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Kentucky Civil War Dispatch - A Confederate Regiment

Colonel Edward Crossland
Colonel Edward Crossland

By Todd Hatton / Berry Craig

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-989312.mp3

Murray, KY – This week on the Kentucky Civil War Dispatch, we look at a Confederate regiment formed in the Purchase, and meet the men who led it.

On this date in 1861, the Seventh Kentucky Confederate Infantry Regiment was undergoing basic training at Camp Henry C. Burnett, about two miles west of the Hickman County seat of Clinton.

The camp was named for U.S. Rep. Henry C. Burnett of Cadiz, a pro-Confederate Democrat reelected in June, 1861, on the Southern Rights ticket.

Colonel Charles A. Wickliffe of Blandville, then the Ballard County seat, commanded the regiment. Former Clinton State Rep. W.D. Lannom was lieutenant colonel and Ed K. Warren, erstwhile editor of the Hickman Courier, was assistant quartermaster.

Wickliffe was a Bardstown native and a graduate of West Point. The lawyer and farmer was also the nephew and namesake of former Whig governor of Kentucky Charles A. Wickliffe. Governor Wickliffe was a Unionist when the Civil War began but later turned against the conflict; he ran for governor in 1863 as a "Peace Democrat."

The western Kentucky Wickliffe and Lannom recruited the regiment, which numbered about 1,000 men. Almost all of them came from the Jackson Purchase.

In his book, History of the 3d, 7th, 8th and 12th Kentucky, C.S.A., private, and later major, Henry George of Graves County gave a detailed description of camp life:

"The men were armed with any kind of arms they could get, some with the old flint-lock musket, but they were soon furnished with a musket which had been changed from a flint-lock to a percussion, and a very destructive gun As soon as the companies were organized into a regiment they were put to drilling almost constantly every day; they soon became quite proficient in both the movements and manual of arms."

George said the men lived in tents and possessed "cooking utensils and such other things as were necessary to make the camp comfortable. Here the men were put through the seasoning of camp life."

Because many of the foot soldiers lived near the camp, their relatives lavished upon "them great quantities of good things to eat, and hundreds of articles of wearing apparel for which they had no sort of use."

In addition, George recalled almost every man was also armed with "a big knife from eight inches to two feet long, made from big files, buggy or wagon springs or tires; these were the instruments of warfare with which they intended to prosecute the war against the Federal armies in the event they could not get arms. They were all left behind, however, on the first march."

The Seventh Kentucky underwent its baptism of fire at the Battle of Shiloh, in early April, 1862. Wickliffe was mortally wounded in action. According to Wickliffe's brigade commander, Tennessee Brigadier General George Maney, he fought bravely:

"He received his fatal wound at the head of a charge, doing his whole duty as a devoted patriot and gallant soldier."

The Seventh Kentucky fought in several other battles before becoming mounted infantry and returning to the Purchase in March, 1864, as part of General Nathan Bedford Forrest's raid on Paducah. The Seventh Kentucky surrendered in May, 1865.

WKMS produces Kentucky Civil War Dispatches from West Kentucky Community and Technical College history professor Berry Craig. The Murray State alumnus is the author of Hidden History of Kentucky in the Civil War, Hidden History of Kentucky Soldiers and True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bombast, Bourbon, and Burgoo. For WKMS News, I'm Todd Hatton.