The Orphan Brigade: The Kentucky Confederates Who Couldn't Go Home

by Davis, William C.

  13. Lexington Morning Herald (Nov. 1, 1897); Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 452.

  14. Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 97–99; O.R., I, 30, Part 2, pp. 205, 209, 210, 212, 214, 216.

  15. Kirwan, Johnny Green, p. 99; O.R., I, 20, Part 1, pp. 972, 975; Marshall, “Deeds of Daring,” p. 474.

  16. John David Smith and William Cooper, Jr., eds., Window on the War: Frances Dallam Peter’s Lexington Civil War Diary (Lexington, Ky., 1976), p. 37.

  17. O.R., I, 30, Part 2, pp. 205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 214, 216; Jackman Diary (undated clipping); Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 385–86; William H. Townsend, Lincoln and the Bluegrass (Lexington, Ky., 1955), pp. 312–13; Davis, Breckinridge, pp. 378–79; Fred Joyce, “The Mother and Two Sons,” Southern Bivouac, II (Mar. 1884), pp. 314–15.

  18. Randolph to his parents (Sept. 27, 1863); “The Confederate Dead at Chickamauga,” Southern Bivouac, II (Dec. 1883), p. 192; unidentified newspaper clipping in author’s possession; Tydings, “Charge of the First Kentucky,” p. 63.

  TEN

  1. Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 99–100, 104; Jackman Diary (Sept. 23, 1863).

  2. Jackman Diary (Sept. 27, Oct. 10, 16, 1863); General Order No. 1 (Oct. 4, 1863), Chap. II, Vol. 310, Lewis to Cooper (Oct. 9, 1863), Lewis to Breckinridge (Oct. 22, 1863), Lewis Compiled Service Record, Emily Helm to William S. Rosecrans (Mar. 15, 1864), estate settlement (Nov. 9, 1863), Lincoln to “Whom It May Concern” (Dec. 14, 1863), Helm Compiled Service Record, RG 109, NA.

  3. Johnson to Cooper (Sept. 30, 1863), Johnson Compiled Service Record, Special Order No. 248 (Oct. 19, 1863), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA.

  4. Jackman Diary (Nov. 5 1863); Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 226, 228–30; Special Order No. 285 (Nov. 3, 1863), Chap. II, Vol. 310, Hawkins to Cooper (June 18, 1862), Hawkins Compiled Service Record, RG 109, NA.

  5. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 780; General Order No. 2 (Oct. 22, 1863), Chap. II, Vol. 314, General Order No. 2 (Oct. 23, 1863), Special Order No. 17 (Nov. 2, 1863), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 105–7; “Nondescript” [John L. Marshall], “A Fair Divide,” Southern Bivouac, I (Jan. 1883), pp. 215–16. “Captain John McGrath,” Southern Bivouac, III (Dec. 1884), p. 180.

  6. Winstead to Mollie Winstead (Nov. 23, 1863), Winstead Papers; Jackman Diary (Nov. 11–21, 1863); Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 232; General Order No. 8 (Oct. 26, 1863), Chap. II, Vol. 309, Orders Received, Morning Reports and Returns, 1st Kentucky Brigade (Jan. 1863–May 1864), RG 109, NA.

  7. Jackman Diary (Nov. 23–26, 1863); Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 109–11; S. R. Watkins and John S. Jackman, “The Battle of Missionary Ridge,” Southern Bivouac, II (Jan. 1884), pp. 53–54; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 231.

  8. Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 111–14; Watkins and Jackman, “Missionary Ridge,” pp. 54–58; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 231–32.

  9. General Order No. 6 (Dec. 19, 1863), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 117–18; Jackman Diary (Nov. 30, Dec. 15, 22, 1863, Jan. 1, 1864).

  10. Winstead to Mollie Winstead (Dec. 5, 12, 1863, Jan. 23, Feb. 29, 1864), Winstead Papers; Jackman Diary (Dec. 13, 17, 1863, Apr. 1, 1864), p. 193; Kirwan, Johnny Green, p. 118; Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, p. 558; drawings in Chap. VIII, Vol. 67, Misc. Q.M. Accounts 2, 4, 5, 6, and 9th Ky. Regts., RG 109, NA.

