In early October of 1861, no one was really sure what horrors the Civil War were going to bring to Kentucky.  Both Federal and Confederate forces were forming in and around the state and every man joining these organizations were chomping at the bit for their own bit of glory.  General Sherman assumed command in Kentucky with the retirement of General Robert Anderson of Fort Sumter fame and quickly set to work organizing the mess.  This mess was not at all General Anderson’s fault but…it was still a mess.

On October 16th General Sherman met with Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas at the Galt House in Louisville.  Secretary Cameron brought with him something of an entourage of reporters which, when General Sherman questioned their attendance for the discussion, Cameron said:

They are all friends, all members of my family, and you may speak your mind freely and without restraint.

That should have been a clue to General Sherman.  Chalk it up to Sherman’s exhaustion or excitement but he missed the clue and would pay dearly for it just two weeks later.

The discussion, as related in General Sherman’s Memoirs, was quite frank and direct.  Sherman laid a map of the United States on a table and explained his situation.  General Fremont in Missouri had a 100 mile front with the Confederate Forces and had 60,000 men for his operations.  General McClellan in Northern Virginia had about the same 100 mile front with Confederate Forces and had 100,000 men for his operations.  General Sherman had a 300 mile front, from the Big Sandy River valley to Paducah, with only 18,000 men and weapons that the Indiana and Ohio Governors had rejected for their own troops.  He outlined where his troops were, where he wanted more troops, and suggested just where those troops would come from.  He discussed his plans for operations, weaknesses in his line, and his thoughts on the movements of Confederate Generals Zollicoffer, Buckner, and Johnston.  He felt his position so weak that “…if Johnston chose, he could march to Louisville any day.”  Secretary Cameron was “astonished” by some of these facts.  He ordered Adjutant-General Thomas to make notes of this so he could attend to them upon his return to Washington.

On October 31st, the New York Times reported the entirety of Thomas’ report to Secretary Cameron.  The same report that would allow General Buell to build his Army that would defeat Zollicoffer at Mill Springs, help save Grant at Shiloh, and ultimately save Kentucky for the Union at Perryville(no thanks to Buell’s personal efforts).  The same report that would find its way into the Official Record of the War of the Rebellion some 20 years later.  How could such critically dangerous information find its way into a national newspaper just 2 weeks after the meeting took place?  With a room full of reporters during the discussion it shouldn’t be any real surprise but there were two others in the room as well and one of them had a penchant for story telling.

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals, offers a bit of insight useful for our purposes.  It seems that Secretary Cameron had something of a checkered past.  She said, “For years, charges of bribery and bad dealings with the Winnebago indians had sullied Cameron’s name” and “Considering  Lincoln’s ‘well known rigid adherence to honesty,’ it seemed impossible to Villard(a correspondent following the newly elected President) that Honest Abe would besmirch his cabinet with someone of Cameron’s unsavory reputation.”  When President Lincoln offered the post of Secretary of War to Cameron, Cameron asked Lincoln to put it in writing.  When Cameron returned home to Pennsylvania,  Goodwin writes “he brandished the offer among his friends like ‘an exuberant school boy.’”  With this in mind it isn’t difficult to see Cameron offering some long winded tale as one of his reporter “family members” scarfed up Thomas’ report.

Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas was also quite the character.  Gabor Boritt in his book Lincoln’s Generals appears to make the claim that Thomas was responsible for efforts to label General Sherman as “insane”.  He was arrogant and power hungry so it doesn’t seem to much of a stretch that he could have leaked the report himself.

