The Battle of Cynthiana was something that I will never forget.  I will say that it was reenactment that is a little different then you could think of.   I arrive to Cynthiana on saturday morning, around8am.  After coming though a small rain storm with claps of thunder and lighting in the area.  Once I arrived there I look around to see where the union camp was at.  With no luck and a 10 min walk I give up and decided to wait until a commander showed up to tell me. While return to my car I saw Kyle there, a freshfish that we had the chance to talk to at Brass Band festival in Danville.  After signing him out the gear that he needed for the event and signing the #40 request form, we were on are way to finding out what was going on.

After a walk though the sutlers that were there we decided to retire to the picnic table for some shade. While were there Ken and Everett and Everett Jr showed up. After a small discussion about the battlefield and how pretty the area was we decided to stand in the shade of the pavilion.  Around the time 9:30am our commander shows up, after I informed him that he was in command after some higher commander could take the field. He fired up his corncob pipe and with a little grin on his face away he went to the officers meeting which was in progress. Shortly there after Jim shows with a smile and grin and looking for camp.

Upon the return of command we was introduce to our 2ndLt.  With still no union camp in place I was sent on detail to find a nice shady spot to park our bodies for the day. I notice walking there was a gentleman by the of  “FLASH” had a sign on the front of his fly that read, WILL FIGHT FOR FOOD.  Well I talk to man as he approached his tent from another direction, I asked him he we the 7th Ky could set camp next to him, with a pause and smile he welcomed us with open arms. The request he had was no snoring. I guess it was a good think that our Captain was not there…. Just kiddin sir.

Well Jim, Kyle,Everett,Ken and  myself along with Jr. We sat on the ground and play checkers with a set that Flash  happen to have in tent. Well I will say the Ken is a mean checker player,  the man beat a 12 year old boy…..Ken you should be a shame of yourself.   Jim asked could we do some drilling in a shady area, kinda of a refresher course. Well I need to follow command andgo seek our man in charge. Well with no 1st sarg there and the Lt’s were no where to be found I went straight to the top. With a proper salute, I asked our commander could we do some small drilling  in a shaded area. With a a half grin look on his face he look at me and ask me for my rank and I replyed a private sir. With a small pause he looked at me and said today you are the 1 sarg, do with want you want to do with your men, carry on. With a salute I left towards camp with a what did I just do look on my face.

Upon return to camp I told the men that I was to lead the men to drill. So the men gather up the leathers and guns and form a small rank. With me not know all the commands to the marching orders, I was very scared that I was going to screw it up. With the help of Jim and Ken the drill last about 10-15 mins. We went over some things that we may encounter during the battle, well if Chars was leading we would run into. Thanks men for being very patient with me and helping me out.  When we return the camp and man from the OVM was there waiting, as to my surprise I saw this man get into a small discussion session with Jim and then a small private the the commander had put in out detail to train with us. The three men went around for about a 3 mins or so and the OVM man walk away apologizing to the young lad you had taken his gun in search for the commander. Afterwards I was told the the commander saw a musket laying there and grab it and told the lad to drill with and did not check with the owner of the gun to get his permission to use. Later the commander approach me with the full story and apologizing for any mishaps that may have taken place. Well lunch was here and we decided to go to the pavilion for a shade spot. Well during lunch command walk to me and said meet up 1:30 for weapon check before battle at 2pm.

1:30 was here and it was time to form company in front of command staff. At this time I was to count head and note how many was there. Everett Jr was flag barrier and what a find job he did.  Then comand form company, well this is the time is started to get interesting. The two 2nd Lt played paper, rock, scissors to see who was 1st Lt. Well that was done. Command put the company in this order…..

Color guard.

