Thoughts from my Perryville Weekend

 

Well, that was fun.

What perfect weather and atmosphere in the region this weekend. I am not sure if I could design a better set of days in mid or late October. Fortune smiled brightly on those who attended the symposium.

Obviously, I enjoyed it, but it started before the battlefield, when I finally visited Camp Nelson National Monument. One of the buildings there was under repair and off limits, but the main building was available and holds a terrific museum. The introductory movie, like do many sites feature, was very well-done and enjoyable also.

I enjoyed the museum’s displays on the history of the site, including its usage before its contributions to the enlistments of African American soldiers, for which I have known it best. I read quite a bit of information that I did not know beforehand.

The museum has several rooms, with exhibits on individual soldiers as well as more general life of soldiers and refugees. It includes an archaeological section of items uncovered at the camp, and also discusses refuges, usually family members of soldiers who enlisted there. 

This was an important Civil War-era location in Kentucky and anybody reading this has not been there, I encourage you to visit it. It’s definitely worth the trip. I’ll be back there again someday.

One positive about it is its proximity to Perryville, and, actually, the entire region which features history at Perryville, Danville, Harrodsburg, Shaker Village, and more. For those who like history, this area of the state offers quite a few fascinating attractions. Even places like Bardstown, Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace, and more are reasonably close. 

On to Perryville. I have probably stated many times here how much I enjoy the place. It is beautiful (especially with virtually perfect weather like this weekend featured), peaceful, fascinating, and just terrific. Knowing the violence that took place on those hills yet feeling such calmness and serenity while trodding on the once bloodstained land is such a weird contrast that I experience there. Maybe that’s just me, though. 

I did not take part in the walking tours this weekend. The distance and especially the topography are not so kind to my legs and my lungs and I just felt it best not to challenge myself too much. Shame on me, as I know I missed some great presentations and scenery. Maybe I’ll do more next year.

The Friday night driving tour of some of the lesser-discussed actions of October 6 and 7, sort of a prelude to the madness, was fascinating. Darryl Smith did his usual through job of researching these skirmishes, finding the appropriate sites, such as small country lanes or hilltop cemeteries, to visit to discuss them, and then telling these stories to the folks in attendance. These were not major fights and did not receive major after action reports or coverage, so details on just how many men and/or which exact units were involved are scarce, but Darryl pieced a lot of information together to tell these stories, notably emphasizing how Joseph Wheeler and his Confederates delayed Charles Gilbert’s larger Union force on these hills, valleys, and creeksides around Springfield, Ky., yet also how he failed to forward accurate scouting reports to his superiors. Darryl’s use of first-person accounts and statements from participants is always a welcome part of presentations like this.

Another fun part is the people in attendance. Obviously, everybody going on such a tour shares similar interest, but it was still fun listening to others share their information, opinions, stories, and even questions, not only on the events being covered but also on related topics like how the state historic site could be better. 

It’s always nice to meet such friendly people, and helps me realize how much knowledge and Civil War interest exists. Every time I think I have good knowledge of the war, I see how much more there is to learn and how many people already know so much more than I do, especially on the military aspects of the war such as troop movements, tactics, and the performances of various commanders.

I also appreciated the opportunity to visit the Bottom House and the land immediately surrounding it. The Saturday evening reception was especially pleasant, sort of a relaxed and enjoyable social hour. My Campbell County project has interested me in the 15th Kentucky Infantry regiment, and it was in the hills around and behind this house where the 15th fought and suffered so much. At least 4 men from my home county died here, others were wounded, and even more, who lived elsewhere but who enlisted in Campbell County, also perished on these acres Being there was a special opportunity and memory for me.

Many thanks also to the Friends of Perryville group for co-hosting this weekend along with Derek Lindow and Darryl Smith of The Western Theater in the Civil War website and Facebook page, who did the work of organizing and arranging the symposium. I encourage others to check out and support both of those groups. I did rejoin the friends group and hope others follow suit.

I know I made a previous post with some pictures of scenes from this adventure, but here are just a couple more of the park, Friday evening’s drive, and the Bottom House.

Scenes from my trip to Perryville

 I’ll work on some more in depth thoughts for another post, but I truly enjoyed the past few days, even though I did not go on the walking tours. What I saw was terrific, and the views at the park were as beautiful as ever.

It’s always weird that a place of such carnage can now feel so peaceful .

Here are a few photos in random order. I just posted ones that I liked while going through the ones I took. 

                                                    Looking at the Open Knob in the distance 

                                                                          Museum Display

                                                                     The Valley of Death 

                                                            Display on battle casualties 

                                                    

                                                                Open Knob (Parson’s Ridge)

                                                      Marker “Defense of the Union Center”

Marker “Simonson’s Battery”

                                                       Starkweather’s Hill (cannon in front)

                                                            Marker for the 42nd Indiana

Marker “Artillery Duel at Loomis Heights”

                                                   Fearless guide Darryl Smith on Friday’s tour

                                                             A roadside stop on Friday’s tour 

                                                     “Sermon on the Mount”  Friday night

         

                                                      Getting late at Peter’s Hill, Friday evening 

Carpool lined up in a beautiful sunset 

                                                            Scenic view of fence 

                                                       Looking uphill behind Bottom House

            

Reception at the Bottom House

                                        

Isaac G. Thacker, 40th Ky Infantry: The Life of a Boy Soldier

It has been a while since I last posted, so here finally is another story, this time about a very young man who served his country more than once.

