Among the Hoosier Greenhorns at Munfordville

Corporal Reuben Scott of the 67th Indiana was scarcely two weeks from the plow when his regiment arrived in Louisville, Kentucky in the opening days of September 1862.

With threatening news that two Rebel armies under Generals Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby Smith were invading Kentucky, the 67th Indiana was dispatched south to guard the vital Louisville & Nashville railroad bridge over Green River at Munfordville.

The Hoosiers scarcely had time to finish their first squad drill before called upon to defend the bridge during the Battle of Munfordville on September 14th. General James Chalmers, commanding one of Bragg’s advance brigades, impetuously tried to take the bridge in a frontal assault against stout Union defenses.

            The Hoosiers lacked discipline but showed plenty of fighting spirit, using their Belgium muskets to good effect during their clash with the Rebels. “Our boys filled the air with deadly missiles and a Hoosier yell which was echoed by the 89th Indiana boys,” Scott remembered. “We see a host of soldiers coming up in our rear; we wheel our cannon and bring our guns to bear upon them when, to our joy, the soft breeze unfurls the star-spangled banner and the 50th Indiana is coming to our aid. On comes the Rebel host, yelling and firing, but our squirrel hunt aim thins their ranks again and they weaken and fall back out of rifle shot.”

            Corporal Scott’s recounting of the fight at Munfordville is drawn from his regimental history of the 67th Indiana which was published in 1892.

 

Munfordville proved to be an intense if short-lived engagement. General James Chalmers sent his Mississippians in what General Bragg later termed an "unauthorized and injudicious attack" against the Federal defenses guarding the bridge over the Green River. The engagement lasted scarcely two hours; by 9:30  that morning, Chalmers' men were fought out and asked for a truce to care for the wounded and bury the dead. The Confederates had to borrow spades and picks from their Federal opponents to accomplish the latter task. Chalmers' defeat led Bragg to surround Munfordville with most of his army in the following days and eventually secured the post's surrender on the morning of September 17, 1862.  Most of the 714 Confederate casualties suffered at Munfordville occurred during Chalmers' rash attack. 

            We arrived at Munfordville, Kentucky where we stopped and went into camp on the left of the railroad and on looking about, we found fragments of the 17th and 50th Indiana regiments along with one company of the 54th and 89th Indiana, who had preceded s by a few days, and a few U.S. Regulars. On our right was a small stockade which had one small piece of artillery. From this stockade extended a crescent-shaped line of breastworks around to the extreme left where it terminated in Fort Craig; the fort hosted a section of small guns. Inside these works were about 2,600 troops with something over 2,000 small arms.

            We were now in the enemy’s country, without drill or discipline, liable to be attacked at any time, making it imperative that we should enter upon our military education at once. Corporal George W. Richardson of Co. C, having received some instruction as to the steps and facings, was ordered to take us out and drill us in squad drill. This proved very amusing to him as well as laborious and awkward to us, being a laughable scene to the lookers-on.

Second Lt. Robert D. Callahan
Co. K, 67th Indiana

            Our first picket duty came here when we had to be placed away from camp in little squads to keep watch while the rest of the camp slept. Now all the novelty of a soldier’s life began to wear off but all went on well as the general routine of camp life prevailed. On the evening of the 12th, a company or two were ordered to fall in with guns and cartridge boxes and marched down to the railroad where they boarded a train of flat cars at dark. We were ordered to lay down flat on their stomachs while we steamed south over a rough road which tried the endurance and elasticity of our stomachs as we sped along through the darkness. At any moment, we expected to be fired into by the enemy, but nothing exciting occurred, and we arrived at Bowling Green after a few hours of horizontal riding.

Captain Francis Sears
Co. A, 67th Indiana

            At Bowling Green, we loaded up our train with provision and returned before morning. This new departure created a suspicion in our minds that the Rebels were nearby. On the 13th, our suspicions were strengthened by seeing active preparations for and precautions against an attack. We saw little groups of officers conversing in undertones and knew that trouble was pending. Late that evening, while the sun was setting beneath the western horizon sending a great halo of glory up the western sky, the soft, dusky curtain of twilight began to draw about us in slow and measured treat. In silence, companies moved out and strengthened the picket line and after being placed in lines, settled down with gun in hand to await the coming events.

            The dark, still night was slowly passing away when near midnight a flag of truce came slowly up and demanded the surrender of the forts and forces. Colonel John Wilder refused, and after some parleying, the enemy returned and again the whole line settled into silence and suspense. Wilder placed his troops in position for defense by putting the 89th Indiana over on the right and the 67th Indiana on the left [in Fort Craig] , while the fragments of regulars were placed on different points along the line. Now, all being in readiness to receive the enemy, the great rows of uniformed Hoosiers, just from the church and schoolroom, with guns in hand, lay waiting for the coming conflict while the stars of heaven marked the passing hours.

