Battle of Barbourville

Last updated
Battle of Barbourville
Part of the American Civil War
DateSeptember 19, 1861 (1861-09-19)
Location
Barbourville, Knox County, Kentucky
Result Confederate victory
Belligerents

Flag of the United States (1861-1863).svg United States of America (Union)

 Flag of the Confederate States of America (July 1861 - November 1861).svg CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Isaac J. Black Felix Zollicoffer,
Joel A. Battle, commanding engaged detachment
Strength
300 Home Guardsmen 800 men engaged
Casualties and losses
1 dead
1 wounded
13 captured		 7 dead
Map of Barbourville Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program. Barbourville Battlefield Kentucky.jpg
Map of Barbourville Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.

The Battle of Barbourville was one of the early engagements of the American Civil War. It took place on September 19, 1861, in Knox County, Kentucky during the campaign known as the Kentucky Confederate Offensive. [1] The battle is considered the first Confederate victory in the commonwealth, and threw a scare into Federal commanders, who rushed troops to central Kentucky to try to repel the invasion, which was finally stopped at the Battle of Camp Wildcat in October.

Contents

Background

Kentucky neutrality

On April 15, 1861, the day after the U.S. Army surrendered Fort Sumter to the Confederates, President Abraham Lincoln called upon the States remaining in the Union to provide volunteers to suppress the insurrection in the seven States [2] which had seceded from the Union by that date. [3] Pro-Confederate Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin refused to send troops, but since the majority of the members of the Kentucky General Assembly were pro-Union, Lincoln's call for volunteers did not prompt the State to secede. [3] [4] [5] On May 16, a Kentucky legislative committee recommend that the State remain neutral in the conflict [6] and Governor Magoffin proclaimed the State's neutrality on May 20. [7]

In elections on August 5, 1861, Kentucky voters returned a veto-proof majority of pro-Union members to the Kentucky House of Representatives and Kentucky Senate. [4] [8] On August 6, 1861, Camp Dick Robinson, a Union camp, was established near Lexington, Kentucky. [9] On September 2, 1861, the Kentucky General Assembly raised the U.S. flag over the Kentucky State Capitol at Frankfort, Kentucky. [10]

Confederate movements

On September 3, 1861, Confederate Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk ordered Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow to seize Columbus, Kentucky on the Mississippi River before Union forces could do so. [10] This ended Kentucky's neutrality, led to Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's seizure of Paducah, Kentucky on September 6, 1861, and other military movements and actions by both Union and Confederate armies in Kentucky soon afterwards. [11]

Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer's Confederates had moved from Tennessee to push from the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky in an effort to gain control of that important border state. On September 14, 1861, ten days after his 5,400-man force left their base, Zollicoffer occupied the Cumberland Gap and took position at the Cumberland Ford (near present-day Pineville, Kentucky) to counter Unionist activity in the area. [12] [13] For much of the summer, Union sympathizers had been organizing and training recruits from Kentucky and eastern Tennessee at Camp Andrew Johnson near Barbourville, Kentucky. [13] Zollicoffer was determined to seize this camp and eliminate the threat to the Confederate position. He also wanted to relieve pressure on the army of Albert S. Johnston and divert Union troops away from Johnston's command.

Battle

In a heavy morning fog on September 19, 1861, Zollicoffer sent forward about 800 men under Col. Joel A. Battle. Camp Andrew Johnson had largely been vacated, with the recruits moved to nearby Camp Dick Robinson, where several thousand Federal troops were gathered under the command of Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas. As Battle's men approached the Camp Johnson, they encountered a force of 300 pro-Union Home Guards under Capt. Isaac J. Black, who hastily removed the planking from the bridge to prevent the Confederates from crossing it. Sharp skirmishing broke out, but Battle's superior numbers prevailed and Zollicoffer won a victory. His men seized the camp, destroyed the buildings, and captured the arms and equipment left behind by the retreating recruits. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

Aftermath

Black reported his casualties as 1 man killed, 1 wounded, and 13 captured. [18] Fighting in the open, the attacking Confederates lost 7 men killed in the encounter.

Although Zollicoffer briefly withdrew to his camp at Cumberland Gap, [16] he sent a detachment of his men to drive off another Union Home Guard force at a camp at Laurel Bridge, in Laurel County, Kentucky soon after the Battle of Barbourville. [15] [19] On September 28, another detachment seized 200 barrels of salt and destroyed the Goose Creek Salt Works in Clay County, Kentucky. [15] [19]

