A closer look at the Confederate losses leaves doubts as to the truth of Baxter's account. He claimed that the rebels suffered "eleven killed, twenty-nine wounded, and twenty-two prisoners." Although it is difficult to verify the number of deaths or wounded, if any, this doesn't necessarily apply to the number of prisoners. As a rule, captured prisoners were taken to the nearest Union camp to be processed and then sent off to Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. In this case, the prisoners would have been sent to Camp Kenton at Maysville in neighboring Mason County, as was claimed in Baxter's letter. From Maysville, captured prisoners were forwarded by steamboat to Cincinnati and lodged in the City Barracks (also referred to as Asylum City Barracks) on Elm Street. After a few days at the barracks, the prisoners made the trip by train to Camp Chase. Unfortunately, no 1861 records for the City Barracks have survived. However, the Cincinnati newspapers kept track of newly "Secesh" prisoners, coming and going, especially if there was a larger number of them - but there is no record of 22 prisoners captured at Hillsboro.
On October 10, 1861, 7 prisoners arrived at Cincinnati from Maysville, in charge of Deputy US Marshal Davis and assisted by a detachment of the Mason County Home Guards. None of the prisoners had been taken at Hillsboro. On October 21, 1861, 14 prisoners were held at the City Barracks, 11 of which had been sent from Maysville but had no connection to the Hillsboro engagement. Camp Chase records confirm the arrival of the 14 prisoners. The records do not mention any prisoners at Camp Chase who had been captured at Hillsboro on October 8, 1861.
The Confederate commander was Captain John Buckner Holladay (1824-1897), a Mexican War veteran who had served as 2. Lieutenant in Co. E, 3rd Kentucky Volunteers. He was a State Representative from 1851-1853. In 1860, he was the Sheriff of Nicholas County and lived near Carlisle with his mother-in-law's family. After the war, he was elected sheriff of Bourbon County and served as mayor of Paris, Kentucky.
According to Baxter, Holladay had about 300 men in his command at Hillsboro and sustained an aggregate loss of 62 men. Assuming there were desertions after the fight, it would still place Holladay's force at around 200.
Considering the Philadelphia Press account instead, Holladay had about 200 men under his command when he made his foray into Fleming County. Taking the losses given and possible desertions into account, it would place Holliday's force at around 100 men.
Two weeks after the engagement at Hillsboro, Holladay proceeded with his men to Prestonsburg to enroll into the Confederate service. He served as Captain in Co. D, 1st Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles. Holladay noted later in a letter to Confederate authorities that he had 103 men in his command, all organized and ready for the service, when he took up the line of march to Prestonsburg on October 22, 1861.
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Letter written by Captain Holladay
August 26, 1862 |
When we examine the losses on the Union side, the facts are much clearer...and Baxter's claims do not hold water. He stated that the Fleming Home Guards lost "three killed and two wounded, as follows: James B. Davis, Julius Herrick, Charles Burnes, killed; and Thomas B. Smith, (banker,) S. Saloman, wounded." However, neither Davis, Herrick or Burnes were killed.
The "Killed"
James B. Davis was born about 1834, the son of John W. Davis and Ann Cunningham. Davis was still very much alive on July 1, 1863 when he was enumerated in the Kentucky Civil War Draft Registration, 9th Congressional District, 7th sub-district. He was 29 years old, married and worked as a stage driver.
Julius Herrick was born on May 17, 1836 in Randolph, Vermont, the son of Lorenzo D. Herrick and Zilpha A Haskins. He graduated from Yale in 1856. Herrick moved to Kentucky and was listed on July 1, 1863 in the Kentucky Draft Registration, 9th Congressional District, 7th sub-district. He was 27 years old and by profession a lawyer. On February 5, 1864, Herrick married Nancy Mary Jane "Nannie" Baxter, daughter of William Baxter and Jemima Johnson, in Fleming County, Kentucky. She was a personal acquaintance of James J. Andrews, of Andrews' Raiders fame, and was mentioned in his letter dated June 6, 1862, from Chattanooga prison two days before his execution. Julius Herrick died on September 14, 1914 at Chicago, Illinois.
Charles Burnes (aka Charles Henry Burns), the son of Alvin Burns, was born on November 5, 1839, in Nicholas County, Kentucky. On April 24, 1865, he was listed as a merchant in Flemingsburg, age 25. In 1866, his father lived at Tilton, 5 1/2 miles south of Flemingsburg. By 1870, Alvin Burns, with son Charles, had removed to Fox Springs, a popular mid-19th Century watering hole with a large hotel and surrounding cottages, about 9 miles from Flemingsburg. Charles was listed in 1870 Fleming County census. He died at Knoxville, Tennessee on September 30, 1894.