7th Ky…    32nd Ind..  33rd Ind.. 6th Ky.. 9th Mich

2nd Lt                                                      1st Lt

Command(FRONT)

I am not a expert but I think he had it layedout all backward with colors in the back, but I am a private and not a commander. We was told that we out number the Confederates and we would need to take hits early to make it look good. So battle started at 2 pm on the dot with Cavhaving there fun for a bit. The Infantry started to advance on the Rebel army,with a small command to keep moving we march for about 30 ft and stop. Wait for the confed army to push us andwhich they did not, we move up another 30 ft or so. Then we get broke up in to platoons at this time. Men were falling all round us, Jim went down early andKyle was withus for a moment then with the flash of the big gun he was taken from us. The order was for our platoon break off and go to right where are cav was running over the Reb’s right flank. Then after a good 15 rounds we started to move back and back and back. then all of sudden the command was given to fire by company, the guy standing next to me looked at me and said what the hell. Then a man from up front said which one sir. So then the our Lt said damn it this is dumb. By this time the only members was left in the 1st platoon/company /detailed what ever you want to call it, was only Everett, Ken, Myself and member from the OVM. So after a small exchange of fire I looked at the Lt andsaid could we charge sir, he said why not. So with the remanding members left including the Lt we charge the Reb’s anddied with pride because we died for Kentucky and the Union.

Conner Prairie was a blast.  For those of you who missed it **COUCH**ken**COUGH** you should really try and get up there just to see the site.  This place, in my humble opinion, blows Shakertown at Pleasant Hill out of the water.  For those who have been to Shakertown in Mercer County you remember the electric lighting and somewhat respectable attempts to conceal the AC units and other modern amenities required to run what in essence is a bed and breakfast.  There is no such thing at Conner Prairie in the 1836 village.  No electricity whatever.  No signs of water lines or anything else approaching modern stuff is visible even upon a close careful inspection.  You fill the place with reenactors and it was very easy to lose yourself in the period.

The 7th Kentucky rolled in on the afternoon of Friday to discover our camp for the weekend was in the former pig pen.  Some will say it was appropriate I’m sure.  With rain and storms threatening the veterans of the 7th we took out after some more respectable shelter than our gum blankets.  We found the town kiln that was well covered and had makeshift walls made from the kindling to be used to fire the kiln.  Perfect spot to ride out the storms.  Kudos go to Mr. Elijah W. Cox for finding this place.  Your humble correspondent was prepared to run the Soldier’s Aid Society out of one of their buildings but the Captain didn’t think that was such a good idea.  We woke up Saturday morning to find the place soaked with heavy rain.  Many of the men in our battalion were wet while we were bone dry except for the light mist of blowing rain which served more as refreshment than anything approaching a discomfort.  Our company drew guard detail on Saturday and apparently the relief from 2nd Battalion never came resulting in our detail staying for most of the day.  None of us who were familiar with 2nd Battalion were too surprised at their lack of duty.  ahem.

Around 2pm or so we heard first call and began kitting up for whatever had befallen our piece of ground.  We soon learned a small group of secesh infantry and cavalry had taken up along the river.  This was a strange battle.  There were significant delays in the flow of the fight.  To illustrate the length of the delays, one of the General’s aides went into the fight as a Captain and emerged from the fight as a Colonel!  The secesh finally withdrew from the field in an orderly fashion and sent couriers to the General explaining they would be back.  General Dunfee reportedly sent a note back with the courier explaining if they showed their face near us again we would destroy them.  This news spread through the camps like a fresh breeze (very welcome in our pig pen home by the way).  The men’s hearts filled with excitement for what the next day would bring and belly’s full of fine rations we relieved the guard…with more men from 1st Battalion…and the army settled in for the evening.

Sunday morning rolled in after a peaceful night’s rest.  We finished off saturday’s ration issue for breakfast and fell in for inspection and all the things we typically do on a Sunday morning.  Soon word came that the secesh had in fact returned for the promised butt kicking.  This time the only delay in the action was for a real world injury to a horse.  Once the vet had attended to the animal the fight was back on and there was no stopping General Dunfee.  We pressed them hard with two charges on their positions putting few of them to flight and capturing, killing, or wounding the bulk of them.  We saw no more of them after this soire.

The trip home was full of all kinds of excitement.  I blame EW’s map.

