Read Ebook: The Army of the Cumberland by Cist Henry Martyn

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 535 lines and 83389 words, and 11 pages

The organization of the troops into brigades and divisions first engaged Buell's attention on assuming command. On December 2d, an order was issued creating this organization and designating it the "Army of the Ohio," consisting of six divisions. The brigades were numbered consecutively throughout the army, and not as they were formed in the divisions. General G. H. Thomas was assigned to the command of the First Division, consisting of four brigades. The entire force of the First Division was at Nashville on March 4th.

The Second Division was organized at Camp Nevin, a camp established by General Rousseau, when left by Sherman in command after the latter assumed the command of the department. General Alexander McD. McCook, who had relieved Rousseau October 14, by order of Sherman, was assigned to the command of this division, which consisted also of four brigades.

The Third Division was placed under the command of General O. M. Mitchel, who had been in Cincinnati in command at the "Military Department of Ohio," and who was relieved November 19th, after two months' service there, superintending the forwarding of troops to the armies in the field. This division consisted of three brigades.

General William Nelson, on reporting at Louisville after his Eastern Kentucky campaign, was placed in command of the Fourth Division, consisting of three brigades.

The Fifth Division, consisting of three brigades, was placed under the command of General Thomas L. Crittenden, a son of John J. Crittenden.

In January, 1862, General Buell organized the Sixth Division, and relieving General T. J. Wood from the command of the Fifth Brigade, assigned him as commander of this division, which consisted of three brigades.

To each brigade was attached a battery of artillery.

In this organization of the "Army of the Ohio," as the new regiments from the North reported, additional brigades and divisions were formed from time to time. Thus organized, the army under Buell, in the early spring entered upon its first campaign. There had been some slight skirmishing during the winter with portions of the command. A detachment of the Thirty-ninth Indiana, under Lieutenant-Colonel Jones, met a body of the rebel cavalry a few miles beyond Camp Nevin, and routed it with slight loss to the enemy.

On December 10th, General R. W. Johnson moved onward his brigade, and occupied Mumfordsville, sending a detachment of the Thirty-second Indiana to Green River, where a temporary bridge was constructed. On the 17th, four companies of this regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Von Trebra, crossed and took position at Rowlett's Station. General A. S. Johnston had sent Hindman with his brigade from Bowling Green, with instructions to destroy the railroad as far north as Green River. On the same day that the Thirty-second Indiana crossed the river, Hindman reached Woodsonville. On the approach of Hindman, Von Trebra threw out two companies as skirmishers. The enemy fell back with the purpose of decoying the Federals to the point where his main command of infantry and artillery was posted. The cavalry--a squadron of the "Texas Rangers" under Colonel Terry--made a spirited attack. The skirmishers rallied by fours to receive this charge. After repeated charges from the cavalry, which were resisted by the Thirty-second--in one of which Colonel Terry was killed--Colonel Willich re-enforced Von Trebra with four additional companies. After maintaining their position under fire for an hour and a half, the Indiana troops repulsed the enemy in every charge, and Hindman's force then withdrew. Colonel Willich had in the engagement only the eight companies of his command, with Cotter's battery. The enemy attacked with a force of 1,100 infantry, 250 cavalry, and 4 pieces of artillery. The Thirty-second Indiana lost 8 men killed and ten wounded. After the fall of Bowling Green, the Second Division reached Nashville on March 3d.

The Third Division in February was ordered to make a demonstration, moving by forced marches against the enemy's position at Bowling Green, to prevent troops being sent from there to reinforce Fort Donelson. The rebels had commenced their retreat from this place to Nashville prior to the arrival of Mitchel's command, but the shells thrown by his artillery on the 14th into the city hastened the movements of the rear guard of Johnston's army. Before their retreat, the enemy burned both bridges over Barren River, and set fire to a large quantity of military stores, railroad cars, and other property. Turchin's brigade, capturing a small ferryboat, crossed over the river, swollen above the high-water mark by the heavy rains, entered the city at five o'clock the next morning, and succeeded in extinguishing the fire and saving a portion of the railroad cars. During the succeeding week Mitchel crossed the greater part of his command over the river, and without his wagons, reached Edgefield opposite Nashville on the evening of the 14th, at the same time that General Buell arrived by rail, the latter using some of the cars captured at Bowling Green. At Edgefield Mitchel found both of the bridges into Nashville destroyed, and his crossing was effected on the steamers that brought Nelson's division to that place.