            On Sunday morning September 14, 1862, in the calmness of the hour, great gray streaks of the morning dawn began to appear in the east and shoot their silver threads of light across the blue fields of heaven and the dew drops from the leafy boughs began to fall and beat the reveille of early morn. Suddenly, “boom” goes a cannon over in our front and a shell goes screeching through the air, leaving a brilliant meteoric streak in its wake.

            Suddenly, we are on our feet and ready for action. We had never heard the boom of a cannon or the screech of a shell but we instinctively knew this to be a signal gun and that the Rebels would soon be upon us. A tremor of dread passed through our nerves and a pallor came upon our cheeks, but with compressed lips and the stamp of determination upon our features we waited in silence for a few moments. Then another boom, and another, then a musket quickly followed by others, and our pickets are fired upon. The rattle of musketry is heard all along the line while the whole Rebel line advanced. Our pickets fired and fell back in line with the skirmishers.

Three Mississippi regiments (the 7th, 9th, and 29th) directed their charge at Fort Craig and its defenders from the 67th Indiana. Three times they charged the works and three times they fell back, suffering heavily for their efforts. A future blog post will detail the Confederate casualties at Munfordville. 

            We heard the skirmishers of the 89th Indiana rattling away, but our line is being driven in, the men firing and falling back while leaving their dead and wounded behind. The Rebel hosts press on until we are all driven into the forts and behind the breastworks. A partial calm ensues while Rebel batteries are whirling around into position and we hear our little field pieces over on the right pounding away. Then ours on the left open fire, making it warm for the Rebs.

            Suddenly, the whole Rebel force in three lines of battle advances upon us. Our whole crescent line of works opens with a blaze of musketry, sending deadly missiles into the Rebel ranks, whose batteries and muskets are sending a torrent of shot and shell over our heads. With maddening yells, they charged upon us but our deadly aim has thinned their ranks. They wavered and fell back while our boys filled the air with cheers and poured shots into the ranks of the retreating foe.

Major Augustus H. Abbett
67th Indiana
Killed in action at Munfordville

            The firing has slackened as the Rebels reformed their columns. A Rebel gun galloped to the hill in our rear and is about to open fire upon us when our piece is whirled around and aimed, sending a shot that dismounts if and we have no further trouble from the rear. But in front, they are yelling and coming on another charge. Major Augustus Abbett mounts the parapet and cries out, “Shoot low!” A shot strikes him and he falls dead. The Rebels come in a maddening rush to the death while our boys are again thinning their ranks. They wavered and fell back.

            Our boys filled the air with deadly missiles and a Hoosier yell which was echoed by the 89th Indiana boys. Another partial calm comes which lasts but a few minutes when the Rebel lines fetch a demoniacal yell and with glittering bayonets comes on a third time on their march to death beneath a cloud of smoke. We see a host of soldiers coming up in our rear; we wheel our cannon and bring our guns to bear upon them when, to our joy, the soft breeze unfurls the star-spangled banner and the 50th Indiana is coming to our aid. On comes the Rebel host, yelling and firing, but our squirrel hunt aim thins their ranks again and they weaken and fall back out of rifle shot. Calm returns to the line and we see another flag of truce coming up. They want to care for their wounded and bury their dead, and thus ended the fight on Sunday morning, September 14, 1862.

            Our 2,200 men withstood the storm of Chalmers’ brigade of well-drilled and disciplined troops. The severity of the engagement is attested by our flag and staff being struck 146 times. We occupied the remainder of the day in caring for our wounded and burying our dead. This was one of the most horrible sights we had ever witnessed, not being inured to the horrors of battle. It seemed horrible to us to see our schoolmates of a few weeks before now one by one laid away in the cold grave far away from home and friends.

            On the next day, we lay in readiness for battle, all day expecting the enemy to return and renew the attack, but he did not appear until Tuesday the 16th and we skirmished all day. General Bragg’s whole force had come up and while the skirmishing was going on, he was placing his batteries in position all around us in such a manner as to open a concentrated fire upon us.

            Having his batteries so arranged, late in the evening he sent in a flag of truce and demanded our surrender. Colonel Wilder refused unless permitted to see for himself that Bragg had the necessary troops to enforce the demand. This permission being granted, Colonel Wilder rode around the place and counted 66 cannons, 54 of which were then in position, and was told by Bragg that there were 35,000 troops in position. This convinced him that it would be a foolish sacrifice of life to hold out longer, and on Wednesday morning September 17th, we were surrendered as prisoners of war.

            Thus within a few short weeks, we had left our harvest fields and workshops, been transformed from citizens to soldiers, and been baptized in the fire of blood and battle, made prisoners of war, and hungry and footsore, marched 150 miles home and now we enjoyed a little rest among friends.

To learn more about the subsequent events following the surrender at Munfordville, please check out "Bumping into Bragg's Rearguard at Munfordville" which features an account from Lt. Samuel Hamilton of the 26th Ohio. 

 Source:

Corporal Reuben B. Scott, Co. A, 67th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, The History of the 67th Regiment Indiana Infantry Volunteers, War of the Rebellion. Bedford: Herald Book and Job Print, 1892, pgs. 5-10

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more