Who leaked it wasn’t nearly as damaging as that it was leaked at all.  The New York Times is the earliest publication I can find of the report and they attribute their source to “The Tribune”.  I don’t know if that is a paper in New York called “The Tribune” or some other “Tribune” across the country.  On the same day the report was published the Times also offered an editorial where they state:

The report of Adj.-Gen. THOMAS to the Secretary of War, in regard to the condition of the Western Military Department and the manner of conducting business under Major Gen. FREMONT’S administration, which we publish in the TIMES to-day, is certainly the most remarkable document that has seen the light since the beginning of the present war. We allude not so much to the matter of the report, though that is astounding, perplexing and painful enough; but to the  fact that such a document, so singular in its details, so damaging, if true, to the National cause in its revelations of our weakness to the enemy, and so  disgraceful to one of the first officers of the country and to his aids and  associates, was permitted to be published at all, in the informal and unsustained shape of the diary of a traveling Adjutant.

So, they understood the damage this report could inflict on the “National cause” yet they publish the report anyway in a superficial effort to score some points against the Tribune:

If the TIMES’ publication of the power of the American fleet, sailing to an unknown shore, excited
the “surprise and indignation” of the Cabinet and of the Tribune, what will their verdict be on this
unparalleled exposure of the inefficiency of our Generals and their armies, and the indication of
their plans of moving through the enemy’s country?

Is it just me…or could there be a better way of dealing with this, still score your petty coup, and at least make an effort to limit the potential damage caused?

Buell’s Ploys

11/15 Buell assumes command.
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME IV [S# 4] CHAPTER XII.p358

11/16 Buell gets reinforcements from Western Virginia with the implied suggestion that McClellan “expects you will be able to organize a proper force for immediate operations in the direction of Cumberland Gap”. Buell takes immediate offense and suggests McClellan “has seen cause to curtail his discretion”
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME IV [S# 4] CHAPTER XII. p358

11/22 Buell describes his plans to McClellan with all the appropriate butt kissing. This message is a masterwork of passive aggression. He does, however, say that the East TN campaign is being prepared for and “I have by no means abandoned the idea which you put forward prominently; on the contrary, I am studying it carefully and preparing for it, for I find some attraction in it; but neither have I determined on it absolutely, unless I am to understand that the Adjutant-General’s letter absolutely requires it. If it does, I shall execute it carefull and with all my might.” This Adj-Gen letter he speaks of is the one from 11/16.
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p443

11/23 Buell, while sending intelligence on the whereabouts of Zollicoffer, breaks down and asks “have you seen cause to curtail my discretion?”
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p445

11/25 McClellan tells Buell that the move on E TN is imperative and that only an emergency should prevent it.
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p447

11/27 McClellan asks about Buell’s seeming reluctance to move on E TN
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p450

Buell responds with a well thought out, robust, simple and easy to remember plan for….Nashville.
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p450

11/29 McClellan agrees to Buell’s overall plan but stresses the importance of E TN as the primary objective
6111 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p457

12/3 McClellan again begs Buell to move on E TN
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p468

12/5 McClellan adds Piketon, where Humphrey Marshall is causing trouble, to the list of ignored imperatives
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p473

12/7 Horace Maynard and Andrew Johnson both pleading Buell for a move on E TN
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p480

12/8 Buell reports to McClellan on his plans, not a word on E TN or Piketon
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p482

Buell responds to Maynard and Johnson claiming he has “no higher honor than that of rescuing our loyal friends in TN”
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p483

Maynard sends a chilly message to Thomas about the failure to move on E TN
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p484

12/10 BG Buell writes to McClellan, again focusing primarilly on the west, leaving E TN folks with “The allegiance of such people
to hated rulers, even if it could be enforced for the moment, will only make them the more determined and ready to resist when the hour of rescue comes.” Wow
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p487

BG Buell sends a portion of Wolford’s Cav to Prestonsburg\Piketon in response to Col Moore’s note on the 9th perhaps?
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p489

AC Haun ordered to be hung for his part in the bridge burnings of Nov 7
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p754

12/17 US BG Buell lays out positions of Garfield’s BDE to War Dept
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p501

