Louisville in the American Civil War

Louisville in the American Civil War was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the Western Theater. By the end of the war, Louisville itself had not been attacked even once, even though surrounded by skirmishes and battles, including the Battle of Perryville and the Battle of Corydon.

1850-1860: The gathering storm

During the 1850s, Louisville became a vibrant and wealthy city, but underneath the success, the city also harbored racial and ethnic problems. In 1850 Louisville became the tenth largest city in the United States. Louisville's population rose from 10,000 in 1830 to 43,000 in 1850. Louisville became an important tobacco market and pork packing center. By 1850, Louisville's wholesale trade totaled twenty million dollars in sales. The Louisville-New Orleans river route held top rank on the entire Western river system in freight and passenger traffic. [Yater, George, 61.] Not only did Louisville profit from the river, in August 1855, Louisville citizens greeted the arrival of the locomotive Hart County on Ninth and Broadway. The first passengers arrived by train on the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad. James Guthrie, president of the Louisville & Frankfort, pushed the railroad along the Shelbyville turnpike (Frankfort Avenue) through Gilman's Point (St. Matthews) and onto Frankfort. The track entered Louisville on Jefferson Street and ended at Brook Street. Leven Shreve, a Louisville civic leader, became the first president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. With the railroad, Louisville could manufacture furniture and export the goods to Southern cities. Louisville was well on her way to becoming an industrial city. The Louisville Rolling Mill built girders and rails and the Louisville made cotton machinery, which they sold to Southern customers. Louisville built steamboats. Louisville emerged as an iron working industry with a plant on Tenth and Main called Ainslie, Cochran, and Company. The state paid tribute to James Guthrie by naming a small railroad community Guthrie, Kentucky in Todd County, after him.

Louisville also became a meat packing city, becoming the second largest city in the nation to pack pork, butchering an average of 300,000 hogs a year. Louisville also led the nation in hemp manufacturing and cotton bagging. Farmington plantation owned by John Speed was one of the larger hemp plantations in Louisville. Hemp was Kentucky's leading agricultural product from 1840 to 1860. Jefferson County led all other markets in gardening and orchards.

European immigrants flowed into the city from Germany and Ireland. By 1850, 359,980 immigrants arrived to America and by 1854, 427,833 immigrants arrived to seek out a new living. With the arrival of the massive amounts of immigrants into the city, native Louisville residents began to harbor anti-foreign, anti-Catholic sentiments. In 1841, the rise in Catholics entering the city prompted the archdiocese to move the bishop's seat from Bardstown to Louisville. The archdiocese began construction on the new Catholic cathedral which was completed in 1852. In 1843, a new party arose on the political scene called the American Republican Party. On July 5, 1845, the American Republican party changed their name to the Native American Party and held their first national convention in Philadelphia. The party opposed liberal immigration. On June 17, 1854, the Order of the Star Spangled Banner held their second national convention in New York City. The members were "native Americans" and anti-Catholics. When their members answered questions about the group, they responded with "I know nothing about it," becoming the Know-Nothing or Native-American Party. The new political party gained national support. The Know-Nothing party encouraged and tapped into the nation's prejudice and fear that Catholic immigrants would take control of the United States and hand the nation over to the Pope. By 1854, the Know-Nothings gained control of Jefferson County's government. The ethnic tension came to a boil in 1855, during the mayor's office election. On August 6, 1855, Louisville experienced "Bloody Monday", in which Protestant mobs bullied immigrants away from the polls and began rioting in Irish and German neighborhoods. Protestant mobs attacked and slaughtered at least twenty-two people. The rioting began at Shelby and Green Street (Liberty) and progressed through the city's East End. The mob burned houses on Shelby Street and headed for William Ambruster's brewery in the triangle between Baxter Avenue and Liberty Street and set the place ablaze. Ten Germans were burned to death. Quinn's Irish Row on the North side of Main between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets were burned and some of the tenants were burned to death, others were killed by rifle fire. The Know-Nothing party won the election in Louisville and many other Kentucky counties.

Slavery also became the topic of discussion among Louisville citizens. With the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, slavery became a hot issue among politicians. Although slavery was on the way out in Louisville, Louisville sold an increasing volume of Kentucky slaves south during the 1850s. Slave pens were kept on Second between Market and Main Streets. Slave masters took the slaves to Portland and shipped them to New Orleans by boat to be sold. Louisville also had a free black population and a handful managed to acquire property. Washington Spradling, freed from slavery in 1814, became a barber and by the 1850s owned property valued at thirty thousand dollars. Louisville was a city that had parts of the agricultural South and parts of the North with the rise in industry.

1860: The eve of war

In the November 1860 Presidential election, Kentucky gave native Kentuckian Abraham Lincoln less than one percent of the vote. Kentuckians did not like Lincoln, because he stood for the eradication of slavery and his Republican Party aligned itself with the North, but Kentuckians also did not vote for native son John C. Breckinridge and his Southern Democratic Party, which most of the country regarded as secessionists. In 1860, Kentuckians owned 225,000 slaves, with Louisville's slaves comprising 7.5 percent of the population, but Kentucky also loved the Union. Kentucky wanted to keep slavery and stay in the Union. Most Kentuckians, including residents of Louisville, voted for John Bell of Tennessee, of the Constitutional Union Party, which stood for preserving the Union and keeping the status quo on slavery or Stephen Douglas of Illinois, who ran for the Democratic Party ticket. Louisville cast 3,823 votes for John Bell. Douglas received 2,633 votes. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, other Southern states followed and by early 1861 eleven Southern states seceded from the Union, except Kentucky. Senator Henry Clay from Kentucky had worked for compromise and the state followed his lead.