In response to Zollicoffer's actions, Union Brig. Gen. Thomas sent troops under Col. Theophilus T. Garrard to set up Camp Wildcat at Rockcastle Hills, near London, Kentucky, at Wildcat Mountain 30 miles (48 km) north of the salt works, to secure the ford on the Rockcastle River, and obstruct the Wilderness Road passing through the area. [15] This set the stage for the Battle of Camp Wildcat on October 21, 1861 [15] [20] after Zollicoffer returned to the offensive on October 16. [21]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This should not be confused with the 1862 Confederate Heartland Offensive or Kentucky Campaign.
  2. ↑ Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
  3. 1 2 Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN   978-0-684-84944-7. p. 53.
  4. 1 2 Hearn, Chester G. The Civil War State by State. Devon: RedBlue Press, 2011. Maps by Mike Marino. ISBN   978-1-908247-04-9. p. 157.
  5. ↑ Four more States, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, did soon secede.
  6. ↑ Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. OCLC   68283123. p. 75.
  7. ↑ Long, 1971, p. 76.
  8. ↑ Harrison, Lowell (2005). Rose, Jerlene (ed.). Kentucky's Civil War 1861–1865. Clay City, Kentucky: Back Home In Kentucky, Inc. p. 27. ISBN   0-9769231-1-4.
  9. ↑ Long, 1971, p. 106.
  10. 1 2 Long, 1971, p. 114.
  11. ↑ Long, 1971, pp. 114–115.
  12. ↑ Sanders, Stuart W. The Battle of Mill Springs Kentucky. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013. ISBN   978-1-60949-829-0. p. 18.
  13. 1 2 3 Fowler, John D. Mountaineers in Gray: The Nineteenth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2004. ISBN   978-1-57233-314-7. Retrieved June 26, 2014. p. 46.
  14. ↑ McKnight, Brian D. Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2006. Paperback edition: 2012. ISBN   978-0-8131-4113-8. p. 37.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Sanders, 2013, p. 19.
  16. 1 2 Daniel, Larry J. Days of Glory: The Army of the Cumberland, 1861–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2004. ISBN   978-0-8071-3191-6. p. 22.
  17. ↑ Historian Larry Daniel writes that the Home Guard had 150 men and that the buildings that were burned were "several houses." Daniel, 2004, p. 22.
  18. ↑ U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.
  19. 1 2 Fowler, 2004, p. 47.
  20. ↑ Daniel, 2004, pp. 24–25.
  21. ↑ Fowler, 2004, p. 48.

Related Research Articles

Albert Sidney Johnston Texian, United States, and Confederate States army general

Albert Sidney Johnston served as a general in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his 34-year military career, fighting actions in the Black Hawk War, the Texas War of Independence, the Mexican–American War, the Utah War, and the American Civil War.

Battle of Stones River Major battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Of the major battles of the war, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. The battle ended in Union victory after the Confederate army's withdrawal on January 3, largely due to a series of tactical miscalculations by Confederate General Braxton Bragg, but the victory was costly for the Union army. Nevertheless, it was an important victory for the Union because it provided a much-needed boost in morale after the Union's recent defeat at Fredericksburg and also reinforced President Abraham Lincoln's foundation for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which ultimately discouraged European powers from intervening on the Confederacy's behalf.

Battle of Fort Henry 1862 battle of the American Civil War in Stewart County, Tennessee

The Battle of Fort Henry was fought on February 6, 1862, in Stewart County, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater.

Army of the Cumberland Principal Union army unit in the Western Theater of the American Civil War

The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio.

The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.

Battle of Belmont Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Belmont was fought on November 7, 1861 in Mississippi County, Missouri. It was the first combat test in the American Civil War for Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the future Union Army general in chief and eventual U.S. president, who was fighting Major General Leonidas Polk. Grant's troops in this battle were the "nucleus" of what would become the Union Army of the Tennessee.

Battle of Mill Springs Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Mill Springs, also known as the Battle of Fishing Creek in Confederate terminology, and the Battle of Logan's Cross Roads in Union terminology, was fought in Wayne and Pulaski counties, near current Nancy, Kentucky, on January 19, 1862, as part of the American Civil War. The Union victory concluded an early Confederate offensive campaign in south central Kentucky.

Felix Zollicoffer American newspaperman, politician, and soldier

Felix Kirk Zollicoffer was an American newspaperman, slave owner, politician, and soldier. A three-term United States Congressman from Tennessee, an officer in the United States Army, and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War; he led the first Confederate invasion of eastern Kentucky and was killed in action at the Battle of Mill Springs. Zollicoffer was the first Confederate general to die in the Western Theater.

George B. Crittenden American lawyer

George Bibb Crittenden was a career United States Army officer who served in the Black Hawk War, the Army of the Republic of Texas, and the Mexican–American War, and later resigned his commission to serve as a general in the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War.

