Jackson Purchase Confederate
In The Civil War
Berry Craig
During the Civil War, the Jackson Purchase region Was
whelming ly Southern in sentiment while, for the most part, the
Kentucky rem ained loyal to the Union. In fact, the Pu rchase
on ly region in the state where the vast majori ty of the people
secession. Because of its Southern sym path y, the region, which
the Civil War encompassed Ballard, Calloway, Fulton, urave,
man, Marshall and McCracken counties, became known
Carolina of Kentucky.'"
The intense Southernism of the Jackson Purchase was
clearly in the number of volunteers the region furnis hed
federate Army. Th e Purchase gave up more men to the
A rmy and fewer men t o the Federa l A rmy than any other part
tucky. Approx imately 5,500 Confederate volun teers were raised
seven counties as opposed to on ly 650 Fed era ls. 2
About 850 Confederate soldiers and 124 Federal soldiers
recru ited in Ballard Co un ty. From Calloway County, 900 men
the Confederate Army, but forty -seve n men fought for
Army. Fulton County sent approximately 450 Confederate SOld"...
one Federal soldier to the War. Nearly 1ADO men volu nteered
Confederate Army from Graves County while 156 chose the
Army. Six hundred Hi ckma n countians wore the Confederate
only eleven donned the Federa l blue. In Marsha ll County,
volunteers left for the Confederate side and 221 enlisted in th e
ranks. Fina lly, 900 McCracken countians ioined the Confederate
and eighty-eight wen t with the Federa l Arm y.3
Aside from the Ja ckson Pu rchase, on ly seven other
counties gave up considerab ly more Confed erate than Union
Abou t 2, 100 Confederate and 608 Federal volun teers were
livingston, Trigg, Union a nd Webster counties of western
while nearly 1,600 Confederates and 352 Federa ls were sworn
Scott and Owen counties in the Bluegrass reg ion. Logan County,
tobacco rich Penn yroya l region , furnished about 1,000 Ccmtedercltes
408 Federa ls.4 The remaining ninety-si x counties of
app roximately 20,000 soldi ers to the Confederate Army
60,000 soldiers to the Federal Army'
The first Confederate soldiers were recruited in the Jackson
chase shortly after th e firing on Fort Sumter in mid- April 1861
April 22 Confederate Secretary of War l eroy Pope Walke r asked
tucky Governor Beriah Magoffin to send an infantry regiment to
Ferry, Virginia .· But Magoflin , on April 15, had refused a ca ll
Pres ident lincoln for fou r Kentucky regiments and he li kew ise
Wa lker's request. Nevertheless, about 1,000 Kentuckia
228 men from the Purchase, responded to the Confederate Secre,tary
4
wr.. In mid-May, th ~se men arri ved at Harper's Ferry, we re or-
.
thel~ ~d into ten infa nt ry companies and muste red into service as the
ga nl' ntucky Infantry Regiment.'
First Ke
The purcha se sol~iers were raised .by Edward C:ossland, a former
presentative, In Fulton and Hickman counties and by C. C.
state ar~ in Calloway County. Crossland's 124 men, the "Alexander
BOW
r " became company " E" and Bowman's 104 men became com-
d
Guo ::F "8
pOny .
At MoscOW, Kentucky, Crossla nd's men were presented a Cono te flag by a Miss Nannie Wi lson on beha lf of the women of
rif~~ County. Evide ntl y Miss Wilson was a genuine Southern belle, as
FtJ of those present wrote:
one
··1 ha ve often been dazzled by th e blaze of beauty, but never
before beheld such perfect lovel iness. All the harmon y of
form and of soul was personi fied in this fa ir creature w ith
sweet patrioti c lips, whose color mocks the rose. Rich, ripe,
and teeming with the dews of bliss.'"
After deli ve ring a patriotic speech, Crossland received the flag. to Such
was the way men sometimes marched off to war in 186 1,
In May and June, Confederate recruitin g in the Jackso n Purchase
momentu m . Four companies, numbering about 400 men, we re
organized.
