Run-In with a Rake: The 40th Fights at First Franklin
In early April 1863, the 40th Ohio Volunteer Infantry along with the other troops of the General Gordon Granger’s Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland lay in camp north of the Harpeth River at Franklin, Tennessee. Confederate cavalry had become increasingly active in recent days and on March 25th, General Nathan Bedford Forrest had struck Brentwood on the outskirts of Nashville and captured two regiments of the Reserve Corps. “General Earl Van Dorn with 9,000 cavalry, two regiments of infantry, and several pieces of artillery was reported at Spring Hill and along the pike south of there to Columbia, and on April 9th, General David Stanley was ordered from Murfreesboro by way of Triune to strengthen General Granger at Franklin,” wrote Surgeon John Noble Beach of the 40th Ohio. “It is probable that the movement of General Stanley from Murfreesboro precipitated the attack made on Franklin at noon on the 10th. If Van Dorn could have had any hopes of a successful attack on Franklin, he knew that it must be made before General Stanley could reach there.”
The war for Major General Earl Van Dorn thus far had been a
mixed bag: the Mississippi-born veteran of the Mexican War and the prewar 2nd
U.S. Cavalry had lost both the battles of Pea Ridge and Corinth but had
redeemed himself with the spectacular successes at Holly Springs in December
1862 and at Thompson’s Station in March 1863 when his troops (and Forrest’s) captured
Colonel John Coburn’s Federal brigade. His skill in commanding small units of
cavalry was evident, as was his love of the ladies, one reporter calling the
curly-haired lothario “the terror of ugly husbands.” Following the success at
Thompson’s Station, General Braxton Bragg tapped Van Dorn to command the
cavalry corps of the Army of Tennessee, supplanting General Joseph Wheeler.
One of the two guidons identified as belonging to the 40th Ohio. (Ohio History Connection) |
On April 10, 1863, Van Dorn directed his troopers to make a
drive at Franklin but standing square in their way was the 40th Ohio
commanded by Captain Charles G. Matchett picketing the approaches south of town. “Although
we had a strong cavalry picket still farther out, yet apprehensive of danger, Captain
Matchett disposed his small force so as to best resist an attack. At the Carter
House, Companies A, B, E, and I were left as a reserve while Companies G and H
were sent forward on the Columbia Pike, Company C to the left on the Lewisburg Pike
while Companies D and F were posted on the right on the Carter’s Creek Pike,”
Beach remembered. “While in this position, a large mounted force suddenly drove
in our cavalry and made a furious attack on our advance posts but were so
warmly received that they fell back in some disorder. Co. C being particularly
exposed, Captain Matchett ordered Cos. A and B to its support, these companies
coming up just in time to check a second attack and save Co. C from capture.”
It was clear that a single regiment would not be able to
hold back Van Dorn’s troopers, but Matchett’s hands were tied due to the
position he was in. “Behind them for the distance of more than half a mile lay
an open field without an obstacle or shelter on it,” it was written in the
county history of Darke County, Ohio. “But momentarily expecting reinforcements,
they held their ground.” To retreat over such ground would leave Matchett’s men
exposed to easy capture by Van Dorn’s swift moving troopers, but once the
Buckeye captain saw the long line of battle arrayed against him, he gave the
order to fall back slowly but continue to fire upon the enemy.
“This retrograde movement was the signal for the rapid
advance of a great mass of mounted Rebels and before we could reach the
protection of the town, the enemy was upon us, dashing beyond us through the
village and down to the pontoon bridge,” Beach remembered. “Van Dorn’s
artillery advanced and took position at the Carter House and from that point
threw shells into Fort Granger and our camps on the north side of the Harpeth
River. At this time, our regiment was broken into detachments, each man or
group of men fighting the enemy wherever he appeared in front or rear.”
“Although the charge of Van Dorn through and over our
regiment through the town and almost up to the muzzles of the guns in Fort
Granger was a brilliant and daring feat, it was fruitless as it was unsupported
by infantry, the daring riders had to get out of Franklin more rapidly than
they entered,” Beach continued. Between the thundering guns of Fort Granger and
the arriving troops under General Stanley, Van Dorn wisely saw that his
position was untenable and left Franklin having suffered heavily for his
adventure. Federal losses amounted to three killed, four wounded and ten
missing in the 40th Ohio; Confederate losses were reported as 137
with Surgeon Beach stating that his regiment buried eleven Confederates on the
field that night.
Major General Earl Van Dorn, C.S.A. |
Among those captured by Van Dorn’s troopers was Sergeant Jesse
N. Orin of Co. B of the 40th Ohio who was captured near the Lewisburg
Pike. Orin, who later served in the Ohio Statehouse, was brought to General Van
Dorn along with the other nine prisoners of the regiment, and the Mississippian
proceeded to question the sergeant.
“What commands do you belong to, boys?” asked Van Dorn.
“40th Ohio, sir,” answered Orin.
“You don’t all belong to the same regiment, do you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What officer was that in command of the forces you had in
today’s fight?”
“Captain Matchett of the 40th, sir.”
