Confederate operations in Canada and New York

Front matter

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"oV"

Chapter I

Election of Abraham Lincoln precipitates secession — Southern Confederacy organized. Jefferson Davis chosen President — Mr. Lincoln inaugurated — Attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter — Fall of Fort Sumter — Beginning of the war — Situation in Missouri, Maryland, and Kentucky — President Lincoln declares martial law 19

Chapter VII

Bragg's army at Murfreesboro — Secret service for General Bragg — Purchases at Lafayette, Kentucky — Surprise, flight, and narrow escape — Battle at Murfreesboro — Discontent in the army and feeling against General Bragg — Col. R. C. Tyler wounded — Death of Tyler — Bragg and his generals 68

X CONTENTS

Chapter VIII

Situation changed in "neutral zone" — Secret negotiations with the Federal commander at Clarksville — Surprised at Mrs. Batson's — Capture and escape — Another narrow escape — Escape of Bowers from prison at Clarksville 76

Chapter IX

Captured at Louisa Furnace — Capture of officers of Lee's army — Escape from prison and captivity in Nashville — Notes on Rosecrans's army — Departure from Nashville on a pass — Escape of other prisoners 84

Chapter X

Situation after return from captivity — Forrest at Palmyra — Wheeler at Fort Donelson — Plain talk of Forrest to Wheeler — Report to Forrest and Bragg of Rosecrans's army — Van Dorn over Forrest and others, on the left, and Wheeler over Morgan and others, on the right of Bragg's army — Morgan's raid to Kentucky in December, 1862 — Infantry armies being exhausted in drawn battles and in camp — Spirit of vengeance — Colonel Streight marches out from Palmyra and encamps on Yellow Creek g6

Chapter XIV

Bragg's retreat from Shelbyville to Chattanooga — Wheeler's fight and escape at Shelbyville — Morgan starts on Ohio raid — Federal commanders lose Morgan in Kentucky, except those on his trail — Morgan crosses into Indiana, passes near Cincinnati — Morgan surrenders, and with his officers is confined in Ohio Penitentiary 131

CONTENTS XI

Chapter XV

Col. Robert M. Martin — Record in Morgan's cavalry — Morgan's men under Martin open and close battle of Chickamauga — Forrest loses his division 139

Chapter XVI

Martin's expedition to Kentucky — Exciting adventures — Skirmish with an old friend — Surprised and routed near Greenville — Loss of horses and equipments — Rendezvous in Henry County, Tennessee — Expedition on foot to Golden Pond — Recapture of horses, and home-guards paroled 146

Chapter XVII

Journey to Kentucky, then around Nashville and into Alabama — Narrow escapes — Luxurious homes of an Alabama valley — Johnston succeeds Bragg 161

Chapter XVIII

Mission for General Morgan to vicinity of Nashville — Miss Mary Overall secures information in Nashville — Death of Dee Jobe — Wounded Union soldier dies and is buried, by enemies, in family graveyard — Safe arrival at Rome, Georgia 168

Chapter XIX

Raid of Kilpatrick and Dahlgren to capture Richmond, release Federal prisoners, pillage and burn the city, and kill President Davis and his Cabinet — Vengeful views of the Confederate soldiers at this .period over the devastation of their country 175

Chapter XX

Morgan at Abingdon — General Jenkins wounded and his command routed — Martin leads a charge — Morgan defeats enemy near Wytheville — His last raid to Kentucky — Captures garrison at Mt. Sterling — Martin's command surprised by Burbridge — Defense and escape with severe loss — Fight and capture of garrison at Cynthiana — Morgan defeated by Burbridge — Escape to Virginia 186

Chapter XXI

Morgan re-establishes headquarters at Abingdon — Reorganizing his command — Officers recuperate — Richmond authorities aroused against Morgan — Skirmish of Major Cantrill with scouts — Detached by Secretary of War 201

XII CONTENTS

Chapter XXII

Departure for Canada — Death of General Morgan — Forrest in Mississippi — Journey from Corinth to Toronto 211

Chapter XXIII

Capt. Thomas H. Hines — Purposes of mission to Canada — Col. Jacob Thompson's mission — Coalition with leaders of Sons of Liberty — Concentration at Democratic National Convention in Chicago — Fruitless endeavor to release Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas and Springfield 217