Boys fighting in the Civil War is just one of the thousands of topics covering the Civil War, and it was, of course, also an issue in Campbell County, Kentucky. One instance of this was the story of Isaac George Thacker.

Isaac was born on May 2, 1849, in Olive Hill, Carter County, Kentucky, the son of Daniel and America Thacker. 

On September 17, 1863, as the Civil War was in its third year, Isaac enrolled as a private in company E of the 40^th Kentucky Infantry, though he was soon listed as a musician.

The 40^th Kentucky Infantry had been organized at both Grayson and Falmouth, Kentucky in mid-1863. It then remained in Kentucky, including involvement in operations against the forces of Confederate General John H. Morgan in 1864. These contests included fights at both Mount Sterling and the Second Battle of Cynthiana.

These men then spent the rest of their time in the service in eastern Kentucky and near Saltville, Virginia the regiment mustered out in December of 1864.

Isaac was only 14 years old when he enlisted, well under the military’s minimum age of 18 for soldiers. Many youngsters were able to avoid this standard and join the army anyway, especially as musicians or drummer boys, but some, including Campbell County residents Perry Wright and Adam Freppon, ran into trouble when their families found out what their sons were doing. Both of those boys managed to overcome their parents’ disapproval and joined the military, but Isaac did not have that problem, as his mother (under the name America McClannahan from a new marriage) permitted his enlistment by signing (making her mark) on the “consent in case of minor” section of the Declaration of Recruit document that Isaac had signed in a similar fashion. This consent allowed him to leave home at such a young age, soon to face unknown situations and scenarios that scared or scarred many an older man. He apparently found out that military life suited him, despite some hardships, beginning a long life including years in various military units.

When Isaac joined the Union Army, he appeared as the boy he was, standing 5 feet, 3 inches tall, and featuring dark eyes, dark hair, and a dark complexion. His occupation was farmer, no doubt from his work on the family land.

He enlisted for a one-year term, signing up in Olive Hill.  

In February of 1864, he served on “extra duty” on the provost guard in Paris, Kentucky. The provost guard was a unit similar to modern military police, and Isaac may have helped guard prisoners. Perhaps officials tried to find him tasks less dangerous tasks than active field duty, but, if so, it did not work. Records list him as absent without leave in June of that same year, but other paperwork clarifies that he had been captured by Confederate General John H. Morgan’s men in May or June, at either Mt. Sterling or Cynthiana as Morgan’s latest group of  rebels invaded Kentucky.

After Morgan paroled his captives (instead of trying to guard and feed them during his raid), Isaac spent time in a hospital in Lexington in July and August.

He mustered out of the army on December 30, 1864, in Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

After the war, the 21-year-old Isaac lived in Cold Spring, in 1870, working as a farmer and sharing his home with members of the Gard family, per the census recorded on August 1. A few weeks later, on  September 14, he married one of his housemates,  Alice Gard, in Newport. They later had one son, Albia, born in nearby Dayton (KY) in 1881, the same town where Isaac had been working as a carpenter. 

He moved around often in the post-war years, but in 1890 was still in Dayton.

At some point in the 1880s or 1890s, Isaac and Alice divorced, as that was her marital status in the 1900 census, though specific information on when or why they separated has not revealed itself.

Isaac married again, this time to Millie Sheffield on July 14, 1893, in West Virginia and in 1900, he could read and write and worked as a baker in Franklin County, Ohio. Ten years later he worked as a farmer in Cabel County, West Virginia, where he and Millie remained as the 1920s began.

The Civil War apparently had not quenched his thirst for military experiences, so in the years after that conflict,  enlisted in the army three more times.

On June 12, 1866, he joined company H of the 1^st Infantry in Cincinnati. At this time, he was a farmer with gray eyes, dark hair and a ruddy complexion, and had grown to  be 5 feet 7 inches tall. He was discharged from this service on June 1, 1869, in Michigan as his term of service reached its end. He was a sergeant at that time.

In 1883, he enlisted in company E of the 10^th Infantry.  He joined in Fort Wayne, Michigan, still a farmer with similar physical traits. He was discharged from this service on August 15, 1888, at Fort Lyons, Colorado, again as his term had expired. He was a Protestant, and his character was “excellent.”

Undated photo from a family tree on ancestry.com

His final enlistment in the regular army occurred at Vancouver Barracks, Washington on April 16, 1889. He joined the 14^th Infantry and was discharged on October 21, 1890, by a special order at the same location. Records showed him with a similar physical description and again described him as a Protestant with excellent character.

Soldier Isaac Thacker died on April 27, 1929, at age 79, in Holmes County, Ohio, and was buried there in Killbuck Cemetery.               

  From findagrave memorial id 16147070