Download the sergeants mess - 8th Kentucky Infantry

THE SERGEANTS MESS
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF
THE 8TH KENTUCKY INFANTRY
C.S.A. & U.S.
LIVING HISTORIANS
&
CIVIL WAR REENACTORS
January
2012
Welcome to the American Civil War
150th ANNIVERSARY 150th
A new year is here, as we begin to plan for the events coming up, we need to remember that not all can
make every event, so for those of us who can be out on the field at events this year make plans to share
your joy with others. Take plenty of photos and spread them around, as this maybe the only way we can
win the war, share it with others.
The 8th Kentucky Will take the field at several 150th events this year and we hope to make the
most of the time we have left over the next 4 years to spread the joy of the Southern and Northern way of
Life. The first event will be the Battle of Mill Springs or Sinking Creek Kentucky, in the Somerset/ Mill
springs Nancy area South East part of Kentucky.
This year there will be several groups coming together to make sure the History of our country stays alive
in the minds of all, who have the opportunity to see a Civil War Re-enactment. The 8th Kentucky will
take the field at the Battle of Mill springs with groups such as the Breckinridge grays, the 4th Kentucky
Infantry, the 19th Alabama Infantry and many more. We are all the proud to represent the men and
women who fought at sinking creek in 1863.
We arrive on Friday and spend the cold winter nights in our tents and some of the more hard core will
sleep on the ground on cloths they carry into battle with them.
The night temperature in 1863 was a bone chilling cold of around 30 and rain was all around the troops as
they fought as they had no other way of living, because winning meant living loosing meant death. We are
going to camp in the cold just as they did and take the battle field on Saturday Morning for a battle that
will continue until the later evening hours. As we fight the first battle Saturday at 10:00 am we all will be
willing to die for the cause we choose to fight for. As we meet the opposing forces again on Saturday at
1:00 p.m we will remember the many men who died that cold winters morning as we too may die as they
did.
As the day turns into another cold winter’s night, the survivors of the two battles will sit around the camp
fires and try to reason the day’s harsh ending into a reality of truth, hope, and faith that the morning will
bring relief of such despair as seeing thousands die around you. We will again on Sunday take the field
around 1:00 in the afternoon, if all goes well some of us might see home again, for others a cold hard wet
and bloody ground as the final resting place for our bodies await us.
I take no willing part in a country that will not stand up and fight for the freedom of others, this land is
ours as we have in the past and we will again in the future stand for those that can not fight for their
selves. I beg of you please do as we have done; continue to look for a day that all will be as the Lord has
wished
FREE.
THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRINGS
After marching for six hours through a cold rain that turned the road into a sea of mud, the vanguard of
the Confederate force arrived near Logan's Crossroads about 6:30am on January 19. At the foot of a ridge
a mile-and-a-half from the crossroads, the advance Confederate cavalry met a strong picket force of
Thomas' 10th Indiana Infantry and 1st Kentucky Cavalry regiments. Far from being surprised in their
camps, the Federals were on the watch, and this picket force stubbornly resisted the Confederate advance
up the hill. When they reached the high ground, the pickets were reinforced by the rest of the 10th
Indiana, and this force stood its ground against the advancing Confederates.
Crittenden advanced with Zollicoffer's own brigade in the lead. Zollicoffer put the 15th Mississippi
Infantry in line of battle advancing up the road, with his other regiments following. This force was
sufficient to push the Federals off the hill and into the woods below. However, the dawn was dark and
misty, and the Confederates were spread out for miles along the narrow muddy road, slowing their
advance. After fighting for nearly an hour on their own, the 10th Indiana and 1st Kentucky Cavalry were
almost out of ammunition and in danger of being overrun. They fell back to a rail fence bordering a corn
field, on a low ridge running perpendicular to the road. Here they were finally reinforced by the 4th
Kentucky Infantry, and this fence line and ridge formed the basis for the main Federal battle line. The
10th Indiana fell back a short distance to regroup, and the troopers of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry sent their
horses to the rear and fell in beside their infantry comrades in the 4th Kentucky.
