Hugh Judson Kilpatrick has been accounted an irresponsible scoundrel, or worse, not only by historians but by his fellow soldiers, who dubbed him “Kill- Cavalry” due to his recklessness. Despite this reputation, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, who allegedly referred to Kilpatrick as “a hell of a damned fool,” selected the young brigadier general to command one of his three cavalry divisions during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign.
The opportunistic Kilpatrick’s checkered career would take a number of other twists and turns, including an embarrassing midnight flight in his underwear [“Kilpatrick’s Shirttail Skedaddle”], along with his lady friend of the moment, during a Rebel raid on his Monroe’s Crossroads, N.C., headquarters in March 1865. In a failed attempt to kick start a stalled postwar political career; Kilpatrick staged what appears to have been one of the first postwar reenactments on his Sussex County, N.J., farm in 1878. The mock battle, between Civil War veterans and New Jersey National Guardsmen,
by Joe Bilby
was witnessed by thousands of spectators and fueled by 10,000 barrels of beer. For all his faults, however, and they were many, Kilpatrick would be one of the first officers to successfully recognize, use, and recommend “fire and maneuver” tactics with repeating rifles in the Civil War.
Following the Sept. 2, 1864, fall of Atlanta, Sherman found himself deep in enemy territory, with long and vulnerable lines of communication stretching back to Tennessee, and Lieutenant General John Bell Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee, although seriously battered, still a functioning force. After sparring with Hood for two months, Sherman decided to abandon Atlanta and strike out for the coast. He chose Kilpatrick to command the cavalry division that would lead the way as the Yankee army cut a 60-mile-wide swath of destruction to Savannah and the sea. Rather than contest Sherman’s march, Hood headed north, off on a quixotic expedition into Tennessee. Major General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler’s cavalry and a force of Georgia Militia, around 13,000 men under Lieutenant General William J. Hardee, were left to contest Sherman’s march, which began on November 15.
Kilpatrick had two Spencer rifle armed regiments, the 8th Indiana Cavalry, formerly the 39th Indiana Mounted Infantry, and the 92nd Illinois Mounted Infantry, in his two brigades. The vast majority of Sherman’s infantrymen carried Springfield or Enfield muzzleloading rifle muskets, but repeaters were scattered through the army’s ranks, including Spencer rifles in the 46th Ohio Infantry and Henry rifles in the 66th Illinois Infantry.
On occasion, repeating rifles proved very useful, even critical, to Union tactical success during the Atlanta campaign; they were soon in action during the March to the Sea. On November 22, Kilpatrick’s troopers reached the outskirts of Griswoldville, site of a factory manufacturing bronzeframed revolver knockoffs of the Colt 1851 Navy. Joe Wheeler’s horsemen initially repulsed a Federal cavalry probe, but then the Yankees were reinforced by Brigadier General Charles C. Walcutt’s infantry brigade, including the Spencer-wielding 46th Ohio. The Buckeyes threw up log breastworks and delivered a blizzard of bullets into the ranks of a Georgia militia assault intending to dislodge them; the attack collapsed with heavy casualties. The revolver factory was soon ablaze.
After a series of skirmishes in which Wheeler’s cavalry more than held its own, Kilpatrick was presented with an opportunity to implement his new idea. This new tactic may have occurred to him after Federal cavalry combined dismounted firepower with mounted charges to secure victory at Yellow Tavern in the spring. Union horsemen encountered Wheeler’s cavalry dismounted in a defensive position near Waynesboro, and following a failed frontal assault, Kilpatrick launched a coordinated fire and maneuver attack. The 92nd Illinois advanced on foot in a loose formation delivering rapid Spencer fire that pinned the Confederates down. When mounted units hit them simultaneously on both flanks, the Rebels broke and ran. Wheeler rallied his men and established a second line, which collapsed in its turn as Kilpatrick launched yet another fire and maneuver assault.
His Waynesboro success was no doubt fresh in Kilpatrick’s mind when Sherman bumped up against the outer defenses of Savannah in mid-December and began maneuvering around the city in hopes of connecting with an offshore resupply fleet. As both generals surveyed the Confederate’s Fort McAllister, located on the Great Ogeechee River, Kilpatrick advised Sherman that he had “old infantry regiments, armed with Spencer rifles, who could work their way up to within easy range and force every man to keep his head beneath the parapet, and finally force my way into the fort.” Sherman ignored his subordinate’s suggestion and had a rifle musket armed infantry brigade charge McAllister in a direct assault. The fort fell, at a cost of twenty-four men dead and 110
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wounded. Whether Kilpatrick’s suggestion would have produced fewer casualties is impossible to determine, but the fact that he brought it up is evidence that he was thinking about using repeating rifles in the offensive, and perceived their rapidity of fire as a major tactical advantage.
Joseph G. Bilby received his BA and MA degrees in history from Seton Hall University and served as a lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Division in 1966–1967. He is Assistant Curator of the New Jersey National Guard and Militia Museum, a freelance writer and historical consultant and author or editor of 21 books and over 400 articles on N.J. and military history and firearms. He is also publications editor for the N.J. Civil War 150 Committee and edited the award winning New Jersey Goes to War. His latest book, New Jersey: A Military History, was published by Westholme Publishing in 2017.