Major Myles Keogh with Tennessean Robert Morrow, also of Stoneman's staff, circa 1865.
On March 21, 1865 and after months of planning, including Keogh's lengthy stint in Kentucky refitting prospective regiments, George Stoneman could finally report to Generals Thomas and Grant that his whole command was now on the road. "It is a long, rough, bad road where we are going" he continued, "and every precaution and care has been and must continue to be taken in order that our horses may not be broken down in the first part, which is over a country destitute of subsistence."
Among the precautions that Stoneman alluded to were, in part, influenced by Grant's requirement that the raiders march light. Circulars from HQ dictated that each company of cavalry was allowed only two pack mules - one for ammunition and the other for the officers' mess and company cooking utensils. Each man was to carry 63 rounds of ammunition, two horseshoes and nails, kitchen utensils, a canteen and horse-grooming tools.
This cavalry division of the District of East Tennessee, under the immediate command of Brig. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem (
left), was composed of three brigades: Colonel William J. Palmer's First Brigade, Brevet Brig. Gen. Simeon B. Brown's 2nd Brigade, and Colonel John K. Miller's 3rd Brigade, as well as a battery of artillery under Lieutenant James M. Regan. As commander of the East Tennessee district, Stoneman personally accompanied Gillem's cavalry division to oversee the mission. Alongside the general would be his senior aide-de-camp, Major Myles Keogh.
While Stoneman's raid was a cavalry expedition, a two brigade infantry division - Brig. Gen. Davis Tillson's 4th Division of the Department of the Cumberland (4500 soldiers) - marched behind the mounted troopers with the express role of repairing railroad tracks and holding captured terrain and mountain passes.
As the raiders progressed through East Tennessee, little occurred of significance apart from battling the unkind elements of wind, rain and frost. By Sunday, March 26, Stoneman's raiders had reached Doe River Cove near the North Carolina Road. The general and his staff spent the night bunking in a nearby cabin where they were sought out by John J. Wickham, an expert telegraph operator. Apparently, Wickham entered the dimly lit cabin, saw Stoneman at the opposite end of the dwelling and proceeding to tip-toe over the slumbering figures on the ground, unwilling to disturb their rest. Unfortunately for the visitor, he clumsily trod on none other than Myles Keogh. The Irishman angrily awoke from his sleep and confronted poor Wickham. Harsh words were initially exchanged between the two men but the matter soon ended and they eventually bunked down together, grabbing a few hours of much needed rest. A presumably bemused Stoneman continued with his planning.
The following day, Stoneman issued orders for a rapid push across the Watauga River and into North Carolina. As the evening wore on and darkness fell, the mountain roads over which the line of cavalry men rode would be particularly treacherous. Some loyal citizens lit fires by which the men were guided over the winding tracks. Soldiers later vividly recollected these evenings where the "fires were lighting up everything about, and the troopers looked like mounted specters, moving silently along."
After an exhausting night's ride, Stoneman awoke on March 28 to news that a meeting of Confederate Home Guard would be taking place in Boone, the Watauga County seat, that very day. Home Guard units were, essentially, the last defence against any invading Union forces and, in those final stages of the war, took on a more active role as the South had few fighting-fit regular army personnel to spare. Many of the Home Guard volunteers were wounded soldiers who had returned to home to recuperate.
Stoneman directed Major Keogh to take command of a detachment of the 12th Kentucky Cavalry and proceed to Boone to investigate the reports. The 12th Kentucky had a poor record for behaviour such as desertion and a habit of "insulting and otherwise doing violence to peaceable citizens." Much of the blame for this has been laid at the feet of their commander, Major James B. Harrison.
Regardless, the 12th could fight and it is likely that Keogh was given command to ensure discipline while carrying out reconnaissance on a civilian town. The Union detachment was guided to Boone by lead scout, William McKesson Blalock (
right) ; a southerner who had become a Unionist after initially fighting for the Rebels. A North Carolina native, Blalock was only itching to exact some retribution on locals who had persecuted him for abandoning the Confederate cause.
