That He May Be Forced By His Own Friends Into
That Cry, Is, I Fear, Still Possible.
Kentucky, at any rate, did
not secede in bulk.
She still sent her Senators to Congress. and
allowed herself to be reckoned among the stars in the American
firmament. But she could not escape the presence of the war. Did
she remain loyal, or did she secede, that was equally her fate.
The day before I entered Kentucky a battle was fought in that State,
which gave to the Northern arms their first actual victory. It was
at a place called Mill Spring, near Somerset, toward the south of
the State. General Zollicoffer, with a Confederate army numbering,
it was supposed, some eight thousand men, had advanced upon a
smaller Federal force, commanded by General Thomas, and had been
himself killed, while his army was cut to pieces and dispersed; the
cannon of the Confederates were taken, and their camp seized and
destroyed. Their rout was complete; but in this instance again the
advancing party had been beaten, as had, I believe, been the case in
all the actions hitherto fought throughout the war. Here, however,
had been an actual victory, and, it was not surprising that in
Kentucky loyal men should rejoice greatly, and begin to hope that
the Confederates would be beaten out of the State. Unfortunately,
however, General Zollicoffer's army had only been an offshoot from
the main rebel army in Kentucky. Buell, commanding the Federal
troops at Louisville, and Sydney Johnston, the Confederate general,
at Bowling Green, as yet remained opposite to each other, and the
work was still to be done.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 130 of 531
Words from 34579 to 34851
of 142339
