Volume I Part 35 (1/2)
”The Government of the Confederate States has not only respected most scrupulously the neutrality of Kentucky, but has continued to maintain the friendly relations of trade and intercourse which it has suspended with the United States generally.
”In view of the history of the past, it can scarcely be necessary to a.s.sure your Excellency that the Government of the Confederate States will continue to respect the neutrality of Kentucky so long as her people will maintain it themselves.
”But neutrality, to be ent.i.tled to respect, must be strictly maintained between both parties; or, if the door be opened on the one side for the aggressions of one of the belligerent parties upon the other, it ought not to be shut to the a.s.sailed when they seek to enter it for purposes of self-defense.
”I do not, however, for a moment believe that your gallant State will suffer its soil to be used for the purpose of giving an advantage to those who violate its neutrality and disregard its rights, over others who respect both.
”In conclusion, I tender to your Excellency the a.s.surance of my high consideration and regard, and am, sir, very respectfully,
”Yours, etc., Jefferson Davis.”
Movements by the Federal forces in southwestern Kentucky revealed such designs as made it absolutely necessary that General Polk, commanding the Confederate forces in that section, should immediately occupy the town of Columbus, Kentucky; a position of much strategic importance on the sh.o.r.e of the Mississippi River.
That position was doubly important, because it commanded the opposite sh.o.r.e in Missouri, and was the gateway on the border of Tennessee.
Two States of the Confederacy were therefore threatened by the antic.i.p.ated movement of the enemy to get possession of Columbus.
Major-General Polk, therefore, crossed the State line, took possession of Hickman on September 3d, and on the 4th secured Columbus. General Grant, who took command at Cairo on September 2d, being thus antic.i.p.ated, seized Paducah, at the [pg 392] mouth of the Tennessee River, and occupied it in force on the 5th and 6th.
After the occupation, under date of September 4th, I received the following dispatch from Major-General Polk: ”The enemy having descended the Mississippi River some three or four days since, and seated himself with cannon and entrenched lines opposite the town of Columbus, Kentucky, making such demonstrations as left no doubt upon the minds of any of their intention to seize and forcibly possess said town, I thought proper, under the plenary power delegated to me, to direct a sufficient portion of my command both by the river way and land to concentrate at Columbus, as well to offer to its citizens that protection they unite to a man in accepting, as also to prevent, in time, the occupation by the enemy of a point so necessary to the security of western Tennessee. The demonstration on my part has had the desired effect. The enemy has withdrawn his forces even before I had fortified my position. It is my intention to continue to occupy and hold this place.” On the same day I sent the following reply to Major-General Polk: ”Your telegram received; the necessity must justify the action.”
The Legislature of Kentucky pa.s.sed resolutions and appointed a committee to inquire into the action of General Polk, from which the annexed correspondence resulted:
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MAJOR-GENERAL POLK AND THE AUTHORITIES OF KENTUCKY.
Resolutions of the Kentucky Senate relative to the Violation of the Neutrality of Kentucky.
”Resolved by the Senate, That the special committee of the Senate, raised for the purpose of considering the reported occupation of Hickman and other points in Kentucky by Confederate troops, take into consideration the occupation of Paducah and other places in Kentucky by the Federal authorities, and report thereon when the true state of the case shall have been ascertained. That the Speaker appoint three members of the Senate to visit southern Kentucky, who are directed to obtain all the facts they can in reference to the recent occupation of Kentucky [pg 393] soil by Confederate and Federal forces, and report in writing at as early a day as practicable.
”In Senate of Kentucky, Sat.u.r.day, September 7, A. D. 1861.
”Twice read and adopted.
”Attest: (Signed) J. H. Johnson, S. S.
”In accordance with the foregoing resolution, the Speaker appointed as said committee Messrs. John M. Johnson, William B. Read, and Thornton F. Marshall.
”Attest: (Signed) J. H. Johnson, S. S.”
Letter of Hon. J. M. Johnson, Chairman of the Committee of the Kentucky Senate, to General Polk.
”Columbus, Kentucky, September 9, 1861.
”To Major-General Polk, commanding forces, etc.
”Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a resolution of the Senate of Kentucky, adopted by that body upon the reception of the intelligence of the military occupation of Hickman, Chalk Bank, and Columbus, by the Confederate troops under your command. I need not say that the people of Kentucky are profoundly astonished that such an act should have been committed by the Confederates, and especially that they should have been the first to do so with an equipped and regularly organized army.
”The people of Kentucky, having with great unanimity determined upon a position of neutrality in the unhappy war now being waged, and which they had tried in vain to prevent, had hoped that one place at least in this great nation might remain uninvaded by pa.s.sion, and through whose good office something might be done to end the war, or at least to mitigate its horrors, or, if this were not possible, that she might be left to choose her destiny without disturbance from any quarter.
”In obedience to the thrice-repeated will of the people, as expressed at the polls, and in their name, I ask you to withdraw your forces from the soil of Kentucky.