The Fourth Division was ordered in February to reinforce the Federal troops at Fort Donelson. Nelson, with two brigades, moved from Camp Wickliffe to the Ohio River on February 13th, and there took steamer for the Cumberland River. On his arrival at Fort Donelson, he found it in possession of the Federal troops, and he then proceeded by the boats with his command to Nashville, arriving there on the 25th. Nelson's Third Brigade reported a few days later, having marched direct from Bowling Green.

General Thomas L. Crittenden's command, organizing at Owensboro, had a skirmish with a force of 500 rebels at Woodland. Colonel Burbridge was sent with some three hundred troops of his own command and a small force from Colonel McHenry's regiment. Attacking the enemy, they routed him, inflicting a loss of some fifty killed, wounded, and prisoners. On the 24th, the rebel General Breckenridge made a demonstration with 4,000 men at Rochester, occupying Greenville with his cavalry, Crittenden made such disposition of his troops that the enemy, without risking an attack, returned to Bowling Green. Early in February General Buell ordered Crittenden to send Colonel Cruft with his brigade to report to General Grant. Cruft, however, reached Fort Henry after the surrender, but his brigade was incorporated into Grant's army, and rendered effective service in the reduction of Fort Donelson. Later, the brigade was transferred to General Halleck. Crittenden, soon after this, proceeded by boat with the balance of his division, and reported at Nashville, arriving there at the same time as Nelson's division.

The Sixth division, after aiding in the repair of the railroad, arrived at Nashville March 6, 1862.

General A. S. Johnston, at no time prior to his retreat had sufficient force to meet or to resist the advance of the Federal forces. His long line, extending from Columbus to Knoxville, invited attack, and wherever the attack was made his troops were not able to successfully resist it. Concentrating his command at Bowling Green, after Mill Springs and the fall of Fort Henry, he found that, to save Nashville, it was necessary to make a determined stand at Fort Donelson, and this he re-enforced with all his available troops. The fall of Donelson compelled the evacuation of Nashville. To the Southern people these reverses were a bitter blow to their high hopes and boasting threats that the war was to be carried into the North, and peace was to follow the first victories to their arms. Duke, in his "History of Morgan's Cavalry," says: "No subsequent reverse, although fraught with far more real calamity, ever created the shame, sorrow, and wild consternation that swept over the South with the news of the surrender of Fort Donelson. To some in the South these reverses were harbingers of the final defeat and overthrow of the Confederacy."

With the fall of Donelson, after detaching the troops at Columbus, Johnston's force was reduced to a little over one-half of his total effective strength as reported by him at Bowling Green. In a report to Richmond, he gave the total of his command as barely forty-three thousand men.

General Buell's army amounted to over seventy-five thousand men, not all of these available for field duty, as a very large proportion of the command was needed to maintain his line of supplies, and the farther his advance the greater the drain on his command for railroad guards.

With the fall of Donelson, Johnston modified his plans of operations, and then determined to relinquish the defensive, and to concentrate all available forces of the Confederacy in the southwest for offensive operations. He had, as early as January, 1862, contemplated the possibility of the disasters that had taken place, and the retreat consequent upon them, and at that time indicated Corinth, Miss., as being the proper place to concentrate the troops.

On January 3d General Buell wrote at length to General Halleck, proposing a joint campaign against the enemy in "a combined attack on its centre and flanks," moving the troops by water under protection of the gunboats, striking for the railroad communications of the enemy, and destroying his bridges over the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, both of which were protected by batteries, the first at Dover--Fort Donelson--and the other at Fort Henry, respectively thirty-one and eighteen miles below the bridges. To this, on the 6th, General Halleck replied that, situated as he was, he could render no assistance to Buell's forward movement on Bowling Green, and advised the delay of the movement, if such co-operation by troops sent to Cairo and Paducah should be deemed necessary to the plan of the campaign, of which he knew nothing, and then adds: "But it strikes me that to operate from Louisville and Paducah or Cairo, against an enemy at Bowling Green, is a plain case of exterior lines, like that of McDowell and Patterson, which, unless each of the columns is superior to the enemy, leads to disaster ninety-nine times in a hundred."

On the 30th of January, Buell received a despatch from Halleck, without particulars, saying that he had ordered an expedition against Fort Henry. On the 15th of February Halleck telegraphed Buell "to move from Bowling Green to Nashville is not good strategy. Come and help me take and hold Fort Donelson and Clarksville, then move to Florence, cutting the railroad at Decatur, and Nashville must be abandoned precisely as Bowling Green has been." After the fall of Fort Donelson, and the occupation of Nashville, General Halleck directed a column of troops under General C. F. Smith to proceed up the Tennessee River by steamer, and to operate as occasion presented, either on Corinth, Jackson, or Humboldt, destroying the railroad communications at these points. At this time Halleck had no thought of the subsequent movement of the command, that Johnston would concentrate at Corinth, or that the Armies of the Ohio and Tennessee should unite at Pittsburg Landing. On the 15th General Smith dropped down the river to Pittsburg Landing, and there placed his troops in camp. On the 11th of March, President Lincoln, by War Order No. 3, created the Department of the Mississippi, consolidating the three departments under Generals Halleck, Hunter, and Buell, and placed General Halleck in command. Halleck at once ordered Buell to march his army to Savannah, and to execute the movements that had already been agreed on by them.