Drew A. Outlaw and a band of Hickman countians went to Union
City, Tennessee, and enlisted as company "K" of the Twel~h Tennessee
Infantry Reg iment. However, soo n after the battle of Shiloh, Outlaw
and his men were tran sferred to the Thi rd Kentucky Infantry Regiment.ll
gal·ned
A company raised in McCracken County and southern Illinois by
Thorndike Brooks and H. B. Cunningham was sworn i~ at Union .City as
company "G" of the Fifteenth Tennessee Inf?ntry Regi ment. D~n~~ the
Civil War, the Fifteenth Tennessee fou ght In nearly every Significant
bottle in the western theater, including Belmont, Shiloh, Stone 's Ri ve r,
Chickamauga, Cha ttanooga and th e At lanta Campaign. The regiment
laid down its arms a t Greensboro, North Carolina, on May 1, 1865, as
part of Genera l Joseph E. Johnston 's army.l2
Henry Clay King of Memphis, but form erly of Paducah, raised a
company in his native McCracken County. Th ese men, known as the
"Pillow Guards Number Two" entered service as company "K" of the
Twenty-first Tennessee Infantry Regiment. However, in September 1861,
on the orde r of General Leonidas Polk, the company was detached , and
along with t hree other companies recru ited in th e Jackso n Purchase,
became King's cava lry battal ion. 13
The "Mag offin Guards, " raised in Fulton Co unty and southern
Illinoi s by Frank Marberry, we re ass ig ned to the Fifth Tennessee Infant ry
as company " L." The Fifth Infan try, organized at Pa ris, Ten nessee, also
fought in most of the western battles a nd surrendered at Greensboro
with Johnston's army.14
5
In July 1861 approximately 2,200 volunteers left the
the Confederote Army. Colonel Lloyd Tilghma n of Paduca h led
man battalion of Kentucky State Guards (state militia) to Camp
near Clarksville, Tennessee. Tilghman, a West Poin t
Mexican War veteran, had resigned his Federal commission to
for the Confederate Army and his men eagerly enlisted. l5
At Camp Boone, the main en li stment point for Confederate
teers from throughout Kentucky, the Guardsmen were joined by
body of Purchase recru its and formed into nine infantry co rnDan;;~
th em was added a Lyon County artillery company
Captain, and later General, Hylan 8. Lyon . Like Tilghman, Lyon
West Pointer and State Guard officer. In addition, he was the
of Revolutionary War hero and Kentucky Congressman Matthew
These ten western Kentucky companies became the Third
Infantry Regiment . However, Lyon 's co mpany soon was de·tach ..~ .
organized as an independent artillery battery. But
comma nd of his battery to Robert Cobb and then joined Conm·...
Henry C. Burnett of Trigg County in raising the Eighth
fantry Regiment. Cobb's battery became one of the most
artillery units in the Army of Tenne ssee.
Tilghman was elected colone l of the Th ird Kentucky, but in
1861 he was promoted to brigadier-general and placed in corm n'n.
d Hicl:m m.l countians became com pa ny "A" of the Se:ond Kentucky
anf ntry Regiment and Slayden 's 146 men formed company " D" of the
In ~e reg iment18 In Februa ry 1862 the Second Kentuc ky was captured
,a the battle of Fort Donelson and, in 1863, the regiment was ex ~anged for Federal. prisoners of war. The Second fought with the Arm y
f Tennessee at ChICkamauga, Chatttanooga and in the Atlanta cam.
ooig n. In 1865, after serving for a time as mounted infantry, the men
~f the Second Kentucky surrendered in Georgia. 19
Also in July 1861 , Wi lliam Lindsey and a party of Fulton and
Hickman countian s crossed into Tennessee and enlisted as company " F"
of the Twenty:secon d Tennessee Infantry Regiment. But in May 1862,
lindsey and hrs men were transferred to the Third Kentucky as company
"M,""
In September 1861 Camp Henry C. Burnett was laid out in Hickman County as a recruiting point for Confedera te volunteers. There th e
Seventh Ken tucky Infantry Regiment, numbering approximately 1,200
men , was raised by Charles Wick liffe, a former state representative
from Ballard County and W . O. lannom, a former state representative
from Hickman County.
The Seventh Kentucky fought at Sh iloh , Baton Rouge, and Corinth
and in 1864, along with the Third Kentucky, was mou nted and ass igned
to Forrest's cavalry. It rema ined with Forrest until the close of the war.21
Fort Henry, an important Confederate defensive position on
nessee River. At this time, Albert P. Thompson, a prominent
lawyer, became colonel of the regiment. 16
fulton and Graves County. Company "B" was ra ised in Hickman County
The Third Kentucky fought in the battles of Shiloh,
countians made up compa ny " 0 " an d Graves countians company " E. "
Company "A" of the Seventh Kentuc ky conta ined men mostly from
whi le Ballord County contributed company
"c."
Marshall and Ca lloway
Baton Rouge; in 1864 the regiment was mounted and put
Company " F" was also from Ballard County while company "G" was
command of the Confederate "Wizard of the Saddle," General
Bed ford Forrest. In June 1864 the Third Kentucky participated
battle of Brice 's Crossroads, Mississippi, Forrest's greatest trium
roised in Calloway County. A party of Graves County men mustered in
os compan y " H" and a group of men from fulton County enrolled as
company " I. " A band of men from Desha County, Arkansas, was added
fought on with him to the end of the wa r,
to the Seventh Kentucky as company "K," However, the Razorbacks
soon were as signed to the Thirteenth Arkansas Infantry and were re.