1861: War breaks out

On April 12, 1861, Confederate Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard ordered his cannons to be fired on Fort Sumter, located in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor, starting the Civil War. At the time of the Battle of Fort Sumter, the fort's commander was Union Major Robert Anderson of Louisville.

After the firing upon Fort Sumter, President of the United States Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers, but Kentucky Governor Beriah Magoffin refused to send any men to act against the Southern states, and Unionists and secessionists both supported his position. On April 17, 1861, Louisville hoped to remain neutral and spent $50,000 for the defense of the city, naming Lovell Rousseau as brigadier general. Rousseau formed the Home Guard. Unionists asked Lincoln for help and he secretly sent arms to the Home Guard. The U. S. government sent a shipment of weapons to Louisville and kept the rifles hidden in the basement of the Jefferson County Courthouse.

As with the rest of the state, Louisville residents were divided as to which side they should support. Prominent Louisville attorney James Speed strongly advocated keeping the state in the Union. Louisville Main Street wholesale merchants dealt with the South with steamboats traveling the Ohio River from Louisville to New Orleans and supported the Confederacy. Blue-collar workers, small retailers, and professional men, such as lawyers, supported the Union. On April 20, two companies of Confederate volunteers left by steamboat to New Orleans, and five days later, three more companies departed for Nashville on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Union recruiters raised troops at Eighth and Main, and the Union recruits left for Indiana to join other Union regiments.

On May 20, 1861, Kentucky declared its neutrality. An important state geographically, Kentucky had the Ohio River as a natural barrier. Kentucky's natural resources, manpower, and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad made both the North and South respect Kentucky's neutrality. President Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis kept a hands-off policy when dealing with Kentucky, hoping not to push the state into one camp or the other. The L&N's depot on Ninth and Broadway in Louisville and the steamboats at Louisville wharfs sent uniforms, lead, bacon, coffee and war material south, but Lincoln did not want to stop the city from sending goods south for the fear of upsetting Kentucky's delicate balance of neutrality, but on July 10, 1861, a federal judge in Louisville ruled that the United States government had the right to stop shipments of goods from going south over the L&N railroad.

On July 15, 1861, the War Department authorized U.S. Navy Lieutenant William "Bull" Nelson to establish a training camp and organize a brigade of infantry. Nelson commissioned William Landrum a colonel of cavalry, Theophilus Garrard, Thomas E. Bramlette, and Speed Fry colonels of infantry. Landrum turned his commission over to Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wolford. Garrard, Bramlette and Fry established their camps at Camp Dick Robinson in Garrard County, and Wolford erected his camp near Harrodsburg, effectively breaking Kentucky's neutrality. [Beach, p. 16-17] Brigadier General Rousseau established a Union training camp opposite Louisville in Jeffersonville, Indiana, naming the camp after Joseph Holt. Governor Magoffin protested the establishment of the Union camps to Lincoln, but he ignored Magoffin, stating that the will of the people wanted the camps to remain in Kentucky. [Beach, p. 18.]

In August 1861, Kentucky held elections for the State General Assembly and Unionists won majorities in both houses, but the residents of Louisville continued to be divided on the issue of which side to join. The "Louisville Courier" was very much pro-Confederate, while the "Louisville Journal" was pro-Union.

On September 4, 1861, Confederate General Leonidas Polk, outraged by Union intrusions in the state, invaded Columbus, Kentucky, forever shattering Kentucky's neutrality policy. As a result of the Confederate invasion, Union General Ulysses S. Grant entered Paducah, Kentucky. Jefferson Davis allowed Confederate troops to stay in Kentucky. General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of all Confederate forces in the West, sent General Simon Bolivar Buckner of Kentucky to invade Bowling Green, Kentucky. Union forces in Kentucky saw Buckner's move toward Bowling Green as the beginning of a massive attack on Louisville, Kentucky. With twenty thousand troops, Johnston established a defensive line stretching from Columbus in western Kentucky to the Cumberland Gap, controlled by Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer. On September 7, the Kentucky State legislature, angered by the Confederate invasion, ordered the Union flag to be raised over the state capitol in Frankfort, declaring its allegiance with the Union. The legislature also passed the "Non-Partisan Act," which stated that "any person or any person's family that joins or aids the so-called Confederate Army was no longer a citizen of the Commonwealth." [Beach, p. 20.] The legislature denied any member of the Confederacy the right to land, titles or money held in Kentucky or the right to legal redress for action taken against them.

With Confederate troops in Bowling Green, Union General Robert Anderson moved his headquarters to Louisville. Union General George McClellan appointed Anderson as military commander for the district of Kentucky on June 4, 1861, and on September 9, the Kentucky legislature asked Anderson to be made commander of the Federal military force in Kentucky. The Union army accepted the Louisville Legion at Camp Joe Holt in Indiana into the regular army. Louisville mayor John M. Delph sent two thousand men to build defenses around the city. On October 8, Anderson stepped down as commander of the Department of the Cumberland and Union General William Tecumseh Sherman took charge of the Home Guard, and Lovell Rousseau sent the Louisville Legion along with another two thousand men across the river to protect the city. Sherman wrote to his superiors that he needed two hundred thousand men to take care of Johnston's Confederates. The Louisville Legion and the Home Guard marched out to meet Buckner's forces, but Buckner did not approach Louisville. Buckner's men destroyed the bridge over the Rolling Fork River in Lebanon Junction and with the mission completed, Buckner's men returned to Bowling Green.

Louisville became a staging ground for Union troops heading south. Union troops flowed into Louisville from Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. White tents and training grounds sprang up at the Oakland track, Old Louisville and Portland. Camps were also established at Eighteenth and Broadway, along the Frankfort and Bardstown turnpikes.

