On May 2, 1862, a brigade of Union soldiers descended on Athens, a small town and transportation hub in northern Alabama. What ensued was one of the earliest incidents of hard war against civilians, at a time when Union military policy stressed policies that would win ostensibly reluctant Secessionists back into the Union. The man at the center of this controversy was Colonel John Turchin, known by his detractors as the Mad Cossack.
The Mad Cossack
John Basil Turchin was the Americanized name of Ivan Vasilyevich Turchaninov. Turchaninov was born in the Province of the Don (the historical domain of the Cossacks) on January 30, 1822. His father was a major in the Imperial Russian Army and a lower-ranking noble. Ivan thus got into a good school, where he excelled. At the age of 14 he followed his father into the military, rising to colonel of the Imperial Guard in 1841. In 1849 he helped quash a revolution in Hungary. One historian notes that the soldiers’ large scale theft of food from the peasants was approved of as initiative by their commanders, as they were having trouble bringing their own stores of food up to the front. This might have played a role in Turchin’s mindset 30 years later.
During the Crimean War (1853-1856) he first earned a position on the personal staff of crown prince Alexander and then established defenses along the Finnish coast (Finland was at this time part of the Russian Empire). In 1856 Turchaninov married Nedezhda Lvova, an aristocrat’s daughter he had met in Poland. Around this time Turchaninov began to chafe at the military system in Russia. It promoted men through the ranks by nature of their birth and connections rather than merit. It also got in the way of much needed reforms. As a competent officer unable to rise any higher because of his comparatively modest background, Ivan was especially frustrated by the Russian Imperial order. He and Nedezhda, both liberal Russians, decided to move away from their homeland and its firm class system. They sought life in the United States. There the ex-soldier gained his Anglicized name while running a farm in New York. Once he and his wife learned English they moved to Chicago where he used his military experience to become an engineer.[1]
Turchin
was an enthusiastic supporter of the Union as envisioned by the North, seeing
the South and its aristocracy as a counterpart of the Russia he had grown
disillusioned with. Once the Civil War started, Turchin’s experience in the
Russian Army and Crimean War naturally won him a high rank as Colonel of the 19th
Illinois. Many of the men in this regiment had been trained in the prewar
militia by Elmer Ellsworth, the youthful Zouave officer who had been killed
while trying to take down a Confederate flag at a Virginia Secessionist’s home.
The men felt a strong desire for revenge alongside their commitment to the
Union.
Acquiring
command of this regiment, Turchin found himself overseeing a mix of
well-trained militia officers and incompetent political appointments. Turchin’s
background made him an excellent drillmaster.
However he also had little regard for the private property of civilians.
In 1861 his regiment served under General John Pope in Missouri. He frequently
took foodstuffs and other property from civilians he deemed disloyal to the
Union, which could potentially include neutral people. Though he butted heads
with his superiors over this, he and his men somehow never faced any
repercussions over this. Helping him was a shift in military policy that
allowed property to be seized out of military necessity.