Company "A" of the Third Kentucky was recruited in
County and company " B," " The Lovelacevi lle Rifl es," was
men from Ballard, Graves and McCracken Counties. Companies
" 0" comprised McCracken countians, while Graves countians
company " E." At first, Lyon's battery formed company " F."
organization as an independent command in 1861, the ba·tter",
replaced by an infantry company until th e spring of 1864. At
the second company " F" was for med from a g roup of 88 Ballard
recruits. The men of company "G " come fro m Marshall
company "H" was recruited in Calloway County. A band
countians made up company "I" while company "K" lin keepi
military custom there was no company "J" in a Civil War
regiment on either side) was raised in McCracken County.17
While the Third Kentucky was being formed up, James Moss
his "Columbu s Rifles" showed up at Cam p Boone and Lewi s
arri ved with a group of Gra ves County vo lunteers. Moss' 180
6
placed by C. P. Ray 's Ballard Co un ty company. Ray and his men had
enlisted in the First Mississippi Valley Infantry Regiment. 22
Throug hou t the fall of 1861 , the Jackson Pu rch a se continued to
fumish vo lunteers for th e Confederate Army. R. H. Fristoe and a band
of 117 Graves countians became company " C" of the Eighth Kentucky
I'fantry Regiment'3 The Eighth Kentucky was captured at Fort Donelson
and was exchanged th e next year. Then, in 1864, the regiment, along
with the Third and Seventh Kentucky, was mou nted and pu t under
Forrest. And li ke the Third and Seventh regiments , th e Eighth Kentucky
fought wrth the celebrated cavalry general for the remainder of the
wor.24
Also in September 1861 , Camp P. G. T. Beaureg ard, named for
the Confederate hero of Fort Sumter, was con structed near fel iciana, in
south Graves County. The camp served as a recruiting station and was
also a sort of halfway point between the strong Confederate positions
7
At Camp Beauregard, three companies, recruited in
Graves and McCracken Counties, were added to Henry
63 W, W. Faulkner gathered 750 Purchase volun teers and organized
18 m' with a number of west Tennesseans to form the Twelfth Kentucky
tn e ' Iry Regiment.2'
Cava
company "A" of the Twelfth Kentucky was raised in Calloway,
company to for m King's cavalry battalion , In April 1862
battalion, a lso known as "King 's Hell Hounds, " was o,!~a lnized
ft.l e counties a nd from Obion, Mad ison and Weakley Counties in
at Columbus on the Mississippi River and Forts Henry and
the Tennessee and Cumberland Ri vers.
Ito n and Graves Coun ties while company " B" contained men from the
four Tennessee companies and two Alabama compa nies
satTlnessee. Company "C" included men from Gra ves, Obion, Madison
the First Confederate Cavalry Regiment, The reg iment,
fer red to as the Twelfth Confederate Cavalry, was ass igned to
Joseph Wheeler's cavalry and fought at Perryville, Stone 's Rive r,
Ted Weakley Counties. Volunteers from 8allard , Hickman and
~cCrocken Coun ti es and from several west Ten nessee counties formed
mpany "D." Ballard, Gra ves, Hickman, Marshall, Obion and Weakley
arnauga, Chattanooga, and in the Atlanta campaign . Then, in
co unty men made up company " E" an d company "F" was recruited in
Co orY County, Tennessee , Company "G" comprised volunteers from
~lIoway and Fulton Counties while men from Fulton, Graves, Henry,
1864, the First Confederate Cavalry was detached and p laced o n
d uty w ith General John Bell Hood on his disastrous invasion
nessee. Finally, the regiment fe ll under Forrest's command
rende red with him at Gainesville, Alabama, in May 1865.25
In October and November 1861, three other Purchase
enlisted in the Confederate Army in Tennessee. On October 18
City, about 100 Calloway County men were sworn in as
of the Thirty-third Tennessee Infantry Regiment.
nessee fought at Shiloh, Perryville, Stone's River,
Thiirtv_thi,...
nooga, in the Atlanta campaign, and in the battles
H'ckman, and Marsha ll Counties made up company " H." Company " I"
I S
raised in Fulton County and company "K" was recruited primarily
~awest Tennessee. However, company "K" did contain a sma ll number
~f men from Kentucky and M issouri. 3D
In 1863, the Jackson Purchase also furnished two other Confederate
ounted comm ands. Some time in the early summer, thirty-three men
~nder a Captain Nelson of Marshall County enlisted in Colonel William
Hollis' Eleventh Kentucky Cava lry Regiment. However. in July, the
Nashville . Finally, it surrendered in North Carolina
regiment was severely beaten in an engagement with the Thirty-fifth
a rmy.26
United States Cavalry. Hollis was killed and the Eleventh Kentucky was
On November 4, about fifty men, recrui ted by J . N.
