Rock Island Argus., May 05, 1914, HOME EDITION, Page 12, Image 12

About Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
The War Fifty Years Ago
General N. B. Forrest Makes a Daring Raid in West
Tennessee His Troopers Ride From Mississippi to
the Kentucky Border Union City Captured a Sec
ond Time by Forrest's Men Paducah, Ky., Invaded.
Confederates Repulsed at Fort Anderson Rich
Federal Array Stores Carried Away or Burned.
Forrest Makes a Leisurely Retreat Grant Estab
lishes Field Headquarters at Culpeper, Va.
ByCapCCEORCE L. KILMER. Late U. S. V.
FIFTY years ago. the last week
in March. Federal generals aiid
armies in the west were thrown
Into confusion by a sudden
foray of General X. H- Forrefs car
airy In west Tennessee to the Ken
tucky border. Many times previously
Forrest, with a comparatively small
fore.- had balked the campaign plans
f Federal generals at the head of
powerful armies.
In spite of the desperate efforts of
bis enemies to keep him busy in Mis
sissippi during the winter he was
ready to take the warpath by the mid
dle of March and dash across the
northern border. He had made a bold
raid from Mississippi into west Ten
nessee the previous December, and in
order to prevent a repetition of forays
s nnor!;is and dangerous for his
' tea on "tUo Mississippi General W. T-
chief was not In the habit of meeting
officers of inferior rank to himself
under a Bag of truce. He would, how
ever, send Colonel Duckworth to the
rendezvous clothed with full power to
make terms in the name of Forrest.
The colonels met and the Federal
pleaded for delay, but the rough rider
was obstinate, and the alternative be
ing, as he led his foe to believe, a battle
with superior numbers, it ended in the
full surrender of 743 men with arms,
ammunition and equipage and 300
horses, most welcome to Forrest's
troopers. Federal re-enforcementa on
the way from Cairo, led by General
Mason Brayman. had arrived within
six miles of the town when the surren
der took place.
rorrest Off to Kentucky.
Meanwhile Forrest in person, with
the division of General Abram Buford,
dashed over the border into Kentucky
rl ill S IS
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ghants new i inn iie.pq.l"ai:tei:s at cri.rEPEit. va.
Sherman had planned a movement
- . . mt I .- . . .
from Vlcksburg to 3irj.:i.in la rturu
ary. hoping to involve Forrest in the
Federal toils and destroy his com
mand. After the Sinews of "War.
But Forrest came out of the Meridian
campaign ready for new ventures, atvl
after a couple of weeks' preparation
tatted once more for west Tennessee,
fcoplng to push on into Kentucky. One
brigade of his troopers hailed from the
h:n crass region, and tner were
pressing need of clothing, equipment
ami lior.es. These necessaries couiu
fc ii.irt ttr the taking in their on
State, and thither Forrest would lead
MW of Federal guns and
bayonets guarding the long road
nnrthirsrd. Besides, some 2.000 an'
Odd recruits whom he had picked up
An ht December raid in west ipd
sessee were In the same plight and
hould be supplied in their own state
mt Kiiwrue of the enemy.
. On the 20tn of March the whole
earalcade was galloping across tne
rl doart line and sweeping nono
ward. A smalt army of Federals lay
at Memphis, a day s ride rrom i- or
resfa line of travel, but the only at
icnHnn he onid that array, which In
eluded the-caTaJry command he had
nnrht with In the Meridian anair
w m Atxci a. battalion of his rough
riders to watch and guard the roads
that- Urctlon. Meanwhile tne raia
in minmn rnshed on to the Kentucky
border, and the advance, under Colonel
TtnrVworth. BOO strong, reacnefll Union
City on the 24th. By the light of
some burning buildings onrsiae tne
yati linos Colonel Lnickworcii re-
connoltered.the position and saw bis
fo' Intrenched 'in a strong redoubt
with a force fully equally to his own.
Pmmntif lnTestln? the place be
nmnjMl Are with sharpshooters and
est Colonel W. TV. Faulkner's Ken-
tacklans on a charge up to the ram
parts. -
Confederate Bub of War.