Of the infantry members, we had our Captain Lemons, and Privates Cox(Eaton), Woodward(Woford), and McGuire(yours truly).  Made for a fine mess.  Mr. Cox’s find of the kiln should earn him a medal.  Mr. Woodward’s day long tour on the guard detail Saturday was met with approval by the Colonel of the Western Brigade.  It is unfortunate that such a long detail was necessary but Woodward did his duty for the Battalion as always without griping or complaining.

Gents we have the Brass Band Festival coming up on the 13th of June.  EW will be issuing another note on requirements for the Parade.  Please do your best to black your boots, polish your brass, and clean and brush your uniforms.  I’ll probably show up in my customary blue sweats and dark blue T shirt.  It’s up to you guys what you want to wear I think…if we don’t hear from EW on this anyway.

Also, I’m going to Renfro Valley this weekend for a recruiting effort.  I’ll be setting up a fly and doing the period recruiting thing.  All are welcome to join me at the Renfro Valley Music center.  Take I75 south to the Renfro Valley exit, turn left off the exit, and look for the Brush Arbor village on the right.  You should see folks setting up tents and otherwise milling around.  I’ll be the guy in blue under the fly ranting on about preserving the Union.   Things should kick off around 10am.

The scenario for the Western Brigade event at Conner Prairie Indiana is appended below

Scenario:

This is the proposed set-up for the scenarios for the weekend.

The Who:  The Army of the Cumberland

                        ALL FEDERAL Participants at the event will fall under the direct command of General Steve Dunfee and will be assigned duty with the First Federal Division.

For living history purposes, the proposal is for the Division to portray the 3^rd Brigade (Baldwin), 2nd Division (Johnson) of McCook’s 20^th Corps.

                        Preliminary Battalion assignments (pending Commander approval and actual battlefield strength) will be as follows:

o    All Federal Cavalry: 3^rd Indiana Cavalry (cos. G, H, I, K)

o    All Federal Artillery: 1^st Ohio or 5^th Indiana Batteries (your choice)

o    Indiana Battalion: 6^th Indiana Infantry

o    Army of the Ohio and other WB: 1^st Ohio Infantry

o    Western Federal Blues: 5^th Kentucky Infantry

o    Cumberland Guard: 93^rd Ohio Infantry

o    Frontier Brigade, Muddy River Battalion, Lightning Brigade, and UO Infantry will be assigned based on event attendance. If battalion strength is achieved by any of those organizations, then we will utilize regiments from other historical brigades within that 2^nd Division.

Units are hereby authorized to research and develop individual impressions relating to the above guidelines. Even though the actual adoption of such may have not occurred by the time we are portraying (but the order and authorization had been promulgated), for the purposes of Esprit-de-Corps within the Division, WHITE STAR corps badges are authorized for use by officers and men in the field..

The When:        Early Summer of 1863

 The Where:       In and around Decherd, TN; situated along the stage and rail routes connecting Nashville and Chattanooga, 30 miles south of Stevenson, AL.

                                The What:  Portions of the Army (Thomas’ and McCook’s corps) are operating in the area, bivouacked in a small town,  operating against the Confederate Army of Tennessee which has formed a defensive position along the “Duck Creek Line.”  We will be portraying small engagements/expeditions, and reconnaissance in force against the CS positions.  We are doing GENERIC scenarios all weekend based on the tactical situation; we will not be “re-enacting” any particular engagement.

                                History:  In late June 1863, the CS Army of Tennessee was forced to withdraw from the “Duck River Line” when the 17^th Indiana severed the railroad at Decherd in their rear.  Afterwards, Thomas’ and Mc Cooks’ corps camped around the Decherd/Winchester area until they left for the start of the Chickamauga campaign.

This is a wonderful opportunity for the officers and men of the Division to portray citizen soldiers all weekend long, without having to try to re-create a particular scenario. The opportunity for leadership in the field and strong living history in the camps is particularly appealing. The army will be “on” all weekend, and there will be opportunities for camp, guard, reconnaissance, and picket duties in addition to the “major” engagements that we will participate in with the public.