1862-63: Louisville under threats of attack

By early 1862, Louisville had eighty thousand Union troops throughout the city. With so many troops, entrepreneurs set up gambling establishments along the north side of Jefferson from 4th to 5th Street, extending around the corner from 5th to Market, then continuing on the south side of Market back to 4th Street. Photography studios and military goods shops, such as Fletcher & Bennett on Main Street, catered to the Union officers and soldiers. With so many Union troops, brothels also sprung up around the city.

In January 1862, Union General George Thomas defeated Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer at the Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky. In February 1862, Union General Ulysses Grant and Admiral Andrew Foote's gunboats captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on the Kentucky and Tennessee border. Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston's defensive line in Kentucky crumbled before his eyes. Johnston had no other choice but to fall back to Nashville, Tennessee. No defensive preparations had been made at Nashville, so Johnson continued to fall back to Corinth, Mississippi.

Although the threat of invasion by Confederates subsided, Louisville remained a staging area for Union supplies and troops heading south. By May 1862, the steamboats arrived and departed at the wharf in Louisville with their cargoes. Military contractors in Louisville provided the Union army with two hundred head of cattle each day and the pork packers provided thousands of hogs daily. Trains departed for the south along the L&N, but in July 1862, Confederate generals Braxton Bragg, commander of the Army of Mississippi, and Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Army of East Tennessee, planned an invasion of Kentucky. On August 13, Smith marched out of Knoxville with nine thousand men towards Kentucky and arrived in Barbourville, Kentucky. On August 20, Smith announced that he would take Lexington, Kentucky. On August 28, Bragg's army moved towards Kentucky. At the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, on August 30, Smith's Confederate forces defeated Union General William "Bull" Nelson's troops, capturing the entire force, essentially leaving Kentucky with no Union support. Nelson managed to escape back to Louisville. Smith marched into Lexington and sent a Confederate cavalry force to take Frankfort: Kentucky's capitol.

Union General Don Carlos Buell's army withdrew from Alabama and headed back to Kentucky. Union General Henry Halleck, commander of all Union forces in the West, sent two divisions from General Ulysses Grant's army, stationed in Mississippi, to Buell. Confederate General John Hunt Morgan, of Lexington, Kentucky, managed to destroy the L&N railroad tunnel at Gallatin, Tennessee cutting off all supplies to Buell's Union army. On September 5, Buell reached Murfreesboro, Tennessee and headed for Nashville, Tennessee. On September 14, Bragg reached Glasgow, Kentucky. On that same day, Buell reached Bowling Green, Kentucky. Bragg decided to take Louisville. One of the major objectives of the Confederate campaign in Kentucky was to seize the Louisville and Portland Canal, severing Union supply routes on the Ohio River. One Confederate officer suggested destroying the Louisville canal so completely that "future travelers would hardly know where it was." On September 16, Bragg's army reached Munfordville, Kentucky. Col. James Chalmers attacked the Federal garrison at Munfordville, but he was in over his head and Bragg had to bail him out. Bragg arrived at Munfordville with his entire force and the Union force soon surrendered. Buell left Bowling Green and headed for Louisville. Fearing that Buell would not arrive in Louisville to prevent Bragg's army from capturing the city, Union General William "Bull" Nelson ordered the construction of a hasty defensive line around the city and the placement of pontoon bridges across the Ohio to facilitate the evacuation of the city or to receive reinforcements from Indiana. Two pontoon bridges, built of coal barges, one at the location of the Big Four Bridge, and the other from Portland to New Albany, were erected, but the Union army arrived to prevent the Confederate seizure of the city. On September 25, Buell's tired and hungry men arrived in the city. Bragg moved his army to Bardstown, but did not take Louisville. Bragg urged General Smith to join his forces to take Louisville, but Smith told him to take Louisville on his own.

With the Confederate army under Bragg prepared to take Louisville, the citizens of Louisville panicked. To make matters worse, on September 22, 1862 General Nelson issued the following order: "The women and children of this city will prepare to leave the city without delay." He ordered the Jeffersonville ferry to be used for military purposes only. Private vehicles were not allowed to go aboard the ferry boats without a special permit. Hundreds of Louisville residents gathered at the wharf to be transported to New Albany or Jeffersonville. With Frankfort in Confederate hands, for about a month, Governor Magoffin maintained his office in Louisville and the state legislature held their sessions in the Jefferson County Courthouse. Troops, volunteers and impressed labor worked around the clock to build a ring of breastworks and entrenchments around the city. New Union regiments flowed into the city. General William "Bull" Nelson took charge of the defense of Louisville. He sent Union troops to build pontoon bridges at Jeffersonville and New Albany to speed up the arrival of reinforcements, supplies and, if needed, the emergency evacuation of the city.

Instead of taking Louisville, Bragg left Bardstown to install Confederate Governor Richard Hawes at Frankfort. On September 26, five hundred Confederate cavalrymen rode into the area of Eighteenth and Oak and captured fifty Union soldiers. The following night, a heavy skirmish occurred just beyond Middletown on the Shelbyville Pike and on September 30, Confederate and Union pickets fought at Gilman's Point in St. Matthews and pushed the Confederates back through Middletown to Floyd's Fork.