12/23 BG Buell forwards summary of activities to MG McClellan…moans about the loss of Carter’s BDE by Schoepf. “The brigade which I had organized in
the Cumberland Gap route has been partially deranged by the unauthorized call of General Schoepf on it to re-enforce Somerset. I shall reinstate it
as soon as possible.” He hadn’t TOUCHED this BDE since taking command.
6112 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p511

FHMason, 42OH, on Buell:
“This command was designated the Eighteenth Brigade, Army of the Ohio. The advanced and exposed position of Marshall offered at that time one of the few opportunities open to the Union Army to strike a direct and effective blow, and Gen. Buell, who had accomplished little or nothing, since taking command of the Department, attached no small importance to the favorable result of the expedition up the Big Sandy.”
FHMason – Pg56

1/4 BG Buell seems disinterested in East TN Campaign. MG McClellan adjusts his attitude on the matter
6201 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p530

1/7 BG Buell continues to suggest the ‘concert of action’ against the western CS Line being the most important
6201 – O.R.– SERIES I–VOLUME 7 [S# 7] p535

2/10 Buell wants to see his wub-wub McClellan
6202 – O.R.–SERIES I–VOLUME LII/1 [S# 109] p208

2/15 McClellan wishes to speak with Buell direct. A response to the plea from Buell the 10th?
6202 – O.R.–SERIES I–VOLUME LII/1 [S# 109] p212

General William Tecumseh Sherman on the state of affairs in Kentucky in October of 1861:

I was unnecessarily unhappy, and doubtless exhibited it too
much to those near me ; but it did seem to me that the Govern-
ment at Washington, intent on the larger preparations of Fre-
mont in Missouri and McClellan in Washington, actually ignored ^
us in Kentucky.

Memoires, Pg 307

August 7th, 1862 found the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry on the east side of Tazewell Tennessee in an attempt to secure provisions for the hungry forces at Cumberland Gap.  Colonel DeCourcy had started this expedition the day previous and marched through Tazewell unopposed.  I’m sure he found this strange and expected to stumble upon a large Confederate force at any moment.  Sergeant Owen Hopkins* and Private Joseph Andrews both of Company K were detailed for a little adventure that is worth sharing.  The following is from Otto F. Bond’s book, _Under the Flag of the Nation_ which is a collection of diary entries from Sgt. Owen Hopkins:

Lieut.-Col. Pardee of the Forty-second ordered the
writer and a private, Joseph Andrews, of the same company,
to crawl quietly to a high ridge covered with young shrubbery
and blackberry bushes, a quarter of a mile in advance of the
skirmish line, and to watch the Rebels’ movements and communicate
by certain signals the same to him.

He cautioned us against making ourselves visible to the
enemy and to use every care against capture, but, if captured,
to remain stubbornly reticent with regard to the exact number
of our force. We were not to fire unless absolutely necessary
to preserve our lives.

The code of signals was unique in the extreme. If the enemy
were cavalry alone, we were to get down on our hands and
knees. If cavalry and infantry both, one was to stand while the
other remained on all fours. If advancing, we were to make
a feint of retiring to the rear. If stationary, a drop of the
cap so denoted.

On reaching the designated spot, we suddenly caught a
startling view of the whole Rebel army, cavalry and infantry.
The former were dismounted at a farmhouse by the roadside
nearly a mile away, their pickets stationed a good distance in
advance at a spring, from which we could see men filling their
canteens. At some distance to the right and in the rear of the
cavalry, was the infantry force of the Rebels; their arms
stacked at the edge of a wood glistened in the sun, and the
dirty gray uniforms flitting here and there were plainly distinguishable
with the naked eye.