From the main page of Mill springs Battlefield web site,
January 1863 -- Emancipation Proclamation.
In an effort to placate the slave-holding Border States, Lincoln resisted the demands of radical
Republicans for complete abolition. Yet some Union generals, such as General B. F. Butler, declared
slaves escaping to their lines "contraband of war," not to be returned to their masters. Other generals
decreed that the slaves of men rebelling against the Union were to be considered free. Congress, too, had
been moving toward abolition. In 1861, Congress had passed an act stating that all slaves employed
against the Union were to be considered free. In 1862, another act stated that all slaves of men who
supported the Confederacy were to be considered free. Lincoln, aware of the public's growing support of
abolition, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring that all slaves in areas still
in rebellion were, in the eyes of the federal government, free.
March 1863 -- The First Conscription Act.
Because of recruiting difficulties, an act was passed making all men between the ages of 20 and 45 liable
to be called for military service. Service could be avoided by paying a fee or finding a substitute. The act
was seen as unfair to the poor, and riots in working-class sections of New York City broke out in protest.
A similar conscription act in the South provoked a similar reaction.
May 1863 -- The Battle of Chancellorsville.
On April 27, Union General Hooker crossed the Rappahannock River to attack General Lee's forces. Lee
split his army, attacking a surprised Union army in three places and almost completely defeating them.
Hooker withdrew across the Rappahannock River, giving the South a victory, but it was the Confederates'
most costly victory in terms of casualties.
HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY KENTUCKY
It is believed that a party of surveyors from Pennsylvania, led by George William Thompson, first
explored the area around Triplett Creek in the summer of 1773. The first settlers of the area came mostly
from Virginia to claim land grants for service in the Revolutionary War. Many of these people settled in
fertile valleys along the Licking River and Triplett Creek. One of the first communities to develop was
Farmers, located in the western part of the county on the Licking River. It was settled by Maj. Jim Brain,
who established a hotel at the junction of two roads. Clearfield, located just south of Morehead, was
settled by Dixon Clack in the early nineteenth century and grew around his water-powered sawmill and
store. Morehead was probably the third community to be established in the county and likewise grew
around a sawmill, which was operated by Jake Wilson. It became the county seat when Rowan County
was founded in 1856.
By the 1860s Rowan County was made up of a scattering of small communities. Corn was the dominant
crop and timbering the major industry, with logs floated down Triplett Creek and the Licking River.
During the Civil War, the residents of the county were often threatened with attack by guerrillas who, on
March 21, 1864, burned the new county courthouse. On June 12, 1864, Gen. John Hunt Morgan's
Confederate cavalry camped near Farmers.
Three hundred Confederate cavalry under Col. Peter Everett passed through Eastern Kentucky in order to
attack the Union supply depot at Maysville, where, on June 14th, they captured 50 horses, 330 rifles, and
25 pistols. On the next day, near Olympian Springs in Bath County, they ambushed Major R. T. Williams
and thirty men of the 14th Kentucky Cavalry, killing eleven and capturing twelve. On June 16th, 1863,
two battalions of the 10th Kentucky Cavalry led by Lt. Col. R. R. Maltby overtook Colonel Everett’s
command at Triplett’s Creek Bridge near Morehead in Rowan County. Maltby’s men surrounded the
Confederates, defeated them, and took 38 prisoners. When DeCourcey’s 8th Michigan Cavalry arrived on
the scene, mistaking Maltby’s men for the enemy, Evertt and the rest of his men slipped away and
returned to their base in Russell County, Virginia.
Again we have before us another year of planning and the Moreheads Civil War Living History Event
will be in June during the Clack Mountain Music Festival. The above history is just some of the things
that are written about morehead during the war. As we are celebrating the 150th of the war we want to
think about having a re-enactment here in morehead, this year it would be a small one but more accurate
of what took place here at Triplett creek on March 21, 1864. If you would like to see the living history
event that we have done since 2007 please let us know come on out and get involved be apart of making
history, don’t just read about it live it.
Battle of mill springs Kentucky 2007
Battle of bean station Tennessee 2007
Battle of Georgetown Kentucky 2007