The
US government sought conciliation in the early stages of the war and often
urged the military to respect the possessions of Southerners, even protecting
their property against fellow soldiers. If the Army did take property, officers
were to ensure that it was done out of military necessity and that the names of
the previous owners were recorded for later reimbursement Turchin believed
these rules were ridiculous in a war and turned a blind eye towards his men
when it came to dealing with civilians. In fact he encouraged the seizure of
enemy civilian property beyond the prescribed limits. Among these were the
slaves. Turchin was among the first Union commanders to emancipate them in
opposition to official policy. Throughout the early stages of the war he
insisted that liberating slaves was the proper strategy, because they had every
reason to supply the Union armies with vital information. Less heartwarming
would be his men’s attitude towards property in Athens. [2]
Turchin’s
wife, now Nadine Turchin, traveled with the regiment despite US Army
regulations prohibiting wives to accompany their soldier husbands. The men
liked their commander, but loved Nadine. She assisted with nursing and
emotional comfort, and the soldiers “respected, believed in, and came to love
her for her bravery, gentleness, and constant care of the sick and wounded.” On
campaign she would ride on an ambulance. She also carried a revolver and dagger
on her in case she would have to get dirty alongside the boys.[3]
Northern Alabama
 |
| This map points out the location of Athens. The battle it refers to is a stout defense by the 9th Illinois Mounted Infantry against overwhelming numbers on January 26, 1864, not the 1862 skirmish covered in this post. |
By February Colonel Turchin had risen to brigade command in General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio. In addition to the 19th Illinois, he now also led the 24th Illinois, 37th Indiana, and 18th Ohio. He won over the 37th Indiana by reining in their unpopular commander Colonel George Hazzard. Hazzard was very rigid and oversensitive to criticism. He even nearly attacked Turchin when he misunderstood an order. The Mad Cossack soon had him arrested and then removed from command, leaving behind a loyal regiment. Later that month Turchin’s brigade participated in eastern Kentucky operations. In his first month of command Turchin raised the attention of his peers by allowing his men to “gut” the homes around them, depriving Kentuckians of their private property beyond reasonable limits of military necessity.[4]
Following
up early Union successes in Kentucky and Tennessee, Turchin led his brigade
into northern Alabama at the beginning of May 1862. His divisional superior was
General George Mitchel, a West Point graduate and respected scientists and
engineer in peace time. Turchin’s task was to secure the railroads and bridges
around Athens, a transportation hub. The Nashville & Decatur Railroad ran
nearby on the Elk River and Limestone Creek railroad bridges. To the south were
the town of Decatur and the railway junction of the Memphis & Charlestown.
The town of Athens itself had just 887 inhabitants, 338 of them slaves. Of the
white inhabitants, most were pro-Confederate or apathetic to the war, wishing
only to be left alone. As a former engineer in the Russian Imperial Army,
Turchin was well suited to the task of maintaining rail service for the Union
Army.[5]
The
Confederates were not idle in the face of this occupation. Confederate
guerillas raided Federal lines of supply and communication, specifically
targeting bridges and railroads. On one foray they captured and hung a picket.
South of Athens Colonel John S. Scott sought to draw away Federal forces
through disinformation. He let it slip to an informer that 15,000 Confederates
were gearing up for an assault on Tuscumbia, 50 miles to the west. In response
Turchin moved in that direction to Decatur. He left behind the 18th
Ohio under Colonel Timothy Stanley to maintain control of the railroads.[6]
The
18th Ohio organized its occupation of Athens. Colonel Stanley and
his staff set up camp at the courthouse square. Company E set up at the
Limestone Creek railroad bridge. Company I went north to Pulaski, Tennessee.
300 men set up a tent town at Athens’ fairgrounds racetrack. For the first
couple days of occupation the Ohioans behaved themselves and the Athenians were
glad to have “such a quiet and orderly set.”[7]
With Turchin gone and the 18th Ohio spread out in and around Athens,
Scott launched an attack owith his 19th Louisiana Cavalry on April
29.[8]
The
19th Louisiana struck the pickets guarding the bridges on the Athens
and Decatur road. Scott only had 112 mounted men and a battery of howitzers. The
Ohioans drove back the cavalry, only for the Confederates to open up with their
three howitzers. Fearing that the enemy was much larger than he had initially
thought, Stanley ordered all of his wagons to leave, abandoning his tents and
other supplies. General Mitchel happened to be riding into town on a train and sent
a black man to inform Stanley he should expect reinforcements. Mitchel then
took the train to a telegraph station and wired for the additional men.[9]
The
Louisianans were thrilled to learn that the Federals had “left their tents
standing, a considerable quantity of their commissary stores, all camp
equipage, and about 150 stand of arms; also some ammunition.” Scott reported 1
man killed and 3 wounded. He exaggerated Federal losses at 200 killed and
wounded.[10] The
18th Ohio reached Huntsville in an infuriated state. They claimed
that the citizens had colluded with Scott to drive them out and then rubbed in
their defeat with jeers and insults. Some had even fired at them from the
rooftops. There is likely some truth in these charges, but the Ohioans were
exaggerating the truth in light of their defeat. The initial reports of Colonel
Stanley and Lieutenant-Colonel Josiah Givens mentioned shouting and
insults, but nothing about civilian attacks. In fact, many of the armed
“civilians” were actually Confederates soldiers who had been unable to procure
proper uniforms.[11]
The
atmosphere worsened as guerillas waged war on the Federal invaders, targeting
their supply lines with Huntsville, Alabama. Saboteurs drove off a guard,
killing 2 and wounding 5, and destroyed a train full of rations on the
Limestone Creek Bridge, starting by sawing the beams. A train full of soldiers
came and crashed, trapping two soldiers in a car. Then the car went on fire.
