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41-455: The raid convinced the federal government to supply Indiana with a permanent force of regular Union Army soldiers to counter future raids and proved to be a significant boost for Union recruiting in Indiana. Using the language of the 1862 Confederate Partisan Ranger Act , Johnson pictured himself in a book he wrote later in life as part of a military force operating in an irregular manner under

82-593: A tobacco warehouse that also held 75 loose sabers and 130 pistol/holster sets. The only defenders available for Newburgh were eighty soldiers convalescing at a makeshift hospital that was the Exchange Hotel. This hospital was itself a tempting prize for Johnson because it had medical supplies, commissary items, and arms for 200 soldiers that were meant for two future companies of the Indiana Legion; all of which Johnson's forces needed. When Johnson opened

123-497: A dozen local residents who were perceived as friendly to the rebels were arrested. One, Andrew Huston, was later tried and acquitted by a federal court jury in Indianapolis on charges of treason and assisting the rebels. Two other Newburgh residents who had assisted the raiders were slain by members of an angry local crowd before order was restored. An additional six residents were imprisoned in Indianapolis and four others left

164-582: A lawyer and journalist. His highest public office was U.S. secretary of state under Benjamin Harrison , although he also proved influential as a lawyer in technically private practice in the international relations sphere. Foster was born on March 2, 1836, in Petersburg, Indiana , and raised in Evansville, Indiana . He was the son of Matthew Watson Foster, an Indiana farmer,merchant, and judge, and

205-519: A regular army. but were eager to enroll in a partisan corps with the same pay as conventional soldiers. The unintended consequences of the Partisan Ranger Act were beliefs all forms of unconventional warfare were approved, including violence toward civilians. The Partisan Ranger Act was repealed on February 17, 1864, after Robert E. Lee persuaded Confederate politicians to focus on more conventional means of warfare. This did not mean

246-499: A result of scandals and rampant corruption in Grant's first administration, which even reached Vice President Schuyler Colfax and had caused reformers to nominate Horace Greeley in futile opposition to Grant's second term, successive Republican Presidents Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield appointed Foster the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (1873–1880), then to Russia (1880–1881). President Chester A. Arthur made Foster

287-546: A secret message to Mr. D. R. Burbank, a former employer of Johnson's. Just before launching the raid, Johnson's partisans camped at the Soaper Farm in Henderson. With thirty-five men by Johnson's later count (other counts say 32), formed by combining three-man guards for Breckinridge with recruits from Kentucky, Johnson formed a group of partisan rangers that would engage in guerrilla warfare . Johnson and his men crossed

328-447: A short-lived thirty day unit, the 76th Indiana Infantry Regiment . Volunteers of longer service would become parts of the 65th Indiana Infantry Regiment and 78th Indiana Infantry Regiment . Several thousand more Indiana volunteers joined the army in the following days and weeks. Disappointed with the performance of his militia, Morton returned to Indianapolis and devoted much time to improving militia equipment and training, and extending

369-581: A treaty with Britain and Russia concerning seal hunting in the Bering Sea , and negotiated one of the many unequal treaties between imperial powers and China, technically as legal consultant and commissioner for the Qing Dynasty , requiring China to cede land, pay reparations, open treaty ports, or grant extraterritorial privileges to foreign citizens. Shortly before the Treaty of Shimonoseki ended

410-662: The 25th Indiana Volunteer Infantry , the 65th Indiana Volunteer Mounted Infantry and the 136th Indiana Volunteer Infantry . Foster's troops became the first to enter Knoxville, Tennessee , after the successful campaign by General Ambrose Burnside . Foster was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States - a military society of officers who had served in the Union armed forces during

451-839: The Confederate States advantage. The other purpose was to promote the use of unconventional warfare in areas outside the reach for the Confederate Army . According to Document 94 of the Congress of the Confederate States, the Partisan Ranger Act reads as follows: Section 1 . The congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, the president be, and he is hereby authorized to commission such officers as he may deem proper with authority to form bands of Partisan rangers , in companies , battalions , or regiments , to be composed of such members as

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492-840: The First Sino-Japanese War , Foster tried to convince Yuan Shikai to launch a military coup against the Qing dynasty. In 1903, Foster published American diplomacy in the Orient , followed in 1904 by Arbitration and the Hague Court. In 1906, he wrote The practice of diplomacy as illustrated in the foreign relations of the United States . Foster wrote many other books. Foster married Mary Parke McFerson in 1859. Three of Foster's children never reached adulthood. Foster sent his son to Princeton . Foster doted on his daughters' grandchildren, regaling them with tales of life on

533-500: The Ohio River on 18 July 1862. Johnson and two subordinates, Felix Akin and Frank A. Owen, shared one boat and the rest of the force crossed via a flatboat . Prior to crossing, Johnson strategically placed two " Quaker Guns ", actually made of stovepipes, charred logs, and the axles and wheels from a broken wagon, on hills that had a view of Newburgh, and vice versa. Johnson was unable to find enough firearms for all of his force, but