Calloway County, mustered in as Bolen 's Independent Cavalry
at Fort Henry. However, Bolen 's small command was cOlotured
Donelson a long with the Confederate garrison. In September 1
broken up. Most of the surviving men of the regi ment enlisted in other
commands.31
co mpany was exchanged in Mississippi and spent the next
unattached service near Jackson and Meridia n. For a ti me
Bolen 's com pany acted as General Johnston 's escort. After 1
company known as the Henderson Scouts . The company was assigned
to General Forrest and served under him until the war en ded .32
records of the sma ll Calloway County cavalry company are i
However, according to sources in the National Archives, the
was stationed a t Demopolis, Alabama, in 1864 and during
some of its members enl isted in the Third Kentucky .27 More th an
the company disbanded at some ti me in 1864 a nd its members
other Confederate organizations.
At about the same time that Bolen raised his
Melton raised a company of similar size also in Calloway Lou nty.
company, which mu stered in primarily at Fort Henry, was
Melton 's Independent Cavalry Company and, like Bolen and
met capture at Fort Donelson . But Melton, who had fought a t
as a second lieutenant in the Ninth A laba ma Infantry, twice
fro m Federal prisons and returned to Kentucky. In the spring of 1
he recruited company "Goo of the Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry. Melton
e lected captain of the company, but in September 1864, he
In O::tober, Captain Thom a s Henderson of New Orleans organized
107 men from western Kentucky an d western Ten nessee into a cava lry
To the end of the Civil War, Purchase men continued to slip
tnrough the Federal lines to join the Confederate Army. Still others
stayed behind and organized themse lves into rov ing guerril la bands
which ambushed small parties of Fede ra l soldiers, cut te legraph wires,
burned bridges, tore up ra ilroad tracks and engaged in other such
forms of partisan warfare. Much of the success of these mounted will-othe·wisps could be attributed to sympathetic Purchase citizens who
oftentimes furnis hed them with food and shelter.
Thus , the Jackson Purchase region, unl ike the rest of Kentucky, met
the Civil 'Nor with unbridled Southernism which mani fested itse lf most
dearly in the number of soldiers, a ll volun teers, the region sent to th e
Confederate Army."
Kentucky. "
The region was indeed the "South Ca rolina of
f rom the Army to become a Confederate Secret Service agen t in
tuck y 2S
Confederate recru iting in the Jackson Purchase did not
the Union occupation of the region in early 1862. In the
8
9
1. J . H. Bottle, G. C. Kn iffen and W. H. Perrin, Ke ntucky: A
(Lau iwilfe: F. A. Battey and Co. , 1885 ), p. 7. The Purchase
eig hT counties a s, in 1886, Carl isle County was formed from
Ba ff ard County .
EJJis, Report of the Adlutant Oe neral, Va!. I, pp. 3.32-375; George, History of the 3d,
11. 7th, 8th a nd 12t h Kemucky; Ban Ie, Pemn a nd Kn Iffen , Kentuc ky, pp. 19, 32 -34 , 42 .
55-57, 69·70 . 81 · 85. 102. 107 .
2 . " Ann ual Report of the Adiutont General of the Stale of Kentucky, January
Ke ntucky l eg is lative Documents, 1863 (Frankfort: Jo!-!n H. Horney, State
J . Tandy Ellis, Report of the Adjutant Gene ral of Kentucky, Confede rate
War 1861-1865 (Frankfort: The State Journal Co., 191 5) , Vols. land II;
l indsey, Report of the Adjutant Ge ne ral of the State of Kentucky (Federal
(Frankfort: John H. Harney, Public Printer, l B66), Vols. I and II; " Response
Adjutant General of Kentucky to a Resolution of Inquiry in Regard to Federal
ments in the State. Made to the House of Representatives. Wednesday,
l B65 ," Kentucky Docume nts. 1864; Stenley F. Horn, Te nneneans in the
[Nashville: The Tennessee Civi l War Centenn ial Commission, 19 64 1. Pa rts
John Berrien Lindsley. Military Annals of Te nnenee, Confede rate
Lindsley and Co., 1886) ; Battle, Perrin and Kn iffen . Kentucky; He nry George,
of the 3d, 7th, 8th and 12th Ke ntucky, C.S.A, (l ou isvi lle: C. T. Dea ring Press,
A. C. Qu isenberry, "Kentucky Un ion Troops in the Civi l War," The
Ke ntucky Historical Society XVIII {Septembe r, 19201. pp. 13- 1B;
History of the He nry County Commands Which Se rved In t he
(J acksonville. Fla .: Sun Publish ing Co .• 1904); Ed Porter Thompson .
