Today in History:

52 Series I Volume XXXIX-I Serial 77 - Allatoona Part I

Page 52 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. Chapter LI.

of the Thirty-sixth Regiment Enrolled Militia, attended in an efficient manner to the duties of the quartermaster and commissary departments.

Colonel Keenon and the officers and men under his command deserve especial praise for their prompt response to the call of His Excellency the Governor. The Thirty-sixth Regiment have furnished another evidence of the loyalty of the militia, and of the fact that they are ready and willing to defend their States whenever called on to do so.

The presence of His Excellency the Governor and Attorney-General Harlan animated the men, and contributed very materially to the defense of the fort.

I am under obligations to Messrs. W. A. Gaines and George Watson, volunteer aides, for the prompt manner in which they discharged their duties.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. W. LINDSEY,

Inspector-General, Kentucky.

General John H. BOYLE,

Adjutant-General, Kentucky.


Numbers 11. Report of Colonel George W. Monroe, Twenty-second Kentucky Infantry, commanding forces defending Frankfort.


HEADQUARTERS FORCES DEFENDING FRANKFORT,
Frankfort, June 18, 1864.

SIR: I beg leave to submit the following report of the operations during the three days' siege of Frankfort:

In compliance with special orders from headquarters Kentucky State Guard, of date June 9, I assumed command of the active forces in and around the city, and proceeded directly to place the city in a position for defense. The following gentlemen were appointed on my staff: Captain J. M. Mills, acting assistant adjutant-general and chief of staff; Lieuts. John M. Hewett, Jr., Yoder Brown, and John A. Crittenden, aides-de-camp. I instructed Colonel Edgar Keenon, commanding Thirty-sixth Regiment Enrolled Militia, and Lieutenant Denton, commanding Kentucky Scouts, to report to me immediately the available force under their command. The reports were promptly furnished, and I ascertained that my active force, consisting of cavalry and infantry, amounted to only 183 men. With this force I had to defend the fort, arsenal, bridges, and all the roads leading into town. Feeling that the situation was a critical one, and determining to resist to the last any attack which should be made, and thinking the fort the better point for resistance, I ordered Colonel Keenon to summon the remainder of his regiment and occupy the fort, with instructions to all detachments who were defending the entrances to the town to fall back upon that point in case they could not hold their positions. I inspected the fort and found the ordnance and stores in good condition, but no regular artillery force to man the guns. I then directed Colonel Keenon to furnish Sergeant Johnson, of the Second Mounted Infantry, with a force from his command to work the cannon, which being done, I commenced, in order to strengthen the position, the construction of two redoubts, with a line of rifle-pits to protect them, immediately in the rear of the fort, impressing for this purpose about seventy-five negro men. This work, however, the enemy did not allow me to complete, as will be


Page 52 KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., ALA., AND N. GA. Chapter LI.