Comments on: Simpsonville Civil War Massacre

By: John Drester

John Drester — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:33:22 +0000

Without a doubt this was one of the saddest days in Kentucky history and the troops leaders shouldve been charged and put in the brig.

By: Emma Charpentier

Emma Charpentier — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:14:42 +0000

Hi, I’m a journalism student working on a multimedia project about the Massacre of Simpsonville. I was wondering where exactly in the diary you found her witness. I have been looking through what I think is the right diary, but I can’t seem to find anything.

By: Joe Masterson

Joe Masterson — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:54:03 +0000

if you read magruder’s confession he says they killed several of these men by the end of meeting by just going amongst the cattle and murdering them .His statement was “he got plenty of wool that day” , but didn’t say how many men he actually murdered.
he states they (union men)fired on dick mitchell thinking he was alone and then came out after him . then the guerilla’s commenced firing and killing many of these union men. He states this group of men had no officers or if they did they sure didn’t appear. I would say they killed several men here. lets not sugar coat this murderous act.

By: Uley Washburn

Uley Washburn — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:47:38 +0000

My research on this “event” still continues… I do know now, that there were at least 44 casualties among the black troops. Besides the 22 MIAs (at least 4 known KIA by pension records); there were 6 who died from wounds, or related illness before leaving hospital; 6 definitely disabled; 2 in hospital at muster out, and likely disabled; and 7 wounded, but returned to duty later.
As to their weaponry, the best I have been able to determine thus far is that they were armed with Enfield Infantry rifle; very hard to handle on horseback…. From the reports I have of the time, there may have been a lot of them with “fouled” powder, as they were up late in the night in snow rounding up the cattle.
As to “incompetence”, etc., I fully agree. The officers were incompetent, and cared very little for their charges. Most of the officers were brought up from enlisted status to command “colored” troops. Lt. Flint was a private in the Michigan Cavalry prior to his assignment to the 5th USCC. He was arrested over this event, but cleared. Capt. Shuck was not charged, but later “cashiered” over other problems in the unit….

By: J.T. "Jerry" Miller

J.T. "Jerry" Miller — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:58:21 +0000

The term “massacre” was used in newspaper reports, as was the term “slaughter”. We used both words on the highway historical marker for that reason.

I have never been able to prove how the 5th was armed, but my belief is that they would, at best, have carried infantry rifles and not cavalry carbines. If they were able to get a shot off, they would have had to dismount to get off a second shot. Since the guerrillas were said to have carried one or two revolvers each, they would be able to get off 6-12 shots before reloading.

Half the company was in front of the herd of 900 cattle, so there were approximately 40 men behind, separated by over 1/2 mile of beeves.

By: Allen Gibson

Allen Gibson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:31:05 +0000

wasnt most of these soldiers unarmed or lightly armed?
If so, then it should be called a massacre.
Im glad they finally put a marker on/close to the site
of this massacre in Simpsonville, Kentucky.

By: Richard Pruitt

Richard Pruitt — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:21:22 +0000

Let me see if I have this straight, A group of Black Cavalry in Company strength was ambushed by 15 Confederate Guerillas, and you call the result a massacre? In another action, the 5th US Colored Cavalry had its wounded shot. In all, 22 5th Cavalrymen were killed and 8 wounded (with 6 later died). Where is the massacre? Fiasco, yes! Incompetence, sure! But you need to show the Confederates did murder and killed large numbers to call it a massacre!

Lots of times in this war the ball was started by shooting the other guys in the back. That does not mean 15 guys should route 30 or more so easily.

Richard Pruitt

By: Bruce A Newhouse

Bruce A Newhouse — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:24:02 +0000

When one reads about the Cival War it is usually the large battles or the best known officers on either side who is written about. I find these small actions to be great!!!
The soldiers killed should be given the upmost respect for serving their country. The town should give some care and maintain this Cemetary to respect those buried there!

By: Uley Washburn

Uley Washburn — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:16:07 +0000

Just to “flesh out”, and / or correct a few items.

First, The 28 “who died” is not a certain number. Originally 30 men were listed as “Missing In Action” after the fight at Simpsonville. Twenty-two men still are listed MIA on the muster rolls. Of those 22 MIAs, only Sgt. Lampkins, Pvt. Ford, and Pvt. Hackley have any notation on their records that say they died at Simpsonville. Of the other 8 original MIAs, all were actually wounded in action, some more severely than others. The final status of those is as follows: 3 died later of wounds or complications in the hospital at New Albany, Indiana, 1 was discharged for disability, 1 more man was still hospitalized over a year later and likely disabled, and 3 later returned to duty.

Richard George, a militia captain at the time, states, “Only one shot was fired by a soldier, and it went wild”. A guerrilla, who claimed to have been involved, said the troopers wounded one of the raiders. As to the white officers, Capt. George said one white officer “came out from under the store” after the attack was over, and rode off to Louisville without any thought to his men. The “Cincinnati Daily Gazette” (dated for the 28th) stated, “three of the negro officers were loafing in the tavern at the time”. This should read “negro’s officers” as no blacks could have been officers at that time.

According to communications recorded in “The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies”, ambulances were sent out early on the 26th.

More can be found by going to: http://www.freewwebs.com/5thusccsimpsonville

By: J.T. "Jerry" Miller

J.T. "Jerry" Miller — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:23:07 +0000

To be perfectly clear, the diary in which I read about the massacre was that of Julia Tevis, headmistress of the Science Hill Acadamy in Shelbyville. I was trying to determine if my ancestor, Emily Barry, had been a teacher at Science Hill. The microfilmed diary is available to researchers at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort, KY.