Dedicated To Those Who Gave The Ultimate Sacrifice

Battle of Cranesnest The following information was gathered from several sources. It is displayed here for informational purposes only. Though efforts were taken to ensure accuracy, Dickenson411.com cannot guarantee it's complete accuracy. Also, some of the information below may contain the writers' opinions, not Dickenson411.com's opinions. The 13th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment in the Battle of Cranesnest by Jeffrey Hatmaker of Camp #1715 On November the Ninth, 1864, the forces of the Thirteenth Kentucky Cavalry under Major Thomas J. Chenoweth saw combat between two scurrilous men and their troops. Lieutenant Colonel Clarence J. Prentice, C.S.A. was a ne'er do well profiteer whose unit participated in General John Hunt Morgan's star-crossed "Last Raid" into Kentucky. The Thirteenth Kentucky Cavalry served with them in this raid, and I am sure that they knew what to expect from Prentice and his Seventh Battalion Confederate Cavalry, (of Virginia), by his track record in that action. Lt. Colonel Prentice and his men "distinguished" themselves on that raid by doing what they were most experienced at, i.e., drinking hard and stealing as much as they could get away with. The scoundrels that attached themselves to his unit were a constant source of embarrassment and consternation to his peers as well as his superiors. Colonel Henry Giltner, successor of Benjamin Everidge Caudill as Commanding Officer of the Thirteenth Kentucky Cavalry bitterly complained to his superiors not only of Prentice's depredations against the population of Kentucky during Morgan's Last Raid, but of Morgan's blind eye towards his unit as well. Union families in the Wise County, Virginia, area were finally forced to evacuate their homes by the end of the war to avoid murder and/or starvation. His Union counterpart, Captain Alf Killen was a man of much worse character by all accounts. He was commander of either Company F or Company K of the Thirty-Ninth Kentucky Infantry, (the records are unclear), which was a unit of "Home Guards." He was reported to be both "bitter and unstable," and, "had no love of country or loyalty to either the North or the South." His brave band of soldiers were made up of men whom he had forced to served with him under pain of death. Killen and a few of his loyal enforcers would scour the countryside, "and [pick] up recruits anywhere they could find any." His standing orders to these hapless men were, "You got to come and go with us." Details are sketchy as to why such disparate units as the Seventh Battalion Confederate Cavalry and the Thirteenth Kentucky Cavalry should be bivouacked together on the Cranesnest River in Virginia. Apparently the Adjutants for all units involved, both Federal and Confederate were averse to much, if indeed any, real report writing. Fortunately, enough accounts from survivors are extant that a reasonably lucid account can be made, (in spite of the frustrating "broken fingers" of the Adjutants involved). When using the accounts of witnesses for source material, only those events in which the accounts are all in total agreement are presented as fact. Character assessments that are made on both commanders are well documented by their oft beleaguered and angst ridden fellows. The strengths of the units involved were, Confederates under Prentice, (including the 13th Kentucky), about 200 with about 125 armed effectives, and the Federals under Killen had about 50 effectives. Please remember that these were, by and large, Home Guard/Partisan Ranger type units, hence the relatively small numbers involved. This "battle" is not a skirmish by virtue of the fact that both units sought each other out with the clear objective of holding that portion of Virginia for their respective causes. The Home Guards of Captain Killen were trying to oust the Partisan Rangers that he felt were wrongly in control of territory that rightfully should have been his. These two commanders had been at odds over possession of this part of Western Virginia and Eastern Kentucky since virtually the beginning of the War. Killen was still stinging from past failures to whip his nemesis. The Partisan Rangers and the Thirteenth Kentucky Cavalry got wind of the plans and movements of the enemy and laid a very deadly trap. This was not a chance meeting between two opposing forces with no clearly defined military objective. That is the definition of a skirmish. These were two units who sought each other out, chose their ground, and fought for a specific goal. The only possible argument against the Cranesnest affairs being a battle would be the size of the units involved. The opposing units were not two armies, but in the words of historian Damian Beach, "Whether battle or skirmish; [it] was men rushing at each other with murderous intent." On the eighth of November, 1864, after a hard ride, Killen's men reached the Long Fork of the Cranesnest River and were mustering by an old churchyard. This property was owned by George Buchanan. (It was likely George Buchanan, himself a Union sympathizer, who told Killen the whereabouts of Prentice and his men, who had themselves but recently arrived at the scene). Such was the skill and stealth of Prentice's scouts in their home territory that he was immediately made aware of Killen's presence. He acted accordingly and ferreted out Killen's plans. The stories of how Prentice acquired this intelligence conflict. He either sent a spy into the area where Killen had met, who managed to convince the property owner that he was a straggler and was told Killen's plans, or he captured a prisoner who was forthcoming with the aforementioned plans. Either way, Prentice had Killen dead to rights. That night, Killen's men camped in a hollow not far from the Confederate camp, with the plan of attacking down through the valley at dawn. Had not the element of surprise been lost, the men of Killen's command would have had the advantage of the best ground for the fight. Prentice kept his campfires going with a few of his men around them to maintain the illusion of the camp being caught unawares. The bulk of his effectiveness hid in the trees on both sides of the mouth of the "holler" as it emptied into the level river plain where the bogus camp was. When Killen made his move, Prentice's troops let them pass by without firing until Killen's entire force was between Prentice's men. When Killen's men opened fire, they were fired upon from all directions. They were surrounded. Isaac "Black Ike" Mullins of the Thirty Ninth Kentucky Cavalry under Killen later recalled, "Alf Killen got up a hundred or so Home Guards around Holly Creek mostly. On a Sunday they started to surprise the Rebels on Cranesnest. They went by old George Buchanan's home near Darwin. I was along and we ate dinner there. We ground corn on his hand mill and killed a little beef. We left there and went on and laid out that night in a little hollow, about a mile or a mile and a half from where the fight took place. The Rebels came to Buchanan's after we left and got their dinner there too. Colonel [sic] Chenoweth was in command of the Rebels. It was late in the fall, on Monday. It began at daylight. We had got up early and started for the rebel camp expecting to find them asleep and fired down into the camp. Some of them were standing near the campfire and our first fire killed one of them but I never learned his name. The Rebels knew we were coming and had their men hid above and behind us. So, when we fired, they began to fire into us. They were so many and the fire was so hot that we had to run. You can bet we got away fast. We lost several men in the fight." The escape that "Black Ike" mentioned was none other than the Cranesnest River itself. It was the only place not crawling with Rebels. After the battle when the Rebel troops set out to pursue the fleeing Yankees to a nearby gap in the mountains, they found that the Yanks had only a few moments earlier passed that way. When subsequent scouting revealed little information of any profit to Prentice's scouts, they headed back to camp to see the wounded. The result of this battle was the engraved invitation to leave the area that local Union sympathizers had dreaded. Many of them sought out greener, not to mention safer, pastures. In an amusing side note, the man upon whose land the battle was fought had a memorable adventure. When the Rebels surrounded his cabin for the battle, Oliver Powers, a staunch supporter of the Union, decided to get his rifle and a butcher knife and creep out of his cabin to help the obviously needy Union Home Guards. During the confusion of battle, he felt something hit his foot. He looked down and saw his butcher knife in pieces, which was only natural since it had stopped a Confederate minnie ball! He would always claim that his butcher knife had saved his life. While this battle did not involve large numbers of troops on a sustained campaign, it was indicative of the kind of 'campaign' fought in the mountains between Home Guards and Partisan Rangers. Everyone's lives were affected, both civilian and military. If the army of your political persuasion was in town, you fared well and your enemies suffered. This situation could change, however, without warning. You might have been like the Union folks on Cranesnest and seldom if ever have your boys around for protection. These units were, for the most part, not even regular army, but loose bands of "regulators" with the express purpose of causing the enemy maximum consternation while draining off enemy resources that could be more effectively used elsewhere. John Hunt Morgan was just one example of this tactic taken to it's extreme. This battle was representative of most the fighting that went on in the Appalachian Mountains. Bitterly divided people were given license to defend to the utmost extremity their beliefs, homes, and neighbors without let or hindrance. Everyone suffered. Some Notes for Discussion & Other Oral Histories. Capt. Killen is not listed in the our 39th records. Jack Austin mentioned below was in the 13th. "We were like the fish that jumped out of the frying pan into the fire as far as getting away from the effects of war. We moved into the midst of thieving bands who went about the country pillaging ours and our neighbors' means. From the time 1861 to the close of the war, it was a dangerous, restless period for us in the mountains. "Those who lead the bands were reckless, lawbreaking men who had no love of country or loyalty to North or South. Alf Killen, the head of a band which operated nearest us was the cause of many cowardly and and inhuman acts. They stole everything they could. They murdered and robbed. Alf Killen himself killed Ben Wright ruthlessly and without mercy. But thanks to a kind Provindence he met a similar fate in the end. "Jack Austin, my oldest brother, was taking a load of wool to a carding machine at Wise. In Wise, he came upon a group of Rebel soldiers under the command of Ben Caudel. They invited him to come back and spend the night with them, which he did. During the night, he awoke with a definite conviction that the enemy was advancing upon their group. He arose and went through the camp, waking the soldiers. However, he didn't convince them and to save himself, he went out on a hill to watch as daylight came. In the early morning, he spied a party of soldiers riding along the foot of the hill. They were dressed in Rebel clothing and thinking they were his friends went down the hill to them. He had been right in his conviction that the enemy was coming. These men were so dressed in order to deceive the Rebels. Jack was taken prisoner along with all the others to whom he had given the warning. All of them were taken to the prison camp at Fort Douglas, Illinois, where several contracted yellow fever. A few lived to return and tell the tale but Jack as well as many others died of the fever. Sometime during Jack's imprisonment he wrote the history of his life. This, a testament and a Hymn Book, he gave to a friend and asked them to be sent to his mother. These possessions were handed down to his youngest sister." David Washington Austin Southwest, Virginia "I saw old Booker Mullins buried on Bold Camp. It was during the Civil War. He was said to be 102 years and six months old when he died. Wiley Mullins and Jack Taylor were killed in the south of the mountain, near Wilburn Phipps', in 1863, the 16th day of September. I remember the date very well. My brother-in-law, Marshall Keel, was killed the same day on Big Ridge. Mullins and Taylor were supposed to be home-guards. I never did know who killed them for sure. Alf Killen was at the head of the other crowd--yankees. They were "Bushwhackers". It was always said that Washington Phipps was one of the men who did the killing. Alf Killen and his squad just went around and picked up recruits anywhere they could find any. He would say "You got to come and go with us." "The rebels at one time were camped on Cranesnest---near where Allen Powers now lives. They were under Col. Menefee. He took his men one night and left camp, leaving only a few men to keep the camp-fires burning. Early next morning, a boy, I don't know his name--was sitting by the fire. Alf Killen and his men had slipped up on the hill above the rebel camp, and they fired on the boy, killing him. Some women, who were nearby, pulled him out of the fire. Devil John Wright and his father were there with the rebels. There were not many rebels, and about 30-40 yankees. Eight Yankees were killed; Bob Killen, Charley Hibbitts, a Yates, a Farmer, and I don't remember the names of the others, it was after Marshall Keel was killed, and I think the same year. Some of the others with Killen were Levi Vanover (wounded in the arm), Jake Yates, Peter Reedy, Harmon Mullins (of Isaac), and John Mullins (of Dave)." George W. Fleming July 17, 1937 Clintwood, Virginia Abingdon, VA June 11, 1923 "After Coin Menifee made that country his head quarters for awhile there was not much hostil oposition to the southern cause for some months, and the war spirit was not so high as it was soon after that. Just before Menifee made his first raid to KY Isaac Fleming the second son of old uncle Jack and Aunt Marry Fleming volenteered in some company. I don't remember what Company it was, but he was with the command on that raid. A few days after their return to this side of the mountain he went over in to KY to visit some of his relatives on Shelby. Was decoyed to a house by some women and shot from a corn field and instantly killed. He was the first of out neighbors that lost his life in that stife. Just one thing after another seemed to fan the flame of the war