The Civil War began on the 12th of April, 1861, when General Beauregard ordered the batteries in front of Charleston, South Carolina, to fire on Fort Sumter, and it ended on the 9th of April, 1865, when General Lee surrendered his army to General Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia

For at least ten years before the actual outbreak of the Civil War the probability of war was discussed by every Muhlenberg man and woman. This topic was also the subject of much of the correspondence that passed between relatives and friends. A letter written by Peter Shaver a few weeks before the breaking out of the Civil War, sent to his son Benjamin J. Shaver, who at that time was at Frankfort representing Muhlenberg County in the Legislature, is here quoted. It is dated at Bremen, February 6, 1861:

I find the people in this part of the county and McLean firm for the Union, but all that we can hear appears to be gloomy and doubtful. I still hope that a settlement of the difficulties will be reached.

It seems to me that the Southern aristocratic Democrats have neither reason nor judgment. I cannot see what they expect to gain. But when a people are doomed they are blind and will work out their own destruction. I think that when they feel the heavy taxes that will fall on them, they will revolt and return to the Union. I am proud Virginia has taken such a noble stand. She always was brave and patriotic. She has great influence and I hope that her plan will be successful and that peace and harmony may be restored.

I am astonished that there are so many disunionists in our State. I perceive that a goodly number are in the Legislature. If the Union must be dissolved, will we not be in a worse condition than Mexico? If this Union is divided Kentucky will go with the Southern division. 1

Times are hard now, but they are nothing whatever to what they will be if this rupture takes place.

There is no class of citizens that have contributed more to cause this distracted state than the clergy of the North. Their influence is great. They have "gendered" envy, hate, strife and bitterness in society, whereas their Master, whom they pretend to serve, taught nothing but peace and good will to all people. As a nation we have been the most happy and prosperous in the world. Perhaps we have grown too rich, too proud and corrupt, and that we need some chastisement to bring us to our senses; then we will do what is right again.

Dear son, you complain of the great responsibility that rests upon you. All that I can advise you, is to have confidence in your own judgment, and be swayed by no man's opinion without mature consideration.

I hope the people of Kentucky will pause and consider what they will do before it is too late. Just think of seeing garrisons from the mouth of the Sandy to the mouth of the Ohio, and all our effective men stationed there! Then every small farmer that is not able to have a negro will be compelled to sell his farm to a slave-holder and be a servant. I greatly fear that while some are contending to free the negro they will enslave the white man, and we will be the most unhappy people on earth, with no one to blame but ourselves. 2 Benjamin J. Shaver. 1890

A reform is certainly wanting in the Federal government; --too many officers, an empty treasury and a large debt have accumulated in time of peace. I hope all the States will return to the Union, and if South Carolina will not, she will be no loss to the government; she has never done any good; a perverse member she always was.

Now all that I can say, fall on what side we may, let us be loyal citizens so that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives. As for myself, I have nothing to lose or gain; it is for posterity that I feel interested. My prayer is for peace and prosperity and the Union forever.

Your most affectionate Father. P. Shaver.

Postscript: I hope you will be home soon. I can not see what good the Legislature can do now. Perhaps they have done too much already. I kindly tender you my thanks for the Commonwealth until you are better paid.

Collins is the only historian who has recorded any account in a history of Kentucky relative to Muhlenberg during the Civil War, and his is a very brief reference. Under the head of Muhlenberg County he writes:

"During the War of the Rebellion, Greenville was, for some time, an outpost of both armies, or rather neutral ground between them. It was taken by General Buckner in February, 1862, and some time after by John Morgan, and was once or twice partially sacked by guerillas. Muhlenburg County sent 836 men to the Federal army."

Collins' statement that Greenville "was taken by General Buckner in February, 1862," is erroneous both as to the date and the act. General Simon Bolivar Buckner passed through Greenville on September 26, 1861, but did not take possession of the town nor did he attempt to do so. General Buckner was in the neighborhood of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, near the Tennessee State line, during the first half of February, 1862, and on February 16th, when he surrendered Fort Donelson, he was transported to Indianapolis, whence he was sent a military prisoner to Massachusetts.

The statement made by Collins that Greenville "was once or twice partially sacked by guerillas" does not apply to the maneuvers of Generals S. B. Buckner, N. B. Forrest, or John H. Morgan, for their movements were more in the nature of a ride through the county than a raid on it. However, of the sections visited by such men as Dave Cain, Morris Moore, Jake Porter, Quantrill and others it may, in many instances, be said that they were "partially sacked by guerillas."

The marches made by Generals Buckner, Forrest, and Morgan were among the stirring events that transpired in Muhlenberg during the war, and will always rank among the most interesting incidents in the county's history. Although the coming and going of these troops may have frightened many people, such frights were insignificant compared to the experiences the citizens lived through while subject to the guerrilla raids and highway robberies that took place in Muhlenberg during the war. Many of these predatory invasions are woven into R. T. Martin's "Recollections of the Civil War," published elsewhere in this history, and to avoid repetition are eliminated from this chapter on the Civil War. The military career of Colonel Robert M. Martin in Muhlenberg and other parts of the country is also given in another chapter.

Edward R. Weir, sr., of Greenville, was looked upon as the leader of the Union men in the county. In September, 1861, he organized Company B, Eleventh Kentucky Infantry, and partially equipped it. His daughter, Anna Weir, presented to each of the officers and privates a pin-cushion or "housewife"--a small baglike cushion supplied with needles, thread, and buttons. James H. Brown, of Central City, carried his through the war, and still preserves it as one of his most precious war mementos. Edward R. Weir, jr., was chosen captain of Company B. He later resigned his captainey and in 1863 helped raise the Thirty-fifth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, of which he became colonel. 3

Muhlenberg was more numerously represented in the Eleventh Kentucky Infantry than in any other Federal regiment. Most of the local men joined companies B, H, I, or K. At the resignation of Colonel Pierce B. Hawkins the Eleventh was commanded by Colonel S. P. Love, then of South Carrollton. The names of all the officers and privates in this and the other Union regiments organized in the State appear under a brief history of each regiment in "The Union Regiments of Kentucky," a book published by the Courier-Journal Job Printing Company in 1897. After the resignation of Captain Edward R. Weir, of Company B, William F. Ward became captain. Captain Isaac R. Sketo was killed at Shiloh, and Jesse K. Freeman was then elected captain of Company H. Joseph D. Yonts was first lieutenant of the same company. Joseph Fox and James R. Wise, of the Paradise country, served as captains of Company I. After Captain M. J. Roark, of Company K, was wounded at Shiloh he was succeeded by Captain Columbus H. Martin and Captain W. C. Shannon. James L. Roark was first lieutenant of this company.

The county was also well represented in the Third Kentucky Cavalry, organized by Colonel James S. Jackson, of Hopkinsville, who in July, 1862, was made brigadier-general and was succeeded as colonel by Major Eli H. Murray. Arthur N. Davis was captain of Company D until he was captured at Sacramento, when he was succeeded by Captain Thomas J. Lovelace. Captain Isaac Miller, of Company F, was succeeded by Captain Elisha Baker. A number of local men were attached to the Seventeenth Kentucky Infantry, raised by Colonel John H. McHenry, of Owensboro, and a few enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Kentucky Infantry and the Fortyeighth Kentucky Mounted Infantry.

It is probable that less than one hundred and fifty Muhlenberg citizens were in the Confederate army. No company of Confederates was organized in the county. Some men joined Buckner's command when he passed through in September, 1861, and a few became attached to companies that were recruited in Hopkins and Christian counties. Muhlenberg's largest representation in the Southern army was in Company C, Ninth Kentucky Infantry. This was recruited at Hartford by Doctor John Ed Pendleton, who served as its captain until its arrival in Russellville, when he was appointed chief surgeon of the regiment and later advanced to higher positions on the medical staff of the brigade.

From Ed Porter Thompson's "History of the Orphan Brigade" I copy the following names of the Muhlenberg men who were members of Company C. All here given were Muhlenberg men, although many of them are not so designated by Thompson: Moses Wickliffe, first lieutenant; Hume H. Harris, second lieutenant (seriously wounded at Baton Rouge); James H. Faughender, second lieutenant; C. C. Ambrose, second corporal (wounded at Stone River); James W. Yonts, second corporal (wounded at Chickamauga). Privates: John L. F. Ambrose (died at Atlanta); W. D. Burney (died at Griffin, Georgia); Joel Craig (died on retreat from Corinth); Richard Green (captured at Stone River); Joseph Hall; Harry Hendricks (killed at Shiloh); M. C. Hay (wounded and captured at Shiloh); John F. Jernigan; Benjamin G. Jernigan (wounded at Shiloh); C. K. Jones (died of wounds received at Jackson, Mississippi); J. Ed Jones (killed at Shiloh); R. Wickliffe Jones; A. H. Kincheloe; A. J. Kirtley (wounded); Elisha B. Kirtley, W. C. Lander; N. R. Letner; John J. Mahan; William C. Pendleton; James H. Roll (killed at Shiloh); George Raney (wounded at Shiloh); Charles W. Rothrock; Elias G. Smith (killed at Shiloh); David Saulsburg (died of wounds received at Columbus, Mississippi); Gus Thompson (died of disease at Russellville); Henry L. Vickers (wounded at Shiloh); James W. Weeks (wounded at Chickamauga); M. L. Weeks; John K. Wickliffe (killed at Resaca); R. W. Wallace.

