trying to pass up the river. Pushing in to the
bank as we neared the town, I got the troops ashore
and moved on Caseyville, in the expectation of a bloody
fight, but was agreeably surprised upon reaching the
outskirts of the village by an outpouring of its inhabitants—men,
women, and children—carrying the Stars and
Stripes, and making the most loyal professions.
Similar demonstrations of loyalty had been made to
the panic-stricken captain of the gunboat when he
passed down the river, but he did not stay to ascertain
their character, neither by landing nor by inquiry,
for he assumed that on the Kentucky bank of the river
there could be no loyalty. The result mortified
the captain intensely; and deeming his convoy of little
further use, he steamed toward Cairo in quest of other
imaginary batteries, while I re-embarked at Caseyville,
and continued up the Ohio undisturbed. About
three miles below Cincinnati I received instructions
to halt, and next day I was ordered by Major-General
H. G. Wright to take my troops back to Louisville,
and there assume command of the Pea Ridge Brigade,
composed of the Second and Fifteenth Missouri, Thirty-sixth
and Forty-fourth Illinois infantry, and of such other
regiments as might be sent me in advance of the arrival
of General Buell’s army. When I reached
Louisville I reported to Major-General William Nelson,
who was sick, and who received me as he lay in bed.
He asked me why I did not wear the shoulder-straps
of my rank. I answered that I was the colonel
of the Second Michigan cavalry, and had on my appropriate
shoulder-straps. He replied that I was a brigadier-general
for the Booneville fight, July 1, and that I should
wear the shoulder-straps of that grade. I returned
to my command and put it in camp; and as I had no
reluctance to wearing the shoulder-straps of a brigadier-general,
I was not long in procuring a pair, particularly as
I was fortified next day by receiving from Washington
official information of my appointment as a brigadier-general,
to date from July 1, 1862, the day of the battle of
Booneville.
CHAPTER XI.
GOOD ADVICE FROM GENERAL NELSON—HIS TRAGIC
DEATH—PUTTING LOUISVILLE
IN A STATE OF DEFENSE—ASSIGNED TO THE COMMAND
OF THE ELEVENTH
DIVISION—CAPTURE OF CHAPLIN HEIGHTS—BATTLE
OF PERRYVILLE—REPORTED
AMONG THE KILLED—A THRILLING INCIDENT—GENERAL
BUELL RELIEVED BY
GENERAL ROSECRANS.
I reported to Major-General Nelson at the Galt House
in Louisville, September 14, 1862, who greeted me
in the bluff and hearty fashion of a sailor—for
he had been in the navy till the breaking out of the
war. The new responsibilities that were now to
fall upon me by virtue of increased rank caused in
my mind an uneasiness which, I think, Nelson observed
at the interview, and he allayed it by giving me much
good advice, and most valuable information in regard
to affairs in Kentucky, telling me also that he intended