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Hard-luck lawyer becomes a “war dog”

A lousy economy and a dwindling law practice can be a nightmare for any attorney.  It might especially hurt if you’re “a lawyer of considerable ability” like Virgil M. Pendleton.

Kentucky native Virgil moved with his wife, Mary, and two-year-old son to Burlington, Iowa, in the late 1850s.  Virgil was approved to argue before the Iowa Supreme Court.

Dominos start to fall

He began gambling.  Some months later, the financial Panic of 1857 rocked Iowa.  Virgil’s law practice never got off the ground.

His daughter was born in 1858, and he couldn’t pay his debts.  The State of Missouri prosecuted Virgil for “gaming,” and Lodge No. 1 in Burlington expelled him for “conduct unbecoming.”  As the financial panic worsened, Virgil’s creditors sued him.

A ray of hope

The Burlington lodge reinstated him as a master mason.  Virgil tried to increase his clientele by doing collections and selling real estate.  His last newspaper advertisement ran on May 28, 1861, about a month after Fort Sumter.

Change in plans

Virgil headed to Kentucky.  He enlisted as a private on June 1, 1861, in the 1st Regiment Kentucky Infantry.  A year later, he enlisted in the 8th Kentucky Cavalry as a captain.  Virgil served under Col. R.S. Cluke.

Col. Roy S. Cluke
Col. Roy S. Cluke

I heard it on the grape-vine

News about Virgil got back to Burlington.  A soldier reported seeing him at Shiloh.  An Iowa attorney sneered:

At the breaking out of the Rebellion, [Virgil] attempted to recruit a company for the Southern cause, but only succeeded in recruiting himself.

The Burlington Hawk-eye editor acknowledged that Virgil enlisted because he “thought the South was right.”  The editor credited Virgil with “a little manhood” but not much intelligence or patriotism.

Busy in the cause

Virgil accompanied General John Hunt Morgan on his Christmas 1862 raid into Kentucky.

On December 27, Morgan’s troops were crossing the Rolling Fork River.  Many Union infantry and cavalry were closing in on them, firing deadly accurate artillery into the Confederates.  About 700 men, including several of Cluke’s companies, were at risk of being cut off and captured.  One of Morgan’s men later recalled:

With an enemy in front and the river behind them it looked especially gloomy for the men under Cluke.  This 8th Kentucky Cavalry … styled themselves ‘Cluke’s War Dogs,’ and it looked now as if the ‘war dogs’ were to get all the war they could possibly desire …

One of the enemy’s batteries was proving especially destructive, and Captain Virgil Pendleton of the 8th Kentucky was ordered to charge this battery.  He killed the cannoneers or drove them from their guns, and this silenced these destructive agents for a quarter of an hour.  This brave captain was struck by an exploding shell from other guns of the enemy.

Man knows not his time

Virgil’s clock was ticking.  Ninety days later, the 8th Kentucky Cavalry appeared outside of Mount Sterling, Kentucky, and demanded that the town surrender.  The Federals refused.

Col. Cluke led a column of cavalrymen into the “heart of the city.”  Virgil charged through the streets of Mount Sterling and was mortally wounded.  He died six days later, on March 27, 1863.

One of Virgil’s compatriots said, “No braver soldier or more loyal patriot ever gave his life for the South.”

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David Connon

David Connon has spent nearly two decades researching dissenters in Iowa: Grinnell residents who helped on the Underground Railroad, and their polar opposites, Iowa Confederates. He shares some of these stories with audiences across the state through the Humanities Iowa Speakers Bureau. He worked as an interpreter at Living History Farms for eleven seasons. Connon is a member of Sons of Union Veterans, an associate member of Sons of Confederate Veterans, and a member of the Des Moines Civil War Round Table. His articles have appeared in Iowa Heritage Illustrated, Iowa History Journal, Illinois Magazine, and local newspapers in both states.

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. czechreb

    10 May 2016

    Very enjoyable and interesting reading. Also, very professionally researched.

    1. David Connon

      10 May 2016

      Hi, Czechreb. Thank you for your kind comments!

  2. rosiecatt

    11 May 2016

    It appears he was driven to get himself killed, after facing shot and shell in his first order to charge a artillery battery, he must have figured he was near immortal for not getting killed in that very instance! Looks like he didn’t get to wait for the “Third times a charm” for getting killed and went out in yet another blaze of glory on his second attempt. His gambling ability apparently carried over to his war time experience and he found lady luck just as impossible as she was for him at cards!

    1. David Connon

      12 May 2016

      Hi, rosiecatt.
      You may be right about Virgil. I can’t confidently say anything about his motives or thought processes. I am reminded of the book In Defense of History, 2nd Ed. Author Richard J. Evans states that Trevelyan said that history was a mixture of the scientific (research), the imaginative or speculative (interpretation), and the literary. Thanks for reading my blog!

  3. Greg Eatroff

    12 May 2016

    Did Vergil Pendleton become a citizen of Iowa, or was he still listed as a citizen of Kentucky who was licenced to practice law in Iowa?

    1. David Connon

      13 May 2016

      Hi, Greg.
      Virgil is listed as a resident of Des Moines County, Iowa, in Reports of Cases in Law and Equity Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa, Vol. XI by Thomas F. Withrow (1866). Thanks for reading my blog!

  4. howard giffard

    21 Aug 2016

    very interesting – about a fellow lawyer – howard Giffard Newton

    1. David Connon

      21 Aug 2016

      Hi, Howard. Thank you for your kind comment — and for reading my blog!

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