The names of John L. Taylor, of South Carrollton, and Jesse H. Wallace, of Paradise, are omitted by mistake from the list published by Thompson. Among other Muhlenberg men who joined the Confederate army in the South was Noah D. Rothrock, Benjamin L. Rhoads, James Drake, John M. Jones, and David Hay.

All the men who became members of Doctor Pendleton's company did not enlist at Hartford. This company left Hartford on Sunday, September 22, 1861, crossed Green River at South Carrollton and marched to Greenville, where they were joined by about twenty men under Moses Wickliffe, who had resigned as sheriff of the county to take up the cause of the South. After remaining in Greenville an hour this company resumed its march. and on the evening of the 23d arrived at Myers' Old Chapel, where after they had prepared to camp for the night they received a report that they were being pursued by a regiment of Federals. They immediately started for Logan County, but soon discovered that the re port was false. The next morning they arrived in Russellville, and their company became part of what was later known as the Orphan Brigade.Myers' Chapel and Grangers' Hall.

In the meantime, that is, on the "fourth Sunday in September, 1861," Elisha B. Kirtley, of Paradise, made preparations to join the Southern army. While shaving he told those who were in his room that he would not shave again until the Confederate government was established beyond all doubt. He walked to Bowling Green and there enlisted in the Confederate cavalry, but later joined Company C of the Ninth Kentucky Infantry. At any rate, although he had many "close shaves" at Shiloh, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge, he never shaved his face after the "fourth Sunday in September, 1861," but wore a long beard during the remainder of his life, more than fifty years. Resolutions of similar nature were often made by Federal as well as Confederate soldiers, and many of them were carried out. These men stood on the brink of eternity every day, and naturally many of them had presentiments of death. A number of these forebodings came to pass. The following relative to a citizen of South Carrollton is quoted from a faded newspaper clipping which was probably published shortly after the battle of Stone River, December 31, 1862;

"In the celebrated detour of General Wharton to the rear of the enemy on Tuesday, December 30th, he was completely successful in his daring undertaking, but several gallant spirits fell never to rise again. Among these we may mention Noah D. Rothrock, of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and adjutant in Colonel Howard's Alabama Cavalry. He was shot just at the moment of victory, and such was the severity of his wound that he had to be left in the rear. Lieutenant Waller Overton remained with him and saw his body decently interred with an appropriate gravestone placed over it. The Abolitionists took Lieutenant Overton prisoner and paroled him. The body of Adjutant Rothrock they merely robbed of his cap and spurs. Noah Rothrock was one of nature's noblemen--a kind, generous and accomplished gentleman. He entered the service at the inception of the war and served with great faithfulness until the hour of his death. The day previous to receiving the fatal wound he remarked to his immediate companion that he had a presentiment of disaster to himself and told him that he would fall and the ball would pass through the picture of his sweetheart, Lilian then in his pocket, and requested him to tell her of this presentiment and its coming true. Sure enough, the messenger of death first defaced the consecrated and enshrined picture and then laid low in death the gallant Rothrock."

In this connection it may be well to refer to John K. Wickliffe, another of the Muhlenberg soldiers who lost his life fighting for the South. John K. Wickliffe was a son of Colonel Moses Wickliffe, and one of the most popular men in the county. He was born in 1834 near Bevier, enlisted in Company C, Ninth Kentucky Infantry, fought at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Hartsville, Stone River, Jackson, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, and Rocky Face Gap, and was killed at Resaca, Georgia, May 14, 1864. No soldier's death was more keenly deplored in the county, by both Northern and Southern sympathizers, than that of John K. Wickliffe, who had won his way into the hearts of all with whom he had come in contact. Dycurgus T. Reid, of Rockport, Ohio County, writing to me in July, 1912, relative to the death of this brave man, says:

"Although I may have forgotten some of my war experiences, I remember the time John K. Wickliffe was killed. I had my hand on his back when the fatal ball struck him. This incident, in all its detail, is as clear in my mind to-day as it was the day he was shot. I need but close my eyes to see the whole scene re‰nacted. It will be impossible for me to pieture to you all the details of the event. However, I will attempt to give an outline of the facts.

"We were at Resaca. We had dug out shallow trenches and on top of the low embankment we had placed an old log, leaving a space between the top of the embankment and the lower side of the log, through which to shoot at the Yankees should they attack us. We had left our arms back of the breastworks while we were working on this embankment. Suddenly the rally to arms was sounded and every mother's son of us made for our guns. I, being a small man, was posted on the left of Company C (the color company of the Ninth Regiment), near the flag and John K. Wickliffe, who was our second sergeant and left company guide. Something, at times, makes me think he was color sergeant that day, but if he was he held on to his gun and accoutrements. We fell into the slight works and began to arrange ourselves for a good, square fight. The Yankees were in sight and coming fast. Wickliffe lay down on his stomach and, finding his cartridge box under him, asked me to push it up on his back. While I was attempting to do so a minie ball from the Yankee column struck the lower edge of the log, just above our heads, and glanced down, striking Wickliffe in the forehead, a little to the right of the center, passing through his head. He suddenly rose to his feet and fell backward, outside of the works, a dead man. He scarcely moved a muscle after he fell. I fired a number of shots over his prostrate body at the approaching enemy. During the course of the fight that followed I was obliged to change my position, but before doing so I took another look at my old friend and then covered his face with a blanket. That was the last I saw of John K. Wickliffe."John K. Wickliffe, 1860

Soon after war was declared no less than a dozen Muhlenberg families were represented in both armies. Many families and friends were divided in their sympathies. Arguments followed, and as a result the dividing line was usually more distinctly drawn. While those on the same side agreed on most questions, they occasionally held opposite views regarding certain points. Among those whose sympathies were the same but who disagreed in their opinion as to the final outcome of the war were William and Henry Young, of the Nelson Creek country. One day in the fall of 1861 these two brothers were sitting by the stove in Samuel Henry's shoeshop in South Carrollton, again arguing the question as to which side would win in the Civil War, when Henry remarked to his brother that if General Thomas L. Crittenden moved his troops from Calhoun into Muhlenberg County some of the local people "would make it as hot as blazes for his soldiers." Just then a Federal soldier stepped into the shop, and having heard none but the last few words, demanded that the remark he repeated. Henry hesitated, and William answered: "He was just saying that if General Crittenden had stoves like this in his tents he could make them as hot as blazes for his soldiers."

That evening, on their return home, each tried again to convince the other of his view as to which side would win. Henry held that the South was bound to come out victorious: William declared that the North would conquer. They agreed that since they could not "argue it out" they would "fight it out," and that the result of the war would be settled by them "once for all" in a "fist-and-skull fight." A friendly battle followed, and ever after both felt convinced that the North would subdue the South.

Shortly after Doctor Pendleton's company left Hartford, General Simon Bolivar Buckner passed through Muhlenberg at the head of about fifteen hundred men. General Buckner marched from Bowling Green to Rochester, where some of his recruits attempted to destroy the lock and dam below the mouth of Mud River. His men continued over the Greenville, Rochester, and Mud River Road to Greenville, and on the evening of the 26th of September, 1861, camped at the Ellison Spring, about two miles southwest of town. Charles Fox Wing, whom General Buckner had known intimately for twenty years, had died in Greenville the day before. Buckner, hearing of this, called at the Wing home at Cherry and Main Cross streets and there viewed the remains of his old friend.

When Buckner's men passed through Greenville they carried the Confederate flag at half-mast. On that occasion a few Southern banners were waving from some of the house-tops, most conspicuous among which was the one at the home of Robert S. Russell. Edward Rumsey, during the entire war, although a Southern sympathizer and looked upon as an adviser of those who espoused the Southern cause, never hung out any other flag than a white one--the flag of peace. Many Union flags were unfurled on this memorable 26th of September, and although greater in number they were not displayed with any greater enthusiasm than the Confederate colors. At the breaking out of the war the Federal flag was raised on the lawn in front of the residence of Edward R. Weir, sr., and remained there day and night, year after year, until peace had been declared. When General Buckner and his soldiers arrived in Greenville they saw the large flag waving in front of the Weir house. One of the Confederates attempted to pull it down, and probably would have done so had not the General immediately stationed some of his men near the flag to guard it. "Every man has a right to express himself," said the General, and then gave orders to his men not to molest this or any of the other flags they might see displayed along their line of march.

During this short but memorable stay in Greenville General Buckner chanced to see a horse ridden by George W. Haden, who happened to be in town that day. The General expressed his admiration of the animal and offered to buy it. But this sorrel being the pride of the whole family, the owner did not feel at liberty to give or sell him to any one. Upon his return home, near Drakesboro, Mr. Haden informed his wife of the General's desire to own this horse, "Reindeer." Mrs. Haden immediately sent the horse back to Greenville and presented him to General Buckner with her compliments. One version has it that this same animal was shot from under General Buckner five months later, at Fort Donelson, February 15, 1862. General Buckner informed me, however, that while he was attending the conference of officers which arranged for the surrender of Fort Donelson this horse was stolen and taken across the river, and that about a year later, while at Knoxville, the animal was returned to him by order of General Floyd, and that it died a natural death before the close of the war.

