for their homes with the savage. It had become instinctive, and was under no such restraints, when the sectional contention culminated in hostilities, as are now felt.

We can scarcely conceive, as we reason and feel about such matters now, that any provocation, any form of persuasion, could "fire the Southern heart" or reconcile the Northern mind to so desperate a remedy. But those who knew the people of fifty years ago, when these questions so fraught with passion and perplexity were urged, can understand how — after the failure of other methods — the solution was attempted by force.

The earliest settlers of this continent were taught, as I have said, to consider constant warfare the normal condition of American life. The same racial education and habit of thought continued throughout the colonial period, and were intensified by the passionate vicissitudes* of the Revolutionary War. The spirit so bred remained as a characteristic trait of the American people until the Civil War finally furnished it full opportunity and scope for exercise, and, it is to be hoped, gave it also in large measure, its quietus.

The English armies in the French and Indian wars waged previously to the separation of the colonies from Great Britain consisted more largely of colonial contingents — "provincial militia" — than of British regular troops: and the alacrity with which these unprofessional, but by no means unskilled or inefficient, fighters responded to every call made on them evinced their love of warfare quite as thoroughly as their conduct in the field demonstrated their aptitude for it. Taught from their boyhood indiiference to danger, habituated to combat, inured to hardships and fatigue, and enjoying the excitement of the campaign and battle very much as they did that of the chase, little training was needed to make them soldiers. So it was that in Braddock's disastrous defeat, after his regulars were almost destroyed, the American riflemen saved the remnant of his army. In all of the greater battles fought with the Indians, when the latter, under French tuition and suggestion, had learned how to coalesce and join forces, the colonial militia did the fighting.

Nearly every colonist of military age served in the " rangers," the volunteer force which guarded the frontiers against Indian incursions. The term survived to be applied to the daring riders who on the Texas border drove back Mexican banditti and met the raids of the Lipan and Comanche. Some of the most picturesque figures among the heroes of the Revolution were conspicuous as officers in this body before winning later and wider fame: notably Putnam, Stark, and Ethan Allen; and Marion, Sumter, and others who won subsequent distinction and performed similar service in the South.

The troops enlisted in the continental line proved equal — even in the use of the bayonet — on more than one occasion — to the best of the English infantry regiments. "Light Horse Harry" Lee and Col. William Washington organized a cavalry which held its own with the famous legion of Tarleton.

But it was by the irregulars that the war-like temper of the American was best illustrated in the war for American irfdependence. It is not too much to say that, notwithstanding an occasional panic to which undisciplined troops are always subject, the greater number of decisive successes was achieved by them. The victory of King's Mountain, which many historians consider as, more than any other, the pivotal event of the war, was won by the frontier backwoods riflemen under the leadership of Shelby, Campbell, and Sevier. In this battle, men who had no previous military training in the ordinary acceptation of the term, and officered by captains untaught save by experience in Indian warfare, defeated and well-nigh annihilated a picked body of British regulars.*

The settlement of Kentucky and Tennessee, accomplished only after years of dire and incessant contest with the savage tribes from whom the white man wrested those fertile regions; the acquisition of the great Northwestern territory and its subsequent settlement; and that of Alabama and Mississippi — all done at the cost of hard fighting and lavish bloodshed — yet further accustomed this martial population to appeal to force and arms as the first as well as last resort. More than that, these constant territorial accessions and the elation born of success taught the habit of conquest and an adventurous spirit which thought everything possible to daring and effort.

As each successive generation came on the stage it received its lesson, and fresh stimulus was given this appetite for war. When the American settlers in Texas, aided by their sympathetic countrymen, who eagerly embraced the inviting opportunity, had thrown oflF the Mexican yoke, and after the consequent war with Mexico, this feeling, perhaps, reached its acme; but there was no diminution of it as late as 1861.

The disposition to acquire territory, inherited from his Anglo- Saxon ancestor — than whom, since the Roman, the world has seen no more inveterate "land-grabber" — enhanced the American's love of combat, or, rather, became identified with it; because in almost every case of such acquisition he had to fight for what he got. I thi-nk that this combative feeling entered into his

*TTie tenn " militia" is used so loosely and applied so indifferently to troops serving under dissimilar conditions and often alto^etiier unequal in respect of equipment, training, and consequent efficiency, that it has become confusing. The efficiency of a militia depends in no slight degree upon the readiness with which it may be summoned and the period tor wliich it may be kept in the field.. A militia which is or can be called into service infrequently and only for a few weeks, and receives no instruction in the interim, will necessarily be less efficient than one of which longer, more frequent and more arduous service is demanded. It is cer< tainly an egre^ous error to confound the American mihtia man, as some European writers constantly do, with the American volunteer soldier enlisted for " three years, or the war."

The immediate moral effect upon the man, of enlistment for a definite term and the realization that he must serve during that period, is of itself considerable.

The meaning of Washington's oft-quoted criticism of the militia is frequently misundeistood. He had in mind the colonial militia whose members were bound to no definite term of service, under little obligation to serve at all, and were always returned to their ordinary avocations after very brief service. While such troops might at times fight well, little dependence could, of course, be placed \n them for the purposes of a protracted campaign. On the other hand the regiments of the continental line on which he so thoroughly relied, and which he termed " regulars," were the exact equivalent of the volunteers of the Civil War.