The "Wounded"
Although there is no way to ascertain whether these men were wounded or not, I will list them here, regardless.
Thomas B. Smith was born about 1819 in Kentucky. In 1850, he lived in Bath County and was a druggist. On July 1, 1863 he was listed in the Kentucky Civil War Draft Registration Records, 9th Congressional District, 7th sub-district. Smith was 44 years old and listed banker as his profession. He died shortly after the end of the war, on October 11, 1865 and is interred in the Flemingsburg Cemetery.
Solomon Soloman was born about 1828 in Prussia (some records say Poland). In 1860, he lived with the Sanford family near Elizaville. His occupation was silversmith. He married Eliza M. Kelly on June 2, 1868 in Bourbon County, Kentucky. In September 1875, Soloman was a storekeeper in Paris, Kentucky. He died on January 17, 1898 at Chicago, Illinois.
The Union Officers
Lieutenant Sadler went into the military service shortly after the Hillsboro engagement. William Clay Sadler, born November 24, 1836, at Flemingsburg, enrolled in Company H, 16th KY Inf. at Camp Kenton on October 12, 1861. Sadler held the rank as sergeant but was later promoted to 1st Lieutenant and Adjutant. He was married to Martha Jane Dudley, Sergeant Dudley's first cousin.
The exact identity of Sergeant Dudley has not been determined but we know that he was one of the sons of James Dudley and his wife Eliza Shumate. In 1850, Dudley was listed as an inn keeper in Flemingsburg. Their sons were Peyton Shumate (1825-1910), William Floyd (1826-1907), James Henry (1831-1905) and Newton Steele Dudley (1841-1923). However, in 1861, both Peyton S. and William F. Dudley were not living in Kentucky, leaving James H. and N. Steele Dudley as possibilities.
After her husband's death in 1858, Eliza Dudley, the "celebrated hotel keeper," continued to run the family's inn.* The place was known as the "Dudley House" which was situated at the northwest corner of Water Street and Main Cross in Flemingsburg, right in the center of town. The hotel was commodious, and featured twenty rooms, a kitchen, a smoke house, an ice house, two stables and a garden. A separate building housed 11 slaves. The hotel also served liquor to patrons. Eliza employed her son Newton Steele as barkeeper until he enlisted as 2nd Lieutenant in the 10th Kentucky Cavalry (US) at Flemingsburg on August 2, 1862. Brother James Henry was in charge of the stables.
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Sale of the Dudley House in 1866 after Eliza Dudley's death
Cynthiana News, July 19, 1866 |
Weapons
Baxter's account also claims that the Flemingsburg Home Guards captured 127 Enfield rifles, and a large number of sabres, pistols, bowie knives, and cavalry equipments from the Confederates. It seems highly unlikely that Confederate recruits who were not mustered into the service were in possession of 127 Enfield Rifles in October of 1861. Early in the war, arms of any type were in short supply and typically, Confederate recruits were furnished a variety of weapons, including outdated flintlock muskets and Belgian rifles. Many soldiers brought their own personal weapons, such as hunting rifles and shotguns.
Some Confederates solved the problem of arming themselves by "confiscating" guns from the enemy before going to camp. The Lincoln Guns of the Home Guards were especially desired. On May 18, 1861, an attempt to stop and possibly capture a shipment of Lincoln Guns that were destined for Nicholas County basically failed. While Colonel Metcalfe was on his way from Maysville, by turnpike, with the arms for Nicholas county, a meeting was called at Carlisle at which a committee was appointed to go down the turnpike and meet Colonel Metcalfe. This committee met the colonel with the wagon containing the guns a little north of the Blue Licks Springs, and delivered their message that the guns must not be brought to Carlisle, and that seventy-five men were banded together to come to the turnpike bridge at Blue Licks, and prevent them from being taken beyond it. Colonel Metcalfe had with him, besides the driver, only two other men, citizens of his county. Metcalfe, however, said in response to the bearers of the message, "in language made emphatic by an oath, that they might go back and tell the men who had sent them, that seventy-five of them might come to the bridge, but that seventy-five would never go back to Carlisle; and with that he told his driver to drive on. Nobody met him at the bridge, and that night the guns were received by men awaiting the colonel's arrival, at his residence, on the turnpike, about two miles from Carlisle."
Even though desired by Confederates during the early days of the war, Lincoln Guns were mostly converted flintlocks such as the 1816 and 1835 Springfield and Harper's Ferry muskets, not rifles such as Enfields. Some 380,000 flintlock muskets were altered to percussion at the national arsenals between 1848-1857.