Buell immediately gave his attention to the preparation of his command to carry out these orders. He directed O. M. Mitchel to march south, strike, and hold the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Organizing the seventh division of his army, Buell assigned General George W. Morgan to this command. This division was formed of four brigades, out of a number of regiments gathered up from different points in Kentucky. General Morgan concentrated his entire command at Cumberland Ford, being directed to take Cumberland Gap if possible and to occupy East Tennessee if able to enter. If not, then to resist any advance of the rebels.

General E. Dumont was placed in command of Nashville. The Twenty-third Brigade under Colonel Duffield, composed of four regiments, was ordered from Kentucky to garrison Murfreesboro, and protect the road from Shelbyville to Lavergne.

Buell designated the First Division under Thomas, the Second under McCook, the Fourth under Nelson, the Fifth under Crittenden, and the Sixth under Wood, to constitute the army under his personal command, which was to join Halleck in the operations against the enemy's position at Corinth. These divisions, with cavalry and artillery attached made a force of 37,000 effective troops. In addition to these, Buell had under his command 36,000 effective men to defend his communications, maintain his line of supply, enforce order within his lines, and to perform any special duty assigned to them. The muster-rolls of his army showed that he had at this time 92 regiments of infantry--not including those sent to Halleck under Cruft. These regiments aggregated 79,334 men. He had 11 regiments, 1 battalion, and 7 detached companies of cavalry, making a total of 11,496 men, and 28 field, and 2 siege batteries, with 3,935 men. The grand total was 94,765 men. His effective force, however, was 73,487 men, comprising 60,882 infantry, 9,237 cavalry, and 3,368 artillery.

Buell's army, after crossing Duck River, pressed rapidly forward. The day before Nelson's arrival at the Tennessee River he was informed by General Grant, to whom he had reported his movements by courier, that he need not hasten his march, as he could not cross the river before the following Tuesday, the 8th. Nelson's entire division, with forced marches, reached Savannah April 5th, the other division closely following. Ammen's brigade of Nelson's division crossed the river on the afternoon of the 6th, and reported to Buell, and was engaged in the battle of that day, aiding in resisting the final attack of Chalmers on the left of Grant's command. Crittenden's and McCook's divisions arrived on the field during the night of the 6th, and took an active part in the fighting of the next day. The rest of the command arrived on the field after the battle.

Morgan's and Forest's Raids.

On April 11th, Halleck arrived at Pittsburg Landing and at once reorganized the troops in his command, designating the divisions of his army as the right wing, centre, left wing, reserves, and cavalry under Major-Generals George H. Thomas, D. C. Buell, John Pope, and J. A. McClernand and Brigadier-General A. J. Smith respectively. Thomas's command comprised four divisions of the "Army of the Tennessee," and his old division of the "Army of the Ohio." The remainder of the army was under the command of Buell. After the fall of Corinth, the enemy breaking his large force into several smaller commands rendered necessary a similar disposition of the Federal forces. Buell was ordered with his command to enter into a campaign looking to the occupation of East Tennessee. One division of his army under O. M. Mitchel left Nashville about the middle of March under orders to proceed to Murfreesboro and repair the railroad bridges burned by Johnston on his retreat. On Colonel Duffield's reporting with the Twenty-third brigade, Mitchel pressed forward to Shelbyville and from there by a rapid movement on the 7th of April he occupied Huntsville, Ala., with Turchin's brigade, Kennett's Ohio cavalry, and Simonson's battery, capturing 170 prisoners, 15 locomotives, and 150 passenger and freight cars, and a large amount of army stores. On the 8th, Mitchel ordered Sill with his brigade to proceed east along the line of the railroad to seize Stevenson, the junction of the Nashville and Chattanooga, and Memphis and Charleston Railroads, and directed Turchin with his command to move west and take possession of Decatur and Tuscumbia. This was successfully done, and Mitchel was in possession of over one hundred miles of this important link connecting Corinth with Richmond in the heart of the enemy's territory. He then posted his troops at the more prominent points, ready to move to any place threatened by the enemy.

