Louisville in The American Civil War - 1864: Military Rule

1864: Military Rule

Widespread guerrilla warfare in the state meant a widespread breakdown in the society, causing residents to suffer. In Kentucky, the Union defined a guerrilla as any member of the Confederate army who destroyed supplies, equipment or money. On January 12, 1864, Union General Stephen G. Burbridge, formerly supervising Louisville, succeeded General Jeremiah Boyle as Military Commander of Kentucky.

On February 4, 1864 at the Galt House, Union generals Ulysses S. Grant, William S. Rosecrans, George Stoneman, Thomas L. Crittenden, James S. Wadsworth, David Hunter, John Schofield, Alexander McCook, Robert Allen, George Thomas, Stephen Burbridge and Read Admiral David Porter met to discuss the most important campaign of the war. It would divide the Confederacy into three parts. In a follow-up meeting on March 19, generals Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman met at the Galt House to plan the Spring campaign. Grant took on Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Richmond and Sherman confronted General Joseph E. Johnston, capturing Atlanta, Georgia in the process.

On February 21, 1864, Jefferson General Hospital, the third-largest hospital during the Civil War, was established across the Ohio River at Port Fulton, Indiana to tend to soldiers injured due to the war.

On July 5, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln temporarily suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which meant a person could be imprisoned without trial, his house searched without warrant, and the individual arrested without charge. Lincoln also declared martial law in Kentucky, which meant that military authorities had the ultimate rule. Civilians accused of crimes would be tried not in a civilian court, but instead a military court, in which the citizen's rights were not held as under the Constitution. On the same day, General Burbridge was appointed military governor of Kentucky with absolute authority.

On July 16, 1864, Burbridge issued Order No. 59: "Whenever an unarmed Union citizen is murdered, four guerrillas will be selected from the prison and publicly shot to death at the most convenient place near the scene of the outrages." On August 7, Burbridge issued Order No. 240 in which Kentucky became a military district under his direct command. Burbridge could seize property without trial from persons he deemed disloyal. He could also execute suspects without trial or question.

During the months of July and August, Burbridge initiated building more fortifications in Kentucky, although Sherman's march through Georgia effectively reduced the Confederate threat to Kentucky. Burbridge received permission from Union General John Schofield to build fortifications in Mount Sterling, Lexington, Frankfort and Louisville. Each location was to have a small enclosed field work of about two hundred yards along the interior crest, with the exception of Louisville, which would be five hundred yards. Other earthworks were planned to follow in Louisville. All the works were to be built by soldiers, except at Frankfort, where the state would assign workers, and at Louisville, where the city would manage it. Lt. Colonel. J. H, Simpson, of the Federal Engineers, furnished the plans and engineering force.

Eleven forts protected the city in a ring about ten miles (16 km) long from Beargrass Creek to Paddy's Run. The first work built was Fort McPherson, which commanded the approaches to the city via the Shepherdsville Pike, Third Street Road, and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The fort was to serve as a citadel if an attack came before the other forts were completed. The fort could house one thousand men. General Hugh Ewing, Union commander in Louisville, directing that municipal authorities furnish laborers for fortifications, ordered the arrest of all "loafers found about gambling and other disreputable establishments" in the city for construction work, and assigned military convicts as laborers. It was typical of military commanders to press citizens into service.

Each fort was a basic earth-and-timber structure surrounded by a ditch with a movable drawbridge at the entrance to the fort. Each was furnished with an underground magazine to house two hundred rounds of artillery shells. The eleven forts occupied the most commanding positions to provide interlocking cross fire between them. A supply of entrenching tools was collected and stored for emergency construction of additional batteries and infantry entrenchments between the fortifications. As it happened, the guns in the Louisville forts were never fired except for salutes.

With orders No. 59 and No. 240, Burbridge began a campaign to suppress guerrilla activity in Kentucky and Louisville. On August 11, Burbridge commanded Captain Hackett of the 26th Kentucky to select four men to be taken from prison in Louisville to Eminence, Henry County, Kentucky, to be shot for unidentified outrages. On August 20, suspected Confederate guerrillas J. H. Cave and W. B. McClasshan were taken from Louisville to Franklin, Simpson County, to be shot for an unidentified reason. The commanding officer General Ewing declared that Cave was innocent and sought a pardon from Burbridge, but he refused. Both men were shot.

On October 25, Burbridge ordered four men, Wilson Lilly, Sherwood Hartley, Captain Lindsey Dale Buckner and M. Bincoe, to be shot by Captain Rowland Hackett of Company B, 26th Kentucky for the alleged killing of a postal carrier near Brunerstown (present day Jeffersontown). This was in retaliation for the killing by guerrillas allegedly led by Captain Marcellus Jerome Clarke, sometimes called "Sue Mundy". On November 6, two men named Cheney and Morris were taken from the prison in Louisville and transported to Munfordville and shot in retaliation for the killing of Madison Morris, of Company A, 13th Kentucky Infantry. James Hopkins, John Simple and Samuel Stingle were taken from Louisville to Bloomfield, Nelson County, and shot in retaliation for the alleged guerrilla shooting of two black men. On November 15, two Confederate soldiers were taken from prison in Louisville to Lexington and hung at the Fair Grounds in retaliation. On November 19, eight men were taken from Louisville to Munfordville to be shot for retaliation for the killing of two Union men.

By the end of 1864, Burbridge ordered the arrest of twenty-one prominent Louisville citizens, plus the chief justice of the State Court of Appeals, on treason charges. He had captured guerrillas brought to Louisville and hanged on Broadway at 15th or 18th Streets. General Ewing was effectively out of the loop and often bedridden from attacks of rheumatism. As he was ordered to rejoin his brother-in-law General Sherman, Ewing has escaped the condemnation of Burbridge's actions in Louisville.

By the November elections of 1864, Burbridge tried to interfere with the election for President. Despite military interference, Kentucky citizens voted overwhelmingly for Union General George B. McClellan over Lincoln. Twelve counties were not allowed to post their returns. In December 1864, President Lincoln appointed James Speed as the U.S. Attorney General.