Civil War Vignette

by Nevyle Shackelford

The War Between the States has long since passed into the realm of history, legend, and folk tale. The last participant as a soldier in this sanguinary, internecine conflict has departed to Valhalla, the hall of Odin reserved for fightingmen. Millions of words have been written telling the story, but despite the passage of more than a century new information keeps cropping up and the complete tale still remains untold.

A case in point is this little vignette dug up by Dr. Raymond Cable, and expatriated Lee countian who left his native turf some years ago to become professor of Biological Sciences at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. In doing research on his family tree, Dr. Cable uncovered the information that one of his ancestors, Joseph E. Cable, along with Lycurgus Kincaid, George Miller, Marion McDonaldShackelford, and Absolum Hobbs and their families fled this part of the country to avoid being killed by guerilla bands that roamed the country during the dark days of this tragic rebellion.

The pseudo soldiers were little more than thieves and murderers and all during the war they harassed this area. When among Unionists, these bands professed to favor the Union. When among Confederate sympathizers, they claimed to be for the South. They preyed, however, indiscriminately. Whosoever was weak, defenseless, or unprotected was for them fair game.

According to Dr. Cable's information, Joseph Cable had been the commanding officer of a Home Guard company organized locally to protect citizens of a wide neighborhood made up of what was then Wolfe and Breathitt counties as well as sick and wounded soldiers making their way home after being released from the Union Army. Commander Cable and his men had soundly thrashed some of the guerillas but finally the situation, evidently becoming worse, decided to emigrate to safer territory in Indiana where they had heard that men with large families willing to work were in great demand to produce food and supplies for the U.S. Army.

In order to facilitate their trip, the men mentioned above secretly constructed two large houseboats on the North Fork River probably, since they all lived near or on this little stream, at the south of Upper Devil's Creek.

As the account furnished by Dr. Cable goes, it was in the late winter of 1862 that after moving their families and provisions to the river in sleds, these five men embarked and floated down stream without mishap until they reached the vicinity of what is now Clay's Ferry in Fayette County. When they reached this point on the river a skirmish between a detachment from Gen. Morgan's Cavalry and a Federal force of 250 men retreating from Richmond to Lexington was taking place. The Federal forces had crossed the river and fearing that the Confederates would capture and use the boats to ferry across the stream, the Union officer confiscated and destroyed them.

After the boats had been impounded and demolished, Cable, acting as spokesman for the group, requested that if any counterattack was to be mounted or the fight moved across the river, their families could move out of the battle area. The request being granted, all of Cable's men then volunteered to fight should an attack be made by the Confederates.

The account continues that this offer was "gratefully accepted " as these hardy men with their long rifles were crack shots and carried with them long home-made hunting knives sharp enough to shave with. "

Luckily, perhaps, for the emigrants there was no battle except for an artillery duel across the river. The next day the Union officer after giving a receipt and "making bond" (which incidentally was never honored) for the confiscated boat, furnished the group with government wagons and an armed escort to Lexington. From there they traveled by railroad until they found safety and employment in the farming area around Bloomington, Indiana.

After the War ended, Kincaid, Hobbs, Miller, and Shackelford returned to their homes in Kentucky where in the meantime on Feb. 20, 1864, Shackelford's father, Santford father, a "strong Union man," had been slain by guerillas in the doorway of his home on Upper Devil's Creek. Cable went from Indiana to Bucklin, Missouri, and as far as is known lived out the rest of his life there.

Yes, as this article indicates, the story of the Civil War still flows on--flows on in thin streams of remembrance; in memories often surcharged with deep-seated animosities as the opinions of the participants became the convictions of their descendants. The hatreds that were engendered more than a century ago still linger like unseemly ghosts.

It is said that some of the bloody fueds that wracked Eastern Kentucky and some of the other sections of the state soon after the surrender at Appomattox were spawned by actions of the lawless guerillas. Upon returning home after the war ended and finding that their unprotected families had been robbed, ravished, and otherwise mistreated by guerillas, these ex-soldiers hit the vendetta trail. It is firmly believed that if the cold ashes of this great conflict were subjected to a chemical analysis, it would still, after more than a hundred years, show traces of venom.