Keeping close under cover, we signalled all this to the rear,
where Colonel Pardee was now reading out our signals to
De Courcy, surrounded by other officers. The breaking of a
twig to be held up was the signal in case the enemy had artillery;
this also was communicated, as we could discern several
pieces of brass ordnance planted near the farmhouse.
This piece of news was scarcely necessary, for we had no
sooner imparted it than one of the guns was manned and
trained in our direction. A curl of white smoke wreathed
from its muzzle, and a shot came whizzing high over our
heads, and striking the ground in our rear, burst and scattered
dust and dirt in all directions. This was apparently fired to get
the range, and seemed satisfactory, for it was not tried again
while we were on the lookout. As near as we could make out,
the enemy were about 5,000 strong, infantry and cavalry, with
a battery of field pieces. Watching their movements for nearly
two hours, we at last saw about 200 of the cavalry mount and
ride towards us. Making the fact known by moving to the
rear on all fours, we saw our men hastily form into order of
battle. Lanphear’s battery was placed into position, supported
by the Sixteenth Ohio, while the Forty-second on the left
guarded the road leading up the valley.

Private Frank Mason of Company A, 42nd Ohio witnessed this event and writes in his Regimental History:

In order to improve his opportunities for observation Col Pardee detailed
Sergeant OJ Hopkins of Company K, a zealous and clever soldier, to ascend
a high hill to the left and front of the main position, and communicate the
results of his observations by means of signs previously agreed upon. Certain
gestures and attitudes were specified to indicate the approach of infantry,
cavalry or artillery. Hopkins climbed to his perch and mounted watch. This was
shortly before noon. About one o clock he began to display extraordinary
activity. First he made the sign to indicate the approach of cavalry, then infantry
was signalled, and finally artillery. All the signals were repeated with great vigor
for some minutes when a column of cavalry appeared winding down the road to
where Company C was posted.

I can only imagine the spectacle of these two men, well in advance of their own pickets, trying to communicate back that the whole Confederate Army was not more than a mile away from them…and then advancing!

* I’m guessing on the rank of Hopkins at the time of the Tazewell Expedition.  While Mason clearly states Hopkins was a Sergeant I like to get followup with proper documentation if I can find it.   The Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion 1861-1866 (you don’t find titles of books like that anymore do you?) has Hopkins mustering out as  Quartermaster Sergeant having been promoted from Sergeant of Company K on September 14, 1864 which matches what Mason mentions so I went with it.

It takes some work to effectively BROWSE the records but I’m not going to argue that point against them.  Having them available at all is a HUGE blessing.  Here’s how to make good use of these records.  First, click here to get to the records themselves.

Notice the page has two main blocks of information.  The large one on the right entitled “Compiled service records…” has the bibliographic information followed by a Description area which is essentially the index for the records.  An example of the contents of the Description area:

reels 1-13. First Cavalry — reels 14-24. Second Cavalry — reels 25-37. Third Cavalry — reels 38-49. Fourth Cavalry — reels 50-59. Fifth Cavalry — reels 60-75. Sixth Cavalry — reels 76-86. Seventh Cavalry — reels 87-94. Eighth Cavalry — reels 95-99. Ninth Cavalry — reels 100-105. Tenth Cavalry — reels 106-113. Eleventh Cavalry — reels 114-122. Twelfth Cavalry — reels 123-127. Thirteenth Cavalry — reels 128-133. Fifteenth Cavalry — reels 134-136. Sixteenth Cavalry — reel 137. Seventeenth Cavalry — reels 138-142. Seventeenth Cavalry — reel 143. Ward’s Independent Co. (Scouts), Kentucky Cavalry ; Second Heavy Artillery ; Independent Battery A, Light Artillery — reels 144-145. Independent Battery A, Light Artillery (cont.) — reels 146-147. Independent Battery B, Light Artillery — reels 147-148. Independent Battery C, Light Artillery –

This was alittle confusing to me at first but I tinkered and figured it out…felt like I was decoding some long lost Rosetta stone-ish thing.  Anyway, the locations of each organization’s records are separated by double dashes.  For example, the First Kentucky Cavalry’s records may be found on reels 1 through 13.  The Second Kentucky Cav will be found on reels 14-24.  See how that works?

I hear you screaming, “Yeah, I see how it works but none of that is clickable!  I WANT THE DARNED RECORDS!”