The War Department ordered "Bull" Nelson to command the newly formed Army of the Ohio. When Louisville prepared for the Confederate army under Bragg, General Jefferson C. Davis (not to be confused with Confederate President Jefferson Davis), who could not reach his command under General Don Carlos Buell, met with General Nelson to offer his services. General Nelson gave him the command of the city militia. General Davis opened an office and went to work in assisting in the organization of the city militia. On Wednesday, General Davis visited General Nelson in his room at the Galt House. General Davis told General Nelson that his brigade he assigned Davis was ready for service and asked if he could obtain arms for them. General Nelson asked Davis how many men were in his brigade. Davis responded that he had 2,500 men. General Nelson angrily barked to Davis: "About twenty-five hundred! About twenty-five hundred! By God! You a regular officer and come here to me and report about the number of men in your command? God damn you, don't you know, Sir, you should furnish me the exact number?" Davis told Nelson that he did not expect to get the guns now and only wanted to learn if he could get them and where and after learning the exact number of troops he would draw the needed weapons. General Nelson flew into a rage and screamed at General Davis: "About twenty-five hundred! By God I suspend you from your command, and order you to report to General Wright; and I've a damned mind to put you under arrest. Leave my room, Sir!" Davis told General Nelson that he would not leave the room until he gave him an order. General Nelson barked: "The hell you won't! By God I'll put you under arrest, and send you out of the city under a provost guard! Leave my room, Sir!" General Davis left the room, and, in order to avoid arrest, crossed over the river to Jeffersonville, where he remained until the next day, when General Stephen G. Burbridge joined him. General Burbridge had also been relieved of command by General Nelson under a trivial cause. General Davis went to Cincinnati with General Burbridge and reported to General Wright, who ordered General Davis to return to Louisville and report to General Buell and General Burbridge to remain in Cincinnati.

General Davis returned to Louisville and reported to Buell. When General Davis saw General Nelson in the main hall of the Galt House, fronting the office, he asked the Governor of Indiana, Oliver Morton to witness the conversation between him and General Nelson. The Governor agreed and the two walked up to General Nelson. General Davis confronted General Nelson and told him that he took advantage of his authority. General Nelson, sneeringly and placing a hand to his ear, said: "Speak louder, I don't hear very well." Davis in a louder tone repeated his statement. Nelson indignantly told Davis that he did not take advantage of his authority. Davis told Morton that Nelson threatened to have him arrested and sent out of the state under provost guard. Nelson took his hand and struck Davis twice in the face and stated: "There, damn you, take that!" Davis left the room, but before he left he told Nelson: "This is not the last of it; you will hear from me again." General Nelson turned to Governor Morton and asked him if he came to insult him too. Governor Morton stated that he did not come to insult Nelson but requested that he be present and listen to the conversation between Nelson and Davis. General Nelson violently told the by-standers: "Did you hear the damned rascal insult me?" and walked into the ladies parlor. In three minutes, Davis returned, with a pistol he had borrowed from Captain Gibson of Louisville and walked toward the door that Nelson had passed through. He saw Nelson walk out of the parlor into the hall separating the main hall from the parlor and the two faced each other ten yards apart, when General Davis drew his pistol and fired, the ball entering Nelson's heart. General Nelson threw up both hands and grabbed a gentlemen, who stood nearby, around the neck and exclaimed: "I am shot!" Nelson walked up the flight of stairs toward General Buell's room, but sank at the top of the stairs. Fellow officers took General Nelson to his room and they laid him on his bed. Nelson requested Reverend Mr. Talbott to see him at once. Mr. Talbott administered the ordinance of baptism. The General whispered: "It's all over," and died fifteen minutes later. [The Murder of General Nelson, "Harper's Weekly", October 18, 1862.]

With General Nelson dead, the command switched over to General Don Carlos Buell. On October 1, the Union army marched out of Louisville with sixty thousand men. Buell sent a small Federal force to Frankfort to deceive Bragg as to the exact direction and location of the Federal army. The ruse worked. On October 4, the small Federal force attacked Frankfort and Bragg left the city and headed back for Bardstown, thinking the entire Federal force was headed for Frankfort. Bragg decided that all Confederate forces should concentrate at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, ten miles (16 km) northwest of Danville. On October 8, 1862, Buell and Bragg fought at Perryville, Kentucky. Bragg's sixteen thousand men attacked Buell's sixty thousand men. Federal forces suffered 845 dead, 2,851 wounded and 515 missing, while the Confederate toll was 3,396. Although Bragg won the Battle of Perryville tactically, he wisely decided to pull out of Perryville and link up with Smith. Once Smith and Bragg joined forces, Bragg decided to leave Kentucky and head for Tennessee.

After the battle, the massive amount of wounded flooded into Louisville. Hospitals were set up in public schools, homes, factories and churches. The Fifth Ward School, built at 5th and York Streets in 1855, became Military Hospital Number Eight. The United States Marine Hospital also became a hospital for the wounded Union soldiers from the battle of Perryville. Constructed between 1845 and 1852, the three-story Greek revival style Louisville Marine Hospital contained one hundred beds and became the prototype for seven U.S. Marine Hospital Service buildings, including Paducah, Kentucky, which later became Fort Anderson. Union surgeons erected the Brown General Hospital, located near the Belknap campus of the University of Louisville, and other hospitals were erected at Jeffersonville and New Albany, Indiana. By early 1863, the War Department and the U.S. Sanitary Commission erected nineteen hospitals. By early June 1863, 930 deaths had been recorded in the Louisville hospitals and Cave Hill Cemetery set aside plots for the Union dead.

Louisville also had to contend with Confederate prisoners. Located at the corner of Green Street and 5th Street, the Union Army Prison, also called the "Louisville Military Prison," took over the old "Medical College building." Union authorities moved the prison near the corner of 10th and Broadway Streets. By August 27, 1862, Confederate prisoners of war flowed into the new military prison. The old facility continued to house new companies of Provost Guards. From October 1, 1862 to December 14, 1862 the new Louisville Military Prison housed 3,504 prisoners. In December of 1863, over two thousand prisoners, including political prisoners, Federal deserters, and Confederate prisoners of war, were located in the military prison. The prison was made of wood and covered an entire city block stretching from east to west between 10th and 11th Streets and north to south between Magazine and Broadway Streets. The main entrance to the prison was located on Broadway near 10th Street. A high fence surrounded the prison with at least two prison barracks. The prison hospital was attached to the prison and consisted of two barracks on the south and west sides of the square with forty beds in each building. The Union commander at the Louisville Military Prison was Colonel Dent, but in April 1863, military authorities later replaced him with Captain Stephen E. Jones. In October 1863, military authorities replaced Captain Jones with C. B. Pratt. [Head, James, 155-158.]