Orphan Brigade (louisville: S. N. Thompson , 18981 .
23.
Ellis, Re port of the Adjutant General, Vol. I. pp. 384-388.
GeOrge, History of the 3d, 7th, 8th and 12th Kentucky.
2'·
Hom. Tennesseans,. Vol. I, pp. 46.47; OHidal Records. Ser. 1, Vol. III , p. 712 . The
25. OHicial Records list King' s batta lion as conta ining 35 1 men. But accord ing to a
scrapbook kept by Mrs. lizzie Fuller of Groves County, this total represents only the
three compon ies that were added to King 's orig inal company. The scrapbook is
hoUsed in t he Groves County Public libra ry in Mayfie ld , Kentucky.
Horn, Te nnessoans, Port I. pp. 244-24 6.
26.
27. Ell is . Report of the Adjutant Ge neral, Vol. I, p. 328; Compiled Service Records of
confederate Sold iers Who Served in Organizations From the Stote of Kentucky.
National Archives Microfilm Publica tion No. 319, National Archives, Wa shington , D. C.
28, Ellis, Re port of the Adjutant Gene ral, Vol. II , pp. 1 26- 127 . 328-330 .
29. Ibid., pp. 98 - 142; George, History of the 3d, 7th, 8th and 12th Kentucky,
30. Ellis. Report of the Adjutant General, Vol. II , pp . 98- 14 2, Lindsley, Annals, p. 775 .
3 . Ibid.
31 . Ell is, Report of the Adjutant General , Vol. II , pp. 74-75 , 4 32-433.
4 . Ibid .; Edward Coffman, The Story of logan County (Nashville : The Parthenon
196 21. p. 203 .
32. Joseph Dent Clark Papers,
Archives. Nashvi lle, Tenn .
5 . Ibid.
33. It is interesting to note that the west Tennessee count ies sent about the some
proportion of soldiers into the Confedera te and Federal Armies as the Kentucky
portion of the Jackson Purchase. According ta Lindsley·s Annals, Horn 's Te nnesseans
Clnd J . P. Brownlow, Report of t he Adjutant Gene ral of the State of Te nnessH of the
Mil itory Forces of the State from 1861 to 1866 {Nashville: S. C. Mercer, State
Printer. 18661. these counties furn ished a pproximately 34 ,5 00 Confederote soldiers
Clnd about 3,700 Federa l soldiers.
6 . Th. War of the Re bellion : A Compilation of the Official Records of the Unl.
Confede rate Armies. 70 Vols. in 128 [Washington , D. c.: War Depo rtment.
1902), Series IV. Vol. I, pp. 231 -23 2 .
7 . Ellis, Re port of the Adjutant Ge neral , p. 35 _
8.
Confedera te
Ibid., pp. 14 -22 .
9 . The louisville Daily Courie r, April 29, 1861 .
10. Ibid .
11 . Horn, Tennessean s, Port I, pp. 198-199.
12 .
Ibid ., pp. 205-208; lindsley, Annall, p. 332.
13. Ibid " p . 219 .
14.
Ibid., pp. 184- 186; Lindsley, Annals, p. 332; Rennolds, Henry County C
pp. 17 4 ·178.
15.
lewis a nd Richard Coll ins, History of Kentucky {Covin gton : Collins and Co.,
VaI. I, p. 9 8.
16. George, History of the 3d, 7th, 8th and 12th Ke ntucky, p. 19.
I_
the.
17 . Ellis. Report of the Ad jutant General, Vol. I, pp. 84.143; George . History of
7th , 8th and 12th Ke ntucky; Battle, Perrin and Kniffe n, Kentucky, pp. 19, 32-a.l. "
55·57 . 6 9 -70, 81-85 , 102, 107.
l B. Ell is, Re port of the Adj utant General , Vol. I, pp. 40 . 42 , 54 -57 .
19. For a history of the Second Kentucky see Thompson, History of the Orphan
20.
IIrifIIII.
Horn . Tennesse an s, Part 1, pp. 220 -22 2.
21. George, History of the 3d, 7th, 8th and 12th Ke ntucky.
10
11
Collection,
Tennessee State libra ry
a nd