Garfield at Piketon

Garfield at Piketon. James A. Garfield and the 18th Brigade. In December 1861, Col. James A. Garfield, 42nd Ohio Infantry, was selected by General Don Carlos Buell to take a force to the Big Sandy Valley of Kentucky to clean the region of the Rebels. The previous month, Union General William “Bull” Nelson had routed the Confederates at the Battle of Ivy Narrows and Piketon, leading Nelson to designate Piketon “Camp Hopeless Chase.” as the Rebels did not stand and fight but chose to hit and run before retreating to Virginia. Recently, however, 3,500 men under Col. Humphrey Marshall had reentered the region. , After Garfield’s improbably victory at Middle Creek on January 10, 1852, he made preparations to move to Piketon (now Pikeville). On January 24, a scout of 110 troopers was sent to Piketon. Their arrival was a surprise and Pike County Clerk, Dr. John Emmert, was killed in the melee. Emmert’s friend and fellow Rebel sympathizer Judge Willam Cecil, was arrested. As he was being led down the town’s only street, Cecil was shot dead by Thomas Jefferson Sowards, who had been in the town’s jail as a political prisoner after fighting with Thomas C. Cecil, the judge’s son, on the court house square. , In March 1862 there were 3,500 Union troops encamped around Piketon, consisting of the 42nd Ohio, 40th Ohio, 22nd Kentucky, 16th Kentucky and McGlothin’s squadron of cavalry with the 14th Kentucky at Paintsville.