On April 29th, Mitchel, hearing of the advance of the force under Kirby Smith from Bridgeport against the command beyond Stevenson, moved as rapidly as possible by rail from Huntsville to resist him. He found the enemy had attacked the detachment posted five miles west of Bridgeport, and that his troops had driven the enemy's advance back across Widow's Creek. The bridge over this creek had been burned by the enemy on their retreat. Mitchel strengthened the detachment and engaged the attention of the enemy by an apparent effort to cross this creek, while with his main force he advanced on Bridgeport by a detour by the left and drove that portion of the enemy in the town across the Tennessee River. In their retreat the enemy set fire to the bridge reaching from the west bank of the river to the Island. This bridge Mitchel succeeded in saving, but the bridge east of the Island was completely destroyed. General Mitchel then turned his attention to that part of the enemy's force at Widow's Creek, which he succeeded in capturing, taking in all some three hundred and fifty prisoners. Early in May, Mitchel, who had been placed in command of all the troops between Nashville and Huntsville, ordered General Negley with the Seventh Brigade, belonging to McCook's division--who had been left at Columbia on the advance of the main army upon Savannah--to make an advance against General Adams with a brigade of troops at Rogersville, Ala. At the same time Mitchel sent Colonel Lytle from Athens, Ala., to cooperate with Negley. On the 13th, the enemy learning of the approach of the Federal forces, retreated across the Tennessee River. This placed Mitchel in complete position of that portion of Alabama north of that river. On May 29th, Mitchel concentrated Negley's command from Columbia, Turchin's brigade from Huntsville, and the Eighteenth Ohio under T. R. Stanley from Athens at Fayetteville for an expedition against Chattanooga under the command of Negley. These troops passed through Winchester, Cowen, and University Place to Jasper. Advancing upon the latter place, the head of his column, under Colonel Hambright, encountered a brigade of the enemy's troops under General Adams. The enemy was driven from the place after a sharp engagement, leaving his supply and ammunition trains. His loss was 18 killed, 20 wounded, and 12 prisoners. Leaving Jasper, Negley arrived on the north bank of the Tennessee, opposite Chattanooga, on the 7th. Negley, on the evening of that day and the morning of the next, bombarded Chattanooga, and made a demonstration of crossing the river and attacking the town. General Duke says: "The commandant of the place, General Leadbetter, had two or three guns in battery and replied, when the gunners, who were the most independent fellows I ever saw, chose to work the guns. The defence of the place was left entirely to the individual efforts of those who chose to defend it, and nothing prevented its capture but the fact that the enemy could not cross the river."

Negley then withdrew and encamped his command at Shelbyville.

General G. W. Morgan, under orders from Buell, assumed command of the forces in Eastern Kentucky early in April. Acting under his orders he proceeded to Cumberland Ford and commenced operations at once against Cumberland Gap. This gap is situated in the Cumberland range on the boundary line between Kentucky and Tennessee, near the Western Virginia line, is a deep depression in the mountain range, making a natural roadway through it, and is the centre of all the roads in that section of country. It is a stronghold protected by nature with abrupt slopes on the mountains, frequently so steep as to be almost perpendicular, with the ranges much broken by spurs, knobs, and ravines, protected by parallel ranges of less height in close proximity on the east and west. Morgan, after encountering the enemy in several skirmishes, determined either to compel him to fight or retreat. He sent General Spears with three brigades to Pine Mountain, on the road to Big Creek Gap. General Kirby Smith, commanding the enemy's forces in East Tennessee, placed General Barton's command of two brigades of infantry in Big Creek Gap, and then advanced with some eight thousand men under his immediate command to cut Spears off, and to threaten the Federal forces at Cumberland Ford. Morgan, under orders, withdrew Spears, but learning a few days later from Buell of the operations of Negley's command before Chattanooga, and that Kirby Smith had proceeded with a part of his command to the relief of that place, resumed the advance. Negley's movements had caused Smith to suspend his operations, but when he heard of Negley's withdrawal he proceeded at once to execute his plans against Morgan. On June 18th, the latter, finding that Kirby Smith had taken his entire command away from Cumberland Gap, marched his troops up Powell's Valley and late in the evening of that day reached the fortifications, found the Gap empty, and took possession. This natural stronghold had been extensively fortified by the rebels, who regarded the position of their troops such as to prevent the success of any attempt on the part of the Federal forces to obtain possession without a battle. The enemy were completely out-man?uvred, and General Morgan had the satisfaction of occupying this fortress without the loss of any of his command.