On the morning of the 27th of September Buckner's command left the Ellison place and resumed its march. They crossed Pond River at Reno's Bridge, now Prowse's Bridge, and on the 29th entered Hopkinsville, where they left a few troops. When the Union men of Greenville learned of Buckner's departure for Hopkinsville they immediately sent this information to the Federals in that town. John Breathitt, of Christian County, carried the news. The moment he received the message he sprang upon a horse belonging to Colonel James S. Jackson, disappeared up the high road in a cloud of dust, and in three and a half hours had raced over the thirty-two hills between Greenville and Hopkinsville.

Buckner's men arrived in Bowling Green on October 3, 1861, after a march of about one hundred miles. The object of this detour was to arouse an interest in the Southern army and thus gain recruits, for the enlisting of volunteers at Owensboro and Henderson was rapidly drawing men into the Federal army. However, as a result of this march General Buckner did not increase his force by much more than a dozen citizens from Muhlenberg, for most of the local men who had decided to fight for the South had already enlisted in Doctor Pendleton's company.

Colonel Nathan B. Forrest and about three hundred of his men were the next to appear on the seene in Muhlenberg. They passed through Greenville on Friday morning, December 27, 1861. They had a few days before left Hopkinsville, which at that time and until the first part of February, 1862, was an outpost of the Confederate force stationed at Bowling Green. Colonel Forrest and his men were then on a scouting expedition in the territory south of Calhoun, where about a month before General Thomas L. Crittenden had established his headquarters. Many of Forrest's squadron stopped for a late breakfast at the Weir farm north of Greenville, which at that time was managed by an overseer who was evidently a Southern sympathizer, for he not only treated them to milk and honey but also filled many of their knapsacks from the best in his smokehouse. Shortly before crossing the Muhlenberg County line into McLean they encountered about one hundred and seventy Federal soldiers under Major Eli H. Murray and Colonel S. P. Love, who were skirmishing in that neighborhood. In the battle that followed about eight men were killed, a dozen or more wounded, and a number taken prisoner. This fight took place on December 28, 1861, near Sacramento, in that section of McLean County which a few years before was part of Muhlenberg. R. T. Martin's account of this encounter is printed in this volume in his "Recollections of the Civil War." Deseriptions of this fight are also published in "The Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest," by J. A. Wyeth, and in "Confederate Operations in Canada and New York," by John W. Headley. From "The Partisan Rangers," by General Adam R. Johnson, I quote:

In a short time we [Adam R. Johnson and Robert M. Martin, scouts for Colonel Forrest] were on the road [from Hopkinsville] to Greenville. Martin's parents living in the vicinity, he determined to visit his home, and wanted me to accompany him. But I preferred to remain to meet Colonel Forrest if he came up. It was late in the afternoon, and I passed the remainder of the day in ascertaining where supplies for cavalry could be obtained, leaving the impression that they were for the Federal cavalry under Jackson Next morning early Bob Martin rejoined me and we started back, meeting Forrest in the road a few miles out. When informed that provisions and forage were to be had, and the country was clear of the enemy, Forrest determined to go into the town with his little force.Some Federal soldiers, while watering their horses at Garst's Pond, one half mile south of Sacramento, McLean County, after a skirmish in Northern Muhlenberg, were surprised and routed by Colonel Forrest's squadron and driven through Sacramento to Calhoun, December 28, 1861

A long march over the rough, muddy roads required a short rest for the men and horses, but Martin and I were ordered to move down the road to Rumsey, ascertain the movements of the Federals, and report the results of our observations. Pushing forward, when we reached Rumsey we ascertained that the enemy had built a pontoon bridge and were crossing their cavalry. Thereupon I returned to report to Colonel Forrest, while Martin remained in the vicinity to observe the movements of the enemy.

I met Forrest on the road beyond the little town of Sacramento, and the Colonel hurried forward his regiment to attack them. The news that the Federals were not far away, and that a combat was imminent, seemed to send a thrill of pleasure through the entire command, for these young warriors already felt in anticipation "the rapture of the fight." When the order "gallop" was given, the men who rode the fleetest steeds impetuously crowded to the front. As I looked back at this confused body of riders, each rushing to meet the foe first, a fearful sickening dread came over me which I well recall to this day, and I almost presumed to call Forrest's attention to this disorderly mass of men galloping pellmell at breakneck speed, when suddenly there came into view a young woman on a bareback horse, wildly dashing up, frantically waving her hat, while her long hair was flying in the wind like a pennant, and her cheeks were afire with excitement as she exclaimed: "There the Yankees are! right over there!" pointing back over the hill whence she had just galloped.

Forrest, not checking his horse in the least, shouted: "Johnson, go and see right where they are!"

Letting my eager animal have the reins, I was soon up with the two advanced videttes of Forrest's regiment. They were fortunately riding good horses, and at my word increased their speed. Observing a high point on one side of the road not far in advance, I rode up to its summit and spied just over the crest of the hill a large body of cavalry drawn up in a V-shape and a small platoon stationed in the road in advance of the main force.

I rode back rapidly to Colonel Forrest with this information; he was trying to persuade the brave girl, who was riding by his side, to retire.

I, of course, expected him to halt his disorderly men and order a proper formation to make battle. But this fiery leader, without checking his charger, galloped on until he had reached the videttes, whom I had left on the hilltop to watch the enemy, now quite close to them. Jerking his gun out of the hands of one of them, and without a moment's hesitation, he fired at the Federals. The Confederates in his rear gave "the wild Rebel yell," and the Yankee advance guard fled back to their command. From his post of observation Forrest could plainly see the great odds which he was so eager to attack, but, undisturbed, he halted his men right in face of the enemy and ordered his captains to reform their companies. Under less serious circumstances this would have seemed altogether ludicrous; as the captains rode to right and left commanding their men to form around them, not one of them succeeded in collecting more than a dozen or two men out of the confused mass, every fellow seemingly "on his own hook." Just at this juncture Captain Gould, of the Texas company, coming up and hearing the order to form, dashed to the summit of the hill immediately in the front of the astonished Federals, and shouted in his deep, sonorous voice: "All you Texas boys rally round your leader!"

Gould had more men to the front because his company had the best horses, and as they rushed ahead to "rally round their leader" the Federals likely could see their peculiar saddles and so perhaps concluded that not only Forrest's regiment was in their front, but the entire regiment of the Texas Rangers. At any rate, they began to fall back in disorder, and Forrest throwing out flankers, both right and left, adopting thus in his very first fight those tactics which he afterwards made so formidable, swept down like an avalanche upon the Federals, now in almost as much disorder as his men had lately been.

The Southerners, led by this impetuous chieftain, swooped down upon their foes with such terrific yells and sturdy blows as might have made them believe a whole army was on them, and turning tail, they fled in the wildest terror, a panic-stricken mass of men and horses, Forrest's men mixed up with them, cutting and shooting right and left, and Forrest him self in his fury ignoring all command and always in the thickest of the melee. Never in any battle did leader play a fiercer individual part than did Forrest on this day. With his long arm and long sword, once during the fight and chase he was some distance ahead of his men, making a pathway as he cut and slashed on this side and that, and the demoralized Yankees, looking back and seeing a man whom their excited imaginations doubtless magnified into a veritable giant coming down upon them, pressed to either side, thus widening his path into a lane. Finally he came up with a man who had been a blacksmith, as large as himself, muscular and powerful. While engaged in combat with this man, another Federal was in the very act of running his sword into Forrest's back, when a timely shot from Lieutenant Lane felled this second antagonist. Forrest hewed the big man to the ground by a mighty stroke.Near the large tree on the right, on the Greenville and Rumsey Road north of Sacramento, McLean County, Captain Albert G. Bacon, of the Third Kentucky Cavalry, was killed in the retreat of the Federals from Garst's Pond to Calhoun. Station Church is shown in the background

Wildly onward rushed the fleeing and pursuing masses, all in the most disorderly manner, until again Forrest was engaged in an unequal contest with two Federal officers and a private, the latter shooting a ball through his collar, and Forrest quieting him with a pistol-shot just as the two officers made an attack upon him with their swords, which he eluded by bending his supple body forward, their weapons only gashing his shoulder. The impetus of his horse carrying him a few paces forward, he checked and drew him a little to one side and shot one of his antagonists as his horse galloped up, and thrust his saber into the other. Severely wounded, both of these officers fell from their steeds, which now uncontrolled, sharply collided with each other at full speed, falling together over the bottom of an abrupt hillock. Forrest, eager in the pursuit, inadvertently rode his horse over these two prostrate animals, causing him to fall and his rider to dart ten feet over his head. Seeing Forrest down, and fearing he had been shot, I leaped my horse over the fallen horses just in time to see him spring to his feet and call out: "Johnson, catch me a horse!" His own horse was badly crippled. Catching one that came plunging down the road, I handed him the bridle, but the saddle did not suit him, and while he was getting his own saddle his men gradually withdrew from the pursuit.

After the defeat of this cavalry force I was ordered forward to reconnoiter, and gathering up a few men on the way, I pushed forward to the top of the ridge, where I could observe the road for some distance; finding it clear, I left the men there as a guard and rode back to Colonel Forrest. There I found Bob Martin in high glee over the r“le he had played in the late tragedy. He was leading a horse and had his belt full of pistols.