Chapter XXIV

Plan for capture of gunboat Michigan on Lake Erie and release of prisoners on Johnson's Island — Captain Cole and Acting Master Beall undertake the adventure — Lieutenant Young sent with funds to Buffalo — Cole, at the moment of success, is betrayed and arrested and imprisoned at Sandusky City — Thompson and Clay to the rescue — Cole finally recognized as prisoner of war....23i

Chapter XXV

Capt. John Yates Beall — His home in Virginia — Early career in the Confederacy with Bennett G. Burley — Capture of steamer Philo Parsons on Lake Erie — Capture of Island Queen — Attempt to release prisoners on Johnson's Island — Mutiny of men when signals failed to appear — Compelled to return and destroy vessels — Men disperse in Canada — Arrest of Burley — Confederate steamer Gcorgiana on Lake Erie 241

Chapter XXIX

Northwestern Confederacy vanishes — Plans exposed at Chicago — Arrest of leaders — General report of Thompson upon all operations — Failure conceded — Judge Buckncr S. Morris and Col. Vincent Marmaduke acquitted — R. T. Semmes and Charles Walsh sentenced to penitentiary — Col. George St. Leger Grenfel sentenced to be hung 284

Chapter XXX

Expedition to Buffalo and Dunkirk, New York, to rescue Confederate generals on train — Proclamations of General Dix — Efforts to capture the express car — Capture of Captain Beall and George S. Anderson at Suspension Bridge 301

Chapter XXXI Situation in Canada and in the Confederacy — Sherman's march

through Georgia and occupation of Savannah 308

Chapter XXXII

Trials of Confederates in progress — Lieut. S. B. Davis captured — Bennett G. Burley ordered to be extradited to United States — Colonel Thompson writes to Confederate minister in England — British Government interferes and saves Burley — Ashbrook and Kennedy depart for the Confederacy — Lieutenant Davis sentenced to be hung — Colonel Thompson appeals to President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton on merits of the case — Successful proceedings in behalf of Davis — Capture, trial and •execution of Kennedy 321

Chapter XLIII

Peace cartel repudiated by President Johnson — Surrender of Johnstoa and his army — President Davis and Cabinet retire through South Carolina — Five cavalry brigades guard the retreat — Last council of war — Proposal of General Breckinridge for conduct of President Davis to Mexico — General Duke's account of the last conference of President Davis with the generals of cavalry — Departure of President Davis from Washington, Georgia 432

CONTENTS

Chapter XLIV f

President Davis made prisoner — Parole of Confederates at Washington, Georgia — President Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation — Martin and Headley in excepted class — Arrest of Headley, his escape, and subsequent pardon by the President — Troubles in Middle Tennessee — Arrest of Martin — He is put in irons and in prison at Fort Lafayette 438

Chapter XLV

Robert M. Martin pardoned — Many sentences remitted — Parole of C. C. Clay, Jr. — Jefferson Davis delivered to United States Court at Richmond — Released on bail-bond — Ovation to Mr. Davis in the South — Nolle prosequi entered — Finally settles in Mississippi to spend his last years — Visit to birthplace in Kentucky — Subsequent lives of Confederate officers who served in Canada 451

Chapter XLVI

The truth — The premises — Summary of conduct of the war — Impartial testimony and views of Federal commanders — Confederate success in battle — Troops engaged — Cause and result of the war 464

Introduction

There is little consolation in relating- the particulars of the hostile operations along the northern borders of the United States, by Confederate soldiers from Canada, who were assigned to this service by the authorities of the Confederate States in 1864.

And yet the authentic narrative of this desperate warfare which recalls and includes the cruel phases of the deplorable conflict may be due to the survivors and the dead of the North and the South who were military foes, and may serve as a lesson and a guide to the present and future generations of our reunited country in determining the price of peace and the pretexts for war.

All references that pertain to the conduct of the Federal Government and soldiers toward non-combatants are derived entirely from verified authority and the official records of the War Department of the United States. But little account of the engagements between the great armies is attempted. And it is deemed sufficient to submit the summaries of Generals Buell and Grant, the commanders of the two Federal armies at the battle of Shiloh, concerning the results of battles, the forces engaged, the morale of soldiers, and the cause of the war.

The military operations in the Department of Tennessee are noted partially from personal knowledge, but those west of the Mississippi River, being of like character under like conditions, are omitted. And besides, the commanders in both these Departments of the Confederacy appear to have missed opportunities alike at the critical period — 1862-3, whilst Gen. Robert E. Lee was never driven, by generalship or numbers, from Virginia, but upon her bosom ended his struggle and breathed his last sigh as a soldier of the Southern Confederacy.