spirit, and the country was badly divided, and suffered greatly. E. A. Dunbar Abingdon, VA June 11, 1923 ......Your Pa was still at home from the effect of his wound when French had the command of the state line service. When he went back to camp I think Col. Printis was in command and was the commander of the 7th battalion till the close of the war. That battalion was in camp first one place then another; while a kind of guerilla warfare was going on most of the time. I don't think they ever had a regular camp any nearer Holly Creek than the mouth of Indian, there were scouting parties all over the country, there was but little neutral ground on which to stand. Some men had gone into the brush for protection. About that time there was what was called a union home guard formed. I don't think they had any connection with the federal army, but their main object seemed to be to keep rebels out of that country or kill them outright, so times commenced getting worse and worse. ......Some time later that same fall Major Chiniworth with his men went into camp at the Jack Mullins place on the Cranesnest. I don't know what kind of a march they were on or where they had come from, but as soon as it was known that a rebel force was camped there the union home guard got their forces together to give them a battle. They, the home guards, met on Longs Fork about the old Protestant church late in the evening before they fired on the camp next morning at daylight. They stayed there til just before day. Eddie French was down the creek that evening and they held him as a prisoner until they started on their march next morning. I don't know the straight of either side in that, the only real battle that was fought in that section during the war. The union force had all the advantage of the ground they fired into the camp as the rebel force was getting up without even a picket fire. The first volley they fired, one rebel soldier was killed. As soon as the rebel soldiers got their arm, with their military training, they charged up the ridge under the fire of the union force firing as they went and killed a number of them before they reached the top of the ridge. Bob Killin, Charles Hibbtts, and little Revel Bartley are all the names that I remember now of the men that was killed in that fight. That was the last real resistance made by them. The most of the men that escaped went over to Kentucky or some of them joined the federal army." E.A. Dunbar       The 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry Background In 1860 the United States, North and South, was more interested in the elections than usual. The sectional division which characterized much of the American political experience in the first half of the 19th century was becoming a crisis. The Republicans won the election because the Demo- crats divided into Northern and Southern factions and both Democratic party factions fielded candidates for president. Abraham Lincoln won the pres- idency with only 39 percent of the popular vote but a majority of the electoral vote. In fact, Lincoln won few popular votes in any Southern State and was not on the ballot in most of them. In the Old Dominion, Lincoln polled fewer than 2,000 votes, and most of which were cast in the Wheeling area. Political dialogue took up much of the spare time of men all over the South. In western Virginia the situation was discussed, but few owned slaves in this region which would furnish much of the manpower for the Virginia State Line, and many felt the crisis could not be resolved. Few men were concerned about abolition. Subsistence farming, hunting and sporadic social gatherings occupied the time of the denizens of Appalachia in 1860. The hopes for a negotiated settlement ended when Fort Sumter was fired upon in April 1861. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to crush the rebellion, and Virginia cast its lot with its Southern brethern. The adult male population of Appalachian Virginia fell into clearly defined categories generally characterized by their affection for, and sometimes their antipathy to, either one or both sides of the political situation. One group immediately rushed to defend their state and their kindred in other Southern states. Another class had obligations at home, generally were older than the first class but were in sympathy with the Southern cause. This second group generally enlisted when the Conscrip- tion Act was passed and served until circumstances at home became intol- erable or until the end of the war. A subset of men in this class also chose to serve in units which they reasonably expected or had been promised would serve near their home areas. A third group of men were Unionists who preferred to keep the Union together but cared little one way or the other about abolition. A fourth class of men were absolutely opposed to fighting in a war which, in their opinion, did not involve them. These men were known as scouters because they scouted around the countryside for places to hide from the Confederate conscription officers. This class of men was often forced into crime to support themselves while hiding. A fifth class of men were criminals from before the war. These men simply enlist- ed on one side or the other to be close enough to steal whatever was at hand. Members of the Virginia State Line and its successor organizations encompassed all these groups of men. Such a group of diverse men prob- ably could not agree on the time of the day, let alone a proper course of military action. The Virginia State Line resulted in large part from the February 1862 disaster at Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Confederate Brigadier General John Buchanan Floyd was ordered, with his brigade, from Western Virginia to western Kentucky in late 1861, and arrived in Bowling Green, Kentucky in early January, 1862. He was then ordered to Tennessee in early February 1862 to aid in the defense of Nashville, and his command took positions at Fort Donelson, on the riverine approaches to the Tennessee captial. Floyd assumed overall control of the Confederate defenses of that installation and was quickly surrounded by Federals led by General Ulysses S. Grant. Floyd, who had been Secretary of War under U.S. President James Buchanan, feared for his life if captured. It was widely thought in the North that Floyd had done much to aid the South in the looming rebellion while Secretary of War. The primary charge was that he had moved arms from arsenals in the North to Southern sites. After assessing the Donelson situation as untenable, a council of war determined surrender was the only course of action to prevent an unnecessary effusion of blood. Floyd succeeded in extricating himself and his Virginia troops. Col- onel Nathan Bedford Forrest, with his command, fought their way out, winning laurels for the future general. The rest of the command surren- dered and spent several months at Camp Chase, Ohio, Camp Douglas, Illinois, or Johnson's Island, Ohio. As a direct result of the Donelson disaster, President Davis relieved Floyd of command. The Confederate press also laid blame for the disaster at Floyd's feet rather than giving credit to a well earned victory by Grant. This was in the day when Southerners felt that one rebel could whip 10 Yankees. The true blame for the disaster is three fold: first, the superior planning and execution of the Federal plan of attack; second, the popular mind set of unquestioned compliance with orders; and, third, the misjudg- ment of the Confederate commanders in the Fort Donelson garrison that prevented them from withdrawing in time to avoid capture. Floyd was certainly culpable on the last and perhaps most significant count, but not the first two. Floyd's removal from command incensed the Virginia Legislature as well as Floyd's political constituent base in Southwest Virginia. Petitions asking for Floyd's reinstatement were circulated in Virginia and garnered many signatures, but the Confederate chief executive chose not to act on them. One such petitions was circulated in Washington County and it alone amassed nearly 1000 signatures. Another was prepared on April 18, 1862 in Lynchburg, and signed by C. L. Mosby, G. W. Latham, Samuel Thurman and 75 others. The Lynchburgers summarized for President Davis what they saw happening in Southwest Virginia: ...[A]s your friends and fellow citizens we venture respect- fully to request that in view of the widespread and growing dissatisfaction of a large number of our people of Southwest Virginia at the suspension of General John B. Floyd, and the feeling of alarm and anxiety which even in this (the Lynchburg) community exists for the safety of the region from which we get most our important and necessary supplies, you will, if consistent with your own views of duty and of public interest, at once reinstate and place General Floyd in command of Western Virginia. The Virginia Legislature was pressured into authorizing the Virginia State Line, which it approved on May 15, 1862. The Virginia State Line was intended to embrace classes of men not liable for service under the Confederate conscription act of April 6, 1862. The first stated purpose of the State Line was to recover the western part of the State from Federal control. Other theoretically cogent reasons were to protect the salt mines in Southwest Virginia and guard the Virginia Tennessee Railroad. The Lynchburg Republican carried the following article on May 19, stating the popular view of the Virginia State Line's mission: The General Assembly of Virginia has appointed Gen. John B. Floyd, Major General of the Virginia forces, with authority to raise a force of 20,000 men; non-conscripts for the defense of western Virginia. The act is important and it is to be hoped will stir up the spirit of the west in defense of the mines and railroads which are now so important to the south to sustenance and defense. There is no man in Virginia who has a stronger hold on the popular heart than Gen. Floyd, nor is there a man in the state who can rally around him such an enthusiastic army from among his own people and section, but it must be confesssed that the lot of Gen. Floyd is a hard one. He is called on to raise and organize an army 20,000 men after the whole field has been picked of its best and most abun- dant material, and he is asked to do this after having been displaced from the command of a splendid brigade raised by him at the commencement of the war, and led gallantly through many a hard fought battle. But he is equal to any emergency and if the thing can be done, it will be done. Whether done or not, however, he well deserves this exalt- ed honor conferred by the unanimous vote of the Legislature in the face of ostracism which the whole country deplores and condems. The Southern Advocate on July 31, 1862 summarized the local citizens' interests in the State Line and made some obligatory predictions of a brilliant, glorious career for this arm of the service. The Advocate's editor, having mastered the merit of relating to the readership and feeding upon public fears, continued the article by listing the counties of Lee, Wise, and Russell by name and enumerating past sacrifices and future dangers. Floyd promoted public acceptance of his fledgling military organiza- tion by playing upon public fear, patriotic zeal and ridicule of Northern figures in area newspapers. Floyd's years in politics and government in- trigue served him well during this stage of his life. He knew very well the value of an ace in the hole and experience had taught him the most oppor- tune time to play it. Knowing that patriotic orations and name calling would not complete his muster rolls, he saved his most powerful incentive until it could be most effective. Under the headline "Address From General Floyd" the Southern Advocate on September 4, 1862 announced: General Floyd makes an appeal to all men in southwest Virginia not of conscript age.... ...By it [responding to the Governor's call], the choice is offered them of 12 months service in the state or of a three years service by the extension of the conscript act in the army of the Confederate States. In addition to this, the advantages of a Partisan Ranger service will be extended to the Virginia State Line and all property taken from the enemy will be equally distributed among those capturing it. Hatred and patriotism aside, the two points of shorter service time and recognition as partisan rangers were to be the primary factors in attracting men to Floyd. These two inducements became points of contention which would help bring the State Line to an ignominious end. Many of Floyd's former military comrades were neither as enthusias- tic as some members of the public nor as receptive to reinstatement of General Floyd as were Virginia's lawmakers. Brigadier General Henry Heth wrote Colonel G. W. C. Lee, President Davis' aide-de-camp, on July 4, 1862. Heth complained: ...A party of bad, bold, and disappointed men are trying in every way to break down the C.S. army in the section of country which I have just left. I regret to say that it is my belief that General Floyd is at the head of this organization. The object appears to be to break down the C.S. army in Southwestern Virginia, and upon its ruin to build up an army of their own, or to render it unpopular, and if possible, inefficient. They urge upon the people that the conscript law never was intended to be carried into effect; that Con- gress had no idea of compelling all but it was to be optional, trusting to their patriotism; that the law was especially passed to affect the Army as it stood, and keep up its or- ganization; in other words, that the conscript law is a law and no law. A system of maligning and abusing C.S. offic- ers was inaugurated in Southwestern Virginia as soon as General Floyd returned to the section of the country, prior to the passage of the conscript law. To such an extent was it carried on by General Floyd's agents in General Marshall's command that General M. informed me he was compelled to represent the case officially to the War Department. I was subsequently informed by Colonel McCausland that as soon as his regiment was attached to my command the same system was pursued among his men, persuading them not to re-enlist under my command. The simplest official act of a commander in Southwestern Virginia is censured by the newspapers in the pay of this party, and the utmost done to break down his influence. If the army which the State of Virginia has authorized General Floyd to raise is ever organized, I am confident that conscripts and deserters will form its larger proportion. Although the adjutant- general...has been very explicit in regard to receiving conscripts, his