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George Ellsworth's Part in Colonel Morgan's First Kentucky Campaign

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George Ellsworth's Part in Colonel Morgan's First Kentucky Campaign LITTLE MAN AT THE BIG KEY: GEORGE ELLSWORTH'S PART IN COLONEL MORGAN'S FIRST KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN HARRY M. BROWN The little man in history should be looked at occasionally, for his significance is often lost sight of in the shadows of the Caesars, the Shermans, and the MacArthurs as they sweep through Gaul, Georgia, and the South Pacific. But a little man sitting in the mud at Horse Cave, Kentucky, and working a telegraph key can shape large events. Much of Colonel John Morgan's success on his first Kentucky campaign of July 1862 was due to the skill and quick wit of George Ellsworth, the telegraph operator, in tapping Federal lines and confusing troop movements. Morgan, in his official report of the campaign to his general, tells of tapping the lines and intercepting messages by means of the portable battery he carried. But since he was in command, he reports the action as if it were his own doing : While in Lebanon I ascertained from telegraph dispatches that I intercepted that the force which had been started from Lebanon Junction to reinforce Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson had met and driven back the force under Capt. Jack Allen. I Morgan in his notes does not mention Ellsworth's part, but he does indicate how important the telegraph was to the success of the campaign. Basil Duke does mention Ellsworth's part in the campaign. Duke, a captain in Morgan's campaign and one close to the events, published in 1867 his account of Morgan's HARRY M. BROWN, PH.D., teaches history at Midwestern State University at Wichita Palls, Texas. 1 The War of th6 RobeIHon: Offlelal Records of She Union and Con- federate Armies, Series I, Vol. XVI, Part I (Washington, D. C., 1886), 768. About two miles from Lebanon, Morgan detached two companies of troops • to skirmish with a Union force posted along the road. The Union com- mander Lieutenant Colonel A. Y. Johnson surrendered and Morgan took about thirty-five prisoners. 68 The Filson Club History Quarterly Vol. 61, No. 1, /anuary 1987 1987] Ellsworth and Colonel Morgan 69 cavalry. He describes Ellsworth's tapping the Federal lines. He even quotes a few of the messages "in Ellsworth's language" from Ellsworth's official report.2 Duke's account indicates that Ellsworth was a resourceful and able operator. With Duke quoting only pieces from Ellsworth's report, it is advisable to go back to an earlier and complete source to get a fuller picture of Ellsworth's effect. A scarce little book, The Picket Line, was published in 1864 just two years after Morgan's raid, and it prints Ellsworth's complete official report on his actions during the campaign.3 The publication date, not printed in the book itself, has been established by the Illinois State His- torical Library.4 The report was included later, in 1886, in The War of the Rebellion.5 If we tie Ellsworth's own report in with the larger events of the campaign, we can see just how effective this "little" man was. George Ellsworth joined Morgan's cavalry at Chattanooga just in time to accompany Morgan on the first Kentucky cam- paign. Ellsworth's help was instrumental in making the raid a success. In Morgan's words from his official report: I left Knoxville on the 4th day of the month with about 900 men, and returned to Livingston on 28th instant with nearly 1,200 having been absent just twenty-four days, dur- ing which time I traveled over 1,000 miles, captured seven- teen towns, destroyed all the government supplies and arms in them, dispersed about 1,500 Home Guards, and paroled 2 Basil Duke, A History of Morgan's Cavalry (Cincinnati, 1867), 191. 3 The Picket Line (Arlington Edition; New York, 1864). Online Com- puter Library Center (OCLC), with a bibliographic data base of about 4000-5000 libraries, lists fifteen locations of The Picket Line, Arlington Edition. Among these are the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and at Monticello, University of Florida at Pensacola, Oberlin College, Ohio Historical Society, University of Rochester, Rice University, and Memphis and Shelby County Public Library and Information Center. The OCLC number for the book is 3884950. All fifteen are the Arlington edition. For all other editions, only two are listed, one at the University of Oklahoma and one at Texas A & M. The writer of this article is also fortunate enough to have an original copy of the Arlington edition. 4 James Monaghan, Lincoln Bibliography 1839-1959 (Springfield, Illinois, 1943), 82. 5 The Wa• of ths Rebellion, 774-81. 