The Battle of Turman's Ferry, January 9th, 1864
by Brian Hall and Robert M. Baker
James Turman bought land on the Kentucky side of the Big Sandy River while he was still young man. Around 1840, he built a farm, established a ferry, and set up an inn. Owning a ferry also gave one the privilege of selling alcohol, which Mr. Turman did. From 1840 until 1864, Turman’s Ferry was one of the most prominent points on the Big Sandy River between Louisa and the mouth of the Big Sandy. In 1860, the aligned Whig-American parties convened at Turman’s Ferry to nominate a candidate to represent the district in the lower branch of the Legislature (Ely 362-5). When war came to the region, the importance of Turman’s Ferry was not lost on the commanders of the armies
of the Union or Confederacy operating in the Big Sandy region.
Judge John Frew Stewart, formerly the 39th’s adjutant, in his “Last Statement” to William Connelly, written in January of 1909, gave details regarding the prelude to the action at Turman’s Ferry: “The winter of 1863-4 was a severe one. The Big Sandy River froze over in December and so remained until late in February, and caught the Quartermaster at Louisa short of some supplies, especially forage . . . For some reason it was necessary to send some men from Louisa to Catlettsburg. The detail consisted of thirty or forty men” (31).
On January 9th, 1864, at Turman’s Ferry, Company H of the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry was dealt a sharp blow by the 16th Virginia Cavalry, led by Colonel Milton J. “Jemison” Ferguson.
Colonel Milton J. Ferguson
The post commander at Catlettsburg, Major Rhys M. Thomas of the 14th Kentucky, filed the following report:
Catlettsburg, KY.,
January 16, 1864.
Captain: As a company of 39th Kentucky was moving down the west bank of the Big Sandy River, between Louisa and Catlettsburg, Ky., about 14 miles above the last place, a detachment of Colonel Ferguson’s rebel regiment, about 150 men, led by Ferguson in person, attacked the company, who were in camp for the night, and crossed the Big Sandy River on the ice. The Union force numbered 75 strong, commanded by Captain King. Twenty men were sent to hospital at Ashland, being badly frozen.
R. M. Thomas,
Major, Commanding Post.
J. F. Stewart provided a little more detail about the skirmish, though it is clear that he was not a witness as he had received his information second-hand: “They marched on foot and camped the night of the day they left Louisa in a schoolhouse below Turman’s Ferry, on the Kentucky side of the river, where Cavanaugh M. E. Church, now stands [in present-day Boyd County].
This was the night of the 9th of January, 1864. They were attacked in the night by a Company or more from Virginia. The commander of this detail, Denny Coleman, of Company H, Thirty-ninth Kentucky, was killed in the fight and all the others were driven out into the snow with weather at about zero or lower. Some of them became frozen, especially their feet, and suffered greatly. The enemy had been notified of their whereabouts by some of the neighbors who were our enemies and really spies for the enemy, but it could not be ascertained who gave the information” (30-1).
In an article written by Robert C. Cheeks and published in America’s Civil War magazine (January 1998), the actions of Ferguson’s command are detailed: “Colonel M. J. Ferguson, commander of the 16th Virginia, led the partisans as they surreptitiously followed a Union company that was marching south along the Big Sandy. On the last day of 1863 [this date is not correct; however, note the following details], as midnight approached, Ferguson quietly urged his band toward their sleeping, unsuspecting enemy, a company of the 39th Kentucky. The Federal troops had gone into bivouac 14 miles below
Catlettsburg, Ky. It was frightfully cold, and the Union soldiers huddled in their shelters, trying to keep warm. The Border Rangers took the Federal videttes silently and then,
after surrounding the rest of the company, opened a galling fire on the sleeping men” (“The 16th Virginia ‘Border Rangers’ used all their backwoods guile to capture a Union steamer without firing a shot.” 18)
Mr. Cheeks also provides an account of the reaction of the 39th to the attack on this cold night: “The Kentuckians fled in panic, without returning fire. They suffered 14 killed, wounded or captured.” (18) A contemporary account of the attack was published in the Ironton Register on Thursday the 14th of January: “Saturday night [the 9th], Company H, 39th Kentucky, while en route for Catlettsburg from Louisa stopped over night at a school house, near Thurman’s ford, which is about 12 miles from the mouth, and being attacked by a party of guerillas [sic], greatly outnumbering them, were all killed, wounded or taken prisoner. There were no pickets, and so little were they apprehensive of danger that the officers were asleep in the neighboring farm houses.”
As mentioned in the above-cited account of the skirmish by J. F. Stewart and the report by Major Thomas, the extremely cold weather caused almost as many casualties as did the Confederate Cavalry. From the Henry Scalf Papers comes the following report
from the Ironton Register, dated January 11th, 1864: “A part of the wounded left behind arrived at the Ashland Hospital, not only badly wounded, but frostbitten. So much so that the majority of them will require the amputation of a limb.” Mr. Cheeks also provides a little detail regarding the aftermath of this disaster: “Seventy-five men fled into the woods, and the next day, after spending the night hiding, 25 had to be sent to a hospital in Ashland, Ky., suffering from frostbite and exposure. A number of the injured soldiers required amputations.” (18)
The attack on Company H at Turman’s Ferry was complete and devastating, and it sent the Lower Sandy River region into a panic. Again, the Henry Scalf Papers provided the following report from the Ironton Register, January 11th, 1864: “The citizens of Catlettsburg were at one time apprehensive of an attack. The Home Guards were called out, and the place put in a defensive condition. The guerrillas immediately left Round
Bottom and at last account were being pursued by the Union force.”
In the Kentucky Adjutant General’s Report, the following men were listed as casualties of the fighting at Turman’s Ferry: 1st Lt. Richard D. Coleman, “Killed in action January 9th, 1864, at Turman’s Ferry, Kentucky”; 2nd Lieutenant James Thornsbury, captured; Private John F. Hatfield, “Captured January 9th, 1864, and supposed to be dead”; Private William Phillips, “Captured near Turman’s Ferry, Kentucky, January 9th, 1864; supposed to be dead”; Private Daniel Prator, “Captured near Turman’s Ferry, Kentucky, January 9th, 1864; supposed to be dead”; Private William Hurley, “Captured at Turman’s Ferry, Kentucky, January 9th, 1864; returned May 8th, 1864.”; Private William S. Mullins, “Captured near Turman’s Ferry, Kentucky, January 9th, 1864; supposed to be dead.” From the same source, a short list can be created of the men injured by their exposure overnight: Presley Blankenship, Sr.; Chrisly Estep; and Fleming Stafford. All three of these men were released from the 39th by reason of disability on February 26th, 1864. It is probably a good guess that these men were debilitated by amputations made necessary by frostbite.
This would not be the last meeting between the 39th Kentucky and the 16th Virginia. Ferguson’s 16th Cavalry would be paid back in kind at Laurel Creek, West Virginia, on February 14th, 1864, by two companies from the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry and three companies from the 14th Kentucky Infantry.
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