Barren County Boys-The Orphans And Yanks In The Cross Hairs

by Ronald L. Burgess

Redlands Fortnightly Club Meeting # 1821
February 2, 2012

The Scots-Irish were no strangers to strife and struggle, including violence and war.  Long before they populated the fringes of colonial America, as a buffer to the more established British immigrants, from the natives and French, they had fought the Romans on Hadrian’s wall, Long shanks, and later the Irish when moved forcibly to that new island to protestantize the Irish Catholics.

As emigrants, they pushed out the frontier into Kentucky following the Revolutionary War, they fought and removed Indians, succeeded from Virginia to form their own state, were isolated and self sufficient in the War of 1812, and by the election of 1860, still had the  grit and zeal for a fight; but only as a last resort.

When Lincoln was elected in November of 1860, unlike South Carolina, Kentucky had a split personality of sorts.  [Slide 2] As Senator John J. Crittenden saw it: there were three Kentuckys. In the north, along the Ohio River where men like Henry Clay had left a strong allegiance to the Union. The second, “great, sound, conservative, central heart of the Commonwealth, are for the union and constitution--the whole flag, every stripe & star in its place.” “The third Kentucky, was along her southern border and sprinkled around the state: they felt as southerners, and avowed secession, should it come to that.”  Two of these counties were right on the Tennessee boarder, Monroe and Barren Counties, small farm country and little populated. The largest city was Nashville, Tennessee, just 60 miles southeast.

Following South Carolina’s secession in December 20th, 1860, Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin, met with southern commissioners in Frankfort, to urge Kentucky to join them. Magoffin had already started military activities sometime before the election, reactivating the old state guard of 1858. Clay’s bluegrass supporters argued for a Union stance, while Crittenden lobbied hard to be neutral. Most Kentuckians did not favor secession, yet most did not favor forceful coercion to stay in the Union either.

Barren County was like the state, divided on the issue as well. Most supported the south; but some, the north. As the events developed in 1861, the county had increasingly bold differences.

The Concord Church, established in the early 1800’s by noted evangelist John Mulkey, was characteristic of the small churches throughout southern Barren County and Monroe County. Generally, a mile or two apart in the rural rolling hills, each church served perhaps 20 families. The closest rail line was in Glasgow, 15 miles to the north, so transport consisted of horse, foot and in summer and winter, wagons with a team. The church was the center of activity, a place for Sunday afternoon picnics, socials and preaching.

One Sunday afternoon, the preacher of Concord made some supporting comments regarding the southern secessionists. He was interrupted and jeered by the congregation and the service ended in a near riot. A liberal church for the day and area, it had at least two Negro women as regular members. Strained relations between the two factions were extended to the next week when male members brought pistols to church the following Sunday. Fearing impropriety, they placed their weapons under the church floor.

The church council met to settle the issue; “By motion and second, a motion was [brought forward] to throw the political disunion out the door and have nothing to do with it.” But they would have nothing of the motion, and struck it down unanimously.   The pastor was removed and a previous pastor Oliver Burgess was his replacement.  His brother was Sperril Burgess. 

Tempers flared in the sparsely populated County, at least one murder is documented, but not solved. One night, a killer simply knocked on the door and shot the occupant as the fire light located his victim in the darkness.

Governor Magoffin called for a State Guard to be formed for protection from outside invaders. All men from 18 to 45 were to register. Lincoln called for 15,000 troops for the North, to which Magofin replied, “Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.”  This opened up the criticism that the governor was really building an army for the South. While the state legislators affirmed Magffin’s refusal to send troops, the Federal faction managed to slow appropriations for the militia.  An arms race developed; Lincoln guns were smuggled from the North, while Magoffin himself was actually in contact with the Secretary of War of the newly formed Confederate States of America.

[Slide 5] In Barren County, units were: The Barren County Musket men, with Captain W.W. Bagby, the Glasgow Guards, Captain Joseph Nuckols, and the Rocky Hill Guard, Captain P.P. Barclay. These guards did lots of parading through Glasgow and other smaller towns in the county, but they marched for Kentucky, neither the North nor the South, as the state struggled under Crittenden to stay neutral. But debate continued to heat up as 1961 turned to spring. The neutrals were the idealistic of the factions, thinking that somehow they could endure through the rhetoric; but as real troops gathered on each side of the state, they also saw that they would have to defend two borders against two invaders. The pro-Union politicians in Lexington managed to expel Magoffin due to his Southern sympathies and reversed the position to pro-Union.