Taolkner-waa repulsed and Colonel
Dockwortn determined to try russ
d guerre to bring about the surrender
of the post" 1tnout risking heary loss
In battle. In the name of General For
rest be demanded surrender, but the
Federal commander. Colonel Hawkins
of the Eleventh Tennessee cavalry,
had once before fallen Into their bands
and asked for time to consider the
matter. Moreover, be wanted to ta.a
witn Forrest Jn person. As be could
not produce Forrest on the spot Duck
worth replied to nawklna that Im
portant military movements on band
would admit of no delay, beoides. his
and quickly encircled nith his fleet
squadrons the town of l'iirliicsib. on
the banks of the Ohio. Inluftili was
one of the earliest posts established by
the Federal government in Kentucky
In 1S;1. and it was there that Briga
dier General General Ulysses S. Grant
bad bis camp when he set out on bis
2rst campaign.
Among the original fortifications at
Faducali the most prominent was Fort
Anderson, a work named after Major
Kobert Anderson, the hero of Fort
Sumter. So often in the course of the
war had Forrest turned his pace in the
direction of the fat lands of western
Kentucky, to say nothing of his daring
colleague. General John H. Morgan,
the Federals had gradually strength
ened Fort Anderson until Jn 1SH4 it
presented to an approaching enemy a
long line of massive ramparts, with
strong bastions, a broad, deep ditch
and an outer abatis.
Forrest was never inclined to waste
bis men in attacking strong fortlflca
tions. He often captured them, how
ever, by ruse, as bis subordinate bad
done at Union City. His favorite plan.
which had become well known to the
enemy by frequent repetition, was to
magnify his force to the opposing com
mandant and demand surrender to
"save useless effusion of blood."
At Taducah be sent a hundred troop
ers on foot to reconnoiter the fort and
with his escort charged down the
streets of the town to clear it of scat
tered pickets and' guards. His orders
at Paducah were disobeyed, however,
and Colonel A. P. Thompson, with
about 400 men. charged the fort, draw.
Ing the fire of nix pieces of artillery
and several hundred rifles, which the
garrison used with stunning effect.
Colonel Thompson waa at home around
Paducah and fell at the palisades with
in sight of his father's bouse. The fire
concentrated upon the Kentuckians
speedily thinned their ranks, and the
survivors were drawn off and distrib
uted on the roofs and in the upper sto
ries of the buildings close to the fort,
where they could fire over the para
pets. A Demand and a Threat.
Forrest Insisted that be bad no inten
tion of assaulting the fort, especially
when the Initial attack revealed the
presence In the river of two Federal
gunboats, tle Peosta and Pawpaw,
which added their Are to. that of the
garrison. It was supposed that Colonel
Thompson's death shot came from a
gunboat, nlthougb the federal report
ed that the bullet of a Kentucky negro
brought him down. But Forrest was not
the man to back out lightly after bis
men had invested the work. The sounj
ef bnftle reached him as be rode down
the street iintl. lenrnlng from bis nlds
the unfortunate result or the attack,
he sounded the bugle for parley. Theu
followed a written demand for surren
der, an exact copy of which la here
given:
Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry Corp.
ral-.icah. Ky.. March 25. ISO.
Colonel 8. G. H!ck. Commundlna Federal
Forces at Taducah:
Colonel Having a force amply sufficient
to carry your work and reduce the place,
and In order to avoid the unnecessary ef
furion of blood. I demand the surrender
of the fort and troops with all public prop
erty. If you surrender you shall be treat
ed as prisoners of war. but If I have to
storm your works you may expect no
quarter. N. B. FORREST.
Major General Commanding Confederate
Troops.
The demand was met with defiance,
and Forrest personally reconnoitered
the fortress to see if it was worth the
blood it would cost to reduce it- He
concluded that it was not, inasmuch as
his troopers bad already gained posses
sion of the town itself and the various
Btores, warehouses and stables, where
the men could help themselves to all
they could carry back to Mississippi.
The guns of the fort and the gunboats
swept the streets with shot, shell and
grape, but in the face of that the Con
federates cleaned out the government
buildings, destroying all valuables they
did not want for themselves.
All the public Btores. the quarter
master's depot and offlces. the rail
way station and a 6teamer on the
docks for repairs were given up to the
flames. While the- main force was
scouring the town for plunder Forrest
sent a band of Tennessee sharpshoot
ers with long range rifles to pepper
the gunboats In the river, and these
were speedily driven from their moor
ings to the shelter of the fort.
Bich Spoils of War.