In the early part of May, the rebel Colonel John H. Morgan's command of some five hundred men, in the neighborhood of Pulaski, Tenn., captured a wagon train with about four hundred Federal troops, mostly convalescents going to Columbia. On the night of the 5th, Morgan reached Lebanon and quartered his entire force in houses in the town. On the evening of the 6th, Dumont with his command from Nashville, joined by that of Duffield from Murfreesboro, surprised and attacked Morgan's troopers, completely routing them after a severe engagement. Morgan with a few men under his immediate command escaped after a chase of twenty-one miles from Lebanon, crossing the Cumberland River on a ferry. Dumont had with him detachments of Wynkoop's Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry, of Wolford's First Kentucky cavalry and of Green Clay Smith's regiment of Kentucky cavalry. Morgan's loss was 150 men captured, with the same number of horses. The balance of his command was dispersed. Wolford and Smith were both wounded, and the Federals lost 6 killed and 25 wounded. On the 11th, Morgan with his men that had escaped, and two new companies, made a raid on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad at Cave City, captured a freight train of forty-eight cars and burned it. He also captured a passenger train, which had a few Federal officers on it. His object was to rescue the men of his command taken prisoners at Lebanon, but in this he failed, as they had been sent North by boat.

From this place Morgan reported with his command at Chattanooga to refit, prepatory to his first extended raid into Kentucky. Here he was joined by two full companies of Texan cavalry under Captains R. M. Gano and John Huffman, both native Kentuckians, who, on reporting at Corinth, had asked to be ordered on duty with Morgan and his command, enlarged from a squadron to a full regiment. After he had obtained all the recruits he could at Chattanooga he set out for Knoxville, to further increase his command and to re-arm. It was at this place that he received the two mountain howitzers which were used so effectively in the first raid into Kentucky, and which just before his command started on the Ohio raid were taken from it by Bragg's ordnance officers. This came near raising a mutiny, and the only consolation that Morgan's men had was that Bragg lost the guns within two weeks after they were taken away from them. In the latter part of June, Colonel Hunt, of Georgia, reported at Knoxville with a regiment of "Partisan Rangers," nearly four hundred strong, ordered to accompany Morgan on his contemplated raid, making the strength of his entire command 876 effective men.