"Hello, Bob; what have you been doing?" I asked him as I rode up.

"I've been trying to get even with a fellow that stole my horse--old Beauregard," he replied laughingly, meaning the high-headed, slenderlimbed gray horse he had lost.

"What success?"

"Well, here is his horse, this is his pistol, and this is his gun," he said as he smiled.

"What became of the Yank?" I inquired.

"I left him over yonder in that strip of woods you see to the left of that road," he replied.

Collecting the guns which the Federals had thrown away, Forrest returned to Hopkinsville.

Forrest's squadron passed through Greenville late Saturday afternoon, December 28, 1861, and that night camped at Mount Pisgah Church, near Pond River. In the meantime the routed Federals returned to their camp at Calhoun, and although General Crittenden sent out five hundred soldiers that same night to capture Forrest and his men, they failed to locate him.

General Thomas L. Crittenden, who had taken command of the Federal forces at Owensboro on October 9, 1861, moved his headquarters to Calhoun during the latter part of November. As already stated, it was while stationed at Calhoun that some of his men encountered Colonel Forrest near Sacramento. On January 16th Crittenden's division moved to South Carrollton, where it remained until January 28, 1862. On the two hills south and southwest of South Carrollton, General Crittenden threw up breastworks, remains of which can still be seen. In a number of places at the foot of these hills and in the valley between them he felled wide rows of trees and thus constructed an abatis for the defense of his position. What is now the residence of John L. Taylor stood near the camp of the Eleventh Kentucky Infantry, and was used by that regiment as a hospital during their stay at South Carrollton. General Crittenden's headquarters were in the hotel long known as "Our House" or "Lovelace Tavern."

The history of Crittenden's stay in Muhlenberg is told in five of the official communications that passed between him and General Buell, whose headquarters were then in Louisville. These letters are here quoted from the "Official Records of the War of the Rebellion," Series I, Volume 7;

Headquarters Department of the Ohio, Louisville, January 10, 1862

Brigadier-General T. L. Crittenden,

Commanding Fifth Division, Calhoun, Ky.:

Sir: The general commanding directs that you move your division without delay to South Carrollton or near there. Take a strong position on the north side of the river which can be held by a small force.Breastworks Near South Carrollton, Thrown Up January, 1862

Take your bridge with you or provide other means of crossing rapidly. Leave a regiment at Calhoun to guard the lock.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

James B. Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff.

Headquarters Fifth Division, Calhoun, January 18, 1862.

J. B. Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General:

Captain: My entire command is now here. The Fourteenth Brigade, under Colonel Jones, and Jackson's cavalry reached here yesterday evening.

On the 16th instant we crossed the river at Calhoun and marched to Sacramento, with all our wagons, bringing nothing but a little forage. The roads of course are bad, but we got there without accident or damage. Colonel Cruft's command was so conducted as to occupy the town before the inhabitants were aware of the approach of troops.

The order to march, though dated the 10th, did not reach me until the 14th. This made me, of course, more anxious to be rapid in my movement. To do this I was forced to cross at Calhoun and march to South Carrollton, on the south side of the river. I considered this movement imprudent unless South Carrollton was first occupied. For this reason Cruft's command was sent by the steamboat and barges, as the only expeditions way of occupying the town. I confess to great anxiety of mind when I saw over 2,000 troops crowded on the boats, and determined that, except in a great emergency, I would not start such another expedition. In the present condition of the road it would have taken me five or six days to reach this place, marching by the north side of the river.Residence of John L. Taylor, South Carrollton

My command is now in South Carrollton, on the south side of the river. This is, I am aware, in violation of General Buell's order, at least the spirit of it. It is impossible to execute the order, there being no strong position on the north side of the river in the vicinity of South Carrollton.

Unless I occupied this place, 1,000 men could have stopped me from crossing at any point where there is a road by which I could march. This is a position of great strength and my command ought to hold it against 15,000 good troops.

If I must move to the north side of the river, I will be compelled to go at least 2 miles back to find ground high enough to camp on, and it would take me two days to cross the river here if ordered to advance. I consider my command safe here. I assure you I have endeavored to obey orders, and have done so as far as practicable--obeying what I considered most important where all could not be obeyed. I could not have secured a passage across the river at or near this place by occupying any position in the vicinity of South Carrollton, on the north side of the river.

For miles around this place, on the north side of the river, the land is flat, and so low as to overflow when the river is up. If I move over and cross this flat, as I should be compelled to do, and the river should rise, I could not cross at all.

South Carrollton is situated on a hill, rising abruptly from the river, 150 feet high. There are only two ways of approaching the place from the south--one by the road which I came, through a swamp, and which could be defended by a small force; the other through a wooded country and up hill."Our House" or "Lovelace Tavern," South Carrollton

Captain Edwards, of the U. S. Army, doubtless known to you as an educated and accomplished soldier, fully concurs in my views as to the strength of the place. With another battery of artillery it seems to me I could hold the place until starved out, and as it is can hold it against any force the enemy can send.

Respectfully, your obedient servant, T. L. Crittenden, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Headquarters Fifth Division. South Carrollton, January 27, 1862.

Captain J. B. Fry,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

Captain: I have heard that a large force from Bowling Green had come under Buckner to Russellville, with a view to intercept me if I advance or come here and attack me if I remain for any length of time where I am.

I am strongly posted, and am making my position stronger by erecting earthworks on the heights for the protection of the men.

I should have no apprehension for the result if attacked by 15,000 men, the reported force of the enemy with which we are threatened, but shall, of course, use every exertion to become still stronger.

If I am to remain here any time a. few guns in position would aid me immensely.

Most respectfully, your obedient servant, T. L. Crittenden, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Headquarters Department of the Ohio. Louisville, January 28, 1862.

Brigadier-General T. L. Crittenden,

Commanding Fifth Division, South Carrollton:

Sir: It is presumed that you have before this received the general's dispatch of the 24th (26th) instant, directing the return of your division to Calhoun, and the general trusts that you have complied with it.

Your position at South Carrollton (being on the south side of Green River, which is impassable at this time) is a very unsafe one, and you will lose no time in moving your command to Calhoun and placing yourself on the north side of Green River.

If you should be attacked or too seriously threatened to undertake this move with time to accomplish it, you must, of course, defend yourself to the last extremity in the strongest position you can take, and see that the enemy does not cut your line of communication at or near Calhoun. It is hoped, however, that you will move to Calhoun promptly and without interference.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, James B. Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff.

Headquarters Fifth Division. South Carrollton, January 28, 1862.

General Buell,

Commanding Department of the Ohio:

General: Your dispatch of the 26th instant was received before daylight this morning, and the barges and steamboats are now being loaded with commissary stores and forage. I shall get the supplies which I have of these things to Calhoun before night, I hope, and the boat back during the night. I hear of no advance of the enemy, and unless I do, will march back, as soon as I can rid myself of every incumbrance, by the road I came. It is a very bad road, but the best and much the shortest. It would be almost impossible for me to cross the river here, because of the steep and muddy banks and the high water. I shall endeavor to have every possible arrangement made to cross the wagons and troops with despatch as soon as they arrive opposite to Calhoun.

Owing to the terrible condition of the roads between here and Calhoun I shall send my camp equipage by the boats, so as to have my wagons light as possible. I shall send down at least a regiment in the same way, with instructions to construct a bridge of the boats by the time I arrive with the troops and train, and if the current of the river is too swift for the bridge, to make the best possible arrangements for ferrying.

This evening or to-morrow morning I will send Colonel Jackson with 500 cavalry, to Greenville, to remain there until I leave here with the column, and then march to Sacramento by the road leading from Greenville to that place.

This, I think, will certainly conceal my movements until I have actually started, and protect me on the only quarter from which I could be surprised and harassed by cavalry. I anticipate, however, no difficulty except from the roads and river, though I will prepare as well as I can for every kind of difficulty.

Respectfully, your obedient servant, T. L. Crittenden, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

N. B.--I cannot send you a telegram, because I cannot spare a boat, and the high water has obstructed the right road to Evansville. I hope this letter will reach Owensboro to-night, and, if so, it will be the quickest way in which I can communicate with you.

Respectfully, T. L. C.

There were five Kentucky and four Indiana regiments at Calhoun under General Crittenden until the early part of January, when the Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth Kentucky Infantry and the Thirty-first and Forty-fourth Indiana Infantry were ordered to join General Grant, who was then directing his movements against Forts Henry and Donelson. His division at South Carrollton consisted of the Eleventh and Twenty-sixth Kentucky Infantry, Third Kentucky Cavalry, the Forty-second and Forty-third Indiana Infantry, and Behr's battery of artillery, making a total of a little less than five thousand soldiers, not including the men who were left at Calhoun to guard the locks.Bethlehem Baptist Church, Near Bremen

On February 16, 1862, a little more than two weeks after General Crittenden returned to Calhoun from South Carrollton, his men were ordered to Tennessee. Some of the infantry marched to Owensboro and proceeded by steamers to Nashville, while others were taken down Green and Ohio rivers and up the Cumberland to the same place. The Third Kentucky Cavalry marched from Calhoun through Muhlenberg County to Nashville. They spent the first night in and around Bethlehem Baptist Church, near Bremen, and the next day resumed their trip up the Rumsey Road to Greenville, where they halted a few hours. The second night they camped on McClelland's Hill, including what is now the Alvin L. Taylor farm, on which was planted, in 1907, what has since been known as "Alvin's Avenue." From McClelland's Hill the cavalry continued their march south. General Crittenden's men were reunited in Nashville and later proceeded to Pittsburg Landing, where as part of General Buell's army they came to the relief of General Grant and helped save the day for the Federals at Shiloh.