[slide 5 b]In Barren County, the three militias quickly took sides. Lead by Captain Joseph Nuckols, the Glasgow Guards were outfitted in gray and armed at his personal expense. At one point Nuckols Guard actually unfurled the Confederate colors and marched under them that spring. Some left the unit for Virginia, and others left with sympathies to the North by spring. The lawmakers in Frankfurt now provided for the formation of a second militia army to be called the Home Guard.  Soon rival guards paraded in the same towns, one to the “Star Spangled Banner” the other to “Dixie” and “Bonnie Blue Flag”.

Ed Thompson, remembered, that “blue coats and grey coats rubbed against each other in public places with a smothered energy that told too plainly the conviction of the wearers of each, that the other would furnish a most desirable and beautiful target for practice at musket range.” The neutrality could not hold within the state let alone against two opposing armies. With the state power base at odds, a new congressional election was held in mid-June. The Union party in the state won overwhelmingly, setting in motion more aggressive recruiting.

General William Nelson formed an active Union recruiting camp within the state’s borders. Some of General McClellan’s troops crossed the river and invaded Columbus to take down a Confederate flag. Finally in September the legislature, declared neutrality at an end, and ordered all Confederate forces out of the state. On the same day, a small Confederate army marched from Camp Boon in Tennessee to Bowling Green, just to the west of Barren County.

[ Slide 5 b] Camp Boone had been the training ground since July. Established by Kentuckians, who did not want to violate its neutrality while building an army for the South, it attracted early recruits from Kentucky. 

Joseph Nuckols, who would take his men south, kept his them in Glasgow, Barren County, until after the congressional election, then marched them to Camp Boone, August 9th, forty-five miles to the southwest across the Tennessee line.  He was joined by Captain Robert J. Breckenridge, Robert P. Trabue and Philip Lightfoot Lee.  Men overwhelmed the camp, Union men complained that “so many of our giddy young men have gone into the southern army that almost every man who goes into our army, knows that he has to fight a neighbor, a relative, a brother, son or father.”

The first southern unit to be formed was the 2nd Kentucky on July 13th. Nuckols’ Barren County boys became the 4th Kentucky on September 1st, commanded by Robert Trabue. Following the occupation of Bowling Green, Buckner ordered Joseph H. Lewis of Barren County, to establish a recruiting camp in the county, northeast of the county seat, Glasgow, at Cave City. These efforts lead to the creation of the 6th Kentucky, on November 19.  John W Burgess joined the Kentucky 4th on September 30th.  Many of his Barren County friends and one brother, James joined this unit or the Kentucky 6th in the fall.  His brother John W. joined six Gentry’s (my grandmother’s maternal line) from Monroe County also went to the south and belonged to the Kentucky 6th.

These units and others would become the famous “Orphan Brigade”. “Orphan” because they fought against their home state, and could not return home. John C Breckenridge, former Vice President of the US, took command. This brigade would take part in the early battles of Ft. Donnellson and McHenry in the western campaign, and last through Sherman’s March and into the country side following the fall of Savanna, among the longest to fight in the Civil War.

Barren County would be divided just as the rest of the state was. On September 30, 1861 Sperril would join the Union, Company F, 21st Kentucky Infantry. He would leave wife Tabatha and several of their children to fend for themselves. His son, William Oliver was just 15, probably not able to support the family from blacksmithing.  As this family split apart, so did family friends: the Chambers, Bybees, Mitchells, Biggs and others chose up sides and went to Union training camps in Kentucky, or Confederate training camps in Tennessee to prepare to fight each other, the majority going to the south.  Recruits would pass each other on the same road, moving toward the alliance they had chosen.

On September 4th, 1861, Confederate Major General Polk violated the Kentucky Commonwealth's neutrality when he ordered Brigadier General Pillow to occupy Columbus. Columbus was of strategic importance because it had the Mobile and Ohio Railroad hub, and because of its position on the Mississippi River.