Just a block away from the Louisville Military Prison, Union authorities took over a large house on Broadway between 12th and 13th Streets and converted the house into a female military prison.

On September 22, 1862, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared on January 1, 1863, that all slaves in the rebellion states would be free. Some Kentucky Union soldiers, including officers such as Colonel Frank Wolford of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry, quit the army over the proclamation. The proclamation and the recruitment of slaves into the Union army ended the relationship between Lincoln and Kentucky. The controversy drove Kentucky into the hands of the Democrats, who stayed in power for a century.

The Taylor Barracks at Third and Oak in Louisville recruited black soldiers. Black Union soldiers who died from wounds or disease were buried in the Louisville Eastern Cemetery.

In the Summer of 1863, John Hunt Morgan led his famous raid through north-central Kentucky, trekking from Bardstown to Garnettsville, a now defunct town in what is now Otter Creek Park. Before crossing the Ohio River into Indiana, Morgan and his crew arrived in Brandenburg, where they proceeded to capture two steamers, the "John B. McCombs" and the "Alice Dean"; the "Alice Dean" burned after their crossing.

After the fall of New Orleans and the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863, the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers were open to Union boats without harassment. On December 24, 1863, a steamboat from New Orleans reached Louisville.

In late 1863, General Hugh Ewing, brother-in-law to General Sherman, was appointed Military Commander of Louisville.

1864: Military rule

By 1864, a dark period entered Louisville's history. Guerrilla warfare plagued the state, so the Radicals in Congress took a heavy hand to Kentucky. In Kentucky, a guerrilla was defined as any member of the Confederate army who destroyed supplies, equipment or money. Any returning Confederate was considered a guerrilla. On January 12, 1864, Union General Stephen G. Burbridge of Kentucky succeeded General Jeremiah Boyle as Military Commander of Kentucky.

An important meeting took place at the Galt House on February 4, 1864. Union Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William S. Rosecrans, George Stoneman, Thomas L. Crittenden, James Wadsworth, David Hunter, John Schofield, Alexander McCook, Robert Allen, George Thomas, Stephen Burbridge and Read Admiral David Porter met to discuss the most important campaign of the war which would eventually rip the Confederacy into three parts. In a follow-up meeting on March 19, Generals Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman met again at the Galt House to plan the Spring campaign that led to Grant taking on Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Richmond and Sherman taking on General Joseph E. Johnston, capturing Atlanta, Georgia in the process. [cite book|last=McDowell|first=Robert E.|title=City of Conflict: Louisville in the Civil War 1861-1865|year=1962|publisher=Louisville Civil War Roundtable Publishers|pages=159]

On February 21, 1864, Jefferson General Hospital, the third-largest hospital during the Civil War, was established across the Ohio River at Port Fulton to tend to soldiers injured due to the war.

On July 5, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which meant a person could be imprisoned without trial, their house could be searched without warrant, and the individual could be arrested without charge. Lincoln also declared martial law in Kentucky, which meant that elected officials were powerless to act on behalf of their constituents. Civilians accused of crimes would be tried not in a civilian court, but instead a military court, in which the citizen's rights may not be guaranteed under the Constitution. On this same day, General Burbridge became military governor of Kentucky with absolute authority. [Beach, pp. 154-156.]

On July 16, 1864, General Burbridge issued Order No. 59 which declared: "Whenever an unarmed Union citizen is murdered, four guerrillas will be selected from the prison and publicly shot to death at the most convenient place near the scene of the outrages." [Beach, p. 177.] On August 7, Burbridge issued Order No. 240 in which Kentucky became a military district under his direct command. Burbridge could seize property without trial from persons he deemed disloyal. People he deemed disloyal could be shot without trial or question.

During the month of July and August, Burbridge set out to build more fortifications in Kentucky. As Union General William T. Sherman marched through Georgia, Kentucky no longer faced the threat from a Confederate army, but Burbridge felt the need to build earth works. Burbridge received permission from Union General John Schofield to build fortifications in Mount Sterling, Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville. The plans furnished for each location was to have a small enclosed field work of about two hundred yards along the interior crest, with the exception of Louisville, which would be five hundred yards. Other earthworks would follow in Louisville as opportunity and the means available would allow. All the works were to be built by soldiers, except at Frankfort, where the works were performed by the state and at Louisville by the city. Lt. Colonel. J. H, Simpson, of the Federal Engineers, furnished the plans and engineering force.

Eleven forts protected the city in a ring about ten miles (16 km) long from Beargrass Creek to Paddy's Run. The first work built was Fort McPherson, which commanded the approaches to the city via the Shepherdsville Pike, Third Street Road, and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The fort served as a citadel if an attack came before the other forts were completed. The fort could house one thousand men. General Hugh Ewing, Union commander in Louisville, directed that municipal authorities furnish laborers for fortifications, ordered the arrest of all "loafers found about gambling and other disreputable establishments" in the city for construction work and assigned military convicts to the work. Each fort was a basic earth and timber structure surrounded by a ditch with a movable drawbridge at the entrance to the fort, and each was furnished with an underground magazine to house two hundred rounds of artillery shells. The eleven forts occupied the most commanding positions to provide interlocking cross fire between them. A supply of entrenching tools was collected and stored for emergency construction of additional batteries and infantry entrenchments between the fortifications. The guns in the Louisville forts never fired their guns, except for salutes.