  11. Fred Joyce, “Dalton During the Winter 1863–64,” Southern Bivouac, II (June 1884), pp. 464–65; Joyce, “Orphan Brigade Glee Club,” p. 413; “Taps,” Southern Bivouac, I (Feb. 1883), pp. 270–71; Winstead to Mollie Winstead (Jan. 23, 1864), Winstead Papers; Fred Joyce, “Georgia Girls,” Southern Bivouac, III (Dec. 1884), pp. 159–60.

  12. Unidentified clipping in Jackman Diary; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 234–36, 237–38; “Taps,” Southern Bivouac, I (Oct. 1882), p. 83; General Order No. 9 (Jan. 22, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 314, RG 109, NA; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 119–20; “Nondescript” [John L. Marshall], “Beef Seekers,” Southern Bivouac, I (Oct. 1882), pp. 69–72.

  13. Jackman Diary (Jan. 17, 21, 24, Feb. 5, 7, Mar. 6, 8, 9, 13, Apr. 4, 1864); Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, p. 407; Joyce, “Dalton,” p. 464.

  14. Jackman Diary (Dec. 24–25, 1863); Chap. VIII, Vol. 69, p. 223, RG 109, NA.

  15. Circular (Feb. 12, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 314, Jan. 27, Feb. 8, 1864, entries, Chap. VIII, Vol. 67, Chap. VIII, Vol. 72, Misc. Record of QM Stores Issued to the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th Kys. Vols., 1864–65, Voucher No. 25 (Dec. 7, 1863), No. 28 (Mar. 31, 1864), Requisition No. 26 (Feb. 29, 1864), Monthly Report of Transportation (Mar. 1864), Thompson Compiled Service Record, RG 109, NA.

  16. Entries for Jan. 31, Feb. 21, 1864, Chap. VIII, Vol. 72, Circular, Mar. 19, 1864, Chap. II, Vol. 314, RG 109, NA; Winstead to Mollie Winstead (Jan. 23, 1864), Winstead Papers; Jackman Diary (Jan. 18, 25, 1864); Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 532.

  17. Cofer to Bruce, (Dec. 29, 1863), Cofer Compiled Service Record, Morning Report (Jan. 1, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; O.R., I, 31, Part 3, pp. 877–78, 32, Part 2, pp. 520–21.

  18. Breckinridge, Buckner, Morgan, and Lewis to Davis (Jan. 15, 1864), Jefferson Davis Collection, Tulane University Library, New Orleans; O.R., I, 32, Part 2, pp. 621, 714, 727; Jackman Diary (Feb. 11, 1864), 1892 newspaper clipping; New York Times (Feb. 28, 1864); General Order No. 10 (Feb. 11, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; Young, Reminiscences, p. 90.

  ELEVEN

  1. Special Order No. 28 (Nov. 30, 1863), No. 36 (Mar. 29, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, Special Order (Feb. 4, 8, Mar. 14, 16, 1864), General Order No. 25 (Feb. 19, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 314, RG 109, NA; unnumbered special order (Jan. 28, 1864), Winstead Papers; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 394.

  2. Circular (Feb. 4, 10, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 314, RG 109, NA; Jackman Diary (Mar. 22, 23, Apr. 7, 1864); Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 239; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 121–22.

  3. Circular (Apr. 24, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 314, RG 109, NA; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 240–42, 268, 269.

  4. Undated clippings (May 7, 1864), Jackman Diary; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 23–24; Morning Report (May 1, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA.

  5. Jackman Diary (May 7–14, 1864); John S. Jackman, “From Dalton to Atlanta,” Southern Bivouac, I (May–June 1883), pp. 319–24; Fred Joyce, “A Hot May-Day at Resaca,” Southern Bivouac, II (Nov. 1884), pp. 500–1; obituaries of David C. Walker furnished by Grace E. Drake, Franklin, Ky.; Fred Joyce, “A Kitten in Battle,” Southern Bivouac, II (July 1884), pp. 522–23; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 128–29.

  6. Jackman Diary (May 16–25, 1864); O.R., I, 38, Part 3, p. 686; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 251–52.