Morgan set out from Knoxville on the morning of July 4, 1862, taking the road to Sparta, one hundred and four miles due west from Knoxville, which was reached on the evening of the third day of this march. The Union men of East Tennessee frequently gave these raiders medicine of their own prescription, lying in wait for them and firing upon them from the bushes. This was a new experience for these freebooting troopers, who wherever they went in the South were generally made welcome to the best of everything, being regarded as the beau-ideals of Southern chivalry. On the 8th, Morgan's command reached the Cumberland River at the ford near the small village of Celina, eighteen miles from Tompkinsville, where a detachment of the Ninth Pennsylvania, 250 strong, was encamped under command of Major Jordan. Morgan learned at Knoxville the fact that a Federal force was at this point, and was told the particulars of it on his arrival at Celina, and he now wished to surprise and capture the entire command. Sending a detachment under Gano by the right to cut off Jordan's retreat, at five o'clock in the morning of the 9th Morgan moved to the attack. Jordan posted himself on a thickly wooded hill and fired several volleys at the rebels as they advanced over an open field, but being outnumbered was routed with a loss of four killed, six wounded, and nineteen prisoners. The enemy's loss was several wounded, among them Colonel Hunt, who died a few days later from the effects of his wound. Morgan paroled the prisoners and then left for Glasgow, reaching there at one o'clock that night, where they were received with open arms by the citizens, breakfast cooked for the entire command, and three days' rations prepared for them. From here the command marched all night, and at eleven o'clock next morning was within a short distance of Lebanon. Morgan, prepatory to an attack, despatched one of his companies to destroy the railroad north of the town to prevent the arrival of reinforcements. The company struck the railroad at New Hope Church, and had just commenced their work of destruction when a train came up with a number of Federal troops on it, who drove the rebels off in confusion, but for some unknown cause the train then returned to Louisville, leaving Morgan unmolested at Lebanon, who advanced to the attack and drove in the pickets. After a slight skirmish the place was surrendered by Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson of the Twenty-eighth Kentucky, with a small detachment of that command. Morgan destroyed some fifty thousand dollars' worth of Government stores. He left Lebanon at two o'clock in the afternoon, passed through Springfield without halting the command, and pushed on for Harrodsburg, reaching there at nine o'clock on Sunday morning. Here he sent Gano with his squadron around Lexington to burn the railroad bridges on the Kentucky Central Railroad, in order to prevent troops being sent there from Cincinnati. Another detachment was sent to destroy the bridge on the Louisville and Lexington Railroad, cutting off reinforcements from Louisville. Morgan's design was to make it appear that he intended to attack Frankfort, then turn suddenly to the right and attempt the capture of Lexington. He had given out everywhere in Kentucky that he was marching on the State Capital with a force five thousand strong, and had succeeded in spreading the utmost alarm. On the 15th Morgan reached Midway, captured the telegraph operator and installed his own operator at the same instrument, sent despatches in the name of Federal Generals, and changed the orders for the movement of troops. He telegraphed in all directions, without the slightest regard for truth, and succeeded in creating the utmost confusion and alarm at Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, and Frankfort. The command left Midway late in the afternoon and started for Georgetown, which place they reached at sundown, where they met a small force of Home Guards, who were driven out of town. From here Morgan sent a force to burn the bridges on the Kentucky Railroad between Lexington and Paris. Then learning how strongly Lexington was garrisoned, he gave up all thought of attacking it, and finding that the Federal forces were closing in on him commenced his return south. On the 18th, Morgan attacked Cynthiana, which was garrisoned by some five hundred men, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John J. Landrum, of the Eighteenth Kentucky. The fighting continued for two hours, when the Federal force was driven from the town and nearly all captured. Landrum and a few of his command escaped. The Federals lost 16 killed and 40 wounded, and 14 of the enemy were killed and 42 wounded. The rebels claimed to have captured 420 prisoners, who were at once paroled. The dep?t, with a large amount of Government stores, was burned. Morgan then left for Paris, where he arrived late in the evening and rested there that night. About eight o'clock in the morning his command was driven out of this place by the troops under General Green Clay Smith, numbering some twelve hundred men, who killed 2, wounded six, and captured several prisoners. Morgan pushed through Winchester, reaching that point about twelve o'clock, crossed the Kentucky River just at dark, and arrived at Richmond at four o'clock in the morning. Here he rested his command twelve hours, then marched toward Crab Orchard, arriving about daybreak the next morning. It had been his intention to make a stand at Richmond, but there were too many troops marching to attack him. Besides General Smith's command, which was following him closely, Colonel Wolford was collecting forces in the southern part of Kentucky to intercept him, and troops were EN ROUTE from Louisville to aid in the pursuit. Morgan left Crab Orchard at eleven o'clock the same morning, and reached Somerset about sunset. At these two places he captured 130 wagons, with large quantities of Government stores, of which he loaded as much into wagons for the use of his command as he wanted, and burned the rest. From Somerset he marched to Stagall's Ferry on the Cumberland River, and there crossed, reaching Monticello, twenty-one miles from the river, that night, when all pursuit ended.

Morgan's object in making this raid was to obtain recruits and horses, to equip and arm his men, and to prepare for his fall raiding trip. In his official report he says: "I left Knoxville on the 4th day of this month with about nine hundred men, and returned to Livingston on the 28th inst. with nearly twelve hundred, having been absent just twenty-four days, during which time I have traveled over a thousand miles, captured seventeen towns, destroyed all the Government supplies and arms in them, dispersed about fifteen hundred Home Guards, and paroled nearly twelve hundred regular troops. I lost in killed, wounded, and missing of the number that I carried into Kentucky, about ninety."

When Buell received his orders to open the campaign in East Tennessee, the key to that part of the State was Chattanooga, and this was the objective point of his campaign. With the concentration of the Southern forces in Mississippi, both Halleck and Buell thought that a favorable time had arrived for this movement, anticipating that no advance of the enemy's forces would be made to dispute the occupancy of those portions of Kentucky and Tennessee already held by the Federal forces. The great problem with Buell was to furnish supplies to his army, now some three hundred miles away from its base at Louisville, dependent during the greater part of the year on one line of road, which was subject to being raided at any time, bridges burned, the roadbed destroyed, and the entire road rendered useless for months. To continue this line the many miles through the enemy's country, subject to increased risks before Chattanooga could be reached, was a matter that required a great amount of careful thought and deliberation. Buell had tried infantry in stockades at bridges, and was satisfied that this was not the proper solution to the problem. He then made earnest and repeated application for more cavalry, to protect his communications and to meet and repulse the enemy's raiding parties before they could reach his line of communication. If he was to move with his command into East Tennessee, he regarded the line from Nashville to Chattanooga as the proper road on which he should depend for his supplies, and to which he should give his care and attention for this purpose.

