General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Confederate general

(Mayfield KY, Feb. 10, 2012) -  On this date in 1862, large numbers of Kentucky troops were about to clash for the first time in a major Civil War battle.

     Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Union army would win the battle of Fort Donelson, Tenn., fought on Feb. 12-16, 1862. Grant would capture the earthen bastion on the Cumberland River near Dover, Tenn. He would also bag about 12,000 prisoners, including Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, a Kentuckian, the Second and Eighth Kentucky Infantry regiments and Graves’ Kentucky Artillery Battery.

     Grant’s victorious soldiers included the 17th and 25th Kentucky Infantry regiments.

     Buckner and Grant were friends from the old army. Grant's widow named Buckner a pallbearer for her husband's funeral in 1885. Two years later, Buckner, a Democrat, was elected governor of Kentucky and in 1896, he ran for vice president on the “Gold Bug” Democratic ticket.      The 2nd and 8th Kentucky regiments entered Confederate service in 1861 at Camp Boone, near Clarksville, Tenn. Company “A,” the "Columbus Rifles,” consisted of Hickman and Ballard countians under Capt. James Moss. Company “D” was a Graves County outfit commanded by Capt. Lewis Slayden.

     Later in 1861, Henry C. Burnett of Cadiz, a former First District congressman, helped recruit the 8th Kentucky. The regiment's company “B” was a group of about 100 Graves County volunteers led by Capt. R.H. Fristoe.

     Burnett was named colonel and joined the regiment at Fort Donelson. But he was never in active command and to avoid capture, he left the doomed strongpoint with Gens. Gideon J. Pillow of Tennessee and John B. Floyd of Virginia.

     Behind Rebel lines at Russellville in 1861, Burnett had helped organize a rump Rebel government in opposition to Kentucky’s lawful, elected Union government in Frankfort, the state capital.

     Burnett ultimately resigned his commission and entered Confederate politics. He served in the Rebel senate in Richmond, the Confederate capital.

     Buckner, the 2nd and 8th Kentucky, and Graves’ Battery were exchanged for Union prisoners later in 1862.

     The 2nd Kentucky and Graves’ Battery became part of the storied Kentucky “Orphan Brigade” and fought in most of the major battles in the Western Theater of the War. The 8th Kentucky ended up as mounted infantry in Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry army.

     The soldiers of the 17th and 25th Kentucky also fought in most big battles in the West. After the battle of Shiloh, the 25th became part of the 17th regiment.

     Benjamin Bristow of Hopkinsville was lieutenant colonel of the 17th Kentucky until he was seriously wounded at Shiloh. He recovered and after the war was reunited with his former commander, serving as treasury secretary under President Grant. Both were Republicans.

-- Berry Craig is a professor of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah and is the author of True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bombast, Bourbon and Burgoo, Hidden History of Kentucky in the Civil War, Hidden History of Kentucky Soldiers and Hidden History of Western Kentucky. The books are being sold to raise money for scholarships at WKCTC. They are available by contacting Craig by phone at (270) 534-3270 or by email at berry.craig@kctcs.edu.