  7. Jackman Diary (May 26–29, 1864); John S. Jackman, “From Dalton to Atlanta, II,” Southern Bivouac, I (July 1883), pp. 415–19; Fred Joyce, “Scenes at Dallas,” Southern Bivouac, II (May 1884), pp. 376–78; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 132–33; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 268, 445, 502–3, 573, 607, 730; O.R., I, 38, Part 3, p. 687.

  8. Jackman Diary, May 29–June 14, 1864; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 135–36; John S. Jackman, “From Dalton to Atlanta, III,” Southern Bivouac, I (Aug. 1883), pp. 456–58.

  9. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 260, 270–72, 470.

  10. Morning Reports (May 7, June 8, 26, July 7, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, J. B. Eustis to Lewis (June 21, 1864), Wickliffe Compiled Service Record, RG 109, NA; “Taps,” Southern Bivouac, I (Feb. 1883), p. 270; “Taps,” Southern Bivouac, II (Nov. 1883), p. 139; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 226, 735; Winstead to Mollie Winstead (June 28, 1864), Winstead Papers.

  11. Kirwan, Johnny Green, p. 142; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 260–61.

  12. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 261–62, 272–73, 476–77; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 147–50; “Taps,” Southern Bivouac, I (Jan. 1883), p. 223; Morning Report (July 27, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA.

  13. Grainger, Boys in Gray, pp. 19–21; O.R., I, 52, Part 2, p. 718.

  14. Morning Report (Aug. 7, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 265–66,
273, 274, 398, 436; O.R., I, 38, Part 3, p. 321, Vol. 52, Part 2, pp. 726–27; H.H., “Color-Bearer of the Fourth Kentucky Infantry,” Southern Bivouac, III (Feb. 1885), p. 255; Joyce, “Chaplains of the Fourth Kentucky,” p. 118; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 154–57; Grainger, Boys in Gray, pp. 19–20.

  15. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 29, 266–68, 273, 780, 848; O.R., I, 38, Part 1, pp. 171, 645, 655, 674, 811, Part 3, p. 696; Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, p. 470; Grainger, Boys in Gray, pp. 20–21; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 157–61; Morning Reports (May 7, Aug. 7, Sept. 6, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; N. S. Shaler, “Nature and Man in America, Third Paper,” Scribner’s Magazine, VIII (Nov. 1890), p. 654.

  TWELVE

  1. Fred Joyce, “From Infantry to Cavalry,” Southern Bivouac, III (Dec. 1884), p. 161.

  2. Ibid., p. 161; Special Field Order No. 96 (Sept. 4, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 269.

  3. Joyce, “Infantry to Cavalry,” pp. 161–62; statements (Oct. 1–31, 1864), Chap. VIII, Vol. 67, Circular (Oct. 27, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 314, RG 109, NA; Joyce, “Silent Man,” p. 77; Marshall, “Heel and Toe, II,” p. 304; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 270, 281; Kirwan, Johnny Green, p. 171.

  4. Morning Reports (Sept. 15, Oct. 1, Nov. 1, 1864), Chap. II, Vol. 310, RG 109, NA; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 283, 392.

  5. Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, p. 404; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 281–82; Fred Joyce, “From Infantry to Cavalry, No. III,” Southern Bivouac, III (Feb. 1885), pp. 252–54.

  6. O.R., I, 44, pp. 81, 382, 881, 888, 907, Vol. 53, pp. 33–34; Fred Joyce, “From Infantry to Cavalry, No. IV,” Southern Bivouac, III (Mar. 1885), pp. 299–300; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 635.

  7. O.R., I, 44, pp. 922–23, 961, 965, Vol. 45, Part 2, p. 669; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 24.

  8. Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 179–80; Jackman Diary (Dec. 25, 1864); Joyce, “Infantry to Cavalry,” p. 301.

  9. Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, pp. 404–5, 407; “Swift Justice,” Southern Bivouac, III (Jan. 1885), p. 214; undated clipping in Jackman Diary; Thomas Owens, “Standing Picket in a Georgia Swamp,” Southern Bivouac, I (Apr. 1883), pp. 330–32; “Taps,” Southern Bivouac, I (Oct. 1882), p. 85; Marshall to Breckinridge (Feb. 23, 1865), Hawkins Compiled Service Record, RG 109, NA.