Big Sandy Expedition

The Big Sandy Expedition was an early campaign of the American Civil War in Kentucky that began in mid-September 1861 when Union Brig. Gen. William "Bull" Nelson received orders to organize a new brigade at Maysville, Kentucky and conduct an expedition into the Big Sandy Valley region of Eastern Kentucky and stop the build-up of Confederate forces under Col. John S. Williams. This was done in three phases. From September 21 to October 20, 1861, Nelson assembled a brigade of 5,500 Union volunteers from Ohio and Kentucky. On October 23, the southern prong secured Hazel Green and the northern prong West Liberty. The two prongs were consolidated at Salyersville and they began the final phase on October 31. This led to the Battle of Ivy Mountain on November 8 and the withdrawal of Confederate forces from Pikeville (Piketon) on November 9, 1861.

Western theater of the American Civil War American Civil War area of operations

The Western Theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military operations in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. Operations on the coasts of these states, except for Mobile Bay, are considered part of the Lower Seaboard Theater. Most other operations east of the Appalachian Mountains are part of the Eastern Theater. Operations west of the Mississippi River took place in the Trans-Mississippi Theater.

James Edwards Rains

James Edwards Rains was a lawyer and colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was appointed and nominated as a brigadier general on November 4, 1862, but his appointment was unconfirmed at the date of his death. He was killed while leading his brigade at the Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro) on December 31, 1862 before the Confederate States Senate acted on his nomination.

Kentucky in the American Civil War Involvement of the U.S. state of Kentucky in the American Civil War

Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. It officially declared its neutrality at the beginning of the war, but after a failed attempt by Confederate General Leonidas Polk to take the state of Kentucky for the Confederacy, the legislature petitioned the Union Army for assistance. After early 1862 Kentucky came largely under Union control. In the historiography of the Civil War, Kentucky is treated primarily as a border state, with special attention to the social divisions during the secession crisis, invasions and raids, internal violence, sporadic guerrilla warfare, federal-state relations, the ending of slavery, and the return of Confederate veterans.

The 19th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, or Nineteenth Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment, was an infantry regiment in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The 19th Tennessee fought in every major battle and campaign of the Army of Tennessee except the Battle of Perryville. First Lieutenant Robert D. Powell of Company K, killed at the Battle of Barbourville, Kentucky, is believed to be the first soldier killed during the Civil War in that state.

Albin Francisco Schoepf

Albin Francisco Schoepf was a Polish-born artillery officer who became a Union brigadier general during the American Civil War. Obtaining professional military training in Austria, Schoepf briefly fought in the Austrian Army, then served as an officer in the Hungarian Revolutionary Army in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Schoepf came to America after his service, lived in Washington, D.C. and worked in various United States government bureaucratic positions before the Civil War. Appointed Union Army brigadier in late 1861, Schoepf was eventually raised to division command in the Western Theater. Personal conflicts with his commanding officer caused his transfer to administrative service in the East. Given command of the camp at Fort Delaware, Schoepf became responsible for Confederate prisoners of war. After the war, he returned to government service in the U.S. Patent Office.

Camp Dick Robinson United States historic place

In mid-May 1861, U. S. Navy lieutenant William "Bull" Nelson armed Kentuckians loyal to the Union and that soon became the foundation for his receiving authority to enlist 10,000 troops for a campaign into East Tennessee. On August 6, 1861, those recruits marched into Camp Dick Robinson, making it the first Federal base south of the Ohio River. For Col. George C. Kniffen, "the wisdom of President Lincoln commissioning. .. Nelson to organize a military force on the [neutral] soil of Kentucky" prevented making the state a "battle ground for many months" and it thereby changed the whole direction of the war. In 1864, Salmon P. Chase declared in a speech at Louisville "when Kentucky faltered, hesitated" in the early stages of the Civil War, that undecided "status was settled by WILLIAM NELSON, at Camp Dick Robinson." Six years later, Indiana Senator Daniel D. Pratt reported to the U. S. Senate that Camp Dick Robinson "was one of the most noted military encampments of the war.. .. From its admirable locality and advantages, it was almost indispensable for the successful operations of the" Civil War.

64th Virginia Mounted Infantry Regiment Military unit

The 64th Virginia Mounted Infantry Regiment was formed from troops raised in Lee, Scott, Wise and Buchanan counties in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It served as an infantry regiment, a cavalry regiment, and a mounted infantry (dragoon) unit, and had a mixed reputation.

Joel Allen Battle

Joel Allen Battle was an American politician and soldier. He was appointed a Tennessee militia general in 1835 during the Second Seminole War. He was a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

The Battle of Camp Wildcat was one of the early engagements of the American Civil War. It occurred October 21, 1861, in northern Laurel County, Kentucky during the campaign known as the Kentucky Confederate Offensive or Operations in Eastern Kentucky (1861). The battle is considered one of the first Union victories of the Civil War, and marked the second engagement of troops in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

References

Coordinates: 36°51′40″N83°52′46″W / 36.86111°N 83.87944°W / 36.86111; -83.87944

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.