orders are ignored.... Heth's charge about newspapers was certainly true. Floyd owned the Abingdon Virginian and was a major investor in Goodson's Southern Advocate. Prior to the war he bought the Sandy Valley Advocate in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, which was, according to one Big Sandy Valley historian, the pioneer advocate of development of the mineral resources of the eastern Kentucky-western Virginia region. Floyd was no stranger to the potential of the printing press. The Virginia State Line was answerable to the Adjutant General of the Commonwealth and the Governor of the Old Dominion, not Confederate officials. Many of General Floyd's reports to Governor Letcher were part of the Virginia state records which were lost when Grant's forces captured Richmond in early April 1865, two years after Floyd's death. Chapter I Organization Major James Milton French of the 63rd Virginia Infantry sought and received permission to try to recruit a new infantry regiment in early 1863. His recruiting area was the border counties in Western Virginia and Eastern Kentucky in early 1863. He was to have become the Colonel of the new regiment. He was successful in raising four companies and portions of three others. At least three of these companies were raised from members of the disbanded Virginia State Line and were from Wise County, Virginia. Most of these men later served with the notorious Lieutenant Colonel Clar- ence J. Prentice, commander of the 7th Confederate Cavalry Battalion. It would also seem that Clarence Prentice simply assumed the organization French had established in March and early April 1863. A full organizational structure for the battalion has not been deciphered. Records for both battalions are severely lacking. What is known in presented below: Company C Company D Company E Company F Company G Company H Company I French's Battalion Prentice's Battalion Company A Capt. Wilburn Fulton Capt. Robert Bates Company B Capt. William A. Powers Capt. George D. French Capt. Robert Bates Capt. H. B. Roberts   Capt. George D. French Capt. Richard L. Skeen   Capt. John P. Chase   Capt. William A. Chaney   Capt. Algernon Sidney Cook   Capt. Richard Hager   Capt. M. L. Carter         H. B. Robert's, John P. Chase's and Company H of the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry were also part of French's Battalion, but which place they had in the line is unknown. James Milton French, born in 1835 in what became Bland County, Virginia. He studied law, and became one of the earliest attorneys in Wise County. He became well respected in his community by citizens on both sides of the political fence. At the onset of hostilities Milt French joined the 51st Virginia Infantry as a lieutenant, but was dropped at that regiment's reorganization. He became Major of the 63rd Virginia Infantry, commanded by Colonel James J. McMahon. McMahon, a Washington County Presbyter- ian minister, had enlisted as volunteer aide de camp to Brigadier General John B. Floyd. McMahon served with Floyd until the Confederate fiasco at Fort Donelson, Tennessee on February 16, 1862. McMahon escaped with Floyd and returned to Southwest Virginia. Upon his return he recruited a regiment from Washington, Smyth, Wythe, Carroll, Montgomery and Gray- son counties. Though uncertain, French may have been affiliated with Floyd during the early days of the war as well. One character who aligned his forces with Floyd was one Nathaniel McClure Menifee. Menifee had some fleeting Kentucky connections, but was raised in Missouri and lived in California several years before the war. Menifee claimed to hold a colonel's commission from Kentucky's provisional government. He and a few men, some of whom joined French, were guilty of several heinous crimes in Pike County, Kentucky. However, before these crimes were well publicized, he convinced several Wise County boys into joining his command. These men were led by Captain John Chase, Sam Newberry and Wilburn Fulton. These three men became disillusioned with Menifee quickly. They were, however, stuck in a command they preferred to be in. They pressed charged against Menifee. The renegade Colonel was court-martialed, but remained free. He extracted revenge on Sam New- berry. Menifee killed Newberry at the latter's mother's funeral at Guest's Station in Wise County in the spring of 1863. Floyd also had his own troubles. He had hoped to propel himself to the Confederate Senate from Virginia for his State Line service. Allen Caperton won the position instead and Floyd had no further use for the military organization created for him. He furloughed his men in late February 1863. The Virginia General Assembly abolished the Virginia State Line on March 31, 1863. Several new commands were recruited from the disbanded men. Key among them were most of the 19th and 21st Virginia Cavalry Regiments. Levi's Battery which was part of Thomas' North Car- olina Legion of Highlanders and Cherokee Indians. Several former members of the 4th Virginia State Line flocked to the banner of James Milton French and his proposed 65th Virginia Infantry Regiment. In official records this organization was called "French's Regiment of Virginia Infantry, under (acting) Colonel James M. French. It was never fully organized. Lee Wallace wrote of this unit: Authority was granted by Major General Samuel Jones, commanding the Department of Western Virginia, to Major James M. French, 63d Regt. to raise a regiment... Colonel James M. French's __ Regiment VA Infantry in course of organization was assigned to [Williams' Brigade]... U.S. Prisoner of War records show that Major French was cap- tured on April 15, 1863, with several officers and men of French's Bn. Va. Inf. which was recruiting in Eastern Kentucky. French was soon afterwards exchanged, and returned to his former position as major of the 63rd Regi- ment. He was [later] promoted to colonel, evidently having abandoned the idea of a new regiment. From a comparison of names of the captured members of this battalion reported captured some of the men previously belonged to Kentucky and Virginia organizations. Several were members of the Virginia State Line. Prisoner of War records show that at least seven companies had been formed, of which four have been identified. The four companies identified were: Company A was under Captain William Fulton and was a cavalry company. Company B was commanded by Captain William A. Powers while Company C was led by Captain Robert Bates. Company D was commanded by Captain George D. French, younger brother of James Milton French. The Virginia State Line was officially transferred to the control of the Confederate States of America on March 31, 1863. The Virginia Legislature wanted to transfer these men to the Confederate Army as complete units. General Floyd however, furloughed his men about February 28, 1863 and most of them just went home. This resulted in a need to re-recruit these men into the Southern Army. One man, who from all accounts was a very responsible person, Major James Milton French, attempted to recruit a regular military regiment. French's regiment was tentatively called the 65th Virginia Infantry and was composed of the remnants of the 4th and 5th Virginia State Line in recruited in Wise County. French who was on de- tached recruiting duty from the 63rd Virginia Infantry, had been a pre-war attorney in Gladeville. He was well known in Wise County and was able to recruit 300 to 400 men quickly. French, in a desire to complete his regimental compliment of about 1,000 men, moved into Pike County, Kentucky in early April 1863. French felt he could complete his organization in eastern Kentucky. This was a fateful mistake on his part. On April 15, a Federal patrol dispersed his command and captured several of his men. Colonel George W. Gallup informed U.S. Army General Ambrose Burnside on April 19, 1863: Having definite information of a rebel camp, under command of a Major [James M.] French, having been established at Piketon, in Pike County, Kentucky, 80 miles distant from this post headquarters [Louisa, Kentucky], at the request of Col. John Dils, Thirty-ninth Kentucky Regiment, I sent him, with a detachment of 200 men of the Thirty-ninth Kentucky Regiment, selected, good, mounted riflemen, with orders to rout them. He left on a morning of April 13, instant, and came upon the enemy on the morning of the 15th in- stant. Colonel Dils attacked them at daylight on the 15th instant, and brisk skirmishing ensued for about an hour, when the enemy was compelled to surrender the town. We captured Major French, 1 surgeon, 1 mustering officer, 5 captains, 9 lieutenants, 70 men, 30 horses and saddles, about 40 guns, and all their stores, and... destroyed their camp. I also sent out a detachment of the Fourteenth Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry (1 corporal and 13 men) to watch the movements of General Marshall toward Breathitt County. They followed the enemy, under General Marshall, closely to Breathitt County, 75 miles, and came upon a party of Captain [J. H.] Bradshaw's Company, and captured 12 men, and, on their way back, one piece of artillery, the only one Marshall brought into Kentucky with him, and returned to this post without the loss of a man killed or wounded. These men were hurriedly shipped off to a Federal prison camp-- Camp Chase, Ohio. It was during their brief stay at Camp Chase that the Wise County boys met Major Clarence J. Prentice of Louisville, Ken- tucky. Major French was respected by a Pike County resident and Federal Army officer, Colonel John Dils. Colonel Dils intervened with Federal prison officials for the captured members of French's command and they were quickly exchanged. Dils in fact characterized French as the only honest rebel he ever knew. Knowing French's record with the 63rd Virginia and his postwar legal and judicial career, he was obviously an honest man and good officer. Personal respect for French was his drawing card; it took a special man to attract men who had ridden with the nefarious Menifee and would ride with the equally notorious Prentice to join him, however briefly. Ephraim A. Dunbar, recalled in a letter to his nephew R. E. Chase in 1923 the following information. Coln James Milton French the oldest son of old Uncle George French and was a young lawyer of some note. [He] had been verry active aiding in the drilling and training of about the first volenteers from that county (Wise). I don't know, whether he held any commission or not when he went to the war.... About the time that Menifee was getting in bad with the war department, Coln French came back to Wise co and made some speeches against the kind of war- fare that Menifee had started. He made one speech at Holly Creek (now Clintwood). [T]]he people was well pleased with his idea of a state line force that would protect all citizens alike regardless of their political faith. In the spring of 1863 I think it was French got some companies from Bland Co. and some from Wise together....[H]e was in camp awhile at Gladesville also on Indian Creek. Had his idea been carried out it would have been a good thing for that section... [H]e made the great mistake of mooving his little command to Pikeville, Ky and trying to make his headquar- ters there. He soon prooved that he was a better talker than he was a military strategist. He had not been in camp but a short time until the Federal forces come up the river surrounded the town captured him and most of his men. However he formed quite a friendship with old Coln. Dilts of Piketon, while he was there. I heard of Dilt's saying that Coln. French was all the honest rebel that ever lived. It was also through the enfluence of Dilts that he and his men ware exchanged much sooner than they would have been. When he and his men ware exchanged his men that was from Bland never came back to the state line service, but joined the eastern army and he made some record as an officer in the war. French's Battalion was also referred to in the records of those captured, as the 65th Virginia Infantry. A few records call the unit the 7th Virginia Mounted Infantry. The battalion did not disintegrate while French and several of his men were held in Federal prisons. Chapter II 1863 Federal cavalrymen who were planning a raid on the salt works at Saltville. Marshall's district, consisting of Washington, Russell, Buchanan, Wise, Scott and Lee counties had been transferred to the Department of East Tennessee. Major General Samuel Jones felt that Floyd's Virginia State Line was the appropriate bridge between the departments and was a suitable garrison of the saltworks which were on the line between the departments. On February 1, General Jones, commander of Confederate forces in southwestern Virginia responded to an unlocated message of January 31 that he would send 1,200 to 1,500 men to Saltville if the expected raid came. Jones, good to his word, ordered the 9th Georgia Artillery Battalion in Tazewell County to standby to cooperate with Floyd and obey his orders if necessary. The Virginia State Line was officially transferred to the control of the Confederate States of America on March 31, 1863. The Virginia Legislature wanted to transfer these men to the Confederate army as complete units. General Floyd, however, furloughed his men about February 28, 1863 and most of them simply went home. This resulted in a need to re-recruit these men into the Southern military. Floyd failed to win election as Confederate senator from Virginia in 1863's elections, and his reason for maintaining an army in the field ended. General Floyd, who had stomach cancer, was dead before the year was over. One man, who from all accounts was a very responsible, honest person, Major James Milton French, attempted to recruit a regular military regiment. French's regiment was tentatively called the 65th Virginia Infantry and was composed of the remnants of the 4th and 5th Virginia State Line recruited in Wise County. French who was on detached recruiting duty from the 63rd Virginia Infantry, had been a prewar attorney in Gladeville. He was well known in Wise County and was able to recruit 400 to 500 men quickly. French had apparently established a recruiting depot at Camp Pound by February 22, 1863, the first anniversary of the permanent constitution the Confederate States of America. This date, George Washington's Birthday, was considered the Confederate indepen- dence day. Many of the men assigned to the Department were detailed to service in other areas over the winter. William Marshall Baldwin's Squadron was reassigned to John Stuart Williams' "non-existent" brigade in the spring. Special Orders No. 95, Headquarters Department of Western Virginia, dated