Union Brigadier General Grant, stationed in Cairo, Ill moved on September 6th to counter Pillow. Grant moved to Paducah, Kentucky. Now both armies had violated Kentucky Commonwealth. Governor Magoffin denounced both, and ordered them to withdraw. However the State General Assembly passed a resolution ordering the withdrawal of just the Confederate forces. Magoffin vetoed the resolution but the Assembly had enough votes to override the veto. They then ordered the Union flag to be raised over the capital in Frankfort. Allegiance was decided. Immediately Confederate forces formed a line in Tennessee and southern sections of Kentucky. [Slide 6b] The middle of the line was at Bowling Green, just about 40 miles west Barren County, and extended through the County to eastern Kentucky.

September 19th, Barborville became the first Kentucky battle. Then one-month later, fighting took place at Wildcat Mountain directly east of Barren County.

The war was on, and in the western states, Kentucky and Barren County looked to be in the crosshairs. Barren and Monroe Counties were now real candidates for a major conflagration.

By November, in Bowling Green, hundreds of men were sick. Infectious disease was not well understood during the Civil War. Men from hundreds of miles away were thrown together in Camp Boone. They previously were separated in the rural country side. Assembled in close quarters, infectious diseases could run through populations that had no immunity from them.

The H. E. Ferguson of the 6th Kentucky reported that “Thare is a good many of hour Rigement Sick with mezals.”  At any day that month, the surgeons in Bowling Green reported between 300 and 500 Kentuckians in the hospital. By December it was as high as 840. The most alarming sickness wrote Ed Thompson, was a singular type of measles that in many instances baffled the skill of the medical department and carried off scores of men.

Bowling green was part of a line established from Fort Donelson, Tennessee, through Bowling Green to the Cumberland Gap. Grant entered Kentucky and headed for Forts Donnellson and Henry. Other forces were headed for Bowling Green. On January 20, Confederate General Johnston ordered 8000 men from Bowling Green to Clarksville, Tennessee which was within supporting distance of Ft. Donelson; but only the 2nd Brigade moved.

Kentucky now had two armies, regiments that were for the south, and regiments for the north. The southern regiment later became known as the Orphan Brigade, as now had no home to return to. It was the only southern brigade from a state that stayed with the north, thus the Orphan Brigade.

By February 11 Johnston decided that Fort Donelson could not stand and gave the order to Breckinridge to be ready to evacuate Bowling Green. The Orphans hoped for the order to move north, to march to liberate their homes and families. But instead, they were going south to re-group . Trabue’s 4th Kentucky Orphans would be the rear guard, and Morgan’s (later of Morgan’s Raiders) cavalry in the front.  They left for Nashville some 2478 strong. The Federals rushed south and began shelling Bowling Green before all had left the city.

They marched past Nashville and five miles beyond to Murfreesboro, TN. On February 28th they move further into the Deep South, to Huntsville, Alabama, then on to Decatur. Grant continued down the Tennessee River. The Confederate Orphan units were moved to stop the Northern advance. As they moved west rain began to fall, mud slowed the advance. They had used up “three days rations in half the time” so were hungry, cold and wet. Johnston was delayed in the attack which meant that the Orphans bivouacked with no tents while rain dampened the men and spirits. Another days march and they bivouacked, forced to scavenge for food. The following day was the Sabbath and in front of them was Shiloh Church, but the Orphans would attend a devil’s service.

[slide 7]On April 6th 1862 the Orphans would be “baptized by fire,” their first engagement. Joe Lewis moved among his Orphans to lift spirits and morale. “Boys, we are about to be engaged for the first time. It will pain me to see any man falter and don’t let it be said by those whom we love at home, that one member disgraced himself.” As the brigade began its ‘Old Trib” Trabue of the 6th Kentucky, was at the head. The men, some with their hardtack breakfast still in hand, moved at double quick; they would now drive Grant from Tennessee soil, their honor intact.

As they came upon the field, Breckinridge ordered Trabue forward to form the battle line. The 3rd Kentucky on his right and the 4th to his left. Trabue moved his men almost directly toward Shiloh Church.