We have been researching General George Morgan’s 7th Division retreat from Cumberland Gap for a while now. The one and only modern book that deals specifically with the retreat is A Masterful Retreat by Judge Lewis D. Nicholls. He grew up in Greenup County and remembered being enthralled with the local historical marker with a brief explanation of the retreat. As he grew up and began his adulthood the interest in the retreat and all things civil war never waned. After years of attending civil war reenactments and gathering up bits and pieces of information on the retreat Judge Nicholls decided to bite the bullet and take a serious run at writing this book. He mentions in the acknowledgments that he had no idea how to begin or how to proceed. I certainly understand his trepidation in that regard. He took on the task more as a labor of love than a scholarly look at the subject. In the end he did a pretty good job of both. I appreciate the effort Judge Nicholls put into this work however there are some issues I have with his presentation.

Apologetic of General Morgan

I question the stated purpose of the book in his introduction and the methods the Judge employed to achieve the purpose. He took on the work in an attempt to vindicate General George Morgan’s actions in September of 1862. He took great pains to expose General Morgan’s adherence to modern military principles of warfare to show the brilliance of his actions. I would argue he went to too great a length making his point. I have two primary issues with Judge Nicholls apology.

1) I am no military historian. Mark Grimsley I most certainly am not. Based on my very limited expertise, however, I would suggest that we hold General Morgan to the principles of his time to determine the validity and accuracy of his decisions in 1862.

2) General Morgan was vindicated by Major General Horatio Wright, Brigadier General Morgan’s then immediate commanding officer, soon after the 7th Division reached Greenup. In this dispatch from General Wright to General Buell just 2 weeks after the successful completion of the retreat, General Wright both clears General Morgan of any wrong doing as well as hints at the necessity of future students, such as ourselves, to view historical events in the context of their times. Until this campaign Cumberland Gap was viewed as the only avenue into Kentucky from the southeast. Both General George Morgan’s 7th Division and General Kirby Smith’s Army of Tennessee displayed in stark detail just how defenseless this American Gibraltar really was. When General Morgan was ordered to take and hold the Gap everyone from General Halleck down was resolute in the belief that Cumberland Gap was the lynch pen of defense for Kentucky.

=============================================================================================================

O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME XVI/1 [S# 22]
SEPTEMBER 17-OCTOBER 3 1862.–Evacuation of Cumberland Gap, Tenn., and march of its garrison to Greenupsburg, Ky.
No. 1.–Report of Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright, U.S. Army, commanding Department of the Ohio. [ar22_990]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO,
Cincinnati, Ohio, October 15, 1862.

GENERAL: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of the report of Brig. Gen. George W. Morgan, dated the 12th instant, detailing the circumstances occasioning the withdrawal of his command from Cumberland Gap:

It appears from this report that the evacuation, which was in pursuance of the unanimous opinion of a council of the general officers of the command, was a matter of necessity, arising from their provisions being exhausted, their communications cut off, and no information of any prospect of relief being received. While the evacuation of the Gap is to be regretted, I do not see how, with starvation staring him in the face and with no certainty of relief being afforded, he could have come to any other conclusion than the one arrived at. The several communications which I-had addressed to him appear not to have reached him. After the unfortunate battle near Richmond the entire country between the Ohio River and Cumberland Gap was in possession of the rebels, and communications could be sent only through the agency of individuals familiar with the country, and who of course ran great risk of capture. Several persons were found to undertake the mission, but none seem to have succeeded in getting through. The march of General Morgan from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio River was most successfully accomplished and reflects much credit on him and his officers for the skill with which it was conducted, and upon the men for the cheerfulness with which they bore the hardships of a toilsome march of over 200 miles, on scanty fare, over a country affording little subsistence, and often, for long marches, on an inadequate supply of water. The holding of Cumberland Gap has generally been considered as of the greatest moment, it being viewed as the only practicable avenue for the passage of an army into Kentucky from the Southeast. Its importance has, however, I apprehend, been much overestimated, there being several passes through the mountains which, though less easy, are nevertheless practicable, as is shown by the fact that Kirby Smith, with a rebel force of over 20,000 men, passed into Kentucky through one of them. This knowledge diminishes, in my judgment, the importance hitherto attached to the possession of the Gap, unless the neighboring avenues through the mountains into Kentucky are also held.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. G. WRIGHT,
Major-General, Commanding.
Brig. Gen. G. W. CULLUM,
Chief of Staff, Hdqrs. of the Army, Washington, D.C.

