Special Orders, Sept. 10, Vol. IV., p. 405. Johnston to Davis, Sept. 16, 1861. w. R. pp. 193, 194. Vol. IV., the rank of general, was duly assigned on Sep- CHAP. III. tember 10 to the command of Department No. Two, covering in general the States of Tennessee, Arkansas, part of Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, 1861. W. R. Kansas, and the Indian Territory. Proceeding at once to Nashville, and conferring with the local authorities, Johnston wrote back to Richmond under date of September 16th: "So far from yielding to the demand for the withdrawal of our troops, I have determined to occupy Bowling Green at once... I design to-morrow (which is the earliest practicable moment) to take possession of Bowling Green with five thousand troops, and prepare to support the movement with such force as circumstances may indicate and the means at my command may allow." The movement was promptly carried out. Buckner was put in command of the expedition, and, seizing several railroad trains, he moved forward to Bowling Green on the morning of the 18th, having sent ahead five hundred men to occupy Munfordville, and issuing the usual proclamation that his invasion was a measure of defense. Meanwhile the third column of invaders entered Eastern Kentucky through Cumberland Gap. Brigadier-General Zollicoffer had eight or ten thousand men under his command in Eastern Tennessee, but much scattered and badly armed and supplied. By his active supervision he somewhat improved the organization of his forces, and acquainted himself with the intricate topography of the mountain region he was in during the month of August. Prompted probably from Kentucky, he was ready early in September to join in the combined movement into Buckner to Cooper, Sept. 18, 1881 W. R. Vol. IV., pp. 413, 414. CHAP. III. that State. About the 10th he advanced through Cumberland Gap with six regiments to Cumberland Ford, and began planning further aggressive movements against the small Union force, principally Home Guards, which had been collected and organized at Camp Dick Robinson. W. R. Vol. The strong Union Legislature which Kentucky elected in August met in Frankfort, the capital, on the 2d of September. Polk, having securely established himself at Columbus, notified the Governor of his presence, and offered as his only excuse the alleged intention of the Federal troops to occupy it. The Legislature, not deeming the excuse sufficient, passed a joint resolution instructing the Governor "to inform those concerned that Kentucky expects the Confederate or Tennessee troops to be withdrawn from her soil IV., p. 288. unconditionally." The Governor vetoed the resolution on the ground that it did not also embrace the Union troops, but the Legislature passed it over his veto. Governor Magoffin now issued his Ibid., p. 287. proclamation as directed. Polk and Jefferson Davis replied that the Confederate army would withdraw if the Union army would do the same. To this the Legislature responded with another joint resolution, that the conditions prescribed were an insult to the dignity of the State, "to which Kentucky cannot listen without dishonor," and "that the invaders must be expelled." The resolution further required General Robert Anderson to take instant command, with authority to call out a volunteer force, in all of which the Governor was required to lend his aid. Kentucky was thus officially taken out of her false attitude of neutrality, and placed Sept. 13, 1861. Sept. 20, 1861. Ibid., p. 288. in active coöperation with the Federal Govern- CHAP. III. ment to maintain the Union. Every day increased the strength and zeal of her assistance. A little later in the session a law was enacted, declaring enlistments under the Confederate flag a misdemeanor, and the invasion of Kentucky by Confederate soldiers a felony, and prescribing heavy penalties for both. Finally, the Legislature authorized the enlistment of forty thousand volunteers to "repel invasion," providing also that they should be mustered into the service of the United States and coöperate with the armies of the Union. This was a complete revolution from the anticoercion resolutions the previous Legislature had passed in January. Hitherto, there were no Federal forces in Kentucky except the brigade which Lieutenant Nelson had organized at Camp Dick Robinson; the Home Guards in various counties, though supplied with arms by the Federal Government, were acting under State militia laws. General Anderson, commanding the military department which embraced Kentucky, still kept his headquarters at Cincinnati, and Lovell H. Rousseau, a prominent Kentuckian, engaged in organizing a brigade of Kentuckians, had purposely made his camp on the Indiana side of the Ohio River. Nevertheless, President Lincoln, the Governors of Ohio and Indiana, and the various military commanders, had for months been ready to go to the assistance of the Kentucky Unionists whenever the necessity should arise. Even if the neutral attitude of Kentucky had not been brought to an end by the advance of the Confederate forces, it would have "Session Laws," pp. 13-17. Frémont to Grant, Aug. 28, Vol. III., p. 142. Rodgers to W. R. Vol. CHAP. III. been by that of the Federals. A point had been reached where further inaction was impossible. Three days before General Pillow occupied Hickman, Frémont sent General Grant to Southeastern Missouri to concentrate the several Federal detachments, drive out the enemy, and destroy a rumored rebel battery at Belmont. His order says finally: “It is intended, in connection with all these move1861 W. R. ments, to occupy Columbus, Kentucky, as soon as possible." It was in executing a part of this order that the gunboats sent to Belmont extended their reconnaissance down the river and discovered the Frémont, advance of the Confederates on the Kentucky III., p. 152. shore. An unexpected delay in the movement of one of Grant's detachments occurred at the same time; and that commander, with military intuition, postponed the continuance of the local operations in Missouri, and instead prepared an expedition into Kentucky, which became the initial step of his brilliant and fruitful campaign in that direction a few months later. He saw that Columbus, his primary objective point, was lost for the present; but he also perceived that another, of perhaps equal strategical value, yet lay within his grasp, though, clearly, there was no time to be wasted in seizing it. The gunboat reconnaissance on the Mississippi River which revealed the rebel occupation of Kentucky was begun on September 4th. On the following day General Grant, having telegraphed the information to Frémont and to the Kentucky Legislature, hurriedly organized an expedition of two gunboats, eighteen hundred men, sixteen cannon for batteries, and a supply of provisions and ammunition on transports. Taking personal com |