One of the soldiers aboard found himself caught between the tender and engine,
and was “actually roasted alive” in the presence of the guerillas. The
perpetrators further promised to kill any slave who tried to rescue the burning
man. Mitchel ordered Turchin to reconquer Athens, and was heard to say in the
presence of the 19th Illinois, “don’t leave a grease spot.”[12]
The
Federals arrived there on May 2 to find that Scott had departed. The
Confederates had destroyed all captured goods they had could not carry and
after capturing about 20 Union foragers, fled in the night. Mitchel sent
cavalry in pursuit. Around 10 AM they struck the retreating Louisianans on Elk
River while they were still crossing. The Confederates beat them back, having
lost 4 men killed and 5 wounded throughout their retreat. Scott lamented in his
report, “I am out of ammunition and my horses are very much jaded.” This was
very unfortunate for the town’s citizenry.[13]
The Sacking
Though they found no Confederate soldiers, army or guerilla, the Federals were still in heat. What ensued was a battle against civilians. The following incidents were collected for testimony against Turchin in a court-martial. One band of looters went to the office of R.C. David and took for themselves $1,000 dollars and clothes. They also savaged “a stock of books, among which was a lot of fine Bibles and Testaments.” They tore out the pages, mutilated the covers, and kicked and trampled the remains. Another squad entered the home of the Malones, currently occupied by “two females” (ages and relations to each other not specified). They took all the money, jewelry, plates, and ornaments they could find and destroyed all the furniture.[14]
They
were not the only Malones to suffer. Throughout the day soldiers from
Edgarton’s Battery and the 37th Indiana went to the house of Thomas
S. Malone, taking or destroying $4,500 of property. They made an effort to take
or destroy all the papers in his desk. These same men “plundered the drug store
of William D. Allen, destroying completely a set of surgical, obstetrical, and
dental instruments, or carrying them away.” John F. Malone also suffered a home
invasion. The soldiers destroyed all the locks to get in and proceeded to check
and plunder everything with a drawer. Their acquisitions included clothes, jewelry,
silverware, and a gold watch and chain. Throughout this they verbally abused John Malone’s wife and daughters. Not content to just defile his home, they
decided to take up residence at the slave quarters. According to the
court-martial the male slaves assisted them in roaming the “surrounding
country to plunder and pillage.” Also the soldiers were said to have engaged in
“debauching the [slave] females.” If this suggests rape, then their black co-plunderers
may have been pressured into assisting them. There are not enough details to
get a clear picture of what the relationship between the white Union soldiers
and Malone’s slaves were.[15]
There
were plenty more targets. $3,000 worth of property was taken from the store of
Madison Thompson. Not content with just attacking the store, the soldiers also
went into the adjoining stable and took all the horsefeed. The scholarly J.F.