574-511: The United States Ambassador to Spain (1883–1885). In Benjamin Harrison 's administration, Foster served as a State Department "trouble shooter" before becoming Secretary of State for the final six months of Harrison's term (from June 29, 1892, to February 23, 1893). As such, Foster replaced James Gillespie Blaine , who had succumbed to Bright's disease , of which he later died. As Secretary of State, Foster "helped direct

615-491: The telegraph line from Newburgh to Evansville was not in operation. Word of Johnson's incursion thus took extra hours to reach state and federal military authorities. After securing the items he desired, Johnson paroled the captured Union officers and soldiers, and returned to the Kentucky soil. Newburgh had become the first town in a Northern state to be captured. When the nearby companies of Union soldiers finally learned of

656-751: The Civil War. After the war, Foster returned to Indiana and (in addition to his legal practice) edited the Evansville Daily Journal . He used the paper to promote the Republican Party from 1865 to 1869. Foster moved to Washington, D.C., under President Ulysses S. Grant , and had a summer home in Henderson Harbor, New York . As a reward for his political service after the Republican Party split in 1872 as

697-603: The Confederacy’s war goals, the Confederate leadership reverted to the prevailing orthodox position 'unconventional combatants are not soldiers' under the laws of war. The Partisan Ranger Act may have failed in the end, but it played a certain role in the American Civil War . Multiple partisan rangers groups and units proved to be useful in staging independent raids and collecting information about movements of

738-511: The Newburgh raid in the context of Confederate movements in Kentucky in the summer of 1862. The Newburgh Museum began staging a re-enactment of the raid in 2016. In the past, the event was occasionally commemorated by the reenactors Cobb's Key Battery at Henderson's Sunset Park. 37°56′48″N 87°24′13″W  /  37.94667°N 87.40361°W  / 37.94667; -87.40361 Partisan Ranger Act The Partisan Ranger Act

779-456: The President may approve for the purposes of unconventional warfare. Section 2 . Be it further enacted, such partisan Rangers, after regularly received in the service, shall be entitled to the same pay, rations, and quarters during the term of service, and subject to the same regulations as other soldiers. Section 3 . Be it further enacted, for any arms and munitions of war captured from

820-487: The Union Army, as well as conducting reconnaissance and skirmishes during the battles. Altogether, the partisan rangers were able to somewhat distract and hamper the Union Army operations throughout the war until it developed somewhat successful counter-strategies late in 1864. John Watson Foster John Watson Foster (March 2, 1836 – November 15, 1917) was an American diplomat and military officer, as well as

861-545: The Virginia Ranger Act. On April 8, 1862, a bill was introduced to the 1st Confederate States Congress by a member of the Confederate Congress from Virginia to allow raising a force of partisan Rangers with a five dollar bounty for every dead federal. The Confederate Senate Congressional Military Committee removed the bounty provision, and proposed permitting future partisan Rangers to receive

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902-407: The authority of such superiors as General Nathan Bedford Forrest and General John C. Breckinridge . Yet at the time of the raid, Johnson's own account suggests he had no formal appointment as an officer, wore no uniform, and commanded a hastily assembled body of civilians—more guerrillas than soldiers. Union authorities certainly viewed him as little or nothing more than a brigand, and later rejected

943-581: The authority of the paroles he had issued to his eighty prisoners. However, Johnson was not without some experience and authority. Prior to the raid he served as a scout for Gen. Forrest, just missing the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, in south-central Tennessee, rejoining Forrest at the Confederate base of operations in Corinth, Mississippi . Johnson was ordered by Forrest to go to Henderson, Kentucky , to give

984-419: The door to the hotel, he was immediately aimed at by Union rifles, but quickly informed the Union soldiers that they were surrounded and had no hope for success. When the raiders struck, Bethell was lunching and arrived on the scene in civilian attire. When he arrived at the hotel he refrained from more than verbal protests after Johnson pointed out two cannons placed across the river — cannons that were actually

1025-439: The end of unconventional warfare, but it meant the end of the Confederate government trying it out as an effective military strategy. The Partisan Ranger Act was meant to channel unconventional warfare from the amorphous unproductive form outside the purview of government control into a form, Confederate leaders hoped, would rationally advance the Confederacy’s defense goals. ... After partisan Rangers no longer rationally advanced

1066-583: The enemy by any body of partisan Rangers and delivered to any quartermaster at such place or places may be designated by a commanding general, the Rangers shall be paid their full value in such manner as the Secretary of War may prescribe. The Partisan Ranger Act led to the recruitment of unconventional soldiers into the Confederate Army. Partisan Rangers had the same rules, supplies, and pay as

1107-498: The fake dummies made from a blackened log and the piece of stovepipe that gave Johnson his subsequent nickname. Johnson said to Bethel he would "shell this town to the ground" if resistance was made. Fifteen miles away in Evansville, Indiana , five companies of the Indiana Legion were being raised, but would not be available to defend Newburgh until after the Confederates withdrew. Through chance rather than Confederate action,

1148-554: The former Eleanor Johnson. He graduated from the fledgling Indiana University Bloomington in 1855, but decided not to become a preacher as his parents hoped. Instead, Foster attended Harvard Law School , then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio , to begin his legal career. In 1861, Foster volunteered in the Union Army in the American Civil War . Initially commissioned as a major, he rose to the rank of colonel, serving with