  10. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 25–26, 392, 664; Special Order No. 110 (Dec. 29, 1864), Lewis Compiled Service Record, General Order (Jan. 17, 1865), Chap. II, Vol. 314, unnumbered, undated entry in Chap. VIII, Vol. 72, RG 109, NA; Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, p. 359; O.R., I, 47, Part 2, pp. 1,072, 1,149–50.

  11. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 660, 666, 694, 701; John L. Marshall, “Captain William Lashbrook,” Southern Bivouac, I (Feb. 1883), pp. 247–48.

  12. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 291–93; “Taps,” Southern Bivouac, I (Oct. 1882), p. 83; Joyce, “Orphan Brigade Glee Club,” pp. 414–15; Fred Joyce, “From Infantry to Cavalry, No. II,” Southern Bivouac, III (Jan. 1885), p. 222; Jackman Diary (Dec. 11, 23, 1864, Jan. 1, 10, 13, Feb. 1, 1865); Kirwan, Johnny Green, p. 188.

  13. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 283, 602; T. H. Ellis, “Columbia—As Seen by a Rebel Scouting Party the Day After Sherman’s Evacuation,” Southern Bivouac, I (Oct. 1882), pp. 74–78.

  14. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 24, 283, 436–37, 477; Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, p. 470; O.R., I, 47, Part 3, p. 716; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 192–93.

  15. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 285, 290, 394, 789; Joyce, “Silent Man,” p. 77; obituary in Joseph H. Lewis Scrapbook; Louisville Post (Jan. 30, 1908); Kirwan, Johnny Green, p. 194.

  16. Joyce, “From Infantry to Cavalry, No. IV,” p. 301; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 195–96; P. M. B. Young to Lewis (May 2, 1865), Joseph H. Lewis Scrapbook; O.R., I, 49, Part 2, pp. 603–4.

  17. Jackman Diary, pp. 177–81, 193–94; Beth G. Crabtree and James W. Patton, eds., “Journal of a Secesh Lady”: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, 1860–1866 (Raleigh, N.C., 1979), p. 672; Kirwan, Johnny Green, p. 196; Davis, Breckinridge, pp. 497–98, 522–24; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 395, 842; Thompson, First Kentucky Brigade, pp. 370–71.

  THIRTEEN

  1. Lewis to G. Whipple (June 27, 1865), Lewis Compiled Service Record, RG 109, NA; Jackman Diary, pp. 181–83; Kirwan, Johnny Green, pp. 197–207.

  2. Grainger, Boys in Gray, pp. 42–43; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 1,048–49.

  3. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 450, 477–79, 490–91, 532, 829, 1,048–54; Louisville Courier-Journal (June 14, 1920); Louisville Times (June 14, 1920).

  4. Davis, Breckinridge, pp. 590–92, 613–14.

  5. John H. Weller, “The Confederate Dead at Chickamauga,” Southern Bivouac, II (Dec. 1883), p. 192; Thompson, Orphan Brigade, pp. 325–26.

  6. Thompson, Orphan Brigade, p. 840; undated cards in Jackman Diary; “The Southern Bivouac,” Southern Bivouac, III (May 1885), pp. 424–26.

  7. Clippings in Jackman Diary; “Letter from Fred Joyce, Company D, Fourth Kentucky Infantry,” Southern Bivouac, II (Sept. 1883), p. 31; “Third Reunion of the Kentucky Brigade,” Southern Bivouac, III (Nov. 1884), pp. 120–21.

  A Note on the Sources

  IT IS QUITE SURPRISING when dealing with an organization as large and as literate as the Orphan Brigade to discover a relative dearth of source materials. Only two bona fide diaries and one small collection of soldier letters are known to exist. Surely more are lurking somewhere, but an extensive search of Kentucky has failed to reveal them. How unusual this is when compared to the fact that more than four thousand Kentuckians served with the brigade, and that so many of them were writers and prominent individuals both before and after the war. The lack of letters, however, is probably explained by the fact that the Confederate postal service could not operate in Kentucky, and letters home had to go through Union lines and the federal post via flag of truce and a very circuitous route. Most probably never reached their destinations and were lost in transit.

