Реферат: The Battle Of Paducah Essay Research Paper

The day after the battle, a Confederate soldier was found dead by some Unions soldiers looking over the town. He was leaning with his back against a tree grasping an “ambrotype likeness of two children.” The hardened Union soldiers were reduced to tears as they dug his grave and laid him to rest, still holding the pictures of his children. Over the grave they carved in a maple tree, “Somebody’s Father. March 25, 1864.”

Not knowing if Forrest would return, Hicks, on the morning of the 26th, ordered the sixteenth Kentucky Cavalry to burn the houses where the Rebels had rained down their fire on the fort. However, because of the heavy wind that day, the fire was carried into other wooden structures and some sixty homes burned. Some of these home owners demanded reparations for the loss of their homes. Many were declined, but some stayed wrapped up in Congress until 1985, over 120 years later.

While these houses were burning, General Forrest sent a letter of communication. The letter read:

I understand you hold in your possession in the guard house at Paducah a number of Confederate soldiers as prisoners of war. I have in my possession about 35 to 40 Federal soldiers who were captured here yesterday, and about 500 who were captured at Union City. I propose to exchange man for man, according to rank, so far as you my hold Confederate Soldiers.

Hicks quickly replied to Forrest: “ I have no power to make the exchange. If I had, I would most cheerfully do it.” In reading this, Forrest continued to Mayfield. He and his men camped at George Schmidts farm which was located about halfway between Paducah and Mayfield. Forrest tied his horse to a black oak tree in the front yard. The scene is described as follows:

The “Death Wagon” was parked under a small tree to the right of the front entrance, and the groans heard throughout the nigh – faint calls for help like those of the dauntless defenders and fearless assailants who after the Battle of Waterloo and while yet alive found a common grave in the well at the Chateau of Hougoumont.

Upon getting back to Mayfield, Forrest fulfilled his promise of a personal leave for his troops. He allowed his men from West Kentucky to go home for a few days with orders to meet again in Trenton, Tennessee. Not a single man deserted.

An underlying factor of this battle was definitely the African American troops that fought for the Union cause. The African American troops made up over one third of the fort’s defenders. One historian speculates, “that if Kentucky Confederates had captured the fort” they would have massacred the black soldiers as they did in the Fort Pillow incident. John Robertson said, “A second purpose of Forrest’s raid was to deliberately make an example of areas that were recruiting blacks.” In Hicks’ summary of the battle he states “I have been one of those men who never had much confidence in colored troops fighting, but those doubts are now all removed, for they fought as bravely as any troops in the fort.”

With the aforementioned material being said, the significance of The Battle of Paducah becomes clear. Forrest, a future Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, was irritated by the reports that his attack on Paducah failed. The Louisville Journal said the Rebels had been “gloriously drunk, and but little better than a mob.” The Chicago Tribune reported that Forrest’s men had been “ignominiously beaten back by negro soldiers with clubbed muskets.” With this boiling in his blood, Forrest turned his attention to Fort Pillow.

Fort Pillow recruited many African American troops for the Union cause. In short, Forrest surrounded Fort Pillow and demanded its surrender. General Bradford, commander of the fort, replied: “My name is not Hawkins,” alluding to the surrender of Colonel Hawkins at Union City two weeks earlier. He continues, “General; I will not surrender.” Forrest then gave the order of an all out assault.

With the lingering embarrassment from the Paducah raid, Forrest’s men produced a deadly onslaught of vengefulness. General William T. Sherman, (not present at the battle) said: “Forrest’s men acted like a set of barbarians, shooting down the helpless negro garrison after the fort was in their possession.” In his official report Forrest said:

The river was dyed with the blood of the slaughtered for two hundred yards. The approximate loss was upward of five hundred killed, but few of the officers escaping. My loss was about twenty killed. It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northern people that negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners.

From the first to the last shot, The Battle of Paducah lasted twelve hours. The total Union dead totaled 46 to 50. The total Confederate dead totaled 14 to 25. These numbers are officially reported in the battle records, but are thought to be much lower than actual. Both sides wanted to claim victory, therefore the death tolls were probably understated.

In summary, March 25, 1864 will probably never be remembered in many text books. Today there is no trace of the battle and those who died there. There is a plaque in the sidewalk where the fort stood so diligently. There are a few markers that the citizens of Paducah drive by, most without even knowing what they say. If one was to walk around the downtown area today and ask people if they knew the historical significance of their town, few would know. Few know, that had the Battle of Paducah not occurred, many history books would be changed forever. The Massacre at Fort Pillow would be known as, “ The Battle of Fort Pillow.” All of this, stimming from a battle that many historians consider, “a skirmish.”

Bibliography

Jerry Wooten, interview by author, tape recording, Paducah, Ky., 26 October 2000.

Henry George, “History of the 3D, 7th, 8th and 12th Kentucky C.S.A.” (Melber: Simmons Historical Publications, 1987), 74.

Ibid.

Ibid.

U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, vol. 32, part III (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880 – 1901), 91.

George, Kentucky C.S.A., 75.

Ibid.

Wooten, Interview.

Author Unknown, “Rebel Advance in Tennessee,” The New York Times, 25 March 1864.

George, Kentucky C.S.A., 75.

U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, vol. 32, part I (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880 – 1901), 503.

George, Kentucky C.S.A., 75.

Wooten, Interview.

Berry Craig, “The Battle of Paducah: A Fierce Onslaught Met by a Sheet of Flame…,” Paducah Sun, 19 March 1989, E1.