John W. Headley.

Louisville, Kentucky, 1906.

f

CONFEDERATE OPERATIONS IN CANADA AND NEW YORK

Chapter I

Election of Abraham Lincoln precipitates secession — Southern Confederacy organized, Jefferson Davis chosen President — Mr. Lincoln inaugurated — Attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter — Fall of Fort Sumter — Beginning of the war — Situation in Missouri, Maryland and Kentucky — President Lincoln declares martial law.

The sectional animosities engendered by the agitation in the Northern States for the abolition of African slavery reached a climax upon the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States in November, i860. The Southern people construed this event to mean the freedom of their negroes. Indeed, the passions of the triumphant party in the Northern States and their purposes were no longer concealed.

The period of reason appeared to have passed and the question was at once agitated in the South of w^ithdrawing from the Union and of organizing a new government on the same basis as that of the United States, and accordingly South Carolina initiated the movement by an Act of Secession from the Union, December 14, i860. Other States followed, and a provisional new government was formed by delegates from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, who assembled in convention at Montgomery, Alabama. JefYerson Davis was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President, on the 9th of February, 1861.

In his inaugural address, February i8, 1861, Mr. Davis set forth the objects and purposes of the new General Government, which was called "The Confederate States of America." In part he said :

Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.

Through many years of controversy with our late associates, the Northern States, we have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity, and to obtain respect for the rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separation; and henceforth our energies must be directed to the conduct of our own affairs, and the perpetuity of the Confederacy which we have formed.

If a just perception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue our separate career, my most earnest desire will have been fulfilled ; but if this is denied us, and the integrity of our territory and jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us, with firm resolve, to appeal to arms, and invoke the blessings of Providence on a just cause.

We have changed the constituent parts, but not the system of our Government. The Constitution formed by our fathers is that of these Confederate States, in their exposition of it; and, in the judicial construction it has received, we have a light which reveals its true meaning.

President Lincoln, in his inaugural address on March 4. 1861, said :

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that, by the accession of a Republican Administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any cause for such apprehensions.

Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the public speeches of him who addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful rii2:ht to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read :

"Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the erravest crimes."

However, President Lincoln at once began the preparations for reinforcing Fort Sumter. Eleven vessels were fitted up and loaded with several thousand troops, arms, and supplies. They were instructed to reinforce Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, peaceably if they could, but by force if they must. Just before they arrived, General Beauregard, in command at Charleston, reduced the Fort, and the garrison surrendered, upon honorable terms, April 13, 1861, without the loss of life on either side.

On the 15th of April, 1861, two days after the fall of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued a proclamation, calling for seventy-five thousand troops, in which he said :

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long endured. *******

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

The States of Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and North CaroHna at once proceeded to enter the Confederacy.

The Provisional Government organized at Montgomery was merged into a permanent Government, with no special changes except the removal of the capital to Richmond, Virginia.

It was with rivalry that the volunteers in the Southern States were organized and rushed into the conflict. And likewise in the Northern States. Indeed, active preparations were being made from the day of the inauguration of the new Presidents.

Gen. John C. Fremont was one of the first generals appointed by President Lincoln, and was assigned to the command of the Department of the West, in which Ohio and Kentucky were included. His headquarters was established at St. Louis.

The State Administration, including the militia, was openly arrayed against the Union in Missouri. General Fremont was confronted from the start by a condition of revolt against his authority, and his military jurisdiction in the State was practically limited to St. Louis for some time.

General Fremont says when he parted from the President in Washington to assume his command in the West that Mr. Lincoln said :

I have given you carte blanche. You must use your own judgment and do the best you can. I doubt if the States will ever come back.

General Fremont, therefore, within a few months deemed it advisable to issue a proclamation declaring martial law, from which the following extracts are quoted :

St. Louis, August 30, 1861.

All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty will be shot.

The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if they have any, arc hereby declared free men.

All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.

All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults, in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interest warned that they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment.

All persons who have been led away from their allegiance, are required to return to their homes forthwith ; any such absence, without sufficient cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.

The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of war demand.

*******

Gen. Jeff. Thompson, then in command of the Missouri militia forces about St. Louis, at once issued the following proclamation of retaliation :

Headquarters First Military District Mo.

St. Louis, August 31, 1861.