1189-523: The frontier as well as in foreign lands (of which he retained many curios). His daughter Edith Foster married Presbyterian minister Allen Macy Dulles, and their children included John Foster Dulles (who also became a U.S. Secretary of State) and Allen Welsh Dulles , ( Director of Central Intelligence ). Foster's daughter Eleanor married State Department legal advisor Robert Lansing (who later also served as U.S. Secretary of State); their niece Eleanor Lansing Dulles became an economist and diplomat. Foster

1230-487: The law was repealed after pressure from General Robert E. Lee and other Confederate regulars. Only two partisan Ranger groups were exempt and allowed to continue to operate: Mosby's Raiders and McNeill's Rangers . Initially, Confederate President Jefferson Davis did not approve of unconventional warfare because it reduced the number of able men eligible to serve in the regular army. However, after conventional Confederate forces were driven out of western Virginia in

1271-620: The overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy." After leaving public office, Foster remained in Washington and invented a new type of legal practice, lobbying for large "corporations seeking favors in Washington and chances to expand abroad." Foster also used his government and political contacts to secure legal fees as counsel to several foreign legations. He also continued to serve presidents part-time on diplomatic missions. As such, Foster negotiated trade agreements with eight countries, brokered

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1312-615: The raid, it set in motion several frantic days of Union responses. Lieutenant Colonel John Watson Foster , on leave from the 25th Indiana Infantry Regiment , took command in Evansville. He called for volunteers, including local convalescent Union soldiers, assembled a small riverboat flotilla, sailed up the Ohio River to the mouth of the Green River and engaged in skirmishing with a small number of Confederate guerrillas. Finding few defenders, Foster then proceeded to Newburgh. Half

1353-541: The raid: "[Adam] Johnson performed perhaps the most reckless, and yet most successful, military masterstroke achieved by any commander of high or low authority, in either army during the war." Johnson recounted the events many times, and eventually published the account in his memoir, Partisan Rangers of the Confederacy . Filled with enthusiasm, southern chivalry, and name-dropping — although often sparse on corroboration — his memoir has assured that many commentators place

1394-453: The regular soldiers of the army, but they would be acting independently, detached from the rest of the army. The partisan Rangers were to gather intelligence and take supplies from the federals. Anything they brought back would be given to the quartermaster, a military officer in charge of providing food, clothing, and other necessities; in return, they would get paid. The Partisan Ranger Act drew many Southern men who were reluctant to serve in

1435-460: The same pay as regular Confederate soldiers on conditions they were subject to Confederate States Army regulations. In one exception, partisan Rangers were authorised to sell captured arms and munitions to Confederate Quartermaster-General's Department . The Confederate Congress passed the Partisan Ranger Act on April 21, 1862. There were two purposes of the Partisan Ranger Act. One was control of unconventional warfare forces and employ them for

1476-597: The scene, occupied Henderson, Kentucky , and sent probes into that city's countryside. One of the probes, led by Captain Bethell, recovered a portion of the stolen arms at a nearby farm. The occupation of Henderson proved to be a long term consequence of the raid; Newburgh would not again be threatened. Occurring during a call for large numbers of new volunteers, the raid also proved to be a significant boost for Union recruiting in Indiana . The July volunteers were formed into

1517-467: The summer and early fall of 1861, pro-Confederate unconventional combatants remained active in the region. Virginia Governor John Letcher issued a proclamation calling to "raise such a force as would enable General Floyd to recover Western Virginia from the invaders." On March 27, 1862, Virginia Legislature passed an Act to Authorize the Organization of ten or more Companies of Rangers , known as

1558-533: The telegraph network along the exposed Ohio River. The Newburgh Raid also enabled Johnson to raise and arm a number of youthful recruits for what became his 10th Kentucky cavalry (CSA). After the raid, Braxton Bragg had Johnson promoted to colonel. Johnson would forever be nicknamed "Stovepipe" for his success in this raid. He returned to Indiana a year later as a brigade commander in Morgan's Raid in 1863. Historian and former Union officer Edmund L. Starling said of

1599-469: The town for good. The total surprise and the bloodless success of the raid was a shock to many Hoosier leaders and Governor Oliver P. Morton soon took a visible hand. First in Indianapolis and then in Evansville, he issued repeated calls for volunteers and urged vigorous military responses. Within three days, state and federal military officers sent approximately a thousand regulars and volunteers to

1640-456: Was able to acquire enough horses for each man to receive a mount. Johnson allowed each of his men to decline to join him on the raid, but to a man they all wanted to accompany him. In Newburgh the local Indiana Legion was commanded by Union Bethell, who had previously enjoyed limited success in raising and training a local company of that state militia. Accordingly, he stored the weapons provided for them in his own unguarded riverfront warehouse,

1681-541: Was passed on April 21, 1862, by the Confederate Congress . It was intended as a stimulus for recruitment of irregulars for service into the Confederate Army during the American Civil War . The Confederate leadership, like the Union leadership, later opposed the use of unconventional warfare out of fear the lack of discipline among rival guerrilla groups could spiral out of control. On February 17, 1864,

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