The first Enfield rifles to reach Confederate soil since the start of the war arrived in Savannah, Georgia, on September 18, 1861. These highly sought after weapons were distributed to regiments in the field, not to potential recruits who were not mustered into the service yet such as Captain Halliday's men. It is highly unlikely that they were in possession of 127 Enfield Rifles.
In conclusion, we know with absolute certainty that key details in Baxter's letter were completely exaggerated or untrue which makes the rest of his letter circumspect. There were no Union deaths nor are there any records that support the claim that any Confederates were taken prisoner. As a matter of fact, the Union authorities in Maysville claimed they had no idea about the fight much less any prisoners to report. Their wounded and killed, in absence of any records, can not be ascertained. It may also be noted that none of the men who served in Holladay's company and later filed for a Confederate pension mentioned the Hillsboro engagement. There could be several reasons - the engagement did not take place, the pensioner was not present or it was not mentioned because it took place before their formal enlistment in the Confederate Army.
The account of the Battle of Hillsboro published in the Philadelphia Press appears to be the most authentic and believable version of events that day and lends credence to the possibility that an engagement, in fact, did take place. It sets the Confederate force at more realistic strength, even though perhaps somewhat inflated, it does not boast of a large number of weapons captured nor does it give a false list of Union or Confederate casualties and prisoners.
One credible scenario would be that Holladay and his men came into Fleming County, perhaps to recruit, and took up camp on Davis' farm. When word was received at Flemingsburg, the Home Guard company under Dudley mobilized, went to Hillsboro and disbursed the camp. The general panic that Holladay's presence most likely caused in town may have contributed to the rumors and speculations that the Confederates planned to burn Hillsboro or Flemingsburg or rob the Flemingsburg bank.
However, no reports exist of any kind of depredations committed at or near Hillsboro even though Holladay's men were encamped on Davis' farm within a mile of the town. The Flemingsburg Home Guard company under Dudley proceeded to Hillsboro and quickly disbursed the camp. The whole affair lasted no longer than 20 minutes.
It appears that details of the engagement at Hillsboro were shared with Nelson's Union soldiers, including the correspondent of the Philadelphia Press, while in Flemingsburg at the "Dudley House." This, if anything, makes the possibility of an engagement at Hillsboro on October 8, 1861, most convincing. The details may have been related by Sergeant Dudley himself, either Newton Steel, as he was pouring a drink to the men or by James Henry Dudley as he was tending to their horses.
Lastly, it is not clear why Baxter, who was a resident of Louisville, would have been present at the engagement as he claimed. He had no family ties to Fleming County but there may have been a business connection. More importantly, it should not be overlooked that Baxter was a business man who also had political aspirations. In the April 1862 elections, he ran on the Union ticket for Common Council, 7th Ward, in Louisville. After the Civil war, Baxter was elected mayor of the city and served two terms.
His letter may have been purely a propaganda piece to show support of the Union cause, taking a small skirmish between Holladay and the Fleming Home Guards and inflating it, in order to motivate Union men to step up and enlist. It was published during a critical time when the Union was in need of some encouraging news from the "front," however small, in light of the ever growing threat of the Confederate recruiting camp at Prestonsburg, not to mention the Union's recent defeat at Barboursville and the push of Confederate forces under Zollicoffer at Cumberland Gap.
John J. Crittenden was in the mountain counties making speeches and urging the people to rush to arms, and "strike till the last armed foe expires." Senator Garrett Davis, who was tasked by Lincoln to aid in the work of securing men, traveled through various Eastern Kentucky counties with a chest full of money, with authority from the Government to enroll men in the Military Service and to advance them one month's pay, amounting to $13.00, to be used by them in the support of their families.
During this time, General William Nelson was assembling a force at Camp Kenton for his campaign against Williams' forces in the Big Sandy Valley. At the beginning of October 1861, Nelson issued a call in the Maysville Eagle, "Fighting men are wanted - men whose hearts are made of heroic stuff - men strong of frame and great of soul." On October 14, 1861, he placed a second call in the Maysville Eagle which was aimed specifically at the Home Guards of the Ninth and Ashland Districts. "Let every man that has a Government musket be on hand." His command included not only fully mustered volunteer regiments but also raw recruits, home guard companies as well as a group of civilians. Nelson subsequently led a successful campaign against Williams' Confederates, including Captain John B. Holladay's company, which resulted in a Union victory at Ivy Mountain on November 8, 1861 and secured the Big Sandy Valley for the Union. Baxter's letter thus may have served its intended purpose and in a small way contributed to Nelson's success.