Lowell was distraught to learn that his office was broken into. The looters
took his microscope, “geological specimens,” surgical tools, and books. The
same pattern of behavior occurred at “the business houses of Samuel Tanner,
Jr.,” the houses of Mrs. Hollinsworth and J.A. Cox, George Peck and John
Turrentine’s stores, and the P. Tanner & Sons’ brick store. Of course they also targeted D.H. Friend’s
silversmith shop and jewelry store. Officers were just as culpable in the
looting. Captain Edgarton, an artillery officer, ordered many of the break-ins,
and Lieutenant Berwick participated in the theft of “bedding, furniture, and
wearing apparel.”[16]
Captain
Mihalotzy of the 24th Illinois spearheaded the takeover of the Jones
House. He ‘behaved rudely and coarsely to the ladies of the family” before
placing two companies of men in their home. Captain Edgarton arrived later and
stationed his men in the parlor rooms. The artillerists went to looting the
home, tearing up the furniture and carpeting. They chopped up a piano with an
axe and cut bacon on the carpet. When they went to bed that night they kept
their muddy boots on, spoiling the sheets.[17]
Another
group of Federals broke into the house of Milly Ann Clayton, a 38 year old
widow. Operating on the story that the civilians fired at the retreating
Ohioans days earlier, they demanded that Clayton hand over the weapons in here
house, to which she “told them there were none.” The soldiers, one pulling out
a revolver, then called her a “God damn liar” and a “God damn bitch.”
Threatened she revealed that there were indeed two guns in her home. Inside,
they “opened all the trunks, drawers, and boxes of every description, and
taking out the contents thereof, consisted of wearing apparel and bed-clothes,
destroyed spoiled, or carried away the same.”[18]
Some
of the men who looted Friend’s jewelry store split off and entered the home of
R.S. Irwin. They ordered his wife to make dinner for them. She did so with the
assistance of her black servant girl. As they did so the unwanted house guests
“made the most indecent and beastly propositions” to the black girl. When she
left the room, they followed her and continued to make crude advances. There is
no evidence that they followed through with their wishes. [19]
Turchin
did not force himself onto any of the private homes. Instead he stayed in a
hotel for a week. One of the charges against him was that he did not pay the
landlord for using his building. One soldier of the 18th Ohio
claimed that he had sat on the front of the courthouse, watching his men run
wild. The other story of his reaction to the ongoing plunder, involving an
attempt to represent a Russian accent is most likely apocryphal. After waking
up from his hotel bed he told a lieutenant, “I dink it ish dime to shtop dis
tam billaging.” The lieutenant replied, “Oh, no, Colonel, the boys are not yet
half done jerking.” “Ish dot so? Den I schlep for half an hour longer.”[20]
One
rationale for the escalating looting was the discovery of 18th Ohio
supplies. After the regiment’s flight the civilians had helped themselves to
abandoned knapsacks and other gear. This was used to justify the thorough
plundering of homes and businesses. Those who took clothing put them on,
sometimes in purposefully gaudy fashion. As for the obsession with stealing or
destroying books, the historian George Bradley theorizes that this was “a handy
sort of revenge against Southern aristocracy and learning.”[21]
For
the next several days Turchin’s brigade managed Athens with a heavy hand. They
impressed slaves and horses, using the latter to mount men for raids and forays
into the countryside. Nadine took a lady’s horse and used it for her own daily
rides. The soldiers continued to steal valuables they had missed on May 2, but
grew more obsessed with taking food. They fanned into the countryside to take
from outlying homes.[22]
On
May 3 a sexual misdeed occurred at the home of Mrs. Charlotte Hine (or Haines),
a widow. Several soldiers entered and one, Ayer Bowers, went after Hine’s slave
girl in the kitchen. He told her to drop a baby she was carrying and have sex
with him. The girl was frightened and obeyed. Bowers raped her right in front
of Mrs. Hine. The group then plundered the kitchen and carried “off all the
pictures and ornaments they could lay their hands on.”[23]
Fallout
 |
| General Ormsby Mitchel |
The Sack of Athens was so thorough that it was inevitable Turchin’s superiors would hear of it. General Mitchel, who either thought his subordinate went too far or was trying to save his own career, was none too pleased with his following reports. Mitchel personally visited Athens and interviewed its citizens. From them he was sure that Turchin’s brigade had indeed committed multiple crimes. The black girl’s mistress, Miss Clayton, backed up the charge that she had been raped. Mitchel gathered all his main officers and “in the sternest language I could employ” harangued them for what had occurred.[24]
On
May 7, General Mitchel demanded that Turchin punish his men. His specific
instructions were to “Shave the heads of the offenders, brand them thieves, and
drive them out of camp.” Over a week later he demanded that he “report whether
any, and, if any, what, excesses and depredations on private property were
committed by the troops under your command.”[25]
Mitchel next ordered that all troops be removed from private homes, and all
baggage inspected thoroughly for stolen property. “I would prefer to hear that
you had fought a battle and been defeated in a fair fight than to learn that
your soldiers have degenerated into robbers and plunderers.”[26]
Mitchel
also had to cover his own reputation. He wrote to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary
of War, that he did his full “duty in repressing pillaging and plundering by
the troops under my command.” He had extensive records showing that he ordered
all subordinates to control their men, that convicted and suspended all
offenders, and that he had all the participants of the Sack of Athens
thoroughly searched for stolen property.[27]
Mitchel also addressed his recent entry into the cotton business. Careful not
to be accused of corruption, he informed Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase
and General Don Buell that he undertook this venture to raise money so he could
pay to get the trains running and had all the proceeds sent to the US Treasury.
