From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1863:
A Rebel Raid into Illinois.
Stovepipe and men captured grounded steamers
CAIRO, ILL., Aug. 13 [sic?]. About 500 rebel [c]avalry, under Col. Jonson [sic], crossed the Ohio river into Illinois, at Saline Bar Saturday.
The steamers Kate Robinson, Jimmy Perkins, Nightingale, Fanny Brandon and Clara Hall were aground at that place, and were captured by them.
These steamers had a large amount of stock on board, and those in charge of them had to pay several thousand dollars each to save them from destruction.
It is reported in the Herald that Maj. General Butler will soon arrive in Washington, for the purpose of relieving Mr. Stanton as secretary of War.
You might question the truth of this story since General Butler never became War Secretary, but here’s some confirmation of the raid part of the story from south of Mason-Dixon. Apparently the Dispatch picked up the same report as the Seneca County paper. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch August 22, 1864:
A raid into Illinois–five steamers captured and Bonded.
Cairo, August 15.
NY Times 8-19-1864
–About five hundred rebel cavalry, under Colonel Johnson, crossed the Ohio river into Illinois, at Saline Bar, on Saturday. The shipsteamers Kate Robinson, Jenny Perkins, Nightingale, Famine, Brandon and Clara Hall were all aground at that place, and were captured, with a large amount of stock on board. The boats were compelled to pay several thousand dollars each to save them from destruction.
I think there is a good chance that Colonel Johnson is Stovepipe Johnson, who “[o]n August 21, 1864, … was blinded by an accidental shot from one of his own men during an attack at Grubb’s Crossroads near Princeton, Kentucky. He was subsequently captured by the Federals and imprisoned for much of the rest of the war in Fort Warren.”
You can read a more complete account of the raid in an article from the August 17, 1864 issue of the Illinois Daily State Journal at Northern Illinois University. There was speculation that the Johnson’s band was headed for Elizabethtown to free some captured rebels, but that didn’t happen.
still fighting along the border (map c.1861)
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back over here
first boatload of American refugees to flee Europe arrive in USA (NY Times 8-13-1914)
