Day of infamy bayonet full#

▲ In 1862, a group of Confederate sympathizers in Kentucky launched a raid on Newburgh, cleverly using stovepipes on wagon wheels as cannons. Some townspeople called it instant justice. Historians suggest the invaders may have been abetted in their bold intrusion by Newburgh sympathizers, two of whom were killed after the Kentuckians left. Adam Rankin Johnson became known forever as “Stovepipe” Johnson. They stacked it onto rafts and gleefully floated back to “The South.”Ĭol. Johnson and his troops collected ammunition, guns, cash, medical supplies, and anything else that struck their fancy. But it probably was Johnson’s threat of devastating the town’s buildings and residents that caused the Hoosiers to lay down their arms. Newburgh residents squinting through binoculars in the rain feared they were outgunned and capitulated. The group of men used the ferry to launch a raid, toting guns and the appearance of artillery they warned would tear Newburgh to shreds. Adam Rankin Johnson, placed stovepipes and a charred log across wagon wheels, creating what appeared to be menacing cannons. However, the president of the Newburgh Museum Board, attorney Tom Bodkin, says recently discovered court documents suggest the day actually was a rainy Friday.Īt high noon, a ragtag assemblage of disgruntled Kentuckians, led by Col. Evansville author Ray Mulesky’s book “Thunder From A Clear Sky,” published in 2005, suggests the weather was clear on Newburgh’s Day of Infamy. Newburgh was the first town north of the Mason-Dixon Line to be taken by men from the South during the Civil War. Without a shot being fired, a town was captured and history was altered along the Ohio River, July 18, 1862. It may be our favorite small river town, but it has big stories to tell. Residents today embrace the town’s winding history along the riverfront. It knew life as a busy river port, found a notch in Civil War history, and became a day-trip destination for families from Evansville. Just a short drive from Evansville down Indiana State Road 66, Newburgh has a rich story all its own. Today, it is the small river town of Newburgh, Indiana. Sprinkle would secure land grants in 1812 and go on to plat 102 lots in 1818 the settlement was known as Sprinklesburgh, the first town in Warrick County. The businessman of German descent steered his flatboat to shore and stepped onto land.Īt the time, Indiana was 13 years away from becoming a state. Traveling east from Henderson County, Kentucky, a bit of high ground would catch his eye. John Sprinkle did what many residents living along the Ohio River do in the spring - he climbed onto a boat and floated along the waterway.

Day of infamy bayonet full#

View the full feature in the May/June 2017 issue of Evansville Living.