Mitchel’s son in law, W.B. Hook, traveled to New York to find buyers. He did
so, but was temporarily captured on the way back by John Hunt Morgan’s
guerillas. The frightened Hook returned to New York, failing to complete the
transaction.[28]
At
this point of the war, little over a year in, the Sack of Athens was shocking. It
was inevitable that Turchin would face a court-martial. From July 5-20, the event
was held at Athens. The Mad Cossack faced the following charges:
16
of the 19 summoned witnesses were citizens of Athens. Turchin objected on the
grounds that they would be too biased against him and demanded that they be
made to state under oath whether they were Unionists or Confederates. The court
denied this demand. Northerners who were aware of the trial were outraged that
Secessionists would be allowed to testify against a Union officer. Turchin had
support from his officers, who testified that the atrocities were exaggerated
and that the Russian had tried to restrain his men. Others pointed out that
General Mitchel had incentivized the sack of Athens with his phrase “don’t
leave a grease spot.”[30]
Turchin
pled not guilty on all charges save the fourth specification to the third
charge. This specification had nothing to do with the sack, but the presence of
his wife contrary to regulations. Turchin also showed no distress at the hatred
white Southerners displayed against him. He said it was “my best recommendation
as a loyal officer.” Still, the court found him guilty, with the caveat that
because of “exciting circumstances” he should be given a lenient punishment.
General Buell, the commander of the Army of the Ohio and much more moderate in
his politics than Turchin, would have none of this:
The question is not whether private
property may be used for the public service, for that is proper whenever the
public interest demands it. It should then be done by authority and in an
orderly way, but the wanton and unlawful indulgence of individuals in acts of
plunder and outrage is a different matter, tending to the demoralization of the
troops and the destruction of their efficiency.
He
ordered the Mad Cossack out of the army.[31]
Though convicted, Turchin became a popular figure in the North, especially
among those who criticized Buell for being too soft on
the Confederacy.[32] Nadine
Turchin was certainly not going to take her husband’s expulsion lying down. She
went to Washington D.C. and personally visited President Abraham Lincoln to
overturn her spouse’s conviction. She must have impressed the chief executive
or else done a good job at tugging on his heartstrings, because he not only
restored the Mad Cossack to his command, but promoted him to brigadier-general
on August 5.[33]
Rescued
by his wife, Turchin saw further service. In September of 1863 he fought well
at Chickamauga and earned the nickname “The Russian Thunderbolt.” Two months
later he was among the first officers to lead his regiment to the top of
Missionary Ridge outside Chattanooga. In the midst of the following Atlanta Campaign,
a severe case of heatstroke forced him to resign. After the war he would
establish a Polish community at Radom, Illinois. He also wrote a book about his
experiences in the Civil War. However, it was entirely focused on Chickamauga
(the title of his work), where he achieved positive fame. It’s also more of a
battle history with a first-person flavor. The citizens of Athens finally got
their justice in 1901, when he suffered a heart stroke that drove him mad. He
was sent to the Southern Hospital for the Insane in Anna, Illinois, and soon died
on June 18.[34]
In Perspective
The Sack of Athens was notorious, but became a relatively obscure event of the Civil War. The mass plunder of a single town, even with one or two rapes involved, could not measure up to the more frequent destruction visited upon the South later in the war, or any of the large scale massacres involving irregular warfare and racially charged encounters between Confederate and black Federal troops. The event also occurred in what many consider a sideshow theater. Turchin’s method of waging war was prescient of later Union military policy. He held the belief that the Union Army should not hold back in suppressing the Confederacy. After many frustrating failures and setbacks, as well as encounters with a resistant and resilient Secessionist populace, other Union leaders adopted the same attitude and carried it out, if with more emphasis on military necessity than petty revenge.