Grant was east, against the Tennessee River, with supporting troops and equipment to his left. But to get to the river they had to go past Sherman, McClelland, and Prentiss about a half mile away, obscured by hills and woods.

As they moved north, Trabue and Nichols became isolated and were on the extreme left. Moving closer to the Church, they noticed a large force in front of them. Unsure of where all units were, they would have to attack. Shelling soon broke out against them. A shell killed two of Cobb’s gunners and severed both hands of a third, who stood looking at the bleeding nubs and said, “My Lord, that stops my fighting.” As they moved forward a Confederate unit of unknown brigade broke through their advancing lines, disrupting the advance, but Nichols kept his men in hand and John Burgess and his Barren County buddies tried to rally the retreating Orphans. The Kentuckians own bugler sounded the recall. And they all turned and met the oncoming Federals. Trabue seemed everywhere, speaking in his low soothing manor to temper the men’s high pitch. Then for the first time a major officer appeared, Major General Hardee. Many men were already littered on the field making it difficult to form a perfectly straight line. But he made them stand astride the fallen if necessary to form the line. Tarbue said,” General I have a Kentucky brigade here. What shall I do with it?”  Put it in where the fight is the thickest sir,” Hardee responded.

By 3:30 the Confederate line was pushing hard on the Union line as they moved past the Shiloh Church and hoped for Pitts Landing on the River.

Tarbue battered the Federals for an hour and a quarter with Lewis’ 6th in the center, Hunt’s 5th on the right and holding the 31st Alabama in reserve. Then putting the Alabama boys in line to extend the whole, he ordered bayonets fixed, and charged.

Lewis and the 6th met less resistance in this charge, but his horse was shot from underneath him. Hunt’s regiment suffered heavy casualties, but all were now pushing through Union camps. The 4th now moved on another camp and called for the 6th to assist. Gradually resistance in front pulled back, as they fought the resistance they were pulled right with other units. Trabue noticed Federals from Prentiss’ camps attempting to withdraw, but they had a small area to do so as they were surrounded on the south, and east, Tarbue being now on the North West. As The Orphans pressured to the left with several volleys, the 6th turned them back to the right and they fled to the “hornets” nest where they previously attempted to stand. Now the 6th pinched the opening closed as Tarbue noticed other Confederate units pinch from the other side.   The Federals under Printiss were completely surrounded, and the white flag appeared, lifting the spirits of the Orphans after a hard march and a harder and costly set of battles at Shiloh.

But Grant’s army was only compressed into a smaller area at Pitt’s Landing, He was far from out of fight. Trabue now moved the Orphans into the new line against the river to begin again against the Union but dusk was upon them and the order to withdraw was given by Breckinridge.  They withdrew back to Shiloh Church for bivouac. The first day of battle was victorious, but not without cost. Trabue tallied the losses, 75 Orphans dead, 350 wounded. The Barren County Orphans now knew exuberance and fear. It was just the first day.

As dawn of day two arrived, the men were up early, although shelling from Union ships on the river kept many awake for much of the night, as rain again fell. The lines formed, the Union now attacked. The Orphans traded volleys, for twenty minutes. The Union fell back; but the advancing Orphans quickly met with a counter attack. For another hour the two sides took punches only to realize they were up against fellow Kentuckians under General William Nelson’s division. One artilleryman noted, “Where ever Kentucky met Kentucky, it was horrible.” Nuckols took a bullet in the ankle, which may have saved his life. As he was moved to the rear under intensive Kentucky battle, he heard the Kentucky Battle Song which was often sung back in Camp Boone. “Cheer boys cheer, we’ll do our duty. . . and fight, to Kentucky our hearts, our arms our lives!” Indeed, the 4th lost half of their number; killed or wounded this day, leaving Union Kentuckians dead as well: a sad day for the home state.

With the additional support Buell offered Grant, General Beauregard knew his spent army must withdraw from the field. They were ordered to retreat to Corinth, Mississippi. Of 2400 Orphans, 844 were dead or wounded in the first engagement. The reality of war was now complete. Only a month before the Kentuckians from both sides worshiped together. 