To All Whom It May Concern:

Whereas, Maj.-Gen. John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare martial law throughout the whole State, and has threatened to shoot any citizen-soldier found in arms within certain limits ; also, to confiscate the property and free the negroes belonging to the members of the Missouri State Guard :

Therefore, know ye, that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, Brigadier- General of the First Military District of Missouri, having not only the military authority of brigadier-general, but certain police powers granted by Acting-Governor Thomas C. Reynolds, and confirmed afterward by Governor Jackson, do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri State

Guard, or soldier of our allies, the armies of the Confederate States, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of General Fremont, I will hang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham Lincoln,

While I am anxious that this unfortunate war shall be conducted, if possible, upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare, and every order that I have issued has been with that object — yet, if this rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our enemies), I intend to exceed General Fremont in his excesses, and will make all tories that come within my reach rue the day that a different policy was adopted by their leaders.

Already mills, barns, warehouses, and other private property have been wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the enemy in this district, while we have taken nothing except articles contraband or absolutely necessary. Should these things be repeated, I will retaliate ten-fold, so help me God.

M. Jeff. Thompson^ Brigadier-General Commanding.

President Lincoln wrote :

(private).

Washington, D. C, September 2, 1861.

My Dear Sir : Two points in your proclamation of August 30th give me some anxiety :

First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation, the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best man in their hands, in retaliation ; and so, man for man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my order that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without first having my approbation or consent.

Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph, in relation to the confiscation of property, and the liberating of slaves of traitorous owners, will alarm our Southern Union friends, and turn them against us; perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky.

Allow me, therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the Act of Congress entitled, "An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes," approved August 6, 1861, a copy of which Act I herewith send you.

This letter is written in a spirit of caution, and not of censure. I send it by a special messenger, so that it may certainly and speedily reach you.

Yours very truly,

A. Lincoln.

IMajor-General Fremont.

General Fremont replied to President Lincoln's sug-gestions, in a long letter, from which I make extracts :

Headquarters Western Department.

St. Louis, September 8, 1861.

My Dear Sir : Your letter of the second, by special messenger, I know to have been written before you had received my letter, and before my telegraphic dispatches and rapid developments of critical conditions here had informed you of affairs in this quarter.

*******

This is as much a movement in the war, as a battle, and, in going into these, I shall have to act according to my judgment of

the ground before me, as I did on this occasion.

*******

If I were to retract of my own accord, it would imply that I myself thought it wrong, and that I had acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full deliberation, and upon the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary, and I think so still.

In regard to the other point of the proclamation to which you refer, I desire to say that I do not think the enemy can either misconstrue or urge anything against it, or undertake to make unusual retaliation. The shooting of men who shall rise in arms against an army in the military occupation of a country, is merely a necessary measure of defense, and entirely according to the usages of civilized warfare. The article does not at all refer to prisoners of war and certainly our enemies have no grounds for requiring that we should waive in their benefit any of the ordinary advantages which the usages of war allow us.

As promptitude is itself an advantage in war, I have also to ask that you will permit me to carrv out upon the spot the provisions of the proclamation in this respect.

I am, with respect and regard.

Very truly yours,

J. C. Fremont.

The President.

President Lincoln rejoined, as follows :

Washington, September ii, 1861.

Sir : Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2nd instant, is just received. Assuming that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing your proclamation of August 2)0th^ I perceived no general objection to it.

The particular clause, however, in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves, appeared to me to be objectionable in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August, upon the same subjects; and hence I wrote you expressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly.

Your answer, just received, expresses the preference, on your part, that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheerfully do.

It is therefore ordered, that the said clause of said proclamation be so modified, held and construed to conform to, and not to transcend, the provisions on the same subiect contained in the Act of Congress entitled, ''An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes," approved August 6th, 1861, and that said Act be published at length with this order.

A. Lincoln.

Major-General John C. Fremont.

Practically the same conditions existed in Maryland and Kentucky.

The legislatures of both States were assembled to consider the Act of Secession. In Maryland there was little doubt that the Act would be passed.

On the same day that Mr. Lincoln wrote to General Fremont, the following order was issued to Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks :

War Department, September 11, 1861.

General : The passage of an Act of Secession by the Legislature of Maryland must be prevented. If necessary, all or any part of the members must be arrested. Exercise your own judgment as to the time and manner but do the work effectually. Very respectfully your obedient servant, Simon Cameron,

Secretary of War.

