The October, 2006 meeting of the Clarksville Civil War Roundtable will be held Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 at 7 PM in the cafe of Borders Books store in Governor's Square Mall. This is located on Wilma Rudolph Highway (US 79) just south of Exit 4 off I-24 in Clarksville, TN. The meeting is always open to interested members of the public.
This month's program is, "Thunder From A Clear Sky - Adam Johnson's Indiana Raid" and it will be presented by Ray Mulesky of Newburgh, IN and it is based on his book of the same title.
On July 18, 1862, Newburgh, an Indiana town of nearly 1,300 citizens, including almost 100 convalescing Union soldiers, was captured by a bold Confederate icon commanding only twenty-seven Kentucky rebels. The Confederate commander's name was Adam Rankin Johnson. This was the first Confederate raid north of the Mason-Dixon Line in the American Civil War.
According to Union Army colonel and noted Kentucky historian Edmund L. Starling,
"[Adam] Johnson performed perhaps the most reckless, and yet most successful, military masterstroke achieve by any commander of high or low authority, in either army during the war."
Though having very few troops, Johnson, a protege of Nathan Bedford Forrest, used stovepipes on wheels as fake cannon which aided greatly in capturing the town. This earned him the nickname "Stovepipe" Johnson. The raid on Newburgh, IN was one of the great stories of the Civil War and is an example of what an intrepid officer can do.
Johnson was a native of Henderson County, KY and he raised the 10th Kentucky Cavalry during the war. A month after the Indiana raid, Johnson, joining his forces, now greatly increased, with those of Thomas Woodward, attacked and captured Clarksville, TN. He then began a long career of service as a cavalry officer and raider until being blinded in August, 1864 by friendly fire.
Ray Mulesky was born and raised in the bustling suburbs of Long Island, New York, where, at an early age, he began studying the legacy of the Civil War on modern America. Ray took the opportunity to move to the Midwest in the 1980’s and has since immersed himself in the fascinating Civil War history of Indiana and Kentucky. He is now known as one of the nation’s experts on the 1862 Confederate Raid on Newburgh, Indiana. Ray lives in Evansville, Indiana, with his wife and son, not far from the site of Johnson's raid.
Please join us for an informative program with Ray Mulesky on Wednesday, October 18th with the Clarksville Civil War Roundtable.
Greg Biggs
Clarksville CWRT