With Order No. 59 and Order No. 240, Burbridge began a reign of terror in Kentucky and Louisville. On August 11, Burbridge commanded Captain Hackett of the 26th Kentucky to select four men to be taken from prison in Louisville to Eminence, Henry County, Kentucky, to be shot for unknown outrages. On August 20, suspected Confederate guerrillas J. H. Cave and W. B. McClasshan were taken from Louisville to Franklin, Simpson County, to be shot for some unknown outrage. The commanding officer, General Ewing, declared that Cave was innocent and sought a pardon from Burbridge, but he refused to give the pardon and both men were shot. [Beach, p. 184.]

On October 25, Burbridge ordered four men, Wilson Lilly, Sherwood Hartley, Captain Lindsey Dale Buckner and M. Bincoe, to be shot by Captain Rowland Hackett of Company B, 26th Kentucky for the alleged killing of a postal carrier near Brunerstown (present day Jeffersontown) by guerrillas allegedly led by Captain Marcellus Jerome Clarke, who was also alleged to be Sue Mundy, a fictional character created by "Louisville Journal" editor George D. Prentice. On November 6, two men named Cheney and Morris were taken from the prison in Louisville and transported to Munfordville and shot in retaliation for the killing of Madison Morris, of Company A, 13th Kentucky Infantry. James Hopkins, John Simple and Samuel Stingle were taken from Louisville to Bloomfield, Nelson County, and shot in retaliation for the alleged guerrilla shooting of two black men. On November 15, two Confederate soldiers were taken from prison in Louisville to Lexington and hung at the Fair Grounds in retaliation. On November 19, eight men were taken from Louisville to Munfordville to be shot for retaliation for the killing of two Union men. [Beach, pp. 198, 201, 202.]

By the end of 1864, Burbridge ordered the arrest of twenty-one prominent Louisville citizens, plus the chief justice of the State Court of Appeals on treason charges. Many of the captured guerrillas were brought to Louisville and hanged on Broadway at 15th or 18th Streets. General Ewing was effectively out of the loop and often bedridden from attacks of rheumatism. Eventually he was ordered to rejoin his brother-in-law General Sherman, and has escaped many of the recriminations associated with Burbridge in Louisville.

By the November elections of 1864, Burbridge tried to interfere with the election for President. Despite military interference, Kentucky citizens voted overwhelmingly for Union General George B. McClellan over Lincoln. Twelve counties were not even allowed to post their returns. [Beach, p. 202.] In December 1864, President Lincoln appointed James Speed as the U.S. Attorney General. [cite encyclopedia |ency=The Encyclopedia of Louisville |edition=1 |year=2001 |article=Speed, James]

1865-66: War comes to a close

As the Confederacy began to fall apart in January 1865, Burbridge continued his reign of terror. On January 20, 1865 Nathaniel Marks, formerly of Company A, 4th Kentucky, C.S. was condemned as a guerrilla. He claimed he was innocent, but was shot by a firing squad in Louisville. On February 10, Burbridge's term as military governor came to an end. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton replaced Burbridge with Major General John Palmer.

On March 12, Union forces captured the alleged Sue Mundy Marcellus Jerome Clarke, along with Henry Medkiff and Henry C. Magruder, ten miles (16 km) south of Brandenburg near Breckinridge County, and hanged him just west of the corner of 18th and Broadway in Louisville three days later. During the secret three-hour trial, Clarke was not allowed to counsel or witnesses for his defense. Magruder was allowed to recover from war injuries before being hung on October 29. [Vest, Stephen M., "Was She or Wasn't He?," "Kentucky Living", November 1995, 25-26, 42.]

On April 9, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses Grant, and on April 14, Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman, ending the Civil War.

On May 15, Louisville became a mustering out center for troops from Midwestern and Western states and on June 4, 1865, military authorities established the headquarters of the Union Armies of the West in Louisville. During June 1865, 96,796 troops and 8,896 animals left Washington, D.C. for the Ohio valley, where 70,000 men took steamboats to Louisville and the remainder embarked for St. Louis and Cincinnati. The troops boarded ninety-two steamboats at Parkersburg and descended the river in convoys of eight boats, to the sounds of cheering crowds and booming cannon salutes at every port city. For several weeks Union soldiers crowded Louisville and on July 4, 1865, Union General William T. Sherman visited Louisville to conduct a final inspection of the Armies of the West. By mid-July the Armies of the West disbanded and the soldiers headed home.

On December 18, the Kentucky legislature repealed the Expatriation Act of 1861, allowing all who served in the Confederacy to have their full Kentucky citizenship restored without fear of retribution. The legislature also repealed the law that any person who was a member of the Confederacy was guilty of treason. The Kentucky legislature also allowed former Confederates to run for office. On February 28, 1866, Kentucky officially declared the war over. [Beach, p. 228.]

Post-war

After the war, Louisville continued to grow with factories and transporting their goods by train. Foreign immigrants and blacks came to Louisville to work in the new factories. Ex-Confederate officers entered law, insurance, real estate and political offices, largely taking control of the city. This lead to the jibe that Louisville joined the Confederacy after the war was over.

In 1895, a Confederate monument was erected near the University of Louisville campus.

Organization of Union forces

The following organization data is from "Tabular Statements Showing the Names of Commanders of Army Corps, Divisions and Brigades, United States Army, During the War of 1861 to 1865", compiled from the data on record in the office of the Quartermaster General of the Army, Gen. C. McKeever, 1887. [McKeever, C. "Civil War Battle Flags of the Union Army and Order of Battle". Knickerbocker Press: New York, 1997.]

1862-63

*The forces in Kentucky at times also included the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, the Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and the Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans. Part of the Army of Kentucky eventually became the Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, while the rest was rolled into the XXIII Corps in the Department of Ohio under Maj. Gen. John G. Foster.