=============================================================================================================

Judge Nicholls does shed some new light on the retreat but rolling his research into an apologetic 144 years after General Morgan’s own commander cleared him of any wrong doing or dereliction of duty seems a bit of a stretch.

Anecdotes of Soldiers

One of the things that kept my interest of History at bay for so many years was the lack of personality in the study. This may be more of an indictment on my instructors than the course material but the reasons remain the same. Civil War history was all about the eastern theater of the war and then all about dates. We read about what Generals Lee and McClellan did at Antietam but not a word from the soldiers serving in the rank and file. Judge Nicholls includes some anecdotes from the soldiers serving in Morgan’s Division but the reader isn’t left knowing much more about how the soldiers endured the retreat than before reading the book. Again, Nicholls’ stated purpose for the book is as a defense of General Morgan. In our research, however, we have found ample resources that would both give credit to General Morgan as well as complete the story of the average soldier in the line. Reading Nicholls’ book we get bits and pieces from his research that tell interesting anecdotes but not much that explains authoritatively certain events surrounding the run up and actual retreat of the 7th Division from Cumberland Gap. For example, Judge Nicholls uses Surgeon B.F. Stevenson’s Letters(22nd Kentucky in DeCourcy’s Brigade) recitation of the events at Manchester on September 18th. He glosses over the incident that we detailed here and here and doesn’t mention the flurry of desertions over the next couple of days. His work being a defense of General Morgan, I’m guessing that it would be hard to defend such a surge of desertions after the execution of Private Stivers which by all accounts was warranted.

Soldier Experience

I have been a reenactor for 20 some odd years. I don’t pretend to be in kindred spirit with the Veterans of the war or any war for that matter. I do suggest that the experience I have gained from reenacting helps me better understand what the veterans wrote about in their letters, diaries, and memoirs. Having the experience of spending a rainy night under a gum blanket, a blistering day in the color company of a battalion marching along a dusty road, or serving under less than adequate commanders provides a glimpse of the misery, exhaustion, and frustration of being a soldier during the Civil War. Judge Nicholls is to be commended for his service to our Country. It is because of veterans like him that I have the privilege of writing this review. His book only touches on the lives and experiences of the soldiers under General Morgan. Knowing where they went and when is a timeline. Understanding why they went where they went is history. Explaining the lives of the soldiers, their experiences during the maneuvers in question, and how their lives impacted their thoughts at the time, that dear reader is telling a story. Judge Nicholls doesn’t adequately tell the story of the soldiers in his book. Given the stated purpose of his book, he was successful in his endeavor but I believe their is a gripping story surrounding the lives of the soldiers who experienced this adventure that is yet to be told.

Conclusion

For anyone interested in the Cumberland Gap Campaign of 1862 I strongly recommend Judge Nicholls book, “A Masterful Retreat”. There are some factual errors in the research but that isn’t uncommon and I’m sure we will make our own errors going forward. This book provides for the reader a good basic understanding of the campaign complete with an excellent bibliography for further study. The reasoned actions of General Morgan are explained and compared against modern military philosophy relieving General Morgan of any blame for the evacuation of Cumberland Gap. Judge Nicholls also does an admirable job of calling the Buell Inquiry to the carpet for attempting to scape goat General Morgan for the loss of the Gap in September of 1862.

This book is an excellent starting point for other researchers to continue the story of Morgan’s Masterful Retreat.