Halleck considered the line from Memphis to Chattanooga the one over which the supplies for Buell's army should pass. The latter objected to this, by reason of that road crossing the Tennessee River twice, thus giving two long bridges to rebuild and protect, instead of one, and for the additional reason that this road ran for a considerable distance parallel with the front of the enemy, and thus invited raiding parties. While the risks attending the other road were great enough, Buell regarded the Memphis and Charleston road far the more objectionable. Besides, he wished to move through Middle Tennessee to McMinnville, and thence to Chattanooga, with Nashville as his depot of supplies. In this Halleck overruled him and directed that he march his command on the line of the Memphis road, repairing the track as he advanced.

While this matter was under consideration by the Federal commanders, Bragg, who had been appointed to the position of General made vacant by the death of General Johnston, and who had succeeded Beauregard in the command in the West, put his columns in motion eastward to occupy Chattanooga. Johnston, on the retreat from Nashville, sent all surplus army stores to Chattanooga, and Bragg now regarded that point as the proper place to refit his command, and from which to assume the offensive, and open the campaign he had planned to free, for a time at least, Tennessee from the control of the Federal forces.

With the start thus made by both commands for Chattanooga, everything was in favor of Bragg, whose movements were unimpeded, as his route was south of the Tennessee, through his own territory, with his lines of communication open when he arrived at that place. With Buell, the repairs of the railroad retarded his progress, and the advance weakened his command by the increased number of detachments required to guard his line as it lengthened.

McCook's and Crittenden's commands were started eastward, the first from Corinth, and the latter from Booneville. McCook reached Florence on the 15th of June, where ferryboats had been provided by Mitchel for the crossing of his division. A delay was occasioned here by the report that Nelson had been attacked, but this was found to be false; and, on the 26th, the divisions of McCook, Crittenden, and Nelson crossed, and started at once for Athens, which place they reached on the 29th. On the same day Buell established his headquarters at Huntsville, Ala., and gave personal supervision to the repair of the railroads, now extremely urgent. He placed his troops by division upon the different sections of the line, under orders to push repairs with all possible expedition. These troops, as repairs were made, advanced from time to time, concentrating on the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga road. The repairs to this railroad were completed on July 28th, and on the Nashville and Decatur road on August 3d. During the latter part of July the last division of Buell's army, under Thomas, crossed the Tennessee River, being relieved--on the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad--by troops from Grant's army. Thomas established his headquarters at Dechard. It was on this march with his brigade that General Robert L. McCook was murdered by guerillas. He was riding in an ambulance, ill at the time, and unarmed.

Nelson's division had been sent to Murfreesboro about the middle of July, to drive Forrest, who, with his cavalry, on the 13th, attacked the Federal garrison in the town. The post was under the command of General T. L. Crittenden, and the troops composting the Twenty-third Brigade were under the command of Colonel Duffield. There was, unfortunately, a disagreement between the ranking officers at the post that led to the most unfortunate results. Colonel Lester, of the Third Minnesota, during the absence of Duffield, commanding the brigade, had, by reason of the unpleasant relations existing between portions of the command, widely distributed them in different parts of the town. On the return of Crittenden and Duffield on July 11th, neither of them assumed command, and their dignity, thinking more of their own personal importance than the good of the service. With no one in command, there was no unity or proper "esprit de corps" among the troops, and no disposition for defence when Forrest made his attack. the latter had advanced through McMinnville from Chattanooga, with about two thousand men, and arrived at Murfreesboro about five o'clock on the morning of the 13th, captured the pickets, and made disposition of his forces for immediate attack. Forming his entire command into columns of fours, with the Eighth Texas in front, Forrest moved forward on a trot until he reached the Federal encampments, which Colonel Wharton, with two regiments, charged. The Second Georgia dashed into the town, captured the provost guard and all Federal officers and men on the streets, seized and secured the supplies.

Major Smith with the Kentucky troops was sent to the rear of the Federal command to cut off the retreat. The Texans charged into the camp of the Ninth Michigan, and reaching the tents, roused some of the men from sleep. A portion of that regiment, however, rallied by the officers, made a handsome stand and drove the Texans off. Duffield was wounded while rallying his men. The Second Georgia charged into the public square and surrounded the Court House, occupied by a company of the Ninth Michigan, who twice repulsed the attacking force. Reinforcements being brought forward, the doors of the building were battered down and the company was forced to surrender. Forrest now attacked the Third Minnesota on the east bank of Stone's River, about a mile and a half from town, which had just left their camp to join the force in the town, when Forrest with three regiments moved to the attack.

Colonel Lester formed his command in line of battle, with nine companies of infantry and four pieces of artillery, and opened fire on the rebels as they advanced. Forrest attempting to get to the rear of his force, encountered the camp guard of some hundred men left by Lester to protect his camp, posted behind a strong barricade of wagons and some large ledges of rocks, difficult to carry. Forrest at once ordered a charge which was twice made and repulsed. Leading his men the third time, he succeeded in driving the guard from their position to the main command, posted some six hundred yards away. It was now one o'clock, and beyond the skirmishes between the commands but little had been accomplished.