  How fortunate we are, then, that the sources that are available on the organization are of such uniformly superior quality. With only a few exceptions, the materials for studying the 1st Kentucky Brigade are of a character decidedly better and more reliable than those extant for any other similar unit in the Confederate Army. What follows are comments designed to illuminate the particular features of the more important sources, after which appears an accounting of all sources used in writing this book.

  By far the most valuable single source for the Orphan Brigade is the collection of its official papers that Fayette Hewitt gave to the United States War Department in 1887 when that agency was compiling its mammoth Official Records. It is unique among the records of Confederate commands. The collection consists of twenty bound volumes of morning reports, orders and circulars, telegrams, copies of letters sent and received at brigade headquarters, records of details and furloughs, hospital reports, and quartermaster and clothing accounts. They now reside in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., designated as Chapter II, Volumes 305–17, Chapter VI, Volume 663, and Chapter VIII, Volumes 67–72, in Record Group 109. In addition to the bound volumes, Hewitt turned over thousands of pieces of individual correspondence, reports, courts-martial statements, and the like. Much of this material is now filed in the individual compiled service records of the generals, staff, officers, and men of the brigade, also in Record Group 109. The cumulative picture that this mass of official records presents is invaluable to understanding not only the formal service of the Orphans, but also their human element.

  Unfortunately, the yield is not so bountiful when one seeks the personal papers of the Orphans. Simon Buckner’s Papers at the Huntington Library provide little. Numerous collections of John C. Breckinridge Papers, particularly those at the Chicago Historical Society, the Huntington Library, and the New-York Historical Society add a little more, as do the Breckinridge Family Papers at the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, the bulk of Breckinridge’s war papers burned in a house
fire in Lexington in the early 1870s. We are fortunate in a splendid collection of Roger W. Hanson Letters at the Library of Congress, almost all relating to his term as a prisoner of war. Yet within them is much of “Old Bench-leg’s” spirit, and some good comment on his 2d Kentucky. Joseph H. Lewis’ papers, too, went up in flames, but a scrapbook of his does survive in the possession of his granddaughter, Helene Lewis Gildred of San Diego. The one set of letters mentioned previously are the Thomas Winstead Papers in the possession of Mr. Thomas D. Winstead of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Though they contain relatively little about the doings of the brigade, still their very rarity makes them invaluable, particularly for their picture of the anguish one Kentuckian suffered over his defenseless family at home.

  Next in importance are the unit histories, a field dominated, of course, by Ed Porter Thompson’s History of the First Kentucky Brigade and History of the Orphan Brigade. Both are monumental works, and in the main far more accurate than most Civil War unit histories, thanks to a thorough grounding in the brigade’s official papers. Their actual narrative portions are somewhat lackluster, being frequently long verbatim extracts from official reports. What sets them apart, however, are the rich wealth of anecdote and story scattered throughout. In the later volume, these are gathered at the ends of the appropriate chapters, but still one must glean the individual soldier sketches that make up the bulk of the book, for Thompson buried much there as well. Also, though the 1898 work is chiefly an expansion of the 1868 volume, there is still some excellent material in the earlier book that he omitted in its successor. Both must be used in tandem.

  George B. Hodge’s 1874 Sketch of the First Kentucky Brigade is largely a revision of a series of articles he published in Land We Love in 1867–68. No attempt is made at official history. Rather, it is a largely personal memoir that ends at Shiloh. It devotes considerable space to Breckinridge and Morgan, and gives an excellent account of the retreat from Bowling Green. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Henry George’s History of the 3d, 7th, 8th, and 12th Kentucky, C.S.A., published in 1911. The portion of it that recounts the brief service of the 3d and 7th Kentucky infantries with the Orphans is chiefly plagiarized from Hodge and Thompson. Much better is Basil W. Duke’s A History of Morgan’s Cavalry, published in 1867. This provides excellent material on the background of Confederate Kentuckians, Camp Boone, Hanson, and Breckinridge, and particularly of the Orphans’ part at Hartsville.