Civil War fort at Boonesboro? Wait? I thought Boonesboro was a pioneer fort, during the Revolutionary War? But wait, you read that correctly, there was a Civil War fort at Boonesboro as well, stay with me, and I’ll tell you it’s story!
It’s one of the most obscure historic sites in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky, the Civil War Fort at Boonesboro. Many folks know about Daniel Boone and his pioneer fort on the Kentucky frontier, and its replica that is visited thousands of times a year by folks all over the world. What is lesser known is that eighty-eight years later, the area had another fort just across the river, high on the hill overlooking the Kentucky River.
In order to understand why this fort and others were built, we need to understand the back story. Kentucky was a highly contested border state throughout the war, and was continually surprised by Confederates on short, fast raiding missions to destroy supply lines, transportation routes, and to procure supplies.
Let me introduce you to Confederate Colonel Roy S. Cluke, who ironically was a native of Clark County, Kentucky, where this fort stood. In February 1863, he took a force of 750 men from Tennessee to invade Kentucky. They first struck Somerset and captured a bounty of supplies. When they reached Richmond, Cluke split up his forces and sent raiding parties to Winchester, Paris, and Mt. Sterling.
Colonel Cluke and his men were pursued by Colonel Benjamin Runkle of the 45th Ohio and those Buckeyes almost caught the Rebs at Boonesboro Ford. Runkle and his men followed the Rebs to Mt. Sterling where they hit them again. Cluke was able to escape capture and returned back into Tennessee.
The next month Confederate General John Pegram took 1,550 men and three pieces of artillery into Kentucky to procure cattle for the army. They initially moved through the area unopposed, and they gathered large numbers of cattle as they went. They faced little opposition until they reached Danville, where they ran into Colonel Runkle’s force. The Confederates were successful in pushing the Federalists out of the important town.
Soon they ran into Union Brigadier General Samuel P. Carter and after a few skirmishes, they retreated back south to Somerset. Pegram’s men were mounted but were slowed by the hundreds of cattle that they had procured in Garrard, Lincoln, and Boyle Counties. Union General Quincey Gilmore and his men caught up with the Confederates and defeated them at the Battle of Somerset, forcing them to leave behind all their cattle.
In July and August, a third Confederate raid into Kentucky took place. Colonel John S. Scott came from Tennessee with 1,000 men and eight pieces of artillery. Their mission was to capture supplies and to take some of the Union pressure off of General John Hunt Morgan, “The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy”, who at that time, was raiding into Ohio.
Colonel Scott ran into resistance and clashed with Union forces four days in a row, in Williamsburg, London, Rogersville, and Richmond. Scott’s Rebels defeated Union Colonel William P. Saunders who retreated his men across the Kentucky River at Clays Ferry, and then into Lexington. Colonel Scott and his men then captured the city of Winchester. Union reinforcements came from Camp Nelson, Cincinnati, and Louisville, and Colonel Saunders attacked Scott about five miles south of Winchester. Scott’s Rebels were forced to retreat and ended up escaping back into Tennessee, and like General Pegram, were forced to abandon most of their supplies and animals in Somerset.
The Union Army charged one man to help defend the region from more attacks, Captain Thomas B. Brooks. Captain Brooks was from New York and first enlisted in the 1st New York Volunteer Engineers. In November of 1862, he was ordered to Kentucky to serve under the command of General Gilmore, to assist with designing defenses. Brooks traveled around Central Kentucky to scout out where the defenses were needed. He then designed several blockhouses used for railroad security and designed the fortifications at Boonesboro, Clays Ferry, Tates Creek, Frankfort, and Hickman Creek, which became Camp Nelson. He was also involved in the construction of defenses in Lexington.
Perhaps by the forts sheer existence the Confederates were discouraged from further raiding in the area and General John Hunt Morgan’s summer raid bypassed the area completely. Later in 1863, General Ambrose Burnside arrived in Kentucky to lead a force into Tennessee. Burnside pulled most of the men and supplies form the forts for his mission. In September 1863, Burnside and his men took Knoxville and the threat to Kentucky was never as strong again.
The rest of the video is a tour of the area.
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3 окт 2024