Fcrrest's men remained In Paducah
from 2 o'clock until 11 o'clock, the
2r.th. and early on the 2Gth marched
southward with 400 captured horses
and mules, n very large supply of cloth
ing, subsistence, stores and military
equipments. Halting Just beyond the
town, Forrest sent back to the fort a
proposition to exchange the prisoners
he had captured nt Taducah and those
brought In from Union City by Colonel
Duckworth. This proposal was refus
ed. ar4 Forrest started southward In
person, leaving General Buford al
Ma.vfield to give his Kentuckians their
promised holiday in the blue grass
country. The men were allowed to go
to their homes in squads and after a
week's visit were to rejoin Buford at
the rendezvous and ride away to Mis
sissippl.
On reaching Trenton. Tcnn.. Forrest
furloughed the Tennesseeans of his
command to take their holiday nt
home, appointing a rendezvous and a
day for assembling When the tele
graph carried the news of Forrest's
presence In Kentucky to General
Grant at Washington he wired Sher
man to set all the cavalry of his de
partment upon Forrest's track and not
let him esca;e the trap into which
he had plunged.
Sherman had already nudged hH
colonels and brigjuliers to do that very
thing, but it remains to be told that lu
spite of hot telegrams and fresh bat
talions galore all over Tennessee For
rest and bis troops took things leisure
ly In west Tennessee for n week and.
gathering audacity by their Immunity
from attack, turned from their home
ward track to effect the famous cap
ture of Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi
Grant Takes Fell Control.
General Grant returned on March 2:5
to Washington after an official trip to
Nas'iville. He came by the way of
ii iiiiiiiiiimiiiiiii iiiiii rav .1' a v u bb a jom v at w ; t nunmnaw
.v t T.. s- r - - tm , mis
V?',
illllffil
Place your furs, winter garments
and valuable rugs in cold storage
THEY WILL BE SECURE FROM
MOTHS, FIRE OR BURGLARS
It is an established scientific fact that moths
and. destructive insect pests cannot live in the
cold, icy draughts of cold storage vaults. Such
is not the case with tar paper or merely cool
air repositories. To be effective the air must
be frigid.
Furs naturally retain their own brilliancy
and color when kept in an arctic atmosphere,
the same as that in which they thrive in nativ
ity. The cold atmosphere retains the natural
oils, prolonging the life of the garment.. Often
furs which have become dull, lusterless and dry
through exposure to warm temperature during
summer can be revived and restored by remain
ing for a time in cold, dry draughts.
Cold storage is equally effective for the keep
ing of wearing apparel, fine fabrics, rugs or
anything that is liable to damage by moths and
destructive insects.
ITarned and Von Maur are agents for the Mer
chants Transfer and Storage Company, Des
Moines, who have the finest cold storage plant
in the West.
In these vaults your furs are hung separate
lv, entirely removed from dust, and exposed to
constantly circulating dry, cold air kept at a tem
perature from twelve to twenty degrees below
freezing.
"We assume the responsibility for the safe re
turn of vour property. At your request one of
our auto's will call at your home for your things,
and we will return them to you when you want
them next Fall.
Here are the minimum charges for this ser
vice: $1.00 for a scarf, muff, cap or hat.
$3.00 for a fur, fur lined or fur trimmed coat.
$2.00 for a cloth coat or suit.
Inquire Third Floor.
SECOND AND HARRISON STREETS
PHONE 1023
GULEBRA SLIDE IS
NOW CONTROLLED
Engineers Who Have Been
Fighting1 Treacherous Pan
ama Dirt Gain on Nature.
Panama. May 5. Rock and dirt are
still moving down the Cucaracha slide
into the Culebra cut, but the en
gineers who have been fighting the
treacherous, slides in this vicinity are
at last gaining upon nature. Fears
that the opening of the canal. Bet for
January. 1913. would have to be post
poned indefinitely, have been growing
less each day. for the dredges and
steamshovels have been taking out the
dirt and rock much faster than it slid
into the canal.
The Culebra slide, just to the south
of the Cucaracha trouble, is entirely
at rest and it is hoped it will remain
so, but the canal engineers will watch
this treacherous hillside with some
anxiety as the rainy reason approach
es. Breaks already are showing far
back from the canal prism and these
may indicate a movement which might
any day precipitate tons of crushed
rock and dirt into the canal for the
tireless dredges and steamshovels to
remove. The coming wet season will
ie likely to locsen anything ready to
slide.
