General McCook Discovers Governor Johnson at Shiloh

Riding over the Shiloh battlefield on April 8, 1862, Generals Alexander McCook and William "Bull" Nelson came across an old acquaintance lying upon the battlefield: George W. Johnson, the provisional Confederate governor of Kentucky. The 49-year-old, serving as a volunteer aide on the staff of General John C. Breckinridge, had a horse shot out from under him on April 6th, then took his place as a private in the ranks of Co. E of the 4th Kentucky on the 7th. In the course of the fighting, Johnson suffered a mortal wound in the right thigh and abdomen.

          I saw lying upon the ground a tall man dressed in gray jeans. I dismounted, approached him, and recognized him as a Kentucky Johnson and told him so,” McCook wrote years later. “He replied, ‘Yes, I am George W. Johnson, Confederate governor of Kentucky.’ He asked me to come nearer. I knelt beside him, better to hear what he had to say. He asked me if I was a Mason, I convinced him I was. He then told me he had been fighting the day before with Trabue’s men, that he was fatally wounded through the body and had no hopes of recovery.”

          McCook administered some brandy, summoned an ambulance, and called over General Nelson and later Colonel James Jackson of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry to speak with Johnson. Johnson would die aboard a hospital ship on April 8th, and within six months, Nelson would be murdered in Louisville by a fellow Federal general, and Jackson would have been killed in action under McCook’s command at Perryville. McCook’s description of this event first saw publication in the Lexington Herald’s August 18, 1901, edition, supplied to the Herald’s manager Desha Breckinridge by Thomas J. Bush.

 

General Alexander McDowell McCook

Grant’s battle of Pittsburg Landing was fought on Sunday, April 6, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh fought on Monday, April 7, 1862. Three divisions of the Army of the Ohio, about 20,000 men under the immediate command of General Buell were successfully engaged on the Union side.

Tuesday morning, day after the battle, General William Nelson came to my headquarters and finding me prepared to ride over the battlefield, asked to accompany me. I conducted him to the points of most interest to my mind. In reaching a thicket surrounding a live oak swamp where a determined stand had been made in front of my division by the Kentucky troops under Breckinridge, I saw lying upon the ground a tall man dressed in gray jeans. I dismounted, approached him, and recognized him as a Kentucky Johnson and told him so. He replied, ‘Yes, I am George W. Johnson, Confederate governor of Kentucky.’ He asked me to come nearer. I knelt beside him, better to hear what he had to say. He asked me if I was a Mason, I convinced him I was. He then told me he had been fighting the day before with Trabue’s men, that he was fatally wounded through the body and had no hopes of recovery. He told of the battle and of other things not necessary to mention here.

Governor George W. Johnson of Kentucky

It having rained hard Monday night, Governor Johnson was wet and chilled. I administered brandy and gave him such nourishment as my party carried. I told him that General Nelson was nearby and asked if he would like to speak with him; he said yes. Nelson then came forward, knelt near him, and held a short conversation. Meantime, Colonel Jim Jackson of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry approached and I notified Governor Johnson and he said he would like to speak with him. General Nelson and Colonel Jackson had been great friends, but, from some cause, were estranged, enemies in fact, and arrangements were made to settle their difficulty by code duello at the end of the war.

At the close of Colonel Jackson’s interview, and after he had risen to his feet, I then addressed General Nelson and Colonel Jackson. ‘I am told you are enemies now. In view of our glorious victory yesterday, surrounded by these dead and dying men, there could not be a more fitting opportunity for you both to clasp each other’s hand, mutually asking forgiveness, and again to become friends.’ Instantly, the hands were extended and grasped and from that hour they were again friends.

Previously a field ambulance had been sent for and upon its arrival, Governor Johnson was tenderly placed in it.  On our way to this interesting point on the battlefield, we found the dead body of a Confederate officer whose features and size of body bore a strong resemblance to General Albert Sindey Johnston. When we again reached this point, this body was raised so that Governor Johnson could view it from the ambulance. He said in the presence of myself, General Nelson, and others that ‘that is the body of General Johnston.’ Giving full credence to this testimony, General Nelson gave orders to a burial party to prepare a grave. The body was placed in it and marked with a picket fence placed around it. This proved to be a case of mistaken identity; this body was afterwards proven to be that of Colonel Preston of Louisiana.

Colonel James S. Jackson of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry became Brigadier General later that summer and met his demise while serving as a division commander at the Battle of Perryville. 


Governor Johnson requested me to send for a minister of the Gospel. Meeting one of our chaplains, I asked him to come to the ambulance and introduced him to the governor. He was directed to conduct the ambulance to Pittsburg Landing where the hospital steamboat Hannibal was lying. Upon this boat, surgeons from the North were caring for the wounded with experienced nurses from Cincinnati hospital, and where all the needed delicacies were found for the wounded and the sick. Two or three days later, the chaplain reported that Governor Johnson had died. A few minutes before death struck, the governor asked him if he could sing Kirk White’s hymn “The Star of Bethlehem.” The chaplain, holding his hand, sang the hymn and just at the close, the spirit of Governor Johnson passed into the peace of God.

Source:

“Recollections of Shiloh’s Battlefield: Major General McCook Writes of Incidents and Scenes of that Famous Engagement,” Lexington Herald (Kentucky), August 18, 1901, pg. 11

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 their way to
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 warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
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 how Confederate jacke
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 Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
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 securing all the Enfi
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

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
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 at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more