April 11, 1863, reads, "Brigadier General John S. Williams is relieved temporarily from command of the Second Brigade, and will proceed to Saltville, and take command of the troops in that vicinity, including W. M. Baldwin's squadron and Major French's Battalion." John Stuart Williams, who carried the sobriquet Cerro Gordo, in subsequent correspondence stated that he was attached to his previous brigade. Written reports indicate that French had raised between 300 and 400 men who had been recruited for his battalion. However, only 112 have been identified, most of whom were Wise County residents. They are shown in the Confederate Veterans Appendix of this work. The only engagement this battalion fought was at Piketon, Kentucky on April 15, 1863. Although it is unclear how many companies had completed their organization, Federal prisoner of war records indicate at least seven companies had begun their organization. Additionally, French had selected some staff officers. The primary officer of interest to Wise County was Tandy Branham, the assistant quartermaster of the battalion. Colonel French, in a desire to complete his regimental compliment of about 1,000 men, moved into Pike County, Kentucky in early April 1863. This was a fateful mistake on his part. On April 15, a Federal patrol dispersed French's command and captured several of his men. On April 19, Colonel George W. Gallup informed General Ambrose E. Burnside: Having definite information of a rebel camp, under command of a Major [James M.] French, having been established at Piketon, in Pike County, Kentucky, 80 miles distant from this post headquarters [Louisa, Kentucky], at the request of Col. John Dils, Thirty-ninth Kentucky Regiment, I sent him, with a detachment of 200 men of the Thirty-ninth Kentucky Regiment, selected, good, mounted riflemen, with orders to rout them. He left on a morning of April 13, instant, and came upon the enemy on the morning of the 15th in- stant. Colonel Dils attacked them at daylight on the 15th instant, and brisk skirmishing ensued for about an hour, when the enemy was compelled to surrender the town. We captured Major French, 1 surgeon, 1 mustering officer, 5 captains, 9 lieutenants, 70 men, 30 horses and saddles, about 40 guns, and all their stores, and... destroyed their camp. I also sent out a detachment of the [14th] Regiment Kentucky... (1 corporal and 13 men) to watch the move- ments of General Marshall toward Breathitt County. They followed the enemy, under General Marshall, closely to Breathitt County, 75 miles, and came upon a party of Captain [J. H.] Bradshaw's Company, and captured 12 men, and, on their way back, one piece of artillery, the only one Marshall brought into Kentucky with him, and returned to this post without the loss of a man killed or wound- ed. These men were hurriedly shipped off to a Federal prison camp-- Camp Chase, Ohio. It was during their brief stay at Camp Chase that the Wise boys met Major Clarence J. Prentice of Louisville, Kentucky. Solomon Mullins' daughter recorded what happened next, and wrote of her father: ...[He] was captured at Pikeville, Ky. April 14, 1863 taken from Pikeville to Louisa then down Sandy River to Cincin- nati, O. [and to Camp Chase] and then was taken to Pittsburg, Penn then Baltimore, Md. from Baltimore to the mouth of the James river, Va. stayed there three months from there to Richmond, Va. exchanged at City point, Va. then returned back home by the way of Abingdon, Va. Volunteered under Colonel MennyFee Company A of the fifty-first ridgement until General Hodge commanded at the close of the war... Major French was respected by a Pike County resident and Federal army officer, Colonel John Dils. Colonel Dils intervened with Federal prison officials for the captured members of French's command and they were quickly exchanged. Dils in fact characterized French as the only honest rebel he ever knew. Knowing French's record with the 63rd Virginia and his postwar legal and judicial career, he was obviously an honest man and good officer. Personal respect for French was his drawing card; it took a special man to attract men who had ridden with the nefarious Menifee and would ride with the equally notorious Prentice to join him, however briefly. May and June were relatively months quite on the Kentucky-Virginia border. July 1863 dawned with dual disasters for the Confederacy. General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was forced out of Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. While Lee had his hands full in Pennsylvania, Major General John Pemberton's garrison at Vicksburg surrendered on July 4. The Confederates had lost the Mississippi River to Union forces. These events overshadowed any events in Appalachia. Indeed, there were events in Appalachia that are within the scope of this work, yet a third Federal victory. Second Gladeville Raid The first sign of serious problems for the Confederates along the Cumberland in 1863 came from Colonel Ben Caudill on June 27. Caudill reported 2,200 Federal cavalry were advancing on his position for a raid on the saltworks. Caudill was the only force between Pound Gap and Saltville, although Preston was at Estilville and close enough to help if required. Sam Jones ordered the 51st Virginia to Glade Spring to be prepared to assist if required. They arrived on June 28. By July 1, however, Preston discount- ed the rumored raid on Saltville, and the area breathed easier once again. In cooperation with Major General Ambrose Burnside's planned major thrust into the heart of the Confederate States, Brigadier General Julius White led a brigade from Beaver Creek, Floyd County, Kentucky to Gladeville, Virginia in early July 1863. White's force skirmished twice during the expedition, first at Pond Creek in Pike County on July 6 and again at Gladeville on July 7. General Sam Jones heard, from Colonel Giltner, of the Gladeville fight by July 8, when he ordered Williams to be on guard and cooperate with William Preston. White's detailed after-action report, prepared on July 11, 1863, reads: On the 3rd instant, I marched from this station with six companies of the Sixty-fifth Illinois Infantry (two mounted), Second Battalion Tenth Kentucky Cavalry, one squadron Ohio volunteer cavalry, one company Fourteenth Kentucky Infantry (mounted), and two mountain howitzers, under command of Lieutenant Wheeler, of Company M, Second Illinois Light Artillery. At Pikeville, 20 miles south of this, I was joined by a part of the Thirty-ninth Kentucky Infantry (mounted), in all about 950 men. Form Pikeville I proceeded up the Louisa Fork of Sandy River with about half the entire force, directing that the Second Battalion Tenth Kentucky Cavalry and the Ohio squadron proceeded by a rapid march through... Pound...Gap to Gladesville, W. Va., and demon- strate upon or attack the force of the enemy at that place, under Colonel Caudill [a resident of Letcher County and commander of the 10th Kentucky Mounted Rifles, later renamed the 13th Kentucky Cavalry]; thence to the railroad at or near Bristol, and destroy so much of it as practicable, unless it should appear too hazardous an undertaking. Julius White's command reached Gladeville, after some skirmishing on the way, during the night of July 6, 1863. P. M. Redding a member of McLaughlin's Squadron, Ohio Cavalry noted the command "awaited day- light" a "few miles north of town." At this point the Federals' chaplain "spoke and offered prayer." Redding noted that at dawn the Yankees charged into the village. White then noted they "completely surprising and carrying the place by storm, beating in the doors and windows, from which the enemy were firing with axes, and compelling his surrender after fifteen minutes of close and desperate fighting, during which the loss of the enemy was 20 killed and 30 wounded [not true]...." Devil John Wright added some detail from the Confederate view- point in a 1930 interview with James Taylor Adams, which was published in the Roanoke Times in 1950. He related that he was captured at Gladeville and confirmed they were surprised. Wright noted, "There were 15 of us in one tent; and before we knew it, they had us surrounded, and we had to surrender." White claimed his command captured 18 officers, including Colonel Caudill and 99 enlisted men, 17 of whom were members of Company A, 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry. The Southerners camp equipage, stores, arms, and ammunition of the command were destroyed. Major Brown, Tenth Kentucky Cavalry, commanding a detachment, safely returned to camp to Pikeville, with the prisoners. White claimed, "the presence of superior forces of the enemy preventing father progress toward the railroad." White continued: Twelve hours before Major Brown marched from Pikeville, I moved the remainder of Colonel Cameron's command up the Louisa Fork of the Sandy River, for... attacking a regiment of the enemy under Colonel [A. J.] May, said to be posted near the State line, and for... diverting the attention of the enemy from the movement of Major Brown, by a demonstration in the direction of the Salt-Works. After marking to a point near the State line, and find that the enemy had retreated to a point some 60 miles distant, and within supporting distance of a force greatly superior to my own, the roads being wholly impracticable for field transpor- tation, and the country wholly bare of subsistence for men or animals, I detached Colonel Cameron, with the remaining mounted force, to attempt to capture a body of the enemy on the Tug Fork, some 25 miles distant, and returned to Pikeville with the infantry and howitzers, from which point I could support the movement on either flank (Colonel Cameron's or Major Brown's should it become necessary, with facility.) ...Cameron was attacked by the enemy on Pond Creek, and was engaged at intervals for several hours, his men consisting of detachments from the Thirty-ninth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel Mims, and from the Sixty-fifth Illinois Infantry, under Captain Kennedy, boldly charging up the precipitous mountain sides with the greatest gallantry. The enemy was completely routed, leaving 5 dead on the field, with many more wounded, and 20 prisoners, who fell into our hands. Colonel Cameron's command sustained no loss. C. Connie Bolling recalled some family legends in a January 19, 1984 article in the Coalfield Progress. The events related appear to have happened about the same time as the raid on Gladeville. She recorded that her grandfather Jessee Bolling and 29 others were captured at Gladeville. Records indicate Jessee Bolling was captured at Gladeville on July 7, 1863. Her narrative continued be relating word was soon received in Flat Gap section of Wise County, near Pound, and that Delano Bolling "quickly gathered a group of men from the Pound and Flat Gap area." Scouts were dispatched and determined the likely movement of the Federals. At that point, Delano Bolling prepared an ambush with the dozen men armed with flintlocks he had been able to collect. Soon the mounted Yankees and their walking prisoners came into view, with the prisoners in front bound with a rope. Near dark on July 7 the Federals supposedly set up camp on Indian Creek near its confluence with the Pound River. No opportunity arose to free the prisoners during the night and then the scout moved about three miles closer to the Kentucky line to Horse Gap where Bolling and the rest were waiting. Bolling's men did not sleep during the night, but fortified themselves with "a good snort of white whiskey." When the Federals resumed the march on July 8, Delano Bolling supposedly ordered his men to fire when they heard him fire, which was done. Tradition says two Yankees and two mules were killed and several were wounded. Bolling's 14 man force was then fired on by the Yankees and wounded four of the party. Bolling wisely retreated where the wounds were treated and the men fortified themselves with another snort of "white lightening." The bushwhackers crawled back to where they could see the Yankees again, but were unable to do more because the Federals were now using the prisoners as a human shield. General White also wrote in summation, "...our entire loss in these operations was but 9 wounded, none severely, there being 6 of the Tenth Kentucky and 3 of the First Ohio Squadron, none of whose names have been reported to me. Mr. P. M. Redding of McLaughlin's Squadron recalled some years later: "We counted eleven of our men slightly wounded, but none was killed. Of the other side's loss I do not know." Redding noted in his memoirs: We were told that on the night before there had been a ball in the village and the officers had all attended, staying all night in the homes of the people where our boys found them and rounded them up. This accounted for our taking so many officers.... On the trip back we took our prisoners. Just through Pound Gap on the Kentucky side we pitched camp and intended to stay there for the night. We built a pen about ten feet high to keep the Confederates in. Guards were planted around it to keep the prisoners from escap- ing. After the pen was finished, I settled down in an old log cabin which sheep had used and was no more than a- sleep when the bugle sounded and the command to fall in was given. I learned that a report had come that a regiment of Confederate cavalry was on the way from Saltville to try to overtake us. We placed the prisoners on horses and we walked by their sides to prevent their getting away. This way we marched all night. Next day when we could keep our eyes on them we took the saddles and made them walk. Eventu- ally we got our prisoners to Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio. Devil John Wright slightly contradicted Redding's account when he noted: "They lined us up between their soldiers and started marching us towards Kentucky. Down Indian Creek the laurel grew thick right up to the edges of the road. I watched my chance and stepped out of line into the laurel, and I doubt if they ever missed me. That was one of the two times I escaped the Yankees...." Colonel Ben Caudill and some of the prisoners were exchanged before the war was over, but others languished in Camp Douglas Prison until the war ended. D. J. Dotson, Caudill's brother-in-law died at Camp Douglas. Dotson was just recovering from typhoid fever when ordered to stand out to ascertain facts about an escape, and thus probably caused typhoid pneumonia and ultimately his death. Caudill's capture scared the Confederate command in southwest Virginia. They immediately ordered reinforcements to Saltville, the most important town in the region. Life, however returned to normal in far western Virginia in those abnormal days. By July 11, the 1,500 Federals had withdrawn back to Pound Gap. William Preston, in the meantime, had withdrawn closer to Knoxville and suggested that far southwest Virginia should be removed from the Department of East Tennessee and reassigned to Major General Samuel Jones' command. Preston noted, "I feel assured that it would be more rapid, simple and efficient than to defend the district and transact the business through Chattanooga." The Union Army organization for eastern Kentucky on July 31, 1863 shows the area across the Cumberland Mountain consisted of four regi- ments, one cavalry squadron and two artillery batteries. The brigade was designated the First Brigade, Fourth Division, Twenty-Third Army Corps. The exact composition of the brigade commanded by Colonel Daniel Came- ron was:   65th Illinois, Lieutenant Colonel William S. Stewart 14th Kentucky, Colonel George W. Gallup 10th Kentucky Cavalry, Major John M. Brown 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, Colonel John Dils, Jr. McLaughlin's Squadron Ohio Cavalry, Major Richard Rice 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, Company M, Captain John C. Phillips Battery (Infantry Detail), Captain Drew J. Burchett.   