Many letters were undoubtedly written to their families and friends by Muhlenberg men while in the army, and a number of them, I hope, are still preserved. However, only a few have been submitted to me. One of these was written by E. R. Weir, jr., then captain of Company B, Eleventh Kentucky Infantry, and addressed to Jesse H. Reno, who was quartermaster of that regiment until about the middle of May, 1862, when on account of ill health he resigned and returned to his home in Greenville. This letter is dated "Field of Shiloah, April 24, 1862," which was seventeen days after the fight. Before quoting this letter it may be well to explain why the writer was still on the field so long after the battle."Alvin's Avenue," Six Miles South of Greenville.

The battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, was fought on Sunday and Monday, April 6 and 7, 1862. Immediately after this bloody fight Generals Buell and Grant began making preparations to attack the somewhat shattered army of Confederates who were retreating to Corinth, in Northern Mississippi, about twenty miles from Shiloh. The Federals were about ready to pursue when, on April 12th, General Halleck arrived on the scene, and being superior in rank took chief command of the troops. The army loitered on the battlefield awaiting the arrival of more forces ordered by General Halleck. The march of the augmented army against General Beauregard at Corinth did not begin until April 27th. It was during this delay on the field of Shiloh that E. R. Weir, jr., wrote to his friend Jesse H. Reno. It is printed as written, as a battlefield souvenir.

Field of Shiloah, April 24, 1862.

Dear Reno:--On the morning of the first day of battle we were within 9 miles of Savannah. About 7 o'clock A. M. Sunday we heard the fire of cannon in the distance. Orders were given to forward in quick time. Of course our boys pushed forward with speed. We arrived within one mile of Savannah at 1 o'clock P. M. Our General then received orders that we were not wanted, so we began to pitch tents.

About sundown we were ordered forward to Savannah. We then took transportation to Pittsburg Landing, arriving at Pittsburg Landing at about 11 o'clock P. M. We remained under arms until daylight when we were ordered out to the field about 2 miles from the Landing, toward Corinth.

Our Brigade was composed of the 13th Ohio, 26th & 11th Ky. and the 14th Wisconsin. The 13th Ohio was drawn up on the left, the 26th next & the 14th Wis. next. We were ordered to the support of Mendenhall's Battery. We were drawn up in its rear & were ordered to lie down so as to protect ourselves from the bombs. But we were not suffered to remain long in this position, for the 14th commenced giving way & we were ordered to take its place. General Crittenden gave the order to charge bayonets.

The Eleventh, with shouts of Kentucky & Crittenden rushed forward about 300 yards beyond our lines. Capt. Isaac R. Sketo here fell by my side; also John B. Morgan who was in our advance. Capt. Jeff. Roark was also wounded. Having broken our ranks & being exposed to the direct & cross fire of their Batteries we were compelled to fall back and form. At the 2nd charge we advanced about 800 yards beyond our line of battle. In the charge we took four guns & six cannon from the enemy, bayonetting the cannoneers at their post. Having completely routed them in front we were about to be flanked; so we fell back to our line of battle. Having reformed we advanced slowly on our second charge, reinforced by Bartlett's Battery & the 13th Ky. under Col. Grider on our left. We took possession of the Battery; the enemy were put to flight on our right & left. They fled in a great rout, leaving behind everything of value. Guns, casons, muskets, rifles & knapsacks were scattered in every direction. Our cavalry followed them for 5 or 6 miles until night overtook them.

I can form no estimate of the amount of dead Rebels. In front of where we fought were 300 or 400. We had the advantage of them; their shot would fall short of us by 20 or 30 feet nearly always. During the day we fought against Gen. Withers of Mississippi under Gen. Beauregard. At one time we were fighting against the 5th Ky. Rebels.

Some of our boys said that they recognized one as Charles W. Rothrock; Charles McBride was almost confident that it was he. I did not know him well enough to say. Ben Jernigan, from near Greenville, was pointed out to me by Louis Dwyer. M. C. Hay was wounded & taken prisoner by our forces.

After the battle I went over the battle field, at least over about one fourth of it. No pen can tell of its horrors; thousands lay dead. At some places 200 or 300 were upon one acre of ground. On Tuesday a detail of about 5000 men began the burying of the dead. Our men were, of course, buried first. The work steadily progressed until Friday when all in the immediate neighborhood of our camps were interred. The number on Thursday evening was upward of 7800.

Not long ago we were ordered out on picket duty about 3 miles from our camp. The road all the way was strewed with knapsacks, guns, cannon, etc. During the day I went beyond our lines about three fourths of a mile. I found, I believe it was, nineteen dead Rebels in one pile that had been left behind by them in their flight. A little below we found about 2000 knapsacks. Our scouts bring in the report that the road out of Corinth is blockaded for miles with wagons and caissons. These are plain facts about the battle.

If the Rebels say in Muhlenberg that they won the battle, it is a fabrication. You can tell them there is a day of retribution coming yet. The boys of Muhlenberg and the men that chased them down last winter when they were on furloughs, can never live together again; one or the other of us will have to leave the country forever. When we return home we will have no military law to restrain us and we will clean out the County of our enemies. All of us have strong hands and willing hearts for a work of this kind. We can never live together; they shall drive us or we them.

Yours, Weir.

I do not know, positively, to what incident Weir refers in the last paragraph of his letter. It may be he had in mind what has since become known as "Old Ed's Rush to Rumsey," the story of which is as follows:

One day in February, 1862, a band of about ten desperate-looking young men entered Greenville. Some of them, it is said, were citizens of the county, among whom were a few Confederate soldiers then on furlough. It appears that these young men came to the conclusion that if they captured Edward R. Weir, sr., they could hold him for a large ransom, for he was one of the most ardent workers for the Federal army in the county.

Anna Weir, his daughter, was at home sitting near a window, and when she saw the crowd coming in the yard she started toward the front door, where she met them with a pistol in her hand. The leader asked her whether "Old Man Ed" was in the house. Although she knew that her father was in his room taking a nap, she did not answer the question, but asked them to tell her the nature of their call. They shouted that they had come "to get Old Ed's scalp and meant to have it." Her serving-woman, Elvira, hearing this threat, quietly entered the house, woke Mr. Weir, and informed him of what was taking place downstairs, and added: "I jes' know Miss Anna aims to hol' 'em till you can haste away."

In the meantime Anna Weir was detaining the band, for she felt confident that neither her father nor any other man would trust his life in the hands of such characters, and that he, if he had a chance to escape from them, would do so.

While she was talking to the mob and thus gaining time for her father, one of the men attempted to pull down the flag that hung from a pole near the front of the house. Perceiving his intention, she raised her pistol and aimed it at him, saying, "If you touch that flag I'll kill you and as many others of your gang as I can. It's my father's flag and mine too and I'll die by it. I tell you father's not on the place, but I'm here and I'm ready to die by that flag now or at any other time!"

After Mr. Weir heard Elvira's warning he took a peep at the noisy crowd, and after telling her he would leave sent the woman back to her mistress. He crawled out of a back window, ran down to the stable, and ordered his negro, Lewis, to saddle his swift horse "Jack Monkey." He mounted the animal and was soon on his way toward Rumsey, where a number of Federal soldiers were guarding the lock and dam. Anna Weir refused to let the crowd search the house, and although they did not enter they nevertheless soon left convinced that "Old Man Ed" was not at home.The Edward R. Weir, Sr., Residence, Greenville

A little less than seven months after the battle of Shiloh, and about ten months after General Forrest had had his encounter with the Federals near Sacramento, General John H. Morgan passed through Muhlenberg County. Immediately after the battle of Perryville, October 7, 1862, General Bragg's army withdrew from Kentucky. During this withdrawal General Morgan at the head of a command of about eighteen hundred men, took an independent westerly course and on November 4th arrived at Gallatin, Tennessee. General Morgan entered Muhlenberg County at Skilesville. All local traditions bearing on this subject give the time of his arrival as Friday night, October 24, 1862. General Basil W. Duke, in his "History of Morgan's Cavalry" places the date two days earlier. General Morgan was then on his ten days' march from Gum Springs to Hopkinsville. He traveled via Elizabethtown, crossed Green River at Morgantown and Mud River at Rochester, and from there proceeded to Greenville, and on Sunday, October 26th, started for Christian County.

General Duke, in his history, devotes only a few lines to Morgan's march through Muhlenberg County, all of which I here quote. After stating that he left Morgantown on the morning of October 23, 1862, General Duke says (page 204):

"We crossed Mud River that night at Rochester, on a bridge constructed of three flat-boats, laid endwise, tightly bound together, and propped, where the water was deep, by beams passing under the bottoms of each one and resting on the end of the next; each receiving this sort of support they mutually braced each other. A planking, some five feet wide, was then laid, and the horses, wagons and artillery were crossed without trouble. The bridge was built in about two hours. On the 24th we reached Greenville; that night a tremendous snow fell--tremendous, at least, for the latitude and season. After crossing Mud River there was no longer cause for apprehension, and we marched leisurely."