As the retreat began, the rain again accompanied them, the mud on the roads slowed progress to Corinth only to be a minor issue compared with the broken sprit of the near victory gone bad. Both armies were exhausted and damaged. The proud Orphans boys now came to the realization that the Union men really could fight. They made no Union sissy jokes as they walked in the mud: they realized now that honor in war was more like hell.

Corinth would allow a few days to rest and forage, but soon it was apparent that the massive Union army would overtake them, so they moved further to assist in Vicksburg then Baton Rouge. Here, in July, they suffered again. Many without shoes could hardly walk over the rocky roads. Stifling heat and humidity, beyond what most had ever experienced in Kentucky, drove them to stagnant green water, which made them feel worse. Over 600 men fell or were too sick to continue on the just 50 mile march.

When they reached the Comite River, they were surprised by Union fire where chaos caused losses of men and horses. Gathering composure, they drove the Northerners back. Breckinridge drove his men toward Baton Rouge, but then turned  right and occupied Port Hudson. They needed the recuperation time.   

While the Orphans had been in tough battles, the Union still did not control the Mississippi; the state or the river. Vicksburg had not fallen, and several battles such as Shiloh were more technical wins than actual routs. The Confederates and especially the Orphans still had dreams of taking Kentucky back. They could not do this without the Orphans, and their orders soon came to begin the trip back to “My Old Kentucky Home,” which was sung in camp.

Finally on August 19th they marched out of camp with clothes in such tatters they became an attraction as they marched. “How do you like our light and cool trousers?” they remarked.  On September 19th they began a circuitous route by rail, north to Jackson, Mississippi, east to Meridian, south to Mobile Alabama, and finally northeast again through Atlanta, and up to Knoxville, Tennessee. The plan was to move to the Cumberland Gap to mount an invasion into Kentucky, but within sight of the Gap, they stopped.

Soon his Orphans would be in Murfreesboro south east of Nashville where they had started the trek to Shiloh. It was the last stop before facing Union lines at Nashville. The Orphas were blocked from home by the Union Army, and its Barren County boys.

The Kentucky Union Campaign

Sperril Burgess, a blacksmith, enlisted in the Union Kentucky, Company F, 21st Infantry north of Glasgow, at Camp Ward on December 30th, 1861.  He was accompanied by dozens of other Barren county friends and relatives who resided in a few mile area called Etoile. 
Col. Price, immediately moved his new recruits to Creelsboro Kentucky, to access the Cumberland River, east of Tompkinsville in Southern Monroe County, not far from his home. Water transport immediately took them down the river to Nashville arriving March 18th. This was the same day Gen. Buell began his march from Nashville to Pittsburg landing.

General Braxton Bragg's confederate invasion of Kentucky occurring, the regiment began the march with Buell's army and reached Louisville, Ky., Sept. 19. The regiment moved with the forces pursuing Bragg as far as London and Wild Cat, then marched through Somerset, Columbia, Glasgow, the county seat of Barren County to Scottsville and back to the area of Nashville completing a great loop through central southern Kentucky. Here they camped with Crittenden's corps.

By an order of the war department, under date of Oct. 24, 1862 Buell was relieved of the command of the Army of the Ohio, the Department of the Cumberland was created, and Maj. Gen. W. S. Rosecrans assigned to the command of the new department, which embraced all that part of the State of Tennessee lying east of the Tennessee river and such portions of Alabama and Georgia as might be occupied by the Federals.

[slide 8]As Rosecrans and his Federals approached Murfreesboro, they stopped at Stones River, positioning themselves on the high ground to the west and north of the River, and about a half mile from Murfreesboro. Price was positioned up the hill to the extreme north on the Union left flank. With Sperril, under Price were also family and friends: Biggers, Bybies, Childress, Ford, at least three Gentrys, Hale, Holland, two Mitchells, Meyers, Preston, and Smiths. 
 
[slide 9]When the Orphan Brigade reached Murfreesboro, Rosecrans blocked entrance into Kentucky by moving south of Nashville. Other Barren County family and friends, including, James W, Burgess, at least two Gentry’s, Chambers, John Meyers, and T Dickerson were in John W. Burgess’ company with the Federals.