Army of Kentucky Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger
1st Division Brig. Gen. A.J. Smith	2nd Division Brig. Gen. Quincy Adams Gilmore	3rd Division Brig. Gen. Absalom Baird
1st Brigade Brig. Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge	1st Brigade Brig. Gen. G. Clay Smith	1st Brigade Col. John Coburn
2nd Brigade Col. William A. Landram	2nd Brigade Col. Samuel A. Gilbert	2nd Brigade Col. Peter T. Swain

:*Granger's command also included garrisons at Lexington, Danville, Falmouth, Nicholasville, and Frankfort, Kentucky

----

Forces at Bowling Green, Kentucky Brig. Gen. Mahlon D. Manson

:*Manson's force consisted of what was left of the command under Maj. Gen. William "Bull" Nelson who had been defeated at the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky.

1863-64

*The forces in Kentucky at times also included 3 brigades of the 1st division, and the brigades 2nd, 3rd, and 4th divisions of the XXIII Corps which were in the field near Knoxville, Tennessee under the command of Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside along with 2 divisions of the IX Corps, and a part of the cavalry division of the Department of Ohio under Maj. Gen. George Stoneman.

1st Division—XXIII Corps Created G.O. No. 103. A.G.O. April 27, 1863. Reorganized April, 1864. Commander, Date Assigned S.D. Sturgis, Brigadier General, June 1863 S.P. Carter, Brigadier General, July 10, 1863 J.T. Boyle, Brigadier General, Aug 6, 1863
U.S. Forces, So. Cent. Ky.—1st Division, XXIII Corps Organized October, 1863. Discontinued January, 1864. Transferred to Dept. of the Ohio. Commander, Date Assigned E.H. Hobson, Brigadier General, October 1863	U.S. Forces, Eastetern Ky.—1st Division, XXIII Corps Organized October, 1863. Discontinued January, 1864. Transferred to Dept. of the Ohio. Commander, Date Assigned G.W. Gallup, Col. 14th KY. Vols., October 1863
U.S. Forces, Somerset, Ky.—1st Division, XXIII Corps Organized October, 1863. Discontinued January, 1864. Transferred to Dept. of the Ohio. Commander, Date Assigned T.T. Garrard, Brigadier General, Oct. 22, 1863	U.S. Forces, No. Cent. Ky—1st Division, XXIII Corps Organized October, 1863. Discontinued January, 1864. Transferred to Dept. of the Ohio. Commander, Date Assigned S.S. Fry, Brigadier General, Oct 1863
U.S. Forces, S.W. Cent. Ky—1st Division, XXIII Corps Organized October, 1863. Discontinued January, 1864. Transferred to Dept. of the Ohio. Commander, Date Assigned C. Maxwell, Col. 26th Ky. Vols., Oct 1863

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District of Columbus, Ky (6th Division, XVI Corps) Denominated 6th Division, XVI Corps, March, 1863. Changed to 3rd Division, 16th Corps, January 1864. Commander, Date Assigned A. Asboth, Brigadier General, January 1863 A.J. Smith, Brigadier General, Aug. 5, 1863

1st Brigade—6th Division–XVI Corps Organized July 14, 1863. Transferred to Cavalry Division, December, 1863. Commander, Date Assigned Geo. E. Waring Jr., Col. 4th Mo. Cav., July 1863 & Oct. 1863 C.H. Fox, Col. 101st Ills. Vols., Aug. 22, 1863 J.K. Mills, Col. 24th Mo. Vols., Sept. 3, 1863

:*The District of Columbus became the District of Western Kentucky, and the troops from the XVI Corps were replaced with troops from the XXIII Corps.

1864-65

*The forces in Kentucky at times also included the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th divisions of the XXIII Corps, under the command of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, assigned to Sherman's forces for the Atlanta Campaign.

5th Division, XXIII Corps or District of Kentucky Organized April 1864. Transferred to Department of the Cumberland, January, 1865. G.O. No 5, A.G. O. Commander, Date Assigned S.G. Burbridge, Brigadier-General, April 1864
1st Division, District of Kentucky Organized April 10, 1864. Commander, Date Assigned E.H. Hobson, Brigadier General, April 9, 1864 & December 9, 1864 N.C. McLean, Brigadier General, July 6, 1864	2nd Division, District of Kentucky Organized April, 1864 Commander, Date Assigned Hugh Ewing, Brigadier General, April 7, 1864
1st Brigade—1st Division–Dist. of Kentucky Organized April, 1684. Commander, Date Assigned G.W. Gallup, Col. 14th Ky Mtd. Inf., April 13, 1864 S.B. Brown, Col. 11th Mich. Cav., May 13, 1864 E.H. Hobson, Brigadier General, July 6, 1864 C.J. True, Col. 40th Ky Vols., October 6, 1864	1st Brigade—2nd Division–Dist. of Kentucky Organized April, 1864. Commander, Date Assigned S.D. Bruce, Col. 20th Ky. Vols., April, 1684 T.B. Fairleigh, Lt. Col. 26th Ky. Vols., May 1864
2nd Brigade—1st Division–Dist. of Kentucky Organized April, 1864. Commander, Date Assigned C.J. True, Col. 40th Ky. Mtd. Inf., April 1864 J.M. Brown, Col. 45th Ky. Mtd. Inf., July 6, 1864 F.N. Alexander, Col. 30th Ky. Vols., Sept 1864	2nd Brigade—2nd Division–Dist. of Kentucky Organized April, 1864. Commander, Date Assigned C. Maxwell, Col. 26th Ky. Vols., April 1864 & Sept. 1864 J.H. Grider, Col. 52nd Ky. Vols., July 1864 S.P. Love, Col. 11th Ky. Vols, Nov. 1864 D.J. Dill, Col. 30th Wis. Vols., Dec. 1864
3rd Brigade—1st Division–Dist. of Kentucky Organized April, 1864 Commander, Date Assigned C.S. Hanson, Col. 37th Ky. Mtd. Inf., April 13, 1864 B.J. Spaulding, Lt. Col. 37th Ky. Vols., Oct 1864
4th Brigade—1st Division–Dist of Kentucky Organized April, 1864 Commander, Date Assigned J.M. Brown, Col. 45th Ky. Mtd. Inf., April 1864 R.W. Ratliff, Col. 12th Ohio Cav, July 1864