70 The Filson Club History Quarterly [January nearly 1,200 regular troops. I lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, of the number that I carried into Kentucky about 90.6 Clement Evans in Confederate Military History adds that the effect of Morgan's raid was "far-reaching and involved much more than the mere physical results narrated so clearly in his report.''7 Evans goes on to describe how the raid "convulsed the whole Federal organization" from Cincinnati and Louisville to Huntsville, Alabama.8 It was, also, he said, the "curtain raiser" for General Braxton Bragg's campaign in Kentucky.9 Morgan started from Knoxville, Tennessee, on 4 July 1862 with 867 officers and men, moving toward Kentucky through middle Tennessee. The first engagement was at Tompkinsville, Kentucky, on 9 July at daybreak where in about ten minutes Morgan's men overwhelmed a few hundred Federal troops. The next day Morgan's troops moved on north through Glasgow and on toward Lebanon. Ellsworth's report begins at this point on 10 July, and we begin to appreciate his skill. At Horse Cave, just south of Green River on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Morgan has Ellsworth tap the telegraph lines to get information about Federal troop movements in Kentucky. From Ellsworth's report, we learn that he knew how to tap a line and answer messages without being detected. It took considerable skill to do so. Breaking into a line would normally make the signal stronger because of the additional battery from the interceptor's instrument, and each operator's own peculiar style or personality was reflected in the signalling. Furthermore, of course, one had to respond correctly to information about which he had little or no previous knowledge. All Morgan tells us in his report is that he "caused wires 6 Ibid., 770. 7 Clement A. Evans, ed., Con[ederate Military His$ory (12 vols.; Atlanta, 1899, IX, 106. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid., 113. 71 ..... Indicates ................ indicates railroad Scale: 18 miles to the Inch Richard V. Salisbury connecting with the portable battery that I carried with me to be attached to the telegraph line near Horse Cave and inter- cepted a number of dispatches.''t° Basil Duke in his account does tell us that it was Ellsworth who did the tapping : Connecting his own instrument and wire with the line, 10 The War of the Rebellion, 767. 72 The Filson Club History Quarterly [January Ellsworth began to take off the dispatches. Finding the news came slow he entered into a conversation with Louis- ville and obtained much of what was wanted. He in return communicated such information as Colonel Morgan desired the enemy to act upon.n The account in The Picket Line is in Ellsworth's own words. He tells us his method. He took down the telegraph line and con- nected his pocket instrument. He knew how to be cautious, "noting particularly at the time what change it would make in the circuit.''12 Then he tells us how he took advantage of an electrical storm southward to break in on the line when Louis- viUe called, answering for Bowling Green without Louisville detecting. He received a message from General Jeremiah T. Boyle at Louisville who was ordering the Bowling Green com- mander, Sanders D. Bruce, to move his forces into Glasgow be- hind Morgan's advance. Ellsworth "returned the usual signal, 'O.K.,' after receiving the message."13 His skill at not being de- tected is shown by his report that he received and sent "business for two hours.'u4 His skill yielded vital information, for the message from the Federals told of the raid in the country and what methods they were using to counterattack. With this news, Morgan was able to counter effectively. Ellsworth's capacity for physical endurance with good cheer is also shown by his mentioning without complaint that during the two hours "it was raining heavily, and my situation was anything but an agreeable one -- sitting in the mud with my feet in the water up to my knees.''•s At 11 p.m. Ellsworth reports that he closed for the night because Morgan believed they had drained Louisville of news. On 11 July Morgan moved toward Lebanon, thirty-five miles north of Green River, and on 12 July Ellsworth reported that 11 Duke, A History of Morgan's Cavalry, 185. 12 The Picke• Line, 22. 13 Ibid., 23. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibld. 1987] Ellsworth and Colonel Morgan '/3 he took over the Lebanon telegraph office to intercept messages. His important work here was finding out the movements of a Federal troop train on its way to reinforce the garrison at Leb- anon which Morgan had already captured. In finding out about the train, Ellsworth again revealed his quick wit and resource- fulness. According to his report, after Ellsworth had adjusted the instrument and examined the circuit, an operator named Z began calling B. Ellsworth's resourcefulness came into play. From studying the office books, he had learned that B was the signal for the Lebanon office, and he knew from the office dispatches of the preceding day that Colonel Johnson had asked General Boyle for reinforcements from Louisville.
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