Heaven Is A Lot Like Kentucky

SHREDDING THE COLORS

August 31, 1864, south of Atlanta near Jonesboro, Georgia

The members of the Orphan Brigade were moving again, after their successful defense of then area south of Atlanta, near Utoy Creek.

General Sherman’s massive Union Army force was attempting to cut off the Confederate line of retreat and the Orphans had been ordered to a railhead near Jonesboro to keep the Confederate line of retreat for the Army of the Cumberland open.

After the move, the Kentucky First Infantry Brigade, known through history as The Orphan Brigade, settled in to their new positions.

Lt Lot Young, of Company H, Fourth Battalion, was enjoying lunch with Lt. Neal and his best friend Lt Lindsay.

Lt. Robert “Bob” Lindsey could always make him laugh and his clownish behavior towards his friends was one of the reasons he was among the most popular men in the unit.

The other reason was his fearlessness in battle.

During the Civil War the Union Army handed out Medals of Honor for acts of unbelievable courage and self sacrifice while under enemy fire.

The Confederate Army had a similar award they called The Role of Honor.

These awards were only given after two battles: Murfreesboro and Chickamauga.

Lt. Bob Lindsay had won awards during both battles as the regimental flag bearer and his bravery and courage under fire had astonished the combatants on both sides of the battlefield.

His attitude, as well as that of the other members of Company H, had changed since their last engagement at Utoy Creek.

They were all disheartened and anticipating the worst, but they dug into their new positions before and during lunch.

The two-day battle of Jonesboro, which occurred on the last day of August and the first day of September, annihilated the Orphan Brigade

Johnny Green, a member of Co. B of the 9th Kentucky Infantry of this brigade, said the following

“We cut & piled some logs & dug for dear life. The yanks began to shell us but we could not stop... There was a good-sized tree about six feet in our rear, which was cut down by these cannon balls. One shell hit that tree & exploded, killing one man & wounding several. Another shell hit the stump & rolled into the ditch we were digging. The fuse was sizzling, [and] in the next instant it would burst in our midst. Walker Nash had just returned from the rear where he had gone for water, [and] he had a bucket of water in his hand. He saw the danger & dashed the water on the shell extinguishing the fuse & thus no doubt saved the lives of several of our men.”

It was during the Battle of Jonesboro that Lt. Young nearly perished. He received a horrid wound through his body while attempting to help Lt. Neal, who had suffered an extremely nasty wound. Lt. Young was wounded as he leaned over to help Lt. Neal.

Union soldiers of the 10th Michigan captured the Battle flag of the Sixth Regiment, Kentucky First Infantry Brigade.

Lt. Young wondered how Bob Lindsey was faring until he was loaded into an ambulance.

Young wrote of his experience nearly a half-century later of that terrible battle.

“Imagine my grief on reaching the ambulance (assisted by comrades) to find my bosom friend (and by many said to be my double), Ensign Robert H. Lindsay of Scott County, in the ambulance, he having received a mortal wound from which he died that night while lying upon the same blanket with myself. The reader can imagine my feelings when the dawn of morning came and I threw back the blanket that covered us and beheld his noble countenance cold in death, with the fixed glare of the eyes that told me that my beloved comrade and friend had passed to the realms of eternal glory. Poor Bob! I tried in vain, while on the way to the field hospital, to extort a parting message, a last farewell to mother and family, but the messenger of death held him in his grasp and refused compliance with this last request of his friend who loved him as a brother.”

*And so I will leave you with that thought in mind, dear reader.

In future columns, if the good Lord is willing, we will return to the Kentucky frontier and join our old companions Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton.

But let us have one fleeting glance among our dear, dear Orphans as they are pushed from their position, with their most skilled veterans dead and dying in and around Jonesboro.

I had often wondered why I was unable to find any of the units’ battle flags and then I learned of the documentation of members of the second regiment tearing their colors to pieces to prevent their capture.

I instantly envisioned Lt. Robert “Bob” Lindsay standing defiantly, wounded in several places, and shredding the battle colors of his unit with his failing strength as the enemy soldiers swarmed around him

I imagine similar flags were done likewise as bits and pieces of certain flags of the Kentucky First Infantry Brigade, The Orphan Brigade, have surfaced across the state in recent years.
It should be noted that the Orphan Brigade was only able to muster 240 soldiers fit for duty following the Battle of Jonesboro.

They numbered 5,000 when the war began.

They ended their service to the Confederate Army as a small band of mounted infantry and were among the last units to surrender to Union forces.

Lt. Lot Young survived and returned to Nicholas County, Kentucky where he lived a long and prosperous life. He is buried in the Carlisle Cemetery.