The Second Battle of Cynthiana, June 12th, 1864

From The Cynthiana Democrat, Thursday, June 11, 1964.
The 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry and the 10th Kentucky Cavalry were both recruited from the same area near the borders of Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia, from what is known as the Big Sandy Valley. Additionally, many men were recruited from the mountainous regions of North Carolina and Tennessee. A significant portion were “galvanized Yankees”; former Confederate soldiers who had joined the Union army. At least twenty men had served in the 10th Kentucky, Company H, before joining to fight with the 39th. The Second Virginia State Line was also a source for some of the 39th’s men. The regiment recruited primarily from Pike, Floyd, Johnson, and Lawrence counties in Kentucky, and Buchanan, Logan, and McDowell counties in Virginia and West Virginia.
“On the 12th, Morgan was attacked at Cynthiana by Burbridge at the head of 5200 men. Morgan’s effective strength was now reduced, by losses in battle and details to guard prisoners and destroy railroad track and bridges, to less than 1300, and his ammunition was nearly exhausted. After some hours of hard fighting he was defeated and forced to retreat, with a loss of fully one half of his remaining command in killed,
wounded, and prisoners. He destroyed all of his captured stores and paroled the prisoners he had taken, and marching instantly back to Virginia, via Flemingsburg and West Liberty, and thence through the mountains, reached Abingdon, Va., June 20th.” (Duke, “John Morgan in 1864,” p. 424).
“On the following morning the Federals, in large forces, attacked Morgan’s men, who were without ammunition and almost exhausted from the long ride without sufficient rest or food, and the result was Morgan’s defeat. Cosby’s brigade, which covered the retreat, was thrown into confusion while passing through the city. Many of them were cut off from Morgan, and escaped only by swimming the river” (Biographical Sketches, “Capt. W. T. Havens,” 854).
Edison H. Thomas in his book John Hunt Morgan and His Raiders gives a brief account of the battle at Cynthiana:
For once, Morgan did not leave orders to be ready for departure at daybreak. Instead, he permitted his command to sleep late and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. The sun had scarcely risen above the horizon when a shout of warning was heard throughout camp. Within seconds General Stephen Burbridge, in command of a Federal force that outnumbered Morgan’s two to one, rushed in with a long, crescent-shaped battle line and through sheer power began sweeping the Raiders in front of it. Many were trapped while still eating breakfast, and others were overpowered before they could reach their horses . . . Hard hit, the Raiders fell back to the Licking River, where once more the covered bridge was the scene of panic. But this time it was the Rebels who were in trouble. The battle raged for several hours. Morgan had faced overwhelming odds before and somehow he had almost always been successful in overpowering or escaping the enemy. He and his Raiders fought stubbornly, but the outcome was never in doubt. Miraculously, over half of the Raiders escaped, including Morgan, but they were so badly scattered that it was several weeks before they found their several ways back to Virginia (100-1).
Colonel David Mims afterwards wrote of the battle and the part played by the Second Brigade of the Fifth Federal Division, which was comprised of the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry and the 11th Michigan Cavalry, and under the command of Colonel
John Mason Brown:
At daylight we came up with the rebels, posted on a hill about one mile and a half from the town of Cynthiana. We found the enemy in line of battle behind a stone wall and a rail fence, which had been so fixed as to afford good protection to their men. When the Second Brigade arrived skirmishing had already begun on the right by the First Brigade. The Second Brigade was immediately formed in line of battle in a cornfield as follows: The Thirty-ninth Kentucky, dismounted, on the right, with the Eleventh Michigan Cavalry, mounted, on the left. In this order the brigade moved up the hill under a terrible fire from the enemy. The Thirty-ninth Kentucky succeeded in reaching the enemy’s position with the loss of 1 man killed and 3 or 4 slightly wounded, none of them, however, quitting the ranks. As the regiment gained the wall and fence the enemy fled precipitately, leaving a number of killed and wounded behind. The Eleventh Michigan Cavalry repeatedly charged the rebel lines, driving them in great confusion, until the rebels formed behind a stone wall. From this position they poured a deadly volley into the ranks of the Eleventh Michigan, killing 20 horses. This for a moment checked the advance of the Eleventh Michigan, but it was of short duration. Soon the enemy were again flying before them. From this time the Second Brigade entered the fight until the enemy were driven through the town and completely routed it did not stop but steadily advanced, in no instance fighting over the same ground a second time (OR, Vol. 39, Chapt. LI., pp. 37-8).