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District of Western Kentucky Organized August, 1864. Discontinued January, 1865. Commander, Date Assigned E.A. Paine, Brigadier General, August 1864 S. Meredith, Brigadier-General, September 12, 1864

Civil War defenses of Louisville (1864-65)

Around 1864-65, city defenses including eleven forts, which were ordered to be constructed by Union General Stephen G. Burbridge, formed a ring about ten miles (16 km) long from Beargrass Creek to Paddy's Run. Nothing remains of these constructions. [cite book |last=Johnson |first=Leland R. |title=The Falls City Engineers a History of the Louisville District Corps of Engineers United States Army 1870-1983 |year=1984 |publisher=United States Army Engineer District] They included, from east to west:
*Fort Elstner between Frankfort Ave. and Brownsboro Road, near Bellaire, Vernon and Emerald Aves.
*Fort Engle at Spring Street and Arlington Ave.
*Fort Saunders at Cave Hill Cemetery.
*Battery Camp Fort Hill (2) (1865) between Goddard Ave., Barrett and Baxter Streets, and St. Louis Cemetery.
*Fort Horton at Shelby and Merriweather Streets (now site of city incinerator plant).
*Fort McPherson on Preston Street, bounded by Barbee, Brandeis, Hahn and Fort Streets.
*Fort Philpot at Seventh Street and Algonquin Parkway.
*Fort St. Clair Morton at 16th and Hill Streets.
*Fort Karnasch on Wilson Ave. between 26th and 28th Streets.
*Fort Clark (1865) at 36th and Magnolia Streets.
*Battery Gallup (1865) at Gibson Lane and 43rd Street.
*Fort Southworth on Paddy's Run at the Ohio River (now site of city sewage treatment plant). Marker at 4522 Algonquin Parkway.

Also in the area were Camp Gilbert (1862) and Camp C. F. Smith (1862), both at undetermined locations.

Notes

References

*cite book
last=Beach
first=Damian
title=Civil War Battles, Skirmishes, and Events in Kentucky
year=1995
publisher=Different Drummer Books
location=Louisville, Kentucky
*cite book
last=Bush
first=Bryan S.
title=The Civil War Battles of the Western Theatre
year=1998
publisher=Turner Publishing, Inc.
location=Paducah, Kentucky
pages=22-23, 36-41
edition = 2000
id=ISBN 1563114348
*cite book
last=Head
first=James
title=The Atonement of John Brooks: The Story of the True Johnny "Reb" Who Did Not Come Marching Home
year=2001
publisher=Heritage Press
location=Florida
id=ISBN 1889332429
*cite book
last=Johnson
first=Leland R.
title=A History of the Louisville District Corps of Engineers United States Army
pages=103-120
*cite book
last=McDowell
first=Robert E.
title=City of Conflict: Louisville in the Civil War, 1861-1865
year=1962
publisher=Louisville Civil War Roundtable
location=Louisville, Kentucky
*cite book
last=Nevin
first=David
title=The Road to Shiloh: Early Battles in the West
year=1983
publisher=Time-Life Books, Inc.
location=Alexandria, Virginia
pages=11-12, 42-103
id=ISBN 0809447126
*cite book
last=Street
first=James
title=The Struggle for Tennessee: Tupelo to Stones River
year=1985
publisher=Time-Life Books, Inc.
location=Richmond, Virginia
pages=8-67
id=ISBN 0809447606
*cite book
editor=Thomas, Samuel
title=Views of Louisville Since 1766
year=1971, reprint 1992
publisher=Merrick Printing Company
location=Louisville, Kentucky
*cite book
last=Yater
first=George H.
title=Two Hundred Years at the Falls of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County
year=1979
publisher=The Heritage Corporation
location=Louisville, Kentucky
pages=82-96
id=ISBN 0960327800

Further reading

*cite book
first = Bryan S.
last = Bush
year = 2008
title = Lincoln and the Speeds: The Untold Story of a Devoted and Enduring Friendship
publisher = Acclaim Press
location = Morley, Missouri
id = ISBN 978-0-9798802-6-1
*cite book
first = Bryan S.
last = Bush
year = 2008
title = Louisville and the Civil War: A History & Guide
publisher = The History Press
location = Charleston, South Carolina
id = ISBN 978-1-59629-554-4

ee also

*History of Louisville, Kentucky
*History of slavery in Kentucky
*Kentucky in the American Civil War
*Louisville Mayors during the Civil War:
**John M. Delph (1861-1863)
**William Kaye (1863-1865)
**Philip Tomppert (1865)
*Louisville-area Civil War monuments
**32nd Indiana Monument within Cave Hill Cemetery
**Confederate Martyrs Monument in Jeffersontown
**Confederate Monument of Bardstown
**Confederate Soldiers Martyrs Monument in Eminence
**Louisville Confederate Monument
*Louisville-area museums with Civil War artifacts
**Civil War Museum (Bardstown)
**The Filson Historical Society
**Frazier International History Museum

External links

* [http://www.bryansbush.com/hub.php?page=articles&layer=a0710 "Joshua and James Speed"] — Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush

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