The Watauga County Home Guard, Major Harvey Bingham's 11th Battalion, were no ramshackle unit. Bingham, a twice-wounded veteran, had raised two companies and created "Camp Mast" were the men could be stationed. This Home Guard had been battling Unionist sympathisers like Blalock with some degree of success until just weeks before Keogh and the 12th Kentucky rode into town. The previous month, "Camp Mast" had been attacked by around one hundred "Tar Heels" - a title bestowed on Unionists from the North Carolina area. The outpost was captured and Bingham's men were routed. The meeting on March 28 was the locals first step in reorganising their militia. Unfortunately for them, the Union cavalry would put paid to those aspirations.
Boone was nestled in a valley surrounded by tree-covered hills and mountains. Although not large, it did consist of several log cabins, some larger homes, a court house, an inn and a general store. A little after eleven o clock in the morning, its peace was shattered as Major Keogh led the Kentucky boys straight into the town centre. About one hundred Home Guardsmen were armed and drilling at that time near the courthouse and, despite Keogh attaining the element of surprise, the militia resolved not to be defeated for a second time in as many months. The locals opened fire and the blue-coated troopers were welcomed with a hail of bullets.
Major Keogh ordered a charge and, with sabers drawn, the raiders galloped up the main street at the Confederates. According to one of the Union participants, the skirmish became "hotly contested." Unslinging their carbines and letting loose a number of volleys of their own, Keogh's men blasted away at any thing that moved. One of the townsfolk, Mrs. James Councill, stepped onto the doorway of her porch, her child in her arms, and into an enfilade of fire. The wooden porch around her was peppered with bullets but miraculously, she and the child escaped unharmed. The Home Guardsmen quickly realised that their attackers were more than just local Unionists springing another attack and that the enemy to their front were, in fact, part of Stoneman's dreaded raiders. The militia began to flee but were shown little mercy by some of the Union cavalry. The bodies of some fallen Confederate volunteers indicate that they were shot in the back. Evidence also suggests that the scout, William Blalock, shot one of the locals, a Mr. Warren Green, while he was trying to surrender. In the heat of battle, some discipline was discarded when the opportunity for vengeance presented itself.
The fight did continue in the town as a series of running street skirmishes where some of the Rebels refused to flee. The local sheriff, A. J. McBride, gave as good as he got. Intent on seeking out Blalock, the lawman fought until he was incapacitated by a bullet to his chest. Fifteen-year-old Steel Frazier led the cavalrymen on a cat and mouse chase around the outskirts of the town, eventually escaping and later claiming that he had "hit two bluejackets."
Historical Marker on East King Street, Boone, North Carolina
When the gunfire finally ceased, the injured were treated and a morgue was set up in a local dwelling. Keogh's men suffered few casualties; likely a handful of wounded but no fatalities. In later reports, both Generals Stoneman and Gillem recorded that nine Home Guardsmen had been killed and a little over sixty captured. Gillem was clear as to who should attain any glory from this lively skirmish: "Much credit is due to Major Keogh and the gallant officers and men of the Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry engaged in this affair." Before leaving the town, General Gillem ordered that the local jail be burned to the ground. As the black smoke rose above Boone, the rest of the cavalry division approached from the west, reuniting Stoneman's command for the next stage of their mission.
Source and additional recommended reading:
'Stoneman's Raid 1865' by Chris J. Hartley.
'Keogh
only ran out of luck in 1876, at a place called Little Bighorn. Where,
poignant as his last stand was, it at least has the consolation for
Irish readers that there were no fellow Paddies (that we know of)
shooting at him, alongside Crazy Horse and his men'. Photograph: Frank
Lerner/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Myles Keogh's certificate of U.S. citizenship, dated 1869.
The decorative scarlet kepi that Keogh wore as part of his papal uniform. Myles Keogh served as a Second Lieutenant in the Papal Army between 1860 and 1862. 