Captain Edward O. Guerrant, a participant on the Confederate side of the field at Cynthiana, left the following account:
At daylight this morning the enemy advanced in force on our position. The courier had hardly announced the fact, when our pickets were driven in. The Col. gave me charge of forming the right wing - where we placed Trimble and Chenoweth . . . on Holladay's right. The 6h Conf. and Johnson's Batt'n were on the left of 4h K'y. . . . Capt. Rhea . . . commanded 4h K'y. M. R. Col. Pryor was sick, so Col. Johnson, but he accompanied his batt'n, & Maj. Chenoweth gone to Cinti . . . I led Trimble and Chenoweth up to their position, which was occupied under a galling fire, the severest, I think, I ever saw. We were compelled to lie flat down on the ground to prevent being swept away by the tornado of bullets . . . The enemy came up in 400 yards dismounted & charged our position some 1500 or 2000 strong; were driven back; & returned & were driven back again . . . Discovering their inability to drive us by fighting in front they sent a heavy cavalry force around each flank, and as we had not a man to protect our flanks, (our whole force some 600, entirely employed in holding our line of battle), our line was compelled to give way after it had stood its position until it was almost surrounded . . . The right first gave way, Capt. Caudille (10h) & Col. Trimble (10h Ky. Cav) and Maj. Holladay - falling back in good order to a second & smaller hill some 300 yards in rear of the first. Our left fell back to this same position . . . At this juncture Genl. Morgan appeared on the field with Kirkpatricks and Bowles Batt'ns - (2d Brig.) sent one to the left & the other to the right flank at a charge to drive the Enemys force on our flank . . . At this opportuniy all our batt'ns mounted their horses except 4h K'y. which Col. Giltner kept dismounted to hold the Enemy in check as we fell back upon the town . . . Our men returned to the fight mounted, & continued to fall back as the Enemy still pressed our flank around . . . Morgan's Battalions (m't'd) offered little or no obstacle to the heavy columns of the Enemy, & were driven back even before our line had reached the town. The horses of 4h K'y: held in the Augusta street, were fired into by the Enemy, & run through by Bowles' Batt'n, before the Regt. could reach them; & most of them were stampeded & the men left afoot in the town . . ." (Civil War Diary of Capt. Edward O. Guerrant, C. S. A., Vol. 9, 1025-7).
“The Federals rode up to within four hundred yards of Giltner’s line, dismounted and charged. Ironically, Burbridge’s command included the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, the 10th’s ancient enemy from the Big Sandy valley. The first assault was driven back; however the next charge by four full regiments of Union horsemen forced Trimble and Chenoweth to give way. The outnumbered Confederates fell back in good order and reformed on a small knoll three hundred yards to the rear” (Wells and Prichard 66).
Following the battle, in a letter dated June 13th, General Burbridge summed up the losses for both sides:
“Rebel loss, 300 killed and 400 prisoners, besides wounded. I captured over 1,000 horses, and recaptured most of General Hobson’s command, taken by Morgan the day before. Our loss about 150 killed and wounded” (OR, Vol. 39, Chapt. LI, p. 20).
The biggest reason why Morgan was so soundly defeated at Cynthiana in 1864 is the fact that his men had exhausted their supply of ammunition. Under the circumstances, their only choice was a rapid retreat: "Giltner’s men had run out of ammunition and therefore it was simply a matter of time before they were overwhelmed" (Wells and Prichard 66-7).
“The reliable Giltner made a stand on the opposite shore of the Licking at Cynthiana and was then able to take a more direct route via Leesburg and Richmond. But even Giltner was able to bring out only two hundred men, so wide-spread were the desertions” (Swiggett 234).
Howard Swiggett quoted Henry Halleck who complained that after the battle: "It is reported here that disloyal citizens of Cynthiana assisted Morgan's raid on that place and afterwards buried the Rebel dead with honors while our dead were treated with marked insult. Arrest such persons, male and female, and send them under a proper guard to Washington" (233).
More to follow!
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