You will notice the web address for this page:

http://www.archive.org/details/compiledserv0001unit

Notice the “0001″ in the address.  That is Reel 1 or the first reel for the First Kentucky Cavalry.  Change “0001″ to, say, “0137″ to see the Seventeenth Kentucky Cavalry.  When I say “change” I mean highlight the number in the address itself, type in the number you want to see, and press the enter key on the keyboard.

Cavalry and Artillery records can be reached by first going here, then editing the number as suggested.  Infantry Records can be reached by first going here, then editing the number as suggested.  I’m thinking there are still some issues with this process but we’ll keep plugging at it.

This leads us to the smaller box on the left of the screen entitled “View the book”.  Inside the box you have two options.  Read Online and PDF.  If you click the READ ONLINE link, the records open for easy viewing with a nifty intuitive interface.  You can also get a PDF of the reel.  I do NOT recommend trying to view the PDF by simply clicking on the link.  Some of these PDFs are HUGE(well over 100mb).  Some would suggest that 100mb isn’t large but if you try to load this inside your browser curious things can happen.  Curiosity is generally a good thing but not when it comes to web browsers.  If you want to keep the reel, right click on the PDF link and select either “save link as” or “save target as” or whatever your browser’s version of “give me that file” is.  You will be asked where you want to save it…which leads me to the next item.

Back in the “Compiled Service records…” box, find the item entitled “Volume”.  That is the official name of the reel.  Toward the end of the name you will see “A-Bo” or something similiar.  That is an alphabetical range of Surnames.  If the particular reel you are interested in has more than one reel(most if not all will), the muster records will be saved alphabetically and broken into groupings based on this range.  I encourage you to save the files to your local computer using file names that include this range.  For example, I have saved the 7th Kentucky’s muster records locally and have file names like:

7thKy_MusterRecords_A-Ba.pdf

Each reel I saved I just made sure to include that surname range at the end of whatever I wanted to call the collection itself.  You will thank yourself later for doing this.

While you are planning to thank people…stop over at Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center and consider dropping some coins on them.  Having these records digitized is a HUGE benefit to the Civil War and Genealogy researchers.

Stivers was widely known in the area as a bully as was Cundiff.  Bullies like to fight their victims, beat them down, and allow them to heal so they can continue to torment them next time.  What would push Stivers over that line from bully to homicidal?

Last night as I was perusing the magnificent find of Kentucky Muster Records ONLINE (takes alittle work to meander your way around here.  I’ll post alittle something about that in a  second), I stumbled across something that piqued my interest.  I noticed that Company D of the 19th Kentucky had 11 desertions on the days immediately following the execution of Stivers.  Started wondering if any of those guys lived near or had some familial relation to Stivers so I went to the 1860 Census records where I discovered Lewis Stivers had a son, Marshall CC Stivers.  That name was familiar to me as I had seen it while thumbing through the 7th Kentucky’s records.  I looked Marshall Stivers up in the muster records and discovered that he had died in February of 1862 at London along with several of his pards from some fever outbreak.

With that in mind, let’s revisit the psychology of the bully.  When a bully is going after a perceived weaker target, the game is simple.  Insult them into action and failing that action take action yourself.  However, when a bully is going after a known other bully the game changes a bit.  The target HAS to take action first so as the bully can be the poor victim.  Both men, Stivers and Cundiff, were widely known to be bullies and fighters of the first order.  They both knew how the game was played and both understood the discipline necessary in General Morgan’s army.  Stivers, while on guard detail, had to know that any derivation from his duties would mean some level of punishment so he surely had used some restraint in responding to Cundiff’s taunts.  What if Cundiff had tried everything he could think of to get a fight on and failing all the usual suspects resorted to mentioning Stivers’ son Marshall?  Would that be enough to push a bully over the edge to murderer?

NASHVILLE, Dec. 6, 1860.