I went back over some of the other information I had on the Stivers/Cundiff incident. Reading through the Henry Lucas entry in the Dickey Diaries I read this paragraph: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyclay2/diary/dd/hlucas.html

I was an overseer for the White’s, have known them all well. They were great money makers. I worked for James and Daughtery White. My stepfather Pierce Cottingim used to steer salt boats. I never did. My grandfather Richard Lucas was a man of great physical power. He was a drummer in the militia. A man named Butts from Tennessee, rode 400 miles to whip him. He rode up to grandfather’s saddler shop and called, “Does drummer Lucas live here?” Yes sir. Well, I live in Tennessee, 400 miles from here, and I have come to whip you. What have I done to you? Oh nothing, I am the bully of Tennessee and I understanf that you are the bully of Kentucky, and if I whip you, I will be the bully of the world. Well, do you wanna fight now, or can it wait til morning? Get down and go in. I keep a motel and it shall cost you nothing. No, I won’t whip a man and live off him too. Well, it may not turn out that way, said grandfather. He went to another motel. The next morning they fought after the manner of times and grandfather was victorious. The Tennessean seemed perfectly satisfied and returned to his home. My grandfather afterwards joined a Methodist Church. He was a big hearted hospitable man. My Materal Grandfather was John Cundiff. My father died when I was 6 years old, it was about 1828. Grandfather Cundiff was a loyal friend, he would do anything in his power for his friend, was a great power of elections. My Uncle John Cundiff killed Eli Bowlin.
Bowlin was a bully, a man of great power. He led my uncle to, Old Bill Duncil’s house, where ol Molly Henson lived. They had a quarell about the woman. Bowling kicked my uncle, a small man. He went away and came back with a dirt knife. He called Bowlin to the door and plunge it in to him. He died in a few minutes. My Uncle left the country and never returned. Uncle Sam Lucas took his wife to him. Eli Bowlin was a bad man. His son, James Bowling was hunting for Uncle John when he met my grandfather Cundiff. “Jim put that gun down”, we have gotton rid of 2 bad men and let the matter stop. The Cundiff’s of Breathitt are of the same stock.

This particular bit caught my attention:

My Uncle left the country and never returned. Uncle Sam Lucas took his wife to him. Eli Bowlin was a bad man. His son, James Bowling was hunting for Uncle John when he met my grandfather Cundiff. “Jim put that gun down”, we have gotton rid of 2bad men and let the matter stop. The Cundiff’s of Breathitt are of the same stock.

What stock? The “hunting a man down and killing them” stock or the “peacemaker” stock?

The Cundiff’s seemed to be of a mind to put up a fight when bullies come around. According to Mr. Lucas, they were bullies as well:

David Walker was the bully of Clay County when I was a young man and my uncle James Cundiff was almost equal. James Cundiff was killed by Lewis Stivers, son of Reverend George Stivers. I think Stivers was insane. He wanted to kill General Garrard. He was a soldier in Colonel Lucas’ company, when he killed Cundiff. They were camped at Manchester. Cundiff was in the same Company. Stivers was court marshalled and shot. Every ball took affect. General George Morgan was in command. There were 12 soldiers, 6 guns loaded. I came into town a few minutes after he was shot.

So…we have a drunk(Carlton’s diary) and possibly insane(Lucas’ Dickey entry) in Stivers up against a known bully (Lucas’ Dickey entry) on his home turf in Cundiff. Recipe for disaster? Here’s what I’m thinking…

Cundiff and the rest of the Guard relief are sitting “20 rods” from their post. Stivers, being perhaps a bit short on intellect and long on John Barleycorn, becomes the target of Cundiff’s bully rhetoric. Stivers leaves his post to confront Cundiff. Bullying language continues. Stivers says enough and “I’ll fix you”. Trots off to get his rifle and does the deed.

Couple of GLARING problems here:

1) Why didn’t the Sergeant of the Guard stop this insanity?
2) Why did the rest of the relief run off rather than tackling this guy?

During the first week of the retreat from Cumberland Gap there was an incident at Manchester that has been shrouded in some mystery until today.