Morgan's cavalry passed through Greenville during the afternoon of October 25, 1862. Morgan spent the greater part of that evening in Greenville, and in the meantime his men camped near the Joe C. Reynolds place, about three miles southwest of town. It was an exceedingly cold day for that season. That night his tired soldiers, as usual, slept under their blankets in long rows. They were unmindful of the snow which fell softly above them, hiding alike the sod and the sleepers and forming what appeared to be a snow-covered graveyard, for each soldier's snow-heaped body made a distinct mound in this camp-ground of Morgan's Immortals. When the bugler sounded his bugle for rising, he beheld a scene which well might make one think of that last day when Gabriel shall blow another trumpet, for each snow-covered grave opened and gave up, not its dead, but its living.

From the beginning of the Civil War until its close many good and bad reports and true and false alarms were constantly being put into circulation. John R. Randolph, in his "A Muhlenberger's Recollections of 1862," published in the Muhlenberg Sentinel, May 5, 1911, gives an account of two incidents which, in their general character, are representative of the experiences many people in the county were subjected to throughout the war:

When the Civil War broke out, Clark's Mill, on Pond River, near Harp's Hill, was in full operation. Clark ran the mill and Eaves conducted a dry-goods and grocery store. Clark and Eaves each owned 30 or 40 slaves. This mill was one of the largest and best known mills along Pond River. Besides his many slaves, Clark employed a number of families who lived in the immediate vicinity of the mill. In fact, the place looked more like a small town than a mere store and mill. Clark and Eaves were both clever men and well liked by all who had any dealings with them.

Nearly all the people in that vicinity in Hopkins County, and nearly all those who lived in Muhlenberg near Clark's Mill and Harp's Hill, were Southern sympathizers. The mill soon became a great gathering-place for those who had war measures to propose or war news to tell.

It was well known that my father, Ashford D. Randolph, was not only a strong Union sympathizer but also did all he could for the Union men. He was very outspoken, and his remarks frequently incurred the ill-will of those who differed with him on the situation. Many who were his best friends during his free-trade days became his bitterest enemies.

In the summer of 1862, after both Northern and Southern armies had gone South, a number of prowling guerillas began to form themselves into little squads. One day a band of guerillas came to Clark's Mill, and in the course of a few hours a number of their sympathizers appeared on the scene. Two of these sympathizers told the captain of this band that my father was making himself conspicuous in the Union cause and that they wanted him disposed of. In this band was one of my father's nephews, who was acquainted with his uncle's habits. This kinsman knew that if at any time the chickens on his place squalled he would get out of bed at once to investigate the nature of the disturbance in his hen-house. This nephew, therefore, assured the band that they could get my father by simply making a chicken squall; and he further suggested that when my father stepped out of the door on his way to the chicken-house, any one could easily "blaze away at him." After a little discussion of the matter it was decided that some of the band should march over and kill my father that night.

There was a school going on at Clark's Mill that summer. One of the scholars was standing in the crowd of men and overheard all their plans. That evening, as soon as school was dismissed, he sent word to our home. It was getting dark when the message reached us. My father and those of our family who were at home talked the matter over and agreed that father should take his gun, leave the house and stay out in the woods until the band left. So, he started out at about 10 o'clock.

Shortly after he had gone we heard the chicken squall. My brother's wife looked out of the window and saw four men, one holding a chicken and the other three standing behind some low shrubbery and ready to shoot. Seeing no men come to the windows or door, the band after a while evidently concluded that no men folks were at home, and therefore left the place.

My father saw the guerillas as they walked away and could easily have shot one or two of them, but decided that, under the circumstances, he had better let them escape, rather than suffer any outrages the survivors and their associates might commit on the place. Suspicious-looking men prowled around our home for about a week, and my father did not stay at home at night until he felt confident they had left the country.

One night in the winter of 1862, after Capt. Netter, of the 26th Kentucky Infantry, had attempted to destroy the L. & N. bridge across Whippoor-will Creek, my father was hailed by some one at the gate. He opened the door and learned that the man who had called was George Driskill, piloting Netter's men. Driskill had heard that my father was always ready and willing to help a Federal, so he came to our house for assistance. He had six or seven men with him, all of whom were wounded. One soldier, by the name of John Mayhan, was so sick he could not move any farther. He was left at our house, while my father piloted the others toward Sacramento.

While I was standing on the platform in front of the store I looked across the river and saw about a dozen mounted men, each carrying a gun. I asked the merchant, who was weighing something on the scales, who these mounted men were. He looked up the road and then said, "By George! It is the cavalry!" I knew they couldn't be Union soldiers, for they were coming from the wrong direction, and besides the appearance of their uniforms, even from that distance, indicated that they were not Federals. My first thought was of the sick and crippled John Mayhan. It struck me that this squad was on its way to our house after him or any other of Netter's men. I also thought of the many bad things this squad might do to our home and farm should they find Mayhan quartered there. I took another good look at the approaching cavalry. They were now about a half mile from the store. I ran down to the mill, got my horse, and asked the miller to bring out my turn. He did so, and threw the bag of meal over the horse's back. This miller was generally very careless about balancing a sack for a boy, but this time he happened to strike even halves. I don't think there was an ounce difference in the ends. I poked out my foot to the miller and he hoisted me on the horse, for I was then only twelve years old, and after adjusting the bag I started off in a gallop. I knew every hog-path and short cut between the mill and our home. Over the most direct of these I hurried as fast as I could, up hill and down hill and through the woods, until I came to the fence at the back of my father's farm; I got off my horse, laid down a few rails, climbed back on the animal and went tearing through the fields. When I came within hearing distance of the house I yelled, "Get Mayhan out to the weeds, for the Rebel cavalry is coming after him!"

There happened to be several men at our house when I got there, and my father said to them that Mayhan must be saved at all hazards. He and the men rushed upstairs to where the sick man lay and told him the Rebel cavalry were coming after him. When my father picked up Mayhan to carry him down the steps Mayhan begged the men to let him jump down to the lower floor, saying that if it killed him he would be better off. But my father said, "No, I'll take care of you at the risk of my own life."

While my father was carrying him down he shouted to some of the other men to bring the feather bed and some quilts. They carried Mayhan out into the woods, laid him on the feather bed, spread the quilts over him, then covered him with leaves, and returned to the house. In the meantime my mother performed her part. She rearranged the vacated bed and made it look like it had not been occupied.

We waited and waited, but the Rebel cavalry never came. Finally my father sent out one of the men to spy around. He returned with the information that the cavalry had gone to old man George W. Eaves' farm on Pond River to get some hogs for the Rebel soldiers located at Hopkinsville.

When the men learned this, they realized that the alarm I had given was a false alarm, so they brought Mayhan back into the house. A few days later my father disguised his patient, put him in a buggy, and sent him to Calhoun, where a regiment of Federal soldiers was still encamped.

The spring of 1863 marked the beginning of the third year of the Civil War. Of the many letters that were sent by Muhlenberg men while serving in the army only a few, as previously stated, have fallen into my hands. The one written by E. R. Weir while at Shiloh has already been quoted. Among the others is a letter of different character, but it serves as a sample of its kind. The writer, by taking his "pen in hand," succeeds in telling, in his own way, something about his life with the soldiers in Warren County:

Bowlingreen, Ky. April 23th, 1863.

Mr. R. C. J. I with pleasure take my pen in hand once more to drop you a few lines and I am happy to say thes lins leaves me in good helth and I hope when this coms to hand it will find you and famly injoying good helth. I have nuthing interestin to writ this time, only the boys is all in good helth and as lively as ever. I am agoin to send you the history of this Regment to you and I want you to get a fram and put it in if you pleas. I wood be glad if I could com home once more but thar is no chance. I wood be glad to see you all, but you must writ, it gives me much plasure to Read your leters, tell Jeff that pal he is well and ed is not hear, he is in scotts ville, but when he left he was well but wee ar looking for them back every day.

My Respecs to sarah Jane and I hope you ar well, I have had my picture taken and I tell you it is nice, it looks very much like me I think, but I was mad when it was taken. and I will tell you weir mounted but I gess you have heard it before now, and we will make the grillars get up and cluck when wee will get after them on our old broak down horses, and when the boys chases one anuther tha want to no what tha hav dun that tha ar ridin a rail. so no more of my foolshines. So I must clos, you must writ soon, so nuthin more only far you well.