The summer of 1863 remained fraught with difficulties for the Confederates in Appalachia. On July 24, General Buckner restructured his command, however, Preston's men were not moved and remained in Southwest Virginia's six western most counties. On August 1, Preston withdrew to the south, and left most of his men in the area. Preston was promoted to command a division. On or about August 1, 1863, the Cooks and Thompson were badly defeated by a mixed force of Home Guards and regulars led by Captain Harrison Litteral of Carter County. The rebels were surprised in their camp on the John Bumgardner farm on Laurel Creek in present day Elliott County. Bumgardner was killed during the attack and his son Robert gravely wounded. Meanwhile, back in Wise County, Alf Killen organized his Union Home Guard Company, officially part of the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infan- try, United States Army. Killen was a neighbor of many members of the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry and had served with many of them in the Virginia State Line the previous fall. Andrew Jackson Yates, one of the principal members of this unit, enlisted on August 27, 1863, but this was a formal muster in date, and does not consider recruiting time. It is relatively safe to assume that Killen had been recruiting at least a few days, perhaps a few weeks before this date. Several other members of this unit claimed in the 1890 Union Veterans Census that they entered service in 1862. This is not confirmed by the service records of the 39th Kentucky. It is however, possible, that some men may have considered their Unionist bushwhacking activities actually began with Sammy Salyers' attack in the summer of 1862. Most of the members of Killen's company served until the 39th Kentucky mustered out of service on September 15, 1865. At any rate, Killen's band was fully functional by the summer of 1863. Other Unionist recruits were found in Buchanan County. John White was one such individual. He gave as his reason for switching sides, the numerous depredations the Confederates committed in the area. Specifical- ly he attributed the theft of a milk cow and calves from a widow as the motivation to join the Union Army. The woman pled with the Confederates to leave her sustinance alone, but to no avail. This attitude was pervasive in the mountains, and had not abated since Marshall advocated a policy of impressment in early 1862. Despite the pangs of conscience expressed by John White, Killen and others of his ilk seem to have no such scruples. Although a firm date has not been established, Tandy Branham seems to have been the first victim of Alf Killen's Home Guards. Sometime in the summer of 1863, Killen and his associate, Joel Long, stole one of Branham's horses, from a farm hand named Spence. Horses were valuable commodities and Branham was not willing to let the horse go without making a good effort to recover it. Some of Killen's band was aware of Branham's pursuit. The Home Guards soon took positions in the bushes along side the road and waited for Branham to pass by. They did not have to wait long, Branham soon came to the spot and instead of passing by, he passed over Jordan, as the folks of the area would have said. Killen's home guards shot him down. About the same time, Killen's Home Guards captured Adam G. Roberson simply for being a rebel sympathizer. Adam's brother, Matthew, was a Unionist, and interceded with Killen and procured his release. The matter, however, was not that simple. Matthew Roberson threatened to have Killen shot. On of Menifee's men, Flounory Keel, was recipient of an unknown Unionist's bullet at an unknown time during the mid-war period. His sister, Patsy Keel Boggs, related years later: One day when Pa [W. K. Keel] was on furlough while we were eating dinner Brother Flournoy said he heard a hoot- owl up on the hillside in the woods. When he finished eating, Pa went out on the porch. He heard the hoot-owl calls again and someone fired a shot from the woods. The shot hit Flournoy. It shot a finger clean off. Hare Harrison Bowman came out of the woods and shot Pa in the right side. The bullet lodged near his backbone. Mother had run to Flournoy and tried to stop the bleeding from his finger. When Pa was shot she left Flournoy and ran to Pa. Hare Bowman ran up and started to shoot Pa again. But mother covered Pa's head with her apron and told Hare that he had shot her brother, Clark Phillips. Uncle Clark was in the house when the first shot was fired. He left back the back door. Hare left without doing further damage. Pa carried that bullet in his back the rest of his life. During July and August 1863, Prentice completed the organization of the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry, but several of his recruits had been captured with Ben Caudill at Gladeville in early July. He had chosen as his second in command Major William Guerrant. Guerrant went to Abingdon on August 30 from the battalion's primary camp near Castlewoods on the Clinch River. William Guerrant soon discovered his conscience would not allow him to remain with Prentice. After Prentice recruited his battalion from the remnants of the Virginia State Line and French's Battalion Virginia Infantry, he voiced his intention to remain in Wise County. Brigadier General John Stuart Williams wrote to Major General Sam Jones on August 30, 1863: The troops mentioned in his letter [Colonel Henry L. Gilt- ner's] as having been ordered from the vicinity of Pound Gap to Castle Wood, are raw and inefficient, and he (Colonel Giltner) is very doubtful... whether any consider- able portion of them will leave their present locality. The men, of which Major Prentice assumed command, have been held together only by a promise that they should remain in Wise County. On August 25, 1863 Colonel Giltner of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry informed General Williams of the distribution of his troops. The 501 strong 4th Kentucky Cavalry was at Lebanon, Russell County. Prentice's command, meanwhile, was near Pound Gap and was composed of about 200 men. Prentice was joined at the Gap by Captain Fields' Kentucky Partisan Ranger Company with 76 men. Captain Davidson's Lynchburg Artillery was near Abingdon with 91 men. Major Chenoweth of the 10th Kentucky Mounted Rifles was at Whitesburg, Kentucky with 133 men. Giltner ordered Chenoweth, Fields and Prentice to fall back. Chenoweth and Fields complied. Prentice did not. On September 14 Major General Samuel Jones, commander of the Department of West Virginia and East Tennessee, ordered Chenoweth and Prentice to send out scouts. Their mission was to determine if there was any truth in the rumor that the Federals were advancing on Saltville from Cumberland Gap. It took some time to get the word to the distant outpost at Pound Gap, but when word was received Prentice wasted no time calling his men together. It is likely some of these men gathering into Pound Gap were involved in the first confrontation of the neighbors from Wise County which occurred on the Pound River in September 1863. Years after the events, Press Mullins, son of Isom Mullins, told the story that Killen "was very taken with" one of his father's horses. Press described the horse as "a very fine filly." Killen supposedly tried to buy the horse on several occasions, but Mullins always refused. Killen, after he had raised his band of bushwhackers decided he would steal the horse, but the horse ran from him and he could not catch her. An enraged Killen then drew his pistol and shot the horse, much to Isom Mullins' dismay. Killen's attempted theft precipitated the fight on Pound River and Holly Creek. Mr. Ephraim A. Dunbar recalled several other details that led up to the shootings on Pound River. Dunbar placed the event "in the latter part of the summer of 63 or fall of that year." George W. Fleming gave the date as September 16, 1863, while Isaac Mullins noted it was "fodder pulling time." Dunbar noted that Captain George D. French and a few men went down to see his father's family. They were also to round up men who were absent from his unit without proper authority. Dunbar recalled that Lieutenant John Fleming was in command of some men who belonged to John Chase's Company. Captain French's command was divided. Part remained on the south side of Pound Gap when Willie Mullins and Jack Taylor were killed by Union Home Guards under Alf Killen. The other portion of George French's command, under French and Lieutenant John Fleming, was fired on as "they were crossing the big ridge" near Pound River about a mile from the mouth of Holly Creek near where some Flemings lived. Other accounts give the location name as Bear Pen, land which is now under the Flannagan Dam inbayment. George Fleming later claimed that the Confederate band consisted of between 30 and 40 soldiers and a few civilians like Marshall Keel. According to composite accounts, some rebels in the party were Jack Taylor, Frank Taylor, John Fleming, and Wiley Mullins. Isaac Mullins recalled that the Unionists heard some rebels were in the community. Continuing, Mullins said, "they hid behind a tree-lap and waited for them to come by. They had prepared themselves to shoot into the crowd as it went by." Mullins added that the bushwhackers fired into the crowd as they passed by. George Fleming's account noted: Suddenly, some shots were fired from the woods, and the rebels saw about a half-dozen men run, but did not recog- nize any of them. One bullet hit Marshall in the mouth, going through and breaking his neck. Some... soldiers took him back to father's were he was buried on the hill in the family graveyard. Marshall Keel died where he fell. Jack Taylor, however, wounded the day before, was still living and was taken to Isom Mullins' home were he later died. Isom Mullins, who was not a soldier, was feeding his hogs as the Confederates marched up the road and witnessed the incident. Dunbar noted Keel was a son-in-law of Jack Fleming, one of the primary Confederate sympathizers in the area. Andrew Counts said the bushwhackers intended to kill John Fleming or John McFall, but instead killed Marshall Keel. Counts claimed he did not know who shot Keel, but thought Isaac Mullins or his son Harmon did it. George Fleming claimed, but was unsure about the gunmen, but said Alf Killen was "at the head of the other crowd - Yankees." Fleming said that Washington Phipps was also one of the men who did the killing." Isaac Mullins added a few other names of the Home Guards, listing Alf Killen, Joel Long, Wash Phipps, Jack Phipps, Wesley Vanover, and another or two who were scouting around near Wilburn Phipps' place near the mouth of Brush Creek. The whole incident was a case of family difficulty and mistaken identity. Marshall Keel had traded hats that morning with the bushwhack- er's intended victim. Henry Keel's recollection of events basically agreed with others, but added: Cripple Billy (W. J.) Fleming told me that Harmon Mullins, while in the penitentiary for killing his son, confessed to firing the shot that killed my uncle. He claimed that this band of bushwhackers was composed of himself, his father, Isaac Mullins, and others of that neighborhood, and that it was their sole purpose to kill John J. Fleming, Jr., a nephew of Isaac Mullins, Sr., and who had roused the ire of some of his relatives. They killed the wrong man. Isaac Mullins in 1933 admitted that it was either his father or his uncle who killed Keel. It is ironic that Marshall Keel was not formally in either army, although he was joining the Confederate force. Dunbar concluded by noting, "the Confederate soldiers then left there as it was unsafe for them to travel..." The woods were "full of union bushwhackers." George Fleming's account continued, "Some rebels were camping on Sinking Creek in Russell County, and he was going there for protection, as times were getting serious in this section." George Fleming concurred in the opinion that the "soldiers went on to Russell County" for protection. In late August 1863 General Ambrose Burnside's force invaded East Tennessee and forced the Confederates in that area into northern Georgia or southwest Virginia. By September 1, the Federals appeared in front of Cumberland Gap and demanded the surrender of the 2,000 man Confeder- ate garrison there under command of Colonel John Frazer. Several Wise County boys who were members of the 64th Virginia, as part of Frazer's command were surrendered on September 9 and were shipped off to Camp Douglas to spent the remainder of the war. Many of them died while in prison and are buried in Chicago, Illinois. Federal scouting parties fanned out from their recently secured positions at Cumberland Gap soon advanced into Southern Wise County and temporarily occupied positions at Guest's Station. Despite the assertion that the men went to Russell County, by local residents, William B. Myers, Adjutant General for Brigadier General William Preston ordered Fields to occupy Pound Gap and "Lieutenant-Colonel Prentice will, after he has wiped out the enemy at Guest's Station, [Wise County] scout the country between that place and Pound Gap." The records do not indicate any fighting around this period and it is likely the Federals consolidated their positions around Cumberland Gap and simply withdrew without any effusion of blood. On the night of September 26, 1863 the Cooks robbed the Ashland bank. E. H. Logan, the clerk of Rowan County, was killed by Cook's men near Morehead