That I do not unjustly charge the Republican Party with having adopted a policy which, in its character, tendency and practical operation, is in conflict with the spirit, if not the letter, of the Constitution, can be made manifest in a very few words. One of the most important objects to be accomplished by the adoption of the Constitution, as declared in the preamble, was to “insure domestic tranquility;” and the power was expressly given to the Federal Government by that instrument, to “suppress insurrections.” The simple announcement to the public that a great party at the North, opposed to Slavery, has succeeded in electing its candidate for the Presidency, disguise it as we may, is well calculated to raise expectations among the slaves, and might lead to servile insurrections in the Southern States. If such an event, which is more than possible, should really happen, it might become the duty of Mr. LINCOLN to restore the tranquility which the policy of his party had disturbed, and to suppress an insurrection which the same policy had excited.

Senator Bell, Kentucky’s choice in 1860 for the Presidency, no doubt served up some sour-grapes in this piece but I will add it to the various other bits of unwitting prophecy on the coming years.

Even the winning Republicans had to urge for calm and “fraternal feeling”.  President-elect Lincoln was called on during the evening of November 20th by “a large procession of Wide-Awakes” to which he offered the following:

“FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: Please excuse me on this occasion from making a speech. I thank you for the kindness and compliment of this call. I thank you, in common with all others who have thought fit by their votes to indorse the Republican cause. [Applause.] I rejoice with you in the success which has so far attended that cause. [Applause.] Yet in all our rejoicings, let us neither express nor cherish any harsh feelings towards any citizen who, by his vote, has differed with us. [Loud cheering.] Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling. [Immense applause.] Let me again beg you to accept my thanks, and to excuse me from further speaking at this time.”

Mr. Lincoln was well aware of what he was facing with his ascension to the Whitehouse.  His brief, middle of the road, remarks to the gaggle of supporters showed a sensitivity that those same supporters would ignore in the coming months.

Illinois effectively split her vote between Lincoln and Douglas to no great surprise.  Kentucky thumbed her nose at her native son with less than 1% showing up for Lincoln.  The other 99% apparently not just voting against him but tossing out anyone who may have voted for him.  This from the Chicago Tribune(click to read in total):

It seems that Mr. Ambrose, on this very day 150 years ago, was discharged of his duties as Secretary with Breckinridge Coal Company at Cloverport, KY due to his support of Mr. Lincoln.  The Tribune seems frustrated claiming he was released “for no other reason than that he head exercised the right of a freeman to vote for the man of his choice for President”.    I suspect that Mr. Ambrose may well have been overly proud of his choice, the victory, and what everyone knew to be the future of the country.  Had Mr. Ambrose been in the mountainous parts of our Commonwealth, he may well have never been heard from again.

I give you the Descriptive Roll card for Sergeant Walker Garland Routt, Company K, 19th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry.

During the Civil War, if you were literate there was a very high likelihood that you would end up with some rank prior to your official mustering in.  This was because records had to be kept and officers couldn’t do it all.   We know that Sergeant Routt was literate prior to the war.  Now we have another reason that he may have been given Sergeant stripes.

Sergeants didn’t serve in the combat line.  They were assigned platoons in the company and, when in the fight,  fell back behind their platoons to keep the men in line, deal with weapons malfunctions and wounded soldiers, and to help deliver orders in the heat of battle.  Taller men were ALWAYS in the second rank of soldiers so they may see over the men in front of them.  Considering the average height of a man in 1860 was 5’6″ or so, a 6’7″ man was FAR taller than anyone else.  Even the average height Sergeants and Officers in the rear couldn’t see over a man THAT tall.  Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Sergeant Routt, while literate and apparently of above average intelligence, still wouldn’t surprise me if his stripes also came to him by way of getting him the bleep out of the way!

