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CLARKSVILLE,
TENNESSEE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE BOOK OF THE
MONTH
written by Clarksville Roundtable
President, Greg Biggs
December 17, 2006
Along with our good friends at
Borders Books, we continue promoting the Clarksville Civil
War Roundtable Book of the Month. This month's book is
Thunder From A Clear Sky:
Stovepipe Johnson's Confederate Raid on Newburgh,
Indiana, by Ray Mulesky.
First time author
Ray Mulesky of Evansville, Indiana, has written a fine
account of one of those gems of Civil War stories - the
first Confederate raid across the Mason-Dixon Line in the
war. A little known event outside of the Western Theater,
Mulesky's book will certainly go a long way to changing
that. This work will also expand the audience for
Confederate raider Adam Rankin Johnson, certainly one of
the most colorful characters of this era.
Written in the
style of a good novel, which perfectly suits this story,
Mulesky details Johnson's pre-raid career as well as the
importance of the Evansville-Newburg, Indiana, area on the
Ohio River. Johnson was a native of Henderson, Kentucky,
just across from these two Hoosier towns. It was this
knowledge of the area and its people that would serve
Johnson well in his planning. Seeking to recruit a new
regiment of partisan cavalry, Johnson soon realized that
the only way to draw men to his banner was by doing great
deeds that would prove his mettle to any prospective
followers. To this end, his raids on Henderson as well as
the attack on a Pennsylvania cavalry unit, brought him the
desired notoriety via the press along with new recruits. It
was the desire for arms to equip his new recruits that led
him to attack Newburg, a storage depot for Indiana Home
Guard units.
With about 27 men
and two "Quaker" cannons, one made from a stovepipe (which
would give Johnson his nickname), Johnson and his men rowed
across the Ohio River and captured the town and its Union
garrison of 100 convalescents. He brought off the arms
safely to the Kentucky shore and then made good his escape
just as reinforcements were arriving via river boats.
Johnson's raid was a thunderclap that served to help in
recruiting at least three new Indiana regiments for the war
as well as to prove that the Ohio River shore was
vulnerable to Confederate attacks. It was a galvanizing
moment that went all the way to the Indiana governor's
office. For Johnson, further and greater adventures were to
come including the capture of Clarksville, Tennessee, from
its Union garrison.
The book is
well-written and in an engaging style that makes it hard to
put down. Mulesky took a bit of a risk by writing a debut
book on such a little-known escapade, but he has made it
his own and given the event the bigger spotlight that it
deserves. He wisely keeps the book focused on the
characters of importance and you not only get to know
Johnson and his men but also Indiana Gov. Morton as well as
area Union commanders. This reviewer's only quibble is that
another map or two showing how the raid set up to
compliment the text would have been helpful for those not
familiar with Newburg and vicinity.
If good Civil War
yarns are your thing, then this book will more than satisfy
your craving. Let's hope that this is the first of many
books from Ray Mulesky, who has certainly put one out of
the park with his first time at the writer's plate. For
more information about the book as well as the author (who
gives a great program on this raid) please visit
www.thunderfromaclearsky.com
Our friends at Borders have this book in stock and it would
be a fine Christmas present!