Sources
Bradley, George
C. From Conciliation to Conquest: The
Sack of Athens and the Court-Martial of Colonel John B. Turchin.
Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006.
Buhk, Tobin T. True Crime in the Civil War: Cases of
Murder, Treason, Counterfeiting, Massacre, Plunder, & Abuse.
Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2012.
Casstevens.
Frances Harding. Tales from the North and
the South: Twenty-Four Remarkable People and Events of the Civil War.
Jefferson: McFarland & Co. 2007.
Turchin,
John B. Chickamauga. Chicago: Fergus
Printing Company, 1888.
United States. The War of
the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies Vol. X parts 1 and 2.
Washington D.C. 1884.
Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union
Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1964.
[1] Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union
Commanders, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1964), 511; George C.
Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest:
The Sack of Athens and the Court-Martial of Colonel John B. Turchin, (Tuscaloosa:
University of Alabama Press, 2006), 18-19, 23-24; Tobin T. Bukh, True Crime in the Civil War: Cases of
Murder, Treason, Counterfeiting, Massacre, Plunder, & Abuse, (Mechanicsburg:
Stackpole Books, 2012), 46; Frances Harding Casstevens, Tales from the North and the South: Twenty-Four Remarkable People and
Events of the Civil War, (Jefferson: McFarland & Co. 2007), 97-98.
[2] Warner, Generals in Blue, 511; Bukh, True Crime, 46-48, 55; Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest, 40-41,
48-53; John B. Turchin, Chickamauga,
(Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1888), 5-6.
[3] Casstevens, Tales from the North and the South, 98-99.
[4] Bukh, True Crime, 48; Bradley, From
Conciliation to Conquest, 62, 65-66.
[5] Bukh, True Crime, 48; Bradley, From
Conciliation to Conquest, 100-102.
[6] Casstevens, Tales from the North and the South, 101; Bukh, True Crime, 48.
[7] Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest, 103-104.
[8] Bukh, True Crime, 48.
[9] United States, The War of
the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies Vol. X part 1 (Washington
D.C. 1884), 876-877.
[10] OR X, part 1, 787.
[11] Bukh, True Crime, 48-49; Casstevens, Tales from the North and the South, 101;
Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest,
105.
[12] OR X, part 1, 877, part 2, 291;
Bukh, True Crime, 49.
[13] OR X, part 1, 877, 879.
[14] OR XVI, part 2, 274.
[15] OR XVI, part 2, 274.
[16] OR XVI, part 2, 274-275.
[17] OR XVI, part 2, 275.
[18] OR XVI, part 2, 273-274;
Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest,
110-111.
[19] OR XVI, part 2, 274-275.
[20] OR XVI, part 2, 275; Bukh, True Crime, 50, 54.
[21] Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest, 111-112.
[22] Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest, 118-121.
[23] Bradley, From Conciliation to Conquest, 121; Bukh, True Crime, 50.
[24] OR X, part 2, 290-291.
[25] OR X, part 2, 294.
[26] OR X, part 2, 295.
[27] OR X, part 2, 290.
[28] OR X, part 2, 291-292.
[29] OR XVI, part 2, 273, 275-276.
[30] Bukh, True Crime, 53-54.
[31] OR XVI, part 2, 276-277; Bukh, True Crime, 55.
[32] Bukh, True Crime, 56.
[33] Casstevens, Tales from the North and the South, 101.
[34] Warner, Generals in Blue, 511-512; Buhk, True Crime, 57.
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