Cumberland Gap
July 4th 1862

My Dear Wife & Children

I have written to you every few days since I arrived at this place.  I wrote you a letter day before yesterday and sent it by Alford Wilson.  I also sent you my Likeness by him Also.  My health is fine so is the health of the Company.  there are five or six reather poorly but able to Knock around in camp.  I. W. Seale is here and will go home on tomorrow therefore I will write you a few lines by him this evening   I wrote to H. M. Lutes   I this evening got two letters from you  one wrote on the 12th of June the other on the 29th of June and I was truly glad to hear from you and the children although it appears that you had a cold both times.  but I hope that this will find both you and the family all well.  This is the 4th of July and our National Aniversary  We are firing a Salute from our 22 guns.  we have fired two salutes  one this morning   one at noon and we will fire the other at sundown this evening.  it is very pretty to see the bright curling smoke as it accends up from the guns on the hights of the Cumberland Mountain and from our vally down here in this beautiful vally.  we would enjoy the Salute much more but we had a Telegraphic Dispatch to day anouncing that Gen. McClellan had retreated thirty five miles and had (one?) gun and burned 75 waggons of his Train to keep the Rebels from getting them.  but that he had checked the Enemy and had them retreating.  the report is that the Enemy lost considerably more than we did but I have fears that is is bad enough at the best.  Old Robert Morris is here and considerably amazed at the camp life of our Regiment  I do want to see you all very bad and if any chance comes that I can get off i will come and pay you all a flying visit  If you can sell any or all of your stock off for money or good cash notes well secured it would be well for you to do it, for I do not know when this war will end.  even if it does end in a few months I can again Buy more stock for the farm and it will Greatly relieve you.  I want you to do what you think best about all that you wish to, for my return is very unceartain.  I may return in a month and I may not return in six months for there is no Knowing when this War will end.  but I hope it will be honorably ended soon.  I have sent a saddle by Russell Bayles of Jackson County near McKee  if he deos not bring it home soon I want you to send and git it and the Blankets Wrippers & Coat.  I sent a letter to you by Abner Neanl__omb(?) also my overcoat and I want you to take good care of it for me until I return home  tell Morgan that I want him to learn to write so that he can write his Papa a letter.  tell Laura that I would like to be at home and help her to eat the Honey that you took and wrote me about and tell dick that i would like to be in the yard and have a play with him in the Shaddy Grass for I Know that he is wild.  as for Philos you only Kiss him for me, and if I should never return to see his strange little face when he gets large enough and learns to read show him this letter and tell his his Father Died in the defence of his Country and the Constitution

I want you to sell all the loose property that is of no use to you and try to collect as much of the notes I left with you as posible als my Tax recipts, Fee bills, etc. etc.

Sundown.  Just now E. W. Brandenburgh came into camp and brought me a letter from you and I was Doubly glad to learn that you was well  We have Just finished firing our National Salute   our Batery fired 36 rounds  All is life in this vicinity for we have a large number of men here and it would amuse you to pass through the various Regiments and se the various Groups in their many attitudes and to hear their varied conversations  Some washing, some cooking  some cleaning guns  some getting wood  some bri___g watter   some Blacking Showes & B____  some going to and from the Suttlers shop  Some Drilling but a Great Majority lying on their Blanketts and particularly the Pickets of the previous are sound asleep  Some engaged in mending riped seams in their clothing some cleaning up the company and kitchen Quarters   some Reading the papers of the latest date    some writing and Reading letters and some Digging sinks Pitts etc   Some Drawing provisions from the comisary Seargent for their companies and various other things too Tedious to mention

if you can sell off all of your Property it would be the best and only keep enough to live on and have every thing prepared to you hand   it would not be necessary only to have a boy to feed and make fires etc.  if you should sell you property sell farming tools and all   make a clean sweep of all so that you will be troubled with any thing that is subject  to wear out or die.  I do not want you to visit me at the camps for i would not be allowed to stay out of camp and I could not bear the Idea of you staying in camp   but I will try and com to see you this fall if not sooner  do write often and oblige your Devoted Husband

E. B. Treadway

Elisha B. Treadway, Captain
Company A
7th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry (US)