B. G. W.

Two letters written during the latter part of 1863 by D. C. Humphreys, of Spring Station. Woodford County, to Gilbert Vaught Rhoads, contain much that pertains to this period of Muhlenberg's history. D. C. Humphreys for many years owned a tract of timber land lying near the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, between Browder and Bellton. Shortly before the Civil War broke out Alexander Todd came to Muhlenberg to look after this land for his uncle, and with a view of making this his permanent home. He opened a small farm and built a cabin, in which he lived for a few years. D. C. Humphreys' sister, Elizabeth Humphreys, was the second wife of Robert S. Todd, who by his first wife was the father of six children (among whom was Mrs. Abraham Lincoln) and by his second wife was the father of seven children, among whom was Alexander Todd and Mrs. Ben Hardin Helm. Alexander Todd, having received a special invitation from Abraham Lincoln, went from Muhlenberg County to Washington City to witness the inauguration of his brother-in-law, March 4, 1861. Shortly after his return he joined the Southern army, became ordnance sergeant in the First Kentucky Cavalry, was made aide-de-camp on the staff of General Ben Hardin Helm, and on August 5, 1862, was killed at Baton Rouge. "Aleck" Todd was a bright young man, and during his stay of a few years in the county was a great favorite among the old people as well as among those of his own age. Although he had a well-furnished cabin of his own, he spent much of his time in the homes of two of his neighbors, David and Absalom J. Rhoads. Alexander Todd, after his death, was succeeded as overseer of the Humphrey tract by his friend Gilbert V. Rhoads:

Spring Station, Kentucky. 13th November, 1863.

Gilbert V. Rhoads, Esq.--My dear friend:--Your very acceptable letter of 30th September I received a short time since. It arrived while I was absent in Illinois which will account for your not receiving an answer sooner. I am happy to learn you have recovered from the dangerous attack of sickness you had in June last, and that you bid fair to be in the enjoyment of your usual health again. What a blessing it is to enjoy health and how thankful we all are to Him in whom we live and move and have our being for it.

I have been anxious for two years to pay you a visit, and had made my arrangements to send some hands down to open a large tobacco farm, but this cruel and unnatural war has broken up all my arrangements, and now I don't think it worth while to count upon the work or value of my negro labour. If the war lasts much longer all our young and valuable negroe men will be pressed into the service to make railroads, cut wood, drive wagons, make fortifications or perhaps enlisted as soldiers. I think the abolitionists are determined to give a finishing blow to slavery in America. Should they succeed I pity the poor negroes. I hope God will overrule and govern all things for our present and eternal good, the good of his church and his glory.

I have been speaking to a man who has lived with me several years about going to Muhlenberg and living on my land. He has not yet made up his mind on the subject. I don't wish you to rent my place to any one until you hear from me. My rent corn dispose of as soon as you can for the best price you can get, and retain the money in your hands until further instructions. Write to me and let me know the amount you receive for it. Corn here is in good demand at $3.00 per barrel in the field and will be higher. The crop of corn in Indiana and Illinois is very poor; the drought and the early frost have cut it down to almost nothing in places. Last year in Illinois I got only 12 1/2 cents per bushell for my rent corn; this year I am offered 40 cents.

I am glad to learn that my old friend Mrs. Rachael Rhoads is still enjoying good health. Remember me kindly to her and all the family. Give my kindest regards to my old friend Isaac Woods who I sincerely hope is prepared to live or prepared to die whenever God in his providence shall see fit to call him. When you see Mr. Baker remember me to him and his wife whose kindness and hospitality I can never forget.

My family are all well except my grandson David who has been confined for seven weeks with a swelled knee. I fear it is white swelling. He is much better and I hope will recover without a stiff knee.

Write me soon and believe me sincerely Your friend,

D. C. Humphreys.

Spring Station, Kentucky. 9th December, 1863.

Mr G. V. Rhoads,--Dear Sir:--I am just in receipt of your kind letter of 21st November which by some mistake was missent. I am glad to learn you are enjoying peace and quietness and sincerely hope you may long be exempt from the horrors of war. It is bad enough at a distance, but when it comes into our own houses it is dreadful.

I notice your remarks about Chancy. My sister Mrs. Todd is now in Alabama where she got permission from President Lincoln to go for her daughter (who was married to General Helm who was killed at the battle of Chickamauga.) She gave me no special directions about Chancy, but I am satisfied she wishes her and her son and daughter hired out and would consult Chancy's wish in a considerable measure as to whom she would like to live with. Certainly from my knowledge of Mr. Taggart my sister will have no objection to his having Chancy, and if he is willing to give a fair price for Chancy and she is anxious to live with him, let him have her.

You said nothing in your letter about my rent corn for the year 1863. Write to me about it on receipt.

I would like to pay a short visit to Muhlenberg this winter if I thought the Guerillas would not overhaul me. I hope the country will soon be free of them.

Remember me to Mrs. Rachael Rhoads and all the family and accept for yourself and family my best wishes for your health, happiness and prosperity. Yours truly,

D. C. Humphreys.

These two letters, it might be well to add, were found in the attic of an old two-story weatherboarded log house standing on a hill overlooking Browder. A few years ago a number of old papers, regarded as rubbish by the man who had rented the house, were burned after they had been removed from between two of the logs in the wall of this building. Evidently these two had slipped down behind the lower log when the other letters were removed. At any rate, they were there discovered by Miss Amy M. Longest, who recognized their value as documents bearing on local history.

On or about May 10, 1864, there took place what is known as the Fight at Sullivan's Barn. Captain Henry L. Vickers, a recruiting officer for the Southern army, whose home was near Paradise and who while a member of Company C, Ninth Kentucky Infantry, was wounded at Shiloh, was scouting in Ohio and McLean counties and had with him sixteen Confederates, most of whom were recruits. In their march through Ohio County this squad appropriated a horse belonging to Ashby Woodward. When Woodward discovered that his animal had been taken he declared he "would get his horse back or die in the attempt." He reported the robbery to his brother, Captain Steven Woodward, of the Twenty-sixth Kentucky Infantry, who was an officer of the Home Guards of McLean and Ohio counties, and who immediately organized a pursuing party of about thirty-two men.

In the meantime Captain Vickers and his squad rode toward Green River, crossed that stream at Point Pleasant, four miles below South Carrollton, and at about four o'clock in the evening arrived on the Raleigh Sullivan farm in Northern Muhlenberg, three miles west of Green River. Knowing that he had come to the home of a Southern sympathizer, Captain Vickers asked Sullivan for food for his men and forage for his horses, which request was readily complied with.

After feeding their animals in the barn all the men walked to the house, a distance of about one hundred yards, to eat the meal that had been prepared for them. They, however, failed to put out any sentries. This was either through an oversight or because Captain Vickers felt confident that such a precaution was unnecessary. At any rate, he evidently anticipated no trouble or attack, and least of all did he suspect that the owner of the stolen horse had traced the theft to them and that a pursuing party was near at hand.

While Captain Vickers and his men were enjoying their meal, Robert N. Sullivan, the son of their host, heard two gunshots fired somewhere on the north or far side of the barn. The boy rushed into the house and gave the alarm. These two shots had been fired by Captain Woodward's pursuing Federals, who, believing that they were close upon the Confederates, wished to learn whether or not Vickers' men were concealed in the barn, and also desired to draw their fire in order to approximate the size of the squad.Sullivan's Barn, Near Moorman

As soon as Captain Vickers learned that the Federals were upon him he rose from the table, and grasping a revolver in either hand and calling to his men to follow him, ran toward the barn. Most of Captain Woodward's soldiers were in the barn, and Captain Vickers was therefore unable to form any idea as to the size of the party he was attacking. There being only a few Federals in sight, he told his comrades they "would soon chase the Yanks away," and ordered them to rush forward and to fire as they advanced. When they had covered about half the distance to the barn, crossing the little ravine that separates the two elevations upon which the house and barn stand, one of the Confederates, Mitchell, a boy about sixteen years of age, was shot through the bowels and fatally wounded. The Confederates continued their advance, and in the meantime the Federals fell back on the north side of the barn.

This retreat gave Captain Vickers' men temporary possession of the building. While attempting to hold a position near the entry until his men could get their horses, Captain Vickers sought to shield himself behind a narrow post. This post probably saved his life, for while he was standing behind it a Federal soldier fired at him with a gun loaded with buckshot, two of which lodged in Captain Vickers' neck, inflicting painful though not serious wounds. The shooting continued for about five minutes, when the Confederates, having regained their horses, hastily retreated under fire. They ran down the road and around a hill, and soon got beyond the reach of bullets.

As a result of this fight the young Confederate, Mitchell, who had been shot, died in the Sullivan home a few hours later. His body was interred in the New Hope Church burying-ground near by and remained there for a number of years, when it was exhumed by relatives and taken to Daviess County. Captain Vickers was captured and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he was imprisoned until the close of the war. A young unwounded Tennessean was captured near the barn. The Federals lost one man, Ashby Woodward, who was shot through the heart. His corpse was taken to his home near Livermore. Only one of Captain Woodward's squad was wounded--a man named King, who was shot in the leg. A horse owned by the Federals, another belonging to the Confederates, and five of Sullivan's sheep that were penned up in the barn preparatory to shearing, were killed in the fight.

That night Captain Woodward quartered his troops in the Sullivan house, which he kept well protected during his stay by posting sentries in the immediate neighborhood. The next morning he returned to Ohio County with his two prisoners; not with the stolen horse, but with the corpse of Ashby Woodward, who the day before had declared that he "would get his horse back or die in the attempt."