We have known that Private Lewis Stivers of Company B was executed at Manchester for shooting another soldier, Private James Cundiff, but we didn’t know the details. Yesterday we recieved in the mail from Jim Hoffman at University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign the diary of David Dudley Carlton, 42nd Ohio, DeCourcy’s Brigade. Mr. Carlton’s account of the execution provides some excellent details of the execution of Lewis Stivers:

Items in the brackets [ ] are notes I’ve made into the text so you know who we are talking about. Spelling is as it appears in the original.
**********************************************************
Sept 21
To day is Sunday and I have witnessed a sein which I hope never to see again. It was the execution of a man who had been sentenced to be shot for shooting one of his comrades. The particulars as near as I can

pg 90
learn are these. Co B of the [3rd later known as 7th] Ky ware out guarding a steam grist mill. And several of them ware playing cards and being more or less under the influence of liquor got into a dispute when one of them [Lewis Stivers] said he would fix & turned & went to the mill (which was about 20 rods) got his gun, loaded it, then went back and told the other one [James Cundiff] to look out for he was going to shoot him. (I have forgot his name) and instantly fired. The ball passed through his right hip & came out just above the left one causing almost instant death. He then swor he would shoot the rest of the crowd but they run before he got his gun loaded. He the left but was soon captured & confined in jail until he could have his trial which he had yesterday & was sentenced to be publicly shot today at 5OC.

pg91
About 3OC the crowd began to assemble at & around the jail and at 5 minutes before 6OC the jailor was seen to mount the stairs and lead forth the culprit (who was a man about 50 years of age) and placed him in a file of soldiers and marched him off to a field of death. He marched up to his grave accompanied by the band playing the Death’s March. His eyes was then blinded and made to kneel on his coffin. The executioners (12 in no) were stationed about 15 yds from the coffin. Then the command READY was given by Lieutenant Ross of the 16th OV then AIM. Look at the man kneeling on his coffin with his eyes blinded & grave behind him in which his form will soon be laying, what must be his feelings as he kneels (more like a stone than human being) and hears the command READY

pg92
AIM. But not a muscle moved. Then comes the last word he ever heard on this earth FIRE. 9 of 12 instantly fired (3 being held in reserve) the victim realed for an instant then fell forward dead. Pieced by 6 balls. I turned from the sean & with the crowd left the place hoping that I never should again witness such a scene.
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We are still shaking off the dust from the renovations so things may be a bit sparse until we can get some content up here.  Check back again soon and we should have the old content over here and you won’t have to look at this anymore.

THANKSGIVING DAY 1863

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore if, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

We are featured in the video for the Shiloh event last year. Check the video below, particularly at 53 second in you will see our National Colors. I think I saw our Captain in there as well..

Tonight while looking for information on Confederate General Humphrey Marshall I stumbled across an old series of books called _The Rebellion Record_. One of the sections of one of the books contains poetry from the time. This is one of pieces originally published in the Louisville Journal on June 21, 1862.

Also, if anyone is interested, you can find this volume of the The Rebellion Record here.

WAR SONG
Dedicated to the Kentucky State Guard

Cheer, boys, cheer, we’ll march away to battle;
Cheer, boys, cheer, for our sweethearts and our wives;
Cheer, boys, cheer, we’ll nobly do our duty,
And give to Kentucky our hearts, our arms, our lives.

Bring forth the flag Kentucky’s noble standard;
Wave it on high till the winds shake each fold;
Proudly it floats, nobly waving in the vanguard -
Then cheer, boys, cheer, with a lusty, long, bold shout.

Cheer boys cheer &c

But though we march with heads all lowly bending,
Let us implore a blessing from on high,
Our cause is just, the right from wrong defending;
And the God of Battles will listen to our cry.

Cheer boys cheer &c

Though to our homes we never may return-
Ne’er press again our loved ones in our arms,
O’er our lone graves their faithful hearts will mourn;
Then cheer up, boys, cheer, such death hath no alarms.

Cheer boys cheer &c

Louisville Journal June 21