TO THE MILITARY
I SUBMITTED MYSELF
The election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 plunged Kentucky into turmoil. John M. Porter became caught up in the political furor His home county of Butler was divided, but most people in the county were staunchly pro-Union. Porter and most of his family members and friends in the southeastern Butler County village called Sugar Grove, though, were decidedly pro-Southern. In January 1861, during the height of the secession crisis, Kentucky's pro-Southern governor, Beriah Magoffin, called the state legislature into special session for it to consider Kentucky's joining her “sister” Southern states and seceding from the Union. After months of legislative stalemate, news arrived in Kentucky of the surrender of Fort Sumter and of Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops to “suppress the rebellion.” Tennessee seceded from the Union and began arming its border with Kentucky after Governor Magoffin declared Kentucky's neutrality on May 20. Magoffin had not been able to muster the votes for secession. Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, and the fort at Island Number 10 on the Mississippi River—all situated just below the Kentucky border—were constructed to defend Tennessee.
Simon Bolivar Buckner, a native of Hart County, Kentucky, commanded the pro-Southern Kentucky State Guard before the war. He and most of his officer corps, honoring Kentucky's neutrality, went to Clarksville, Tennessee, where they raised elements of at least four Kentucky infantry regiments and a battery of Kentucky artillery for Confederate service.
General Albert Sidney Johnston, a native of Mason County, Kentucky, and one of the most respected and senior military commanders in the nation on the eve of the Civil War, assumed command of Confederate Department No. 2, which included Kentucky, with headquarters at Nashville, Tennessee, in September 1861. Major General Leonidas Polk moved his Confederate force protecting west Tennessee to Columbus, Kentucky, on the Mississippi River, early that month; Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant countered by moving his Federal army from Cairo, Illinois, to the mouths of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers at Paducah and Smithland, Kentucky, respectively. Johnston then ordered newly commissioned Brigadier General Buckner to move his division from Clarksville to Bowling Green, Kentucky, a key center on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.
At Bowling Green Porter joined a company of couriers and scouts at General Buckner's headquarters known as “Buckner's Guides.” Buckner moved elements of his division along the L&N as far north as the southern bank of the Green River at Woodsonville, Kentucky. Buckner was soon joined at Bowling Green by another Confederate division under the command of newly commissioned Major General William J. Hardee. Bowling Green became General Johnston's headquarters. Kentucky was the front line of a civil war, and Kentuckians were playing dominant roles in the drama.
To enter into the details of the contest for the establishment of the Confederate States of America, to speak of the causes and consequences of that contest, or even to speak minutely of affairs in Kentucky during 1861 and the four following years, would seem to be a work of supererogation. No such general features will be given here for the reason that all those facts can be learned from the history of the times; only a few words will be said, enough only to afford a starting point. All else must needs be gathered from sources within the reach of all.
The first divisions among the states, which afterwards assumed greater proportions and grew wider, occurred during the Presidential canvass of the year 1860. Four candidates were then before the people for that position. Three of these, John Cabell Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas and John Bell, had each a respectable party both in numbers and influence in Kentucky. The other, Abraham Lincoln, had very few adherents. The friends of the first three were zealous and active for the success of their respective candidates, and all were equally hostile and unfriendly to the election of Lincoln. The result of the contest throughout the entire United States left the friends of the first three beaten, disappointed and chagrined. What course were the three defeated candidates to pursue? Would they favor the South? Or, would they still cling to the Union? The friends of Breckinridge, with great unanimity, chose to lend their aid and give their sympathies to the cause of the South. A very considerable number of Douglas and of Bell adherents also were in favor of the South and her principles; others were for the Union and the doctrine of neutrality. Thus Kentucky, in a short time, was in such a commotion as had never before been, and which I hope may never again be, witnessed.1
To say that I was ardently attached to the South would be only indicative of my subsequent career. Even from the time of the election of Lincoln, and especially from the time of the fall of Fort Sumter, I had determined, in the event of war, to join the standard of the South. Surrounded in my native county of Butler by men who, by a very large majority, were opposed to the action of the Southern States, excitement was of course high and feelings were anything but amicable.2
Upon one occasion, I think it was in August 1861, the Unionists assembled in several companies at Morgantown for the purpose of drilling and receiving instructions in military tactics under the direction and leadership of Pierce B. Hawkins, afterwards a colonel in the Federal army. Notwithstanding our great minority, some forty or fifty Southern sympathizers determined to meet and drill as cavalry in the same town at the same time. Our presence upon the parade ground, within one hundred yards of those who could then be considered our enemies, was evidence that we were not being intimidated nor driven from our purpose.3
Upon the countenances of all could be seen evidence of great dissatisfaction, but their prudence bade them to beware, and no hostile demonstrations were made toward us. We were commanded by Thomas E. Puckett, an old Virginia militia officer, and at present living in Butler County. This organization was maintained for some time, but was finally disorganized by reason of the loss of those of its members who gradually seemed disposed to remain at home to enjoy the society and smile of their friends rather than undergo the dangerous consequences of entering the contest which all felt would be terrible in its nature.4
I have no word of complaint to utter against those who did not enter the army, and I have no animadversions to put down. It was simply a question which each had to decide for himself, and each did of his own volition decide the issue. I have no regrets at my course, and were the same circumstances to again arise, the same course would be pursued, conscious of its justice and rectitude, and with a feeling of pride such as then moved me.
The seventeenth day of September 1861 will long be remembered by the people of southern Kentucky. On that day, Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner advanced by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad with a Confederate force from Camps Boone and Trousdale in Tennessee to Bowling Green, occupying that place, and sending a portion of his army farther up on the railroad to Green River bridge at Munfordville. Great indeed was the rejoicing of the Southern sympathizers, and greater was the dismay of the Union-neutrality element. Many of the latter party hastily left their homes and sought places beyond Confederate control, while daily were seen the other class winding their way from all parts of the country to see the Southern soldiers, give them of their plentiful stores, and speak words of commendation. Every neighborhood was in confusion. It was not infrequently the case that persons on their way to join the Federal army were met by others on their way to enlist in the cause of the South.5
Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner of Hart County, Kentucky, John M. Porter's first commander. Buckner surrendered the Confederate forces at Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862. (Library of Congress.)
A few days after Bowling Green had been occupied by the Confederates under General Buckner, he started a portion of his army westward to Rochester, in Butler County, for the purpose of engaging in battle or frightening away a small camp of Federals at that place under command of Colonel P. B. Hawkins. That camp had been formed a few weeks previously, and the men there were actively engaged in recruiting and drilling. General Buckner advanced from Bowling Green with a brigade infantry, about three hundred cavalry and a few pieces of artillery. He headed toward the Green River and, at “Frank Jackson's,” moved on with his command by “Lewis's” and “Captain Ben Davis's” places. He halted