The General Assembly of Kentucky had adopted a resolution declaring- "that Kentucky should maintain a strict neutrality during the contest between the North and the South." This was the position of the Union men of the Legislature. A Union mass meeting, held in Louisville and attended by persons from all parts of the State, issued an address affirming the same position.

A regiment of infantry recruited, armed, and equipped at Louisville by Col. Blanton Duncan, with Thomas H. Taylor, lieutenant-colonel, had already volunteered and enlisted under General Beauregard in Virginia.

Meantime, President Lincoln had issued his proclamation declaring martial law, and citizens were arrested for disloyalty in all the border States. They were requested to take an oath of allegiance to the United States or were committed to prison.

Chapter II

Battle of Bull Run — Armies invade Kentucky — Author enlists — Military operations in Kentucky.

During this period the ports of the Confederacy had been blockaded by the warships of the United States. The Confederate States had been recognized as belligerents by the Governments of Great Britain and France, and the hostile armies had been engaged in actual warfare in Virginia and Missouri. But the army of the Confederacy was at Manassas under General Beauregard and in the Shenandoah Valley under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. General McDowell advanced his army from Washington and on the 21st of July attacked Beauregard. General Johnston arrived on the field with his troops in the afternoon, when the battle resulted in the defeat and rout of McDowell's army. The stampede continued to Washington City without pursuit by the Confederates. General McDowell reported to the War Department as follows :

Fairfax Court House, July 21, 1861.

The men have thrown away their haversacks in the battle and left them behind ; they are without food, have eaten nothing since breakfast. We are without artillery ammunition. The larger part of the men are a confused mob — entirely demoralized. It was the opinion of all the commanders that no stand could be made this side of the Potomac. We will, however, make the attempt at Fairfax Court House. From a prisoner we learned that 20,000 from Johnston joined last night and they march on us to-night.

Irwin McDowell.

Again General McDowell dispatches :

Fairfax Court House, July 22, 1861.

Many of the volunteers did not wait for authority to proceed to the Potomac, but left on their own decision. They are now pouring- through this place in a state of utter disorganization. They could not be prepared for action by to-morrow morning even if they were willing. I learn from prisoners that we are to be pressed here to-night and to-morrow morning, as the enemy's force is very large and they are elated. I think we heard cannon on our rear-guard. I tliink now, as all my commanders thought at Centerville, there is no alternative but to fall back to the Potomac, and I shall proceed to do so with as much regularity as possible.

Irwin McDowell.

This event electrified the heart of the South and aroused the war spirit in the border States to such a degree that the drastic measures of the Federal authorities recorded in the preceding- chapter were doubtless deemed essential to prevent the regular secession of Missouri, Maryland and Kentucky. Meanwhile, there had been organization on the northern and southern borders of Kentucky, and volunteers Avere enlisting on both sides.

Finally the Union army moved into Kentucky and advanced to Munfordsville under Brig.-Gen. W. T. Sherman, with Brig.-Gen. George H. Thomas on the left at Lebanon and Columbia, while on the right, posts were established at Owensboro, Calhoun, Henderson and Paducah, and also at Cairo, Illinois, under Brig.-Gen, U. S. Grant — the whole under Gen. Henry W. Halleck at St. Louis, he having succeeded General Fremont.

The Confederate army under command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston promptly advanced from Nashville to Bowling Green with Brig.-Gen. Felix Zollicoffer on the right toward Cumberland Gap, while on the left, troops were posted at Hopkinsville, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, Tennessee, and also at Columbus, Kentucky, under Brig.-Gen. Leonidas Polk.

It will be observed that these opposing forces extended along a line from the Mississippi River to Cumberland Gap, a distance of perhaps 300 miles.

The presence of both armies created intense excitement in Kentucky. Neighbors and members of the same families became aroused against each other. Volunteers singly or in squads from every neighborhood rushed to both armies, and were soon organized into companies, regiments and brigades.

At this juncture I left my home in Hopkins County to join the Confederates at Hopkinsville. I found Brig.-Gen. James L. Alcorn of Mississippi in command. The First Mississippi Infantry was here under Col. John T. Simonton and Lieutenant-Colonel Davidson. There were two companies of cavalry under Capt. Ned Merriweather and Capt. Gowan Bell, nearly all the men recruited from Christian County. But in another camp were about one hundred cavalry under Capt. James K. Huey of Smithland.

Most of these men were from Hopkins and Webster counties, and many of them my neighbors, some being relations, and I located with them at once. The company was sworn in under Captain Huey by General Alcorn on October 21, 1 86 1, for one year.