“Have you got down so low that captain must command your
brigades?”
“Brigades? There was no other regiment fought against you
today but the 40th and only seven companies of that. One company was
in town as provost guards and two companies were on the west of the town and
were not engaged.”
“Then why in name of thunder did not your captain quietly
surrender when my brigade of cavalry attacked them?”
“I presume, sir, the captain’s orders were to defend the
picket line as long as he could and not to surrender.”
“But why were you not reinforced?”
“I do not know, sir. Just before we began to fall back the
captain rode along our lines and told each company that it was evident that we
were not to be reinforced and we could not successfully retreat over that
cotton field unless each company implicitly obeyed his commands. We all
understood this, and he concentrated and retired us in the manner you saw.”
“How did you boys come to be captured?”
“When our regiment had retreated about half the distance
between the picket line and the town, a column of your cavalry threatened to
pass by our left and get between us and the town and gobble us all up. Captain
Matchett ordered me and another sergeant with about 20 men to a position about
300 yards to the left and rear of our regiment in order to oppose that
threatened movement with orders to hold that position at all hazards until the
regiment had retired beyond the cotton gun and then we could make our way back
to town as best we could. We stayed there as ordered but when your forces in
front of the regiment were repulsed, they swept around to our position and took
us all in except a few who started to run the gauntlet back to town.”
At this, a fine-looking officer broke out in a loud laugh
and said “General Van Dorn, the joke is on you. You promised to show us how
neatly you could take in the Yankees at Franklin, and it seems you have been
cleverly repulsed by seven companies of infantry commanded by a captain with
his left protected by a sergeant’s squad!”
At this, Sergeant Orin spoke up. “General, I would like to
be permitted to say one word in your defense. There is not a private in the 40th
Ohio who would not make a good colonel nor a non-commissioned officer who would
not make a good brigadier. And as to the captain who commanded us today, he
could handle an army equal to Bonaparte.”
“Thank you,” said Van Dorn who then turned to his fellow
officer. “How could you expect me with my division of cavalry to overcome a
Bonaparte, his field marshals, his 60 generals, and 500 colonels?”
Van Dorn then turned back to Sergeant Orin. “How many men
have you at Franklin?”
“I do not know, sir, and if I did, I should decline to
answer your question.”
“What is the extent and nature of your fortifications
there?”
“General, possibly you had better obtain that information
by another reconnaissance.”
“Well Sergeant, you’ll do,” chuckled Van Dorn. “When you rejoin your regiment, give my compliments to your brave comrades and captain and say to him I hope he may never be promoted.” Turning to an officer on his staff, Van Dorn directed him to “see that these men are treated with courtesy of respect due brave men.”
Van Dorn’s troopers moved back to Spring Hill that
afternoon where General Van Dorn soon got into an argument with Bedford Forrest
who questioned his judgment in the action at Franklin. The two hot-headed
generals almost had a duel before cooler heads prevailed. But upon his return
to headquarters from the Franklin adventure, General Van Dorn faced a knottier
problem than an angry Bedford Forrest: a cuckolded local physician named George
Peters. While Van Dorn was headquartered in Spring Hill, he had been seen
around town with Dr. Peters’ young wife, a vivacious woman named Jesse Helen. The
two had been seen taking carriage rides together and Van Dorn was a frequent
visitor to her home while the good doctor was away. Carriage rides and
household visits all sounds innocent to 21st century ears, but these
were 19th century codewords for unacceptable intimacy between two
unmarried adults, i.e. an affair. The local rumor was that the Van Dorn had
been sleeping with Jesse while Dr. Peters was away from town. Given Earl’s
reputation as a rake, his actions with Mrs. Peters were downright scandalous.
Dr.
Peters arrived home on April 12th and was soon made aware of his
wife’s peccadilloes. He resolved to kill Van Dorn and lay in wait for his
chance; it didn’t take long before Van Dorn resumed his amorous visits with
Jesse and one night, Dr. Peters caught the two in a passionate embrace. Peters
threatened to shoot Van Dorn, but the General pleaded for mercy and was able to
escape with his life, but the seeds of his end had been sown.
Dr.
Peters, apparently still enraged that his homelife had been upset by his wife’s
philandering and deeply humiliated, arrived at Van Dorn’s headquarters on May
7, 1863 seeking a pass. He had done this several times before, so his presence
was nothing unusual; the guards let him in, perhaps unaware of what had previously
transpired between the two men. Upon finding Van Dorn alone in his office writing,
Peters walked up and shot him in the back of the head. Earl Van Dorn died later
that night never having regained consciousness.
The
First Battle of Franklin against the 40th Ohio was General Van Dorn’s
last military action of the Civil War.
Sources:
Beach, John N. History
of the 40th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. London: Shepherd &
Craig, 1884, pgs. 30-32
Howe, Henry. Historical
Collections of Ohio in Two Volumes. Norwalk: The Laning Printing Co., 1898,
pgs. 537-38
Carter, Arthur B. The Tarnished
Cavalier: Major General Earl Van Dorn, C.S.A. University of Tennessee
Press, 1999.
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