Stones Creek

[slide 9b] The Orphan Brigade took positions on the extreme right flank. This placed the Barren County Boys directly opposing each other! By December 31, both armies were ready for battle.

[slide 10]The first action was a heavy push by the South on the left, driving back the Union line initially. Price ordered his men to cross the river, and take a small clump of trees, effectively turning the battle south to face the rebs. This accomplished, he dug in. [slide 11]But Price was out manned by two to one.  Under General Hardee, the Orphans were to move across a field to the trees and push back the boys in blue.  The Barren County Orphans were to the extreme left of the filed against the river. As the advanced, the unit compressed as it became squeezed by the river bank.  [slide 12]This they did with so much fire power, that they quickly ran through the first line right into Prices Barren County men.  As the first wave of retreating blue coats ran through the Barren Boys, Price called for a stand. They were met directly by the running Barren County Orphans. [slide 12b] Overwhelming as it may have been, one wonders if the union boys retreated to avoid killing kin and community.  In just seconds, the Union boys were forced to retreat back across the river, men dropping as they were hit on the run.

[slide 13]In the moment and confusion of the battle, the rebs, followed them to the river. 

At the top of the Union controlled hill were dozens of cannon, and as the rebs moved to the edge of the river, they unleashed an enormous barrage of fire down on the Orphans.  [slide 14]The shells plowed up the ground and killed as many as twenty at a time. Southern solders and body parts flew every direction. [slide 15 sequence]Organization on the field was non-existent, as the 6th Kentucky scrambled back out of the reach of the big guns. [slide 16, 17]One standard bearer named Woodson, defied death, and turned several times in retreat saying “Here’s your sixth, Kentucky.” He was eventually shot and died later in the makeshift hospital, in Murfeesboro.

[slice 18] Now Sperril and his Union Barren County boys, charged back across the river toward the Barren County Sixth Kentucky Orphan Brigade, through hundreds of bodies and shell craters. Doubtless, some paused to recognize their foes, as previous neighbors. Did they react with anger, sympathy, aggression, or compassion as they recognized bloody faces? One downed reb recalled that during the retreat, lying with the dead, passing Union soldiers would say “here’s a wounded reb.” “Some would kick me and others would step carefully, but I was covered with bruises the next day.”  The Glasgow parades and color demonstrations were over, the arguing sides at the table were done, now the reality of the philosophic split was real: the Barren County boys were fighting hand to hand at each other in a real battle. The war was real, the split was permanent. [slide 19]

The Union regained their original ground, but now thousands were dead. Confederate general Breckenridge, was never more visibly moved as he paced his horse he cried, “My poor Orphan Brigade is torn to pieces.”  With 5,000 men engaged in the action that day, 1700 were casualties. Few other battles of the war were worse. [slide 20]

Pause- Slides 21, 22

The confederates withdrew on Jan 3rd, even though the battle was mostly a draw. Both sides were exhausted and being in the cold of January, the union occupied Murfreesboro. Sperril Burgess was discharged from that city on May 13, with “distinction.” He  had served just over 17 months, he returned to Etoile, Barren County as a US citizen.

The U.S.  Army of the Cumberland, would push them past Tennessee into Georgia, take Atlanta, and Sherman would drive to the sea. The Orphans would be resisting all the way through defeat, for they had no place to go home to as long as the war waged. They were one of the last to surrender. [slide21]

Post Civil War

The record is sketchy following the War, but we do know that Sperril and others left Kentucky soon after the war, as the Orphans reclaimed the home land following the war.

The Civil War also impacted the area between Tompkinsville, Monroe County, and Glasgow, Barren County. Several times troops marched through the area, both as protection and the invading south. On Christmas Day 1861 the County Court House in Glasgow was burned by the rebs. The town reacted by building fortifications; but no battle ever occurred in either county, sparing those who stayed home to deal with those who came back.

One can only imagine what kind of dialog might have been flying at family gatherings, or perhaps families and community split into two factions. My mother’s family, from Illinois has many stories of our family in the Civil War, the Burgesses chose not to remember.

[Slide 23]

Notes