on October 26, 1863. Shortly afterwards, Dave Cook, a recent escapee from the military authorities in Ironton, Ohio, shot down William H. Tyree at his home near Olive Hill. Tyree was a former Union Army officer. Federal reports placed the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry at Salyersville, Kentucky on October 11, 1863 when a company of the 14th Kentucky (Federal) defeated Prentice's command. Due to operational considerations, the eastern Kentucky theatre was denuded of Federal troops. During October 1863, only the 14th and part of the 39th Kentucky were reported on this front. Their effective strength was reported to be 1,232 on November 6. The Salyersville defeat, far from Confederate support, must have scared Prentice and his men. By October 25, 1863 they had withdrawn from Kentucky and moved all the way back to Washington County. Guerrant blasted the notorious Prentice in his personal diary once again. He wrote: Such conduct [robbery] is a sin & a shame to our cause. It blasts the reputation of good men, & brings dishonor upon the innocent. I hope they will all be arrested & tried in the civil courts, & that the good people of K'y do not hold us responsible for the depredations of such bandits as Jno. T. Williams & Clarence Prentice, who has also just returned from an Eagle swoop down to Hazel Green Ky. Confederates were in no position to exploit the Federal deficit in eastern Kentucky. They had their hands full with Federals at Chattanooga and in upper east Tennessee. Prentice's personal reputation got worse. On Friday, November 13, 1863, Guerrant noted in his journal: Clarence Prentice shot & killed old Tom White of the "Kentucky Hotel" at Abingdon, Va. -- a few days ago. Cause -- whiskey. Effect -- Destruction - temporal & eternal. Although charged with murder, Prentice quickly wiggled out of his legal troubles. By November 18, 1863 he was back in the action at Abingdon, planning a raid into Kentucky with Pete Everett of Clay's Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles. In early November 1863, Sid Cook shot his brother Dave during a quarrel over a recently captured horse and slave. Left behind to die, Dave was captured by a Union patrol at the home of James Banner in present day Elliott County on November 18, 1863. He later died at the Lexington Military Prison awaiting trial for murder and robbery. One story, properly considered a folk tale, was related to James Taylor Adams by Findlay Adams at Big Laurel in Wise County in 1941. This story concerns Robert Bates, Captain of Company A, 7th Battalion Confed- erate Cavalry, but is not placed in time. Since this company was organized in the summer of 1863, late 1863 or 1864 seems to be likely its placement. Findlay Adams related: You've heard of John Dick Adams, ol' Uncle Jess Adams boy, Grandpa Spencer's nephew. He was a dangerous man. When the Civil War broke out he got up a company an' was a captain. Some sort o' home guards. They raided around. He owned a fine carbine gun. One time he was at Grandpa's an' told him if he was to be killed that he wanted him to see that his carbine was buried with him. He was on the rebel side. [Actually Federal]. One day his company and a company of Yankee home guards got into a fight somewhere on Kentucky River [in Letcher County, just across the Wise County line] I think it was. John Dick, he got shot through one arm. After while he was shot through one leg. He couldn't waalk or use but one arm, but he kept shootin' his carbine rifle. At last they shot him an' he said, "Well, well, I'va allus said I'd never surrender, but I'm helplesss now an' will have to beg for my life." One of the Bates' I think it was, said, "I'll give you your life!" an' just up an' shot him through the heart. Then he took his gun. Well, they say that that fellow never rested after that. He would holler out all times of the night--"Take John Dick Adams away from here. He's come to kill me." He even got so he would see John Dick in his cup o' coffe when he set down to the table to eat. He heard about the request that John Dick had made about his gun bein' buried with 'im an' he sent word to Grandpa to come an' get it. Grandpa went an' got the gun, but hit had been several months an' he didn't bury the gun with John Dick then, of course. But him gettin' the gun didn't do any good. That feller just kept seein' John Dick whereever he went. He didn't live long. Got so he couldn't eat. Said John Dick Adams was in every bite he tried to swallow. So he jes' dwindled away. Died in about a year after he killed John Dick. [Bates survived and became known as the father of Knott County, Kentucky.] Virginia held its gubernatorial elections in late 1863. Governor Letcher retained much of his popularity but was unable to succeed himself as chief executive of the Old Dominion. General William "Extra Billy" Smith won the election and was inaugurated New Year's Day 1864. Federal Scouts East of the Cumberland William Robinett, a member of the 39th Kentucky, was captured while scouting in Buchanan County, Virginia on August 14, 1863. Allen and Lawson Peterson, from Yancey County, North Carolina, but members of the 39th Kentucky, deserted while scouting in Wise County, Virginia on September 17, 1863. Other occasional scouts east of Cumberland were undertaken by Federal patrols, but far southwest Virginia remained quiet. One notable exception was adjoining Lee County. Lee County's problems relieved much of the pressure in Wise and Buchanan counties. Some Confederate soldiers were in Buchanan County during these scouts, but most were disabled, on French leave or legitimate furlough. They were no match for the scouting parties and generally stayed out of their way. On one occasion in late 1863 Whitt Day, Joshua and Andrew Cole encountered some of their neighbors serving in the Federal army--the Whites. The Whites were back in their old neighborhood, but were not confident enough to venture to far afield. The Whites knew the Days were about and were at the time their enemies. The White captured a hog and were cooking it at their hiding place when discovered by Whitt Day. Day "rounded up" Joshua and Andrew Cole, absent from the 34th Battalion Virginia Cavalry. The three Confederates surprised David and John White and a friend from the Union Army they had brought with them. The Day- Cole team started shooting at Whites who could not respond in kind due to wet powder. The Whites ran, and the Day-Cole team enjoyed the meal their home-Yankee cousins had been preparing. Eighteen Sixty-Three ended with the Confederacy struggling more than it had done at the end of 1862, but it was far from out of the war. General Lee had won a grand victory over the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville in May and led an invasion of the north and ultimate failure at Gettysburg on July 3. The Wise Yankee Catcher's participated both these fights. Unfortunately for Southern partisans this expedition failed to shake Lincoln's resolve to prosecute the war to its conclusion. The Eman- cipation Proclamation took effect on New Year's Day, and slaves were more inclined to attempt to escape to Federal lines. Federals forces were also able to cut the Confederacy in two when Vicksburg fell. Manpower short- ages for the Confederate army continued to plague Southern generals and conscription agents scoured the country-side for every able-bodied man. Those not inclinded to fight took to the hills in increasing numbers. The war in the west continued to go badly, with the notable exception of Chicka- mauga. Bragg's obsession for organization allowed Federals to escape the only hope for a death blow to the Federal cause in the western theatre. His dilatory pursuit later allowed the Federals to defeat his troops at Missionary Ridge. Chapter III 1864 The New Year opened on the Cumberland much as it did other places in the Confederacy. Soldiers remained in ranks on distant fields, and in Southwest Virginia. Eastern Kentucky had not been reinforced, but neighboring Lee County had its hands full with a Major Beeres of the 16th Illinois Cavalry who had occupied Jonesville. Auburn Pridemore had assumed command of the 64th Virginia after Campbell Slemp was relieved of duty by Brigadier General William Edmundson "Grumble" Jones in November 1863. The 64th had been badly beaten in an encounter with Federal patrols from Cumberland Gap in late 1863, and he asked for help to drive the Yankees out of Lee County. Jones, Pridemore and their com- mands finally surrounded Beeres in Jonesville and defeated and captured them on January 2, 1864. The northern reaches of the eastern side of Cumberland mountain remained quiet except for an occasional bushwhack- ing expedition by one side or the other. Other serious skirmishing occurred in Lee County during the winter of 1864. Additional fighting in upper east Tennessee relieved strain along the Wise-Buchanan frontier with Kentucky. On February 2, 1864, Captain Sid Cook and four of his men were surprised by a Union scout led by Lieutenant Ed Brown in Morgan County, Kentucky. The rebels were in the act of lynching John Cantrell when they were captured. Cook was able to escape on foot after his horse was shot from under him. On February 5, 1864, Prentice had Jacob Mullins executed for desertion and joining the Federal Army. The execution was carried out in West Abingdon "near the colored graveyard." Mullins was described in the Abingdon Virginian as: He was an exceedingly ignorant young man, almost a heathen, having never read the Bible, nor heard it read until after his conviction, and never heard a sermon in his life. The chaplain of the post and several other ministers have gave him the benefit of their counsel and consolation, and he seemed to be penitent. He was greatly affected on the day of his execution, but exhibited a good deal of firmness and composure after arriving at the place of execution. He was sitting upon his coffin with his fingers in his ears when the order to fire was given. He expired almost instantly, five balls having pierced his breast. What Prentice was thinking was unclear, but this event seem to have sparked several members of the Mullins family to join up with Alf Killen's band. Executions were rare in this quarter of the Confederacy, and that Prentice ordered it is even more remarkable. There was probably some unknown difficulty between the two men which led to his joining the Federals. The Military Situation on the Cumberland in Mid-1864 Apparently Prentice and the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry returned to Wise County for winter quarters and soon began some cross- border scouting. His information was given enough credence for Lieutenant General James Longstreet to pass it along to Major General John Cabell Breckinridge on March 23, 1864. Longstreet noted that Prentice was just back from a raid from Kentucky and learned the Federals were massing troops at Mount Sterling, Kentucky for a raid into southwest Virginia. Prentice claimed there were from 5,000 to 10,000 troops ready to invade the Old Dominion. It never occurred. The eastern Kentucky district was reinforced, but not by much. By April 30 the area became known as the First Brigade First Division, District of Kentucky. Troops assigned were the 14th and 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, the 11th Michigan Cavalry and Captain Drew J. Burchett's artillery battery. President Abraham Lincoln issued an amnesty proclamation in early 1864. This proclamation basically stated that if Confederate soldiers would turn themselves in and take the oath of allegiance, they would be allowed to live peacefully in the North until the war was over. Several members of the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry took advantage of this proclamation and deserted in Wise County in March 1864. While not a major problem for Prentice's battalion, the records indicate some disaffection with Prentice at that time. Some of the prisoner of war records indicated the men had been conscripted and only served briefly with the battalion. Among the Wise County residents who took advantage of the amnesty proclamation were: Henry Adkins, Emanuel Church, Emanuel Fleming, John W. Hubbard, James A. Kilgore, John and Marshall Mullins, William P. Neal, Levi Perry, William Perry, William Poe, and George W. Porter. Additionally Noah Sykes, a Buchanan County resident deserted and took the oath. The 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry was officially assigned to George Hodge's Brigade on March 31, 1864. Other units in this brigade were the 6th Battalion Confederate Cavalry under command of Lieutenant Colonel Allen Lawrence McAfee, the 1st Kentucky Battalion Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel Ezekiel F. Clay, the 2nd Kentucky Battalion Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Johnson and the 27th Battalion Virginia Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Edmundson. A man named Mr. Salyers, a rebel at heart, misinformed Colonel C. J. True of the 40th Ohio on April 15 that Hodge passed through Pound Gap with 3,000 men, who were only the advance of a major Confederate advance into Kentucky. Surprisingly Salyers was believed, and Federals rushed reinforcements into the area. The 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry remained close to Pound Gap during most of the spring of 1864. Prentice's command occasionally scouted into Kentucky during the period. The battalion was reported in Kentucky on April 29, but Hodge's Brigade was consolidated with Henry L. Giltner's Brigade. Prentice's command was reported on John's Creek in Pike County, Kentucky on April 6, 1864. Colonel D. A. Mims was ordered with three companies of infantry to drive them out. Mims' men were to be joined by Major Auxier detachment of the 39th Kentucky (Federal) to assist. About this time, other elements of Hodge's Brigade were on Beaver Creek, Floyd County, Kentucky. Mims' men met Prentice's command on April 7. The Confederates escaped after a short skirmish in which a few rebels were wounded. Auxier was unable to reach Mims in time to assist in the fight. Hodge's command fell back to Pound Gap and reached that point about April 19. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Johnson and Hodge's brigade were at Guest's Station in Wise County as late as April 21, when he prepared his report on their recent Kentucky raid. Prentice's command was described as "scattered around generally" during late April. Prentice's main camp, however, was at Castlewoods on the western edge of Russell County. On April 28, Prentice and Hodge's Brigade were ordered to Blountville, Tennessee once again leaving the Cumberland unprotected from potential Federal incursion. With Prentice's men in mind, several new orders were issued on May 1. Soldiers found guilty of straggling were to be punished by con- scription into infantry service. Theoretically, stealing merited incarceration in the penitentiary. Guerrant continued: Prentice's men (7h Conf. Batt'n) have the reputation of stealing everything they get their hands on: & by associa- tion the others (Jessee's &c) [6th Battalion Confederate Cavalry] have become somewhat corrupted. All of Hodge's brigade represented as an armed mob. On May 3, 1864 Prentice's second in command, Major W. G. Re- pass, was cashiered from the Confederate Army by General Order No. 46. This was the second major in the Battalion, the first was William Guerrant, cousin of Edward O. Guerrant. William Guerrant had resigned in disgust the previous August. On May 4, Guerrant had some more disparaging remarks for the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry. He wrote: These new fellows of Hodge's Brigade are about the greenest horns I ever met with "officially." Prentice's men are same. "I want some rations." "Where is yr requisi- tion?" "Don't know." "How many rations do you want?" "Don't know.--Jist wants to draw." [is] dialogue between one of Prentice's boys & Maj. Thompson--the elegant Commissary. Colonel George W. Gallup ordered another raid on Pound Gap on May 9. He reported that Major Wise of the 11th Michigan Cavalry had moved with three squadrons to Pound Gap on the morning of the 9th and skirmished with one of Morgan's scouts. Gallup claimed his men captured 6 horses, the telegraph operator with instruments, and one private and killed two others. No confirmation of this report has been found in Confederate reports. At any rate, Gallup exaggerated becasue there was no telegraph station at Pound Gap. In the meantime, on May 1, 1864, the impertinent, outrageous Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Prentice wrote President Davis, not to recommend himself for promotion to Brigadier General again, but to propose consolidation of his 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry with the 6th Battalion Confederate Cavalry to form a regiment. Prentice wrote: I have made a first application to Maj. A. L. McAfee for the consolidation of the Sixth and Seventh Confederate Cavalry Battalions and have not as yet been respectfully (notified)... I am the commander of the Seventh, Maj. McAfee the com- mander of the 6th. We both think that the welfare of the service would be improved by the consolidation of these battalions and therefore, most respectfully urge and request that the consolidation letter be ordered as soon as possi- ble. I do not ask for promotion on the... but Maj. A. L. McAfee be promoted Colonel to command the organization formed by the consolidation. I know the Major well, have been with him in the face of the enemy and he is the only man my inferior in rank that I have ever met that I was willing to serve under. He has had experience both through this and the Mexican War and heartily that your Excellency may see fit to promote him to the position.... This consolidation was never seriously considered by the Confeder- ate War Department and, of course, was never brought about. Prentice's reputation as a rouge had preceded him. The famed Confederate guerrilla General John Hunt Morgan was in overall command of the Department of Western Virginia and East Tennessee in May 1864. His heart still lay in his beloved bluegrass of Kentucky. His last raid into Kentucky occurred in the late spring of 1864. Morgan's command departed from Abingdon, Washington County, Virginia in May. The operation met disaster at Cynthiana, Kentucky on June 11-12, 1864. The raid ended when Morgan limped back to Abingdon, Virginia on June 20. While at Saltville on May 3, 1864, Morgan ordered his command restructured. The circular read: From this date the Brigade Commanded by Col. Giltner shall be known and styled '1st Brigade Morgan's Division Cavalry'. That commanded by Lt. Col. R. A. Alston, as the '2d. Brigade Morgan's Division Cavalry. John Hunt Morgan's Division - Spring 1864 John Hunt Morgan's command was organized into three brigades for the expedition: First Brigade - commanded by Colonel Henry Liter Giltner - totaled about 975 men. Subelements were: 4th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment - Colonel Tandy Pryor 10th Kentucky Cavalry Battalion - Colonel Edwin Trimble 1st Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles - Major Holliday 2nd Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles - Colonel Thomas Johnson 10th Kentucky Mounted Rifles - Major Tom Chenoweth 6th Confederate Cavalry Battalion - Lieutenant Colonel George M. Jes- see 7th Confederate Cavalry Battalion - Lieutenant Colonel Clarence J. Pren- tice Second Brigade - commanded by Colonel D. Howard Smith - totaled about 500 men. Subelements were: 1st Battalion Kentucky Cavalry - Colonel Bowles 2nd Battalion Kentucky Cavalry - Colonel Kirkpatrick 3rd Battalion Kentucky Cavalry - Colonel Cassell Third Brigade - commanded by Colonel Robert Martin - totaled about 900 men. This brigade was dismounted. Subelements were: 1st Battalion - Lieutenant Colonel Robert Alston 2nd Battalion - Major George Diamond. Edward O. Guerrant, adjutant of Giltner's Cavalry Brigade, wrote on May 3, 1864: We are all very much pleased with our brigade with the exception of Prentice's (7h) Battalion, who are represented to us as a band of thieves, &c.- Therefore, today I made application to have them transferred to Gen. Wm. E. Jones. We don't want them. About the time all of the changes were being effected in Morgan's command, the 64th Virginia was ordered by Brigadier General William E. "Grumble" Jones to Wise County. Jones ordered Pridemore to "Scout well in the direction of Pound Gap and the Louisa Fork of Sandy. Report any advance of the enemy to the troops on your left, to this place and to Saltville." On May 16, Major Charles E. Smith of the 11th Michigan Cavalry reported that he had led a scout from Paintsville, Kentucky on Monday, May 9. They marched through Piketon, Middle Creek and Forks of Beaver Creek, and reached Pound Gap. The Michigan cavalry crossed over the border when they heard some Confederates were on Rockhouse Creek in Letcher County. Smith reported that at 11 a.m. on May 13, his men charged the 45 rebels at Rockhouse Creek which scattered. The Federals did not identify the detachment they fought, but it was probably a group of Ben Caudill's men. The next major Confederate undertaking was with John Hunt Morgan in his last raid into Kentucky. This left Wise County virtually defenseless. It is debatable, however, how much protection Prentice's Battalion offered Wise County's residents. Morgan's raid in any event would result in all the Federals in the area chasing him, and leaving the civilian population alone. Morgan's men left Abingdon, proceeded through Russell and Wise counties and crossed the Kentucky Frontier at Pound Gap on June 1, 1864. The 6th Confederate Cavalry Battalion, one unit along for the expedition, had reported 85 men present for duty on May 30. About 12 miles east of Pound Gap, Morgan's men encountered the Federals' 45th Kentucky Mounted Infantry. The Confederates brushed aside about 500 Federals like gnats. General Burbridge's report noted that he had left Lousia, Kentucky with the 39th Kentucky and 11th Michigan and two-twelve pound mountain howitzers on Friday, May 27. By May 28, Burbridge realized he did not have enough supplies for his raid into Southwest Virginia. He sent the 39th Kentucky back to Louisa to obtain a sufficient quantity. Colonel John Mason Brown was sent to Pound Gap to observe Confederate movements. Burbridge claimed to have moved up with the rest of his command to throw Morgan off his guard. He was too late, Morgan had reached Rockhouse Creek in Letcher County. Burbridge detached part of the 37th and 52nd Kentucky Infantry to obstruct Pound Gap if Morgan retreated hastily. These detachments lost three killed, six wounded and one missing during the subsequent engagements. The whole force sent to engage Morgan along the Cumberland suffered 24 killed, 107 wounded and 191 missing during Morgan's raid. General Morgan reported the Yankees "burn[ed] all their commissary and quartermaster's stores." Morgan did not give any casualty figures for this skirmish. The command proceeded to Mount Sterling, which the Confederates occupied without opposition on June 8. Morgan in his July 20, 1864 after-action report wrote: On the 1st of June my advance was met by a force of the enemy twelve miles this side [toward Abingdon] of Pound Gap, being the advance of the Federal forces, who were moving in this direction. We drove them back rapidly before us, and succeeded in remounted some of the dismounted men upon horses that were taken upon the gap, which point was gained just at night fall. I ordered a detachment of men under Captain [Bart] Jenkins to follow the enemy, who retreated in the direction of Piketon, and moved next morning upon a by-road that runs parallel with the Piketon and Mount Sterling road, determining, if possible, to reach Mount Sterling (their principal depot of supplies in Eastern Kentucky.) before the force under General Burbridge could move to my front. The forces under Generals Burbridge and Hobson, who were at Pound Gap and Mud Creek, finding that the State was invaded, immediately gave up their intended expedition into Virginia and pursued my command.... Hobson, when I passed through Pound Gap was in com- mand of one of the divisions of General Burbridge near Piketon, Ky. George Dallas Mosgrove wrote, in Kentucky Cavaliers in Dixie, an overly romantic but eyewitness account of the next two months of activities. He noted that Morgan's command passed through southwest Virginia and crossed the Clinch River and through Cumberland mountain passes into the Bluegrass State. The march was slow, and the first objective was the Unionist town--Mount Sterling. Federal General Burbridge, in the meantime, "with a strong force was at that very time en route to Virginia, his objective point being probably the Saltworks. He was marching on another road, however, nearly parallel with our route." Morgan's command reached Mount Sterling, without incident, on June 7, 1864. Confederate intelligence discovered Federals in the area. Morgan was not agreeable to a delay. However, an attack in the dark could be disastrous. Morgan attacked at dawn of June 8, easily brushing aside the limited Federal force he faced. The Wise County boys in Prentice's Battalion tagged along. After Morgan was defeated, the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry returned to Gladeville. Prentice and his men remained in the area the rest of the summer. By June 22, Robert M. Martin's Brigade was back in Southwest Virginia and the 7th Confederate had been reassigned to it. At that time the main body of the brigade was located at Liberty Hill in Tazewell County. Two days later they were ordered to moved immediately to Rich Valley in Washington County. On June 28, Martin was ordered to take most of his men and rendezvous with Giltner's men at Bristol. Morgan's last Kentucky raid had been successful in forestalling a major assault on the salt-works from Kentucky. The disaster his raid met at Cynthiana, however, weakened his force and he feared Burbridge's men would attempt another raid. As a result, Morgan posted his second brigade at Gladeville during the summer of 1864. The 10th Kentucky Mounted Rifles was listed in the August 1, 1864 organization order for troops serving the Department of Western Virginia and East Tennessee. John Hunt Morgan remained Departmental Command- er. The Virginia element of the Battalion changed commands, Hodge's old brigade was reduced in size, with Lieutenant Colonel Martin commanding the remnant of that organization. This order assigned the 6th Confederate Cavalry Battalion to the first Cavalry Brigade, under command of Colonel Henry L. Giltner. This table also reported the strength of Giltner's Brigade as 842 men present, but only 732 were considered effective. This organization chart showed: Morgan's Command - August 1, 1864 Infantry 13th Battalion Virginia Reserves - Lieutenant Colonel Robert Smith. (Saltville) Cavalry Brigade, - Colonel Henry L. Giltner (Near Rogersville, Tennes- see) 6th Confederate - Captain Warren Montfort (Commander of Company D) 4th Kentucky Cavalry - Captain William D. Ray 10th Kentucky Cavalry - Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Trimble 1st Battalion Kentucky Rifles - Capt. Peter M. Everett 2nd Battalion Kentucky Rifles - Capt. John T. Williams 10th Battalion Kentucky Rifles - Major J. Thomas Chenoweth. Second Brigade - Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Martin. (Gladeville, Virgin- ia) 1st Battalion Kentucky Cavalry - Lieutenant Colonel R. A. Alston 2nd Battalion Kentucky Cavalry - Major Jacob T. Cassell 7th Confederate Cavalry Battalion - Lieutenant Colonel Clarence J. Prentice Vaughn's Brigade (detachment) (Near Bull's Gap, Tennessee and Abingdon, Virginia) 16th Georgia Cavalry Battalion 1st Tennessee Cavalry 3rd Tennessee Cavalry 12th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion 16th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion 31st [39th] Tennessee Mounted Infantry 43rd Tennessee Mounted Infantry 59th Tennessee Mounted Infantry Morgan's division (dismounted) Osborne's scouts Vaughan's old brigade Jones' Brigade (detached) (Near Liberty Hill, Tazewell County, Virgin- ia) 34th Virginia Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Vincent A. Witcher 64th Virginia Regiment, Colonel Auburn L. Pridemore Artillery (Saltville and the Lead Mines) Burrough's Tennessee battery, Captain William H. Burroughs Levi's Virginia battery, Captain John W. Barr McClung's Tennessee battery, Captain Hugh L. W. McClung 9th Georgia Artillery Battalion (detachment), Capt. Andrew M. Wol- ihin. After Morgan's men returned from Kentucky recriminations were rampant, and degenerated into the petty bickering Confederate military commanders in the area were noted for. On August 21, Morgan complained to the War Department that had not and was not giving him the proper respect. Morgan further stated that Giltner's complaints were the result of a "personal pique" with him, rather than based in fact. Giltner's complaint was based on the theft of $80,000 in gold, silver and bank notes from a bank in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. D. Howard Smith asked Morgan to investigate at the time, but did not and had not up until the time of Giltner's complaint, which was dated August 18, 1864. In July while at Gladeville, Martin was ordered to send Cassell's Battalion to