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

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