A Youth's History of the Great Civil War
Van Evrie, Horton & Co., ©1866
Revised edition, ©2006 www.ronie-mooney-encs.us
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CHAPTER XXXVIII, GENERAL MORGAIN'S RAID INTO THE WEST-THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA
We must now return to the West, and notice the closing events of the year 1863 in that section. General John H. Morgan, the bold cavalry man, whose exploits we have already mentioned, had gathered together a force of two thousand mounted men, and four pieces of artillery, and on the 4th of July started on an expedition into Indiana and Ohio.
He advanced very rapidly; and on the 8th of July, after throwing the cities of Louisville and Cincinnati into a great fright, he stood upon the soil of Indiana. He rode rapidly through the State, destroying railroads, government stores, &c and struck the Ohio line at a place called Harrison. By this time thousands of armed men were in pursuit of him, and finding himself hotly pursued, he tried to cross the Ohio River near Belleville.Part of his command succeeded in doing so, but a good number were taken prisoners. Morgan himself, with a few trusty followers, succeeded in cutting their way out, but were pursued, and , finally, being surrounded near Wellsville, surrendered.
It was thought by the abolitionists a terrible thing for the Confederates to invade the North, though all right for the North to invade the South. General Morgan and his command were denounced as "felons" and "murderers;" and, though I think that his expedition was a reckless and even foolhardy one, for he was going into a populous country, where the people for self-defence would be compressed to concentrate and cut him off, yet it was not so criminal as the abolition raid upon the South, for it had the fact of retaliation to justify it.
Not so, however, thought the abolitionists. It was their ox that was gored now, and in their rage they refused to regard General Morgan as a prisoner of war, and sent him and twenty-eight of his officers to the Ohio Penitentiary. Here they were subjected to every possible indignity. First they were stripped naked and washed by negroes. Then their hair was cut off close to the scalp. After which they were put in solitary confinement.
General Morgan, however, was not idle in prison. On the 20th of November, he and six of his officers escaped. They had dug out of their cells with small knives, after weeks and weeks of patient toil. He left this motto behind for his abolition tormentors, "Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."
After the escape of General Morgan, the rest of the prisoners were treated with still greater rigor. Their food consisted of only three ounces of bread and a pint of water per day! When the physician remonstrated with their brutal jailer, the wretch replied, "They do not talk right yet." He went into the cell to taunt one of them, Major Webber. "Sir," said the Major, I defy you. You can kill me, but you can add nothing to the sufferings you have already inflicted."
The spirit of these men was unconquerable, even in their direst calamity.
It will be remembered that after the battle of Murfreesboro, between General Bragg and General Rosecrans, that the Confederate forces had fallen back to Tullahoma.
After the fall of Vicksburg, of course, troops could be spared to reinforce Rosecrans. It was soon ascertained that General Rosecrans with 70,000 men and General Burnside with 25,000 were concentrating against General Bragg. Burnside was covering General Rosecrans' rear by occupying Knoxville. In the meantime Cumberland Gap was surrendered by the Confederate commander without firing a shot.
General Rosecrans now had all his plans matured for a grand battle. So on the 19th of September he opened the great battle of Chickamauga. The first day was little more than heavy skirmishing, but on the 20th the battle opened with tremendous fury. Bragg had been reinforced with Longstreet's corps from General Lee's army, and never was a battle-field more hotly contested. At length, late in the evening, the Confederates made one of their sweeping charges and carried everything before them. Rosecrans was not only defeated but routed, and had it not been for the coolness of General Thomas his whole army would probably have been captured. As it was, it fled in dismay to Chattanooga where it had entrenchments. General Bragg took 8000 prisoners, 54, cannon and 15,000 stand of small arms.It was one of the most decisive Confederate victories of the war.
Poor General Rosecrans! The battle also ended his military career. The abolitionists had now made it a rule to depose every General who lost a battle, and Rosecrans, who is believed to be a pretty good military man, was now sacrificed to their clamor.
General Grant was now appointed to the command of the Mississippi Department. He commenced at once his old plan of superior numbers. He brought two corps from the Army of the Potomac, and called General Sherman, with the Vicksburg army, from Memphis. General Bragg on the contrary did just the reverse of this. He sent General Longstreet off on an expedition to take Knoxville.
General Grant at once availed himself of this mistake and commenced his plans to defeat General Bragg. After a good deal of maneuvering on both sides the battle of Missionary Ridge was fought, on the 24th of November, in which General Bragg was defeated with the loss of 6000 prisoners and 40 cannon.
In the meantime General Longstreet had had bad luck on his Knoxville expedition. General Burnside was strongly fortified there, and though Longstreet made a gallant assault upon him he was not strong enough to take his forts. In the meantime, as soon as Grant had defeated Bragg, he sent reinforcements to Burnside, who then assumed the offensive, and Longstreet was compelled to retire towards the Virginia line.
This ended the principal military events of 1863.
There had been some skirmishing between Generals Lee and Meade in Virginia, and once General Meade started out with a great flourish of trumpets to capture Lee's army. But after marching a day or two and taking a look at it, he was glad to fall back.
At Sabine Pass, the dividing line between Louisiana and Texas, the Confederates had achieved a brilliant little naval victory. Five Federal gun-boats steamed up the Pass, and were opened upon by the Confederate batteries. Two of them were captured, and the others beat a hasty retreat.
Generals Marmaduke and Sterling Price had also made efforts to gain a foothold in Missouri, and engagements had taken place at Springfield, Missouri, and Helena, Arkansas, but the loss of life was of no avail. General Steele had been sent into Arkansas with a strong force and had taken Little Rock, the base of the Confederate supplies. This secured Missouri, for the time, against further invasion.
When Congress met in December,1863, it made General Grant Lieutenant-General of the armies of the United States. His success at Vicksburg and Missionary Ridge had made him the hero of the hour.
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