Taylorsville in Johnson County, Tennessee. Of course the men of the 2nd Brigade Morgan's Division thought being sent into Wise County punishment for whistle-blowing about robberies committed by Morgan's men in Kentucky. Manpower shortages were taking their toll on the Army of Northern Virginia's and the Army of Tennessee's ability to defend the infant nation. Conscription officers scoured the land, impressing any able-bodied man not already in uniform. To prove their exemption, Governor Smith issued a certificate to Wise County's justices of the peace. The men exempted by this September 3, 1864 document were: Hiram Riggs, W. Richmond, D. R. Smith, William Collins, John H. Snodgrass, H. C. Bruce, William H. Short, William McFall, Charles H. Banner, Andrew Mullins, Robert P. Dickenson, Daniel Hall, George C. Gray and James Holbrook. An enigmatic chapter of the Civil War in Wise County was recorded by C. Connie Bolling in a Coalfield Progress article. This article, more family tradition, than proper history, may have grains of truth. The events described are not dated, but probably happened in the summer of 1864. Bolling wrote: During the Civil War, renegade bands from Kentucky, pillaged and robbed the families on the headwaters of the Pound River. These band were in sympathy with the Union. One such band was led on a rampage by Bill Adams. A runner from the Cumberland, Ky. side, came yelling at the top of his lungs, "The robbers are coming, the robbers are coming!" [Shades of Paul Revere] When Grandma [Mrs. Jessee Bolling] heard this, she was terribly frightened. She nervously called all the children together and told them to drive all the cows and horses across the ridge and very quietly stay with them until the robbers had passed. She stayed with the house and hid what she could-- putting the last bit of meal in a bag, concealing it under her long dress. She sat quietly in a chair while the renegades searched the house and took what they could find. Uncle Delaney [Delano Bolling] heard of the maraud- ing thieves and with his trusty flintlock he hid on a bluff overlooking the rock which would across Hale Gap moun- tain, a small mountain which divides the North and South Fork of the Pound River. Delaney waited for a couple of hours and, after running out of patience, he climbed a little higher up the mountain where he could see and hear a little better. Lo and behold here came the group "helter skelter," running up over the mountains. He fairly fell down the hill to a point about 100 yards above a sharp bend in the narrow road. As the group made the turn in the bend of the road, Uncle Delaney aimed his rifle at the cross of Adam's suspenders and "pop-bang," went his gun, killing Bill Adams dead. His group buried him there above the road and quickly sneaked their way back through the woods to Kentucky. To this day this bend in the road is spoken of as the Bill Adams Bend. While this story was told as fact, it in reality more closely fits the notion of a folk legend. The purported announcement of the impending raid alone is enough to cause this tale to fall in this category. Despite consider- able effort the authors have been unable to confirm this story with other sources. Bloody Bill Adams is one of the more obscure characters during the civil war along the Cumberland mountain. Burbridge's Raid The Yankees finally launched their long expected raid on the salt- works at Saltville in late September 1864. This raid culminated in their defeat in the Battle of Saltville on October 2, 1864. General Stephen Burbridge personally led the 5,000 man strong Federal invasion force. By Monday, September 26, 1864, Prentice, at Gladeville was sending alarming messages. Considering Prentice's reputation, it is amazing he was believed, but he was, and probably gave enough warning for the Confederates to get their commands together in time and in place to defeat Burbridge. Prentice claimed 15 Yankee regiments, including 600 black soldiers and 3200 pack mules ,were on the march for the Sandy River and eventually Virgin- ia. Burbridge's command passed through Pound Gap on its way to its Saltville target. Prentice's 250 or so men were no match for the Yankees and steered well clear of any possible danger. Little could stand in their way en route to the saltworks. They pressed on as quickly as possible and did not meet any resistance until reaching Tazewell County, where Colonel Giltner's Brigade nipped at the advancing Yankees. They hoped the other Confederates in the department would be able to accumulate enough men to defend the saltworks. Burbridge had not planned to raid Saltville alone, and had made elaborate arrangements for cooperation from Federals in Tennessee under Alvin Gillem. Gillem's command was defeated and forced back, and was not coming as Burbridge had hoped. Gillem had no way to directly communicate with the Kentucky column, but informed his superiors of the reverses his men had met. This led to the issuance of a recall order. A courier was immediately dispatched, and he nearly caught up with the Federals when he was intercepted by one of Prentice's scouts. Burbridge never received the order, and kept up his march. Burbridge brushed away Giltner's command in Tazewell County and eventually reached Saltville and directly attacked on October 2, 1864. The Confederates had been able to rush reinforcements to Saltville in time and Burbridge was soundly defeated. The Confederates at Saltville under Major General Breckinridge expected the fighting to be renewed on October 3, but Burbridge withdrew during the night. Burbridge masked his movements by leaving bonfires burning and began the painful process of extricating himself from the mountains. When the Confederates discovered he was gone, the Federals had several hours head start. While Burbridge fought at Saltville, other Federal scouts were roaming the Wise County countryside. Sergeant Major James O. Howard of the 7th Battalion Confederate Cavalry was captured at Pound Gap on October 2. Howard, a native of Jefferson County, Kentucky was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio were he was held until released on February 21, 1865. While the Confederates from Saltville gave an immediate chase, when they learned Burbridge was retreating. Colonel Henry Giltner's brig- ade reached Burbridge's rear guard at Richland in Tazewell County. The Federal rearguard, the 11th Michigan Cavalry had Spencer repeating rifles easily persuaded Giltner's men to break off the chase. About this time, John Stuart Williams' men reached the fighting, but their horses were too jaded to continue the pursuit effectively. The Confederates retired to Liberty Hill where they camped. The only Confederates left between Burbridge and the Kentucky line were some irregulars. The first of these irregular bands met was the Counts' battalion in Buchanan County. One of Counts' four companies commanded by Captain Jasper Colley took the lead. Jasper Sutherland recalled: About sixty of us went to Levisa River below Grundy, at Rock Lick and waited for them [Burbridge's Federals] to come back. We lay by the road one night and cut trees across the road to block the Yankees. We didn't have any provisions with us, so next morning we strung out in the neighborhood to get some breakfast. Then Major Zeke, William Grizzle, Mack Owens and I went to see the block- ade. The Yanks were there in full force. We darted back into the woods but they saw us and followed and nearly surrounded us. We went further into the wooded hills and got away. Major Zeke, Bart Yates, and I went up the river and saw more Yankees. They got after us again and we had to run and scatter. Lige Rasnake was in my company. It was awful hot and we had run and scrambled over the rough hills so much that we were tired out. William Grizzle suggested that we hide for awhile but I said, "no." Major Zeke came up just then and said the Yanks had caught Lige Rasnake and maybe had killed him. We got down closer to the road and hid behind some big rocks and saw about 4,000 Yanks go by. Some of them were Neg- roes; a Company or two of them. We fired at them and they fired back at us. The bullets flew awful thick and glanced off the rocks and made the dirt fly all around us. Mack Owens was behind a tree but the bullets came too thick and made it hot for him, making the bark fly off his tree, so he ran back to us and hid behind the rocks. We heard the Yankee officer say, "Go up that hollow and surround them." We saw a big Company coming, so we scattered up the hill and went down the other side to the bend of the river again. Here we saw them with Lige Rasnake, a prisoner. Major Zeke and some of us fired on them again, and they fired back. This drew the attention of the Yan- kees, and Lige jumped over the river bank and down a slip fifty yards or more to the river. He jumped in and swam across and got away. The Yankees didn't shoot at him until he got nearly to the river. None of our men were hurt. Despite the fact that Giltner, Cosby, Williams and Duke had ended the chase, Burbridge still had to deal with Prentice's small force in Wise County. Pound Gap was the only practical route over which to take his artillery back to Kentucky. In Wise County, Burbridge met Prentice's men in the field of battle again. Prentice's command, however, was no match for the Federals. Although details are lacking, it seems Burbridge divided his men and sent one toward Pound Gap to secure that place and the other to Gladeville. Burbridge reported that he sent a detachment to Pound Gap and forced its way through and drove Prentice, "with a superior force [which was a blatant lie], from his works at Gladesville, capturing several prisoners," some small arms and an artillery piece. Burbridge exaggerated other Confederate losses and probably exaggerated Prentice's as well. A captured dispatch from Burbridge's command indicates the Federals then burned the Wise County court-house. The Yankees burned Bill Davis', J. W. Vermillion's and Tom Bohannon's homes. Judge James Monroe Roberson recalled several years after the war ended: While our family lived at the Pound, General Burbridge, of the Union forces, who fought a battle with the Rebels at Kings Salt Works, Virginia, passed by our place into Ken- tucky with his army almost stranded from exhaustion by their long march through mud, rain, and snow. The horses, wagons and artillery equipment worked the mud up so thin that it ran out of the road over the banks into the Pound River in many places. Lots of horses and equipment were abandoned along the road to the top of Cumberland Moun- tain at Pound Gap. The destruction of Wise County's court house added to the expense of Wise's citizens. Most of the county's records were safe, but the county was broke and could not afford to rebuild the court-house. Much of the tax revenue, down due to so many men being away in Confederate service, was being expended to support indigent families in Wise County. Since the county could not afford immediately to rebuild its hall of justice, the court found an alternative meeting site. They ordered "that the Court be held in the barroom of the N. B. Bruce's, on account of the courthouse having been burned by Federal soldiers." Bruce's barroom was in the lobby of his Virginia Hotel in Gladeville. Apparently, the bar was not deemed an proper location for the solomon justices of Wise County. In February 1865, the justices decided to move court to A. W. Smith's house "in the west end of town." The town was at that time so small that the move was only about a tenth of a mile. Military, logistical and political problems abounded for the Confeder- acy in the fall of 1864. Southwest Virginia had long been a popular source of personnel for other regions of Virginia. Much of the manpower of the Department had been ordered to the Shenandoah Valley in the early summer and by the fall, there were calls for more. On October 12 General Lee asked Major General John C. Breckinridge to send George Cosby's and Henry Giltner's brigades to Lieutenant General Jubal Anderson Early in the Shenandoah Valley. Lee suggested Breckinridge retain enough force to "protect the country and manage deserters, &c." but ordered Prentice's Battalion to Richmond, Virginia. This portion of the order was never implemented, but Cosby's and Giltner's men marched into the Valley. John Stuart Williams and his command returned to northern Georgia and the defense of the region was left with Breckinridge and a few dismounted or disabled cavalrymen, Basil Duke's Brigade--the small remnant of John Hunt Morgan's Division, the unreliable brigade of John C. Vaughn, some reservists, and the highly irregular guerrillas along the Kentucky bor- der. By late October some of Prentice's men were making news in the area again. Thefts had long been a problem, but none of Prentice's men's exploits raised the ire of the citizens of the Cumberland like the theft of their alcohol supply. E. D. Miller of Lebanon, Virginia wrote on October 25: I am under the necessity this morning of informing you that the expedition to Scott County returned last night with bad report. Fulkerson, with six of Lieutenant Sawyer's guard, went down to Scott; left here on Saturday; arrived at Os- borne's on Sunday; impressed and took charge of forty-two gallons of brandy, all they could find; started back some two or three miles, when they met a party of [17] men in the road, variously armed, who demanded the immediate surrender of the brandy, arms, &c. They gave up their arms, seeing they were outnumbered, and, the party being re-enforced by this time by four others, they thought best to make no resistance. After they took possession of the brandy they gave the arms back to the boys, who came on back very much mortified over their defeat. They say that the most of the party belongs to Prentice's command. The brandy question has created more confusion and the owners of it make more fuss over it than if we were to take all their grain. We will have to abandon the business unless we get some troops in here and clear the county of bushwhackers and deserters. There is not a man in the county that we have served notices on for brandy but what has violated the notice.... The battle site, shown on the accompanying map, in present Dickenson County, was the scene of much activity during the Civil War. The property was owned by members of the unionist Powers Family and included some cleared land along the headwaters of Cranesnest River, three cabins and a bucket-wheel grist mill, known as Powers' Mill. This mill was apparently a small operation, as it did not produce enough to be recorded on the 1860 Industrial Schedule for Wise County. As a result of the political inclinations of the family, Con