Dredging and' hydraulic operations
in the cut continue flay and night
Back of Gold Hill the hydraulic pumps
are washing away vast quantities ol
loose soil. greatly relieving the
the dirt into the canal prism. At the
pressure which has forced so much o
toe of the slide the dredges have been
busily engaged in removing the dirt
out of the channel itself while far up
the slide other hydraulic operations
are tearing at the very heart of the
hill.
Within a short time two new large
dipper dredges will be engaged. These
are the largest yet built of this type.
One already has been received on the
isthmus and is almost ready for oper
ation. At the Eame time the dredge
"Corozal" will begin deepening the
channel which now averages about
25 feet, to the required 45 feet. -
This deepening of the channel, the en
gineers believe, will be a tedious oper
tion, for the weight on the hillsides at
Gold. Culebra and Contractors hills is
constantly forcing the bottom of the
cpnal upward. It is anticipated that
this will continue until the weight on
the hillsides has been sufficiently les
sened. According to figures just compiled
there have been removed from the
canal prism between Gamboa and
Pedro Miguel, which includes the en
tire Culebra cut area, a total of 27,
000.000 cubic yards of direct with a
probable 6.000,000 cubic yards re
maining to be excavated.
The recent announcen'ent of Colonel
George W. Gocthals '.governor of the
Panama canal zone, that there would
be no immediate reduction of the wage
scale, averted what threatened to be
come a serious labor difficulty. The
unions represented on the isthmus
met and formed the Metal Trades
council and obtained strike sanction
from their parent bodies to be pre
pared for any emergency that might
arise. Xo further action, however, is
contemplated by the unions, it is gen
erally believed.
Work has begun on landscape gard
ening in the vicinity of Gatun Iocks
and dam. The top of the dam is be.ng
graded for tropical plants. The work
is being done by H. II .Reed, super-
viror of the Fourth division. It is'
planned to beautify the grounds sur
rounding all the locks just as fast as
the construction work has been com
pleted. The navigable reaches of the canal
will be allowed to grow up in their
natural tropical verdure, confined
within certain limits. Already In
many places the canal looks more like
a natural vater-course than one con
structed by the hands of men.
At Cristobal it is proposed to build
a tropical park along the lanu ends
of the wharves of the Panama rail-.
way.
Discarded canal machinery is being
sold to several private corporations in
South and Central America. Vene
zuela has had a commission on the
isthmus which purchased considerable
dredging machinery with which to
deepen several harbors. A number of
the large dredges that dug their way
through Culebra cut have been sent
to Porto Rico, where they are soon to
be engaged in harbor work. Many of
the locomotives that hauled the spoil
cars out of the cut have been sold to
South American concerns. Because
of their wide gauge they are not suit
able for railways in i'Aa United States.
II
LICENSED TO WED
J
Oscar Johnson Coal Valley
Miss Edna E. Nichols . . . Coal Valley
All the news all the time The Argua
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OENZKAIf A.BBAV BUFORD, C S. A., DI
VISION LEADER CXDKB FOBBESt.
Philadelphia. In that city his presenec
drew crowds whenever be appeared.
In Washington be began to assume
control of all affairs connected with
war movements. He says in bis mem
oirs that be bad been warned by tha
secretary- of war and by the former
pen era 1 in chief. D". W. Halleck. against
giving President Lincoln bis campaign
plans, because be was so kind heart
ed, ao averse to refusing anything
asked of him. that some friend would
be sure to get from him all be knew.
However. Lincoln bad told Grant at
bis very first Interview that be didn't
want to know what he proposed to do.
But be submitted n plan of campaign
of his own. which Grant laid aside
without comment. After three days In
Washington Grant went to the front
and fixed bis field headquarters at Cul
peper. near the headquarters of the
Army of the Potomac. From there and
not from Washington he was to direct
the western aud southern campaigns,
as well as the one against lUchmond.
All the News
All the Time
THE
4RGUS
Kansas City, Mo. Jewelry valued at
f 1.000 and $61,000 In nonnegotiable
checks, drafts, and notefl were stolen
by three hlghmaymen from a man who
sa'd he was W. A. Warren of Wyom
ing. The robbery, lie said, took placo
in the retail district shortly after midnight
r " TMS
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