One day toward the end of December, 1864, the people living in and near Greenville were very much aroused by what might be called "a false alarm." It was reported that General Hylan B. Lyon had burned the courthouse at Madisonville and was on his way to Greenville and Hartford to burn the courthouses there. When this report reached Greenville the citizens became alarmed and immediately prepared to defend the place. All the people, whether sympathizing with the North or the South, seem to have ignored their antagonistic principles and stood united in their desire to save the courthouse. They made ready to resist by improvising what might serve the purpose of defense works. Alfred Johnson and Henry Jenkins were then building the stone jail. These two men pushed out a few stones from its unfinished walls and thus constructed some portholes. The brick building on the northwest corner of Court Square was converted into a fort. The windows on the second floor of the Weir store were opened and arranged as places to shoot from, and in one of the brick walls which had no windows two holes were cut.

While all these preparations were being made, some of the people became very excited and others grew very impatient. Sebastian C. Vick, or "Captain Bass Vick," as he was called, was in town at the head of a company of citizen-soldiers. After the supposed time of General Lyon's arrival had passed, Bass Vick and his men mounted their horses and rode up the Lower Hopkinsville Road, hoping to locate the expected enemy. However, they saw nothing of him. When they reached Mount Pisgah Church they concluded that General Lyon must have heard of Greenville's preparations for defense and therefore had marched on and left the place in the hands of its five hundred plucky and patriotic citizens. Vick and his men then returned to town and informed the people that General Lyon had gone elsewhere and that all danger was past and the courthouse saved.

One version of this incident ends by saying that when Bass Vick re‰ntered Greenville with his men he was hailed as the hero who had saved the town, and that if he had killed every man in General Lyon's command he could not have had a more rousing reception.

It is probable that on this raid General Lyon did not come within the bounds of Muhlenberg County. He and his squadron left Tennessee during the early part of December, 1864, and after going to Hopkinsville, Princeton, Eddyville, and Madisonville they crossed Green River at Ashbyburg, in Hopkins County, and then continued to Hartford, Leitchfield, and various other places and arrived in Hopkinsville January 15, 1865. In Hartford and some of the other county seats they burned the courthouses 4 by James W. Wood, of the Mud River county, who enlisted in Company B, Eleventh Kentucky Infantry, in September, 1861, and remained in that company until his regiment was mustered out in December, 1864. The letter is addressed to John H. Wood, Laurel Bluff, Muhlenberg County.

Camp near Atlanta, Georgia. August 16th, 1864.

Dear Brother John H.:--I received your kind and welcome letter the other day, dated July 22nd. I am always glad to hear from you, Mother and the children. I wrote Mother yesterday. ...

We have had a hard time during this campaign; but we have no right to grumble, for our regiment hasn't suffered hardly any compared to what some of the others have. Our regiment hasn't been in any general fight lately, though our company had several men wounded and two killed in a skirmish on the 6th of this month. I have written all about it to John. The wounded were sent back and the last we heard of them they were doing very well.

I am sorry to hear that the boys have to work so hard on the farm. I hope I will be at home to help them next year. I know I could enjoy hard labor at home better than soldiering, for soldiering is hard on both mind and body. I do hope and trust that this wicked war will soon be over, but I fear it will be a long time before it is ended. I believe if the head leaders on each side had to come out and lay on the skirmish line and fight and undergo the hardships that we do there would be peace soon.

I don't know what they will do here but there is one thing, we all hope this campaign will soon be over so that we can go home and live in peace with our friends as we have in bygone days. I think it has been on hand long enough, but no matter how much longer it lasts I'll stick to the end.

It is now almost a year since I was at home and the time appears that long to me too. But there is one good consolation: if we live, it will not be long till we see each other again. If we are not permitted to see each other again in this world I feel that we will all meet beyond this vale of sorrow and tears where all our war troubles and earthly toils will be over.

You said in your letter that you had been to the preaching. I am glad to know you all have the privilege of going to church. It is more than I have. I was on picket last Sunday night. There was preaching in some regiment; I could hear them singing but I could not leave my post to go. I always look forward to the day when I can go to church of a Sunday in place of going on picket. I have heard but two sermons preached since we left Kentucky.

Harvey received a letter last night from cousin Allen, dated August the 5th. He said there were no guerillas in that neighborhood now. I was glad to hear it, for I expect the people back there will have a hard time anyhow, without having their property taken by the rogues.

I would like very much to see you and the folks, but it is hard to tell just when that will be. We are getting along pretty well, considering the hardships we have to undergo. We have a pretty hard time, but the boys take it cheerfully. We are getting plenty to eat now and the boys are generally well and in fine spirits.

H. Y. and J. L. Wood and C. W. McBride are well and send their respects to you all. Give my love and respects to all enquiring friends, the girls in particular, and keep a good portion for yourself. If our friends knew how highly we appreciate their letters down here they would write oftener.

Write soon and give me all the news, let me know how you are getting along and how the crops look. Your affectionate brother until death

James W. Wood.

The following letter was written by the same writer about a month before his regiment was mustered out at Bowling Green, December 16, 1864:

Louisville, Kentucky, November 11, 1864

Dear Mother:--We are in old Kentucky once more, and I'm glad of it. We will be mustered out before long. The prospects of peace and of us getting home again has put every single one of us in a very lively mood. We are seeing a fine time here. I am glad I'll be with you soon. ...

H. Y. Wood is not with us. He was left at Chattanooga guarding some government beef cattle, but we are looking for him on every train. The balance of the boys are well and in fine spirits. John McBride is here with us and is well and hearty.

We saw a hard time after we left Decatur, Georgia. We left there on the 4th day of October and had to march nearly every day for over a month. We took the cars at Dalton, Georgia, last Sunday and passed through Bowling Green Wednesday. They had our old battle flag on the depot and you ought to have heard the old Eleventh cheer when they saw it. We had a fine time. I was glad to be so near home.

The cars were so crowded some of us had to ride on the roof. It rained every day and that made it bad for those who were on top.

This is the first letter I have had a chance to write since we left Decatur, and it has also been some time since I heard from you or had a chance to.

Give my love to grandfather and the children. ... Your affectionate son

James W. Wood.

James R. Gross, of Bremen, carried a pocket memorandum book with him during the war and in it made brief entries of his movements. With the exception of a few memoranda relative to short visits home after his regiment left Kentucky, all his records pertaining to his career in or near Muhlenberg are written on the first and last pages. These I quote:

October 4th, 1861. Joined the Eleventh Regiment Kentucky Volunteers at Calhoun. P. B. Hawkins, Colonel; S. P. Love, Lieutenant-Colonel.

24th, Thursday, marched to Sacramento, McLean County, and camped.

25th, Marched to South Carrollton and returned.

26th, To Bethlehem, Muhlenberg County.

27th, Went home.

28th, Back to Camp Calhoun.

December 28th. Went to Spottsville, Henderson County, on the L. W. Eaves, staid there two hours and returned to Camp Calhoun.

January 16th, 1862. Struck tent, marched to South Carrollton, and camped.

February 1st. Left South Carrollton, returned to Camp Mottley on the L. W. Eaves.

February 16th. Marched to Owensboro.

17th, Monday. Got on board the N. W. Thomas and went down the Ohio River.

18th. Landed at Smithland, mouth of Cumberland River. Distance 170 miles.

19th. Returned to the mouth of Green River.

20th. Back to Smithland.

21st. To Paducah. Staid there a while.

22nd. Went up Cumberland River.

February 24th. Landed at Fort Donelson.

25th. P. M. Landed at Nashville.

December 14th, 1864. Wednesday, at Bowling Green, Kentucky, turned over arms and accoutrements and was mustered out of service.

Returned home in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, the 16th and 17th days of December, 1864. Distance 65 miles.

Traveled from time of enlistment until mustered out of U. S. service and returned home, 6212 miles.Some Civil War Veterans, 1912

Shortly after the close of the war the Grand Army of the Republic was organized. The first post in Muhlenberg was the Columbus H. Martin Post No. 7, Greenville, organized in October, 1883, with Doctor J. W. Church as commander. On March 25, 1908, this post was reorganized and its name was changed to the J. N. Paxton Post No. 17, Greenville. H. C. McCracken became commander of the new organization, and has held that office ever since. The post at Central City is the James N. Durall Post No. 64, organized July 4, 1889.

Many reunions of Civil War soldiers have taken place in Muhlenberg County during the past forty years, and they are still taking place. As years roll by the veterans are rapidly decreasing in numbers; nevertheless it is more than likely that the holding of reunions will continue until the last of the comrades are laid in their graves. All those in this county have been held under the auspices of Federal soldiers. Confederate veterans were always and are still invited to these gatherings. The reunions that have taken place under the auspices of organizations consisting of old Southern soldiers, to which the men of Muhlenberg have belonged, have been held in Logan, Christian, and Hopkins counties, where the fighters for the Lost Cause are more numerous than in Muhlenberg.

Many of the soldiers' reunions in Muhlenberg have been conducted by the G. A. R. posts. In recent years most of these gatherings have taken place at the homes of old soldiers, where all veterans, neighbors, and others were the guests of the man who had invited the assemblage. Thus "on the first Saturday in May, 1912," William H. Smith, near Paradise, gave a semi-annual reunion at which there were present one Confederate and fourteen Federal soldiers, a brass band, and seventy other guests, all of whom ate dinner and supper at the Smith house and took part in an all-day pienic. Now, as in the past, the "boys who wore the gray" are as welcome at these gatherings as the "boys who wore the blue."