Forrest's officers urged him to withdraw with the results obtained up to that time. This he refused to do, and made disposition of his command for further attack on the Federal forces occupying the camp of the Ninth Michigan, which consisted of this regiment and a company of the Second Kentucky cavalry. He dismounted two of his regiments and threw forward skirmishers, directed them to open brisk firing, and sent the Second Georgia dismounted to attack on the left. After this he brought up the Eighth Texas and placed them in position to charge on the left.

Having made this disposition of his forces, he sent forward, under a flag of truce, a written demand for the surrender of Duffield's command, which was complied with at once. After this, Forrest demanded the surrender of the Third Minnesota, which Lester, after an interview with Duffield and a consultation with his own officers, made, surrendering some five hundred infantry of his regiment and two sections of Hewitt's battery of artillery. The entire forces surrendered were seventeen hundred troops with four pieces of artillery. Forrest captured about six hundred horses and mules, and a very large quantity of stores and Government supplies, part of which he carried away and the rest he destroyed, to the value of nearly a million of dollars.

This loss occurred the day after the opening of the road from Nashville south, and very seriously interfered with the movements at the front. Nelson endeavored to intercept Forest, but could not successfully "chase cavalry with infantry." Forrest on Nelson's approach withdrew to McMinnville, and from there made a dash on Lebanon, some fifty miles distant, where he expected to find a force of five hundred Federal cavalry. This force escaped him, and he then swept around to the south of Nashville, captured 150 bridge guards and burned four bridges. Learning that Nelson was again in pursuit of him, Forrest returned to McMinnville.

From this point he made repeated raids on the line of road south of Nashville, leaving Morgan to operate against the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. These raiders were able to move almost without opposition, as Buell was without sufficient cavalry to cope with them. The latter had been compelled to divide his cavalry into small bands to run down the guerillas that had been operating on his line of railroad. Now that Forrest's and Morgan's commands had become so formidable, he was compelled to organize his cavalry into united bodies for better defensive movements against these raiders. The Second Indiana, Fourth and Fifth Kentucky, and Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry regiments he formed into one brigade, and on August 11th, he sent it under General R. W. Johnson against Morgan, who had been ordered by Bragg to break the railroad between Louisville and Nashville, in order to retard Buell's movement north to Louisville as much as possible, and who was operating about Gallatin, Tennessee, which he had captured with 200 prisoners. Colonel Boone was in command of the Federal forces at this point. Morgan hearing that Boone slept in the town away from the camp, sent a small force to capture him, which was done, just as he had dressed and was starting to camp. Morgan then destroyed a railroad bridge south of Gallatin, and the tunnel six miles north, the roof of which was supported with large beams on upright timbers. Running some freight cars into the tunnel, they were set on fire and some eight hundred feet of it destroyed, the roof caving in.

Johnson sought to attack Morgan before he could unite with Forrest, who was on his Lebanon raid at that time, but Morgan hearing that Johnson had infantry and artillery supports, endeavored to avoid an engagement. Johnson forced the fight, engaged Morgan with spirit, and although repulsed three times, after the first and second repulse formed promptly and renewed the attack. After the third repulse the Federal forces commenced retreating, when Morgan followed, attacked Johnson's retreating forces and drove the Federals some three miles. Johnson reformed his lines twice, but the enemy broke, and drove them each time. He then reformed the remnant of his command and fought the enemy dismounted, when the latter charged again, and Johnson, seeing that the greater part of his command had scattered, surrendered. The force that was with him at this time was only a small band of some twenty-five soldiers and a few officers. His loss was 20 killed and 42 wounded. Duke in his "History of Morgan's Cavalry," says: "A great deal of censure was at the time cast upon these men"--Johnson's command--"and they were accused of arrant cowardice by the Northern press. Nothing could have been more unjust. They attacked with spirit and without hesitation, and were unable to close with us on account of their heavy loss in men and horses. I have seen troops much more highly boasted than these were before their defeat, behave not nearly so well." And of Johnson, Duke says: "His attack was made promptly and in splendid style; his dispositions throughout the first fight were good, and he exhibited fine personal courage and energy."

Bragg's Advance into Kentucky.

After Nelson's pursuit of Forrest on his raid around Nashville, he was ordered by General Buell to McMinnville. Crittenden and McCook with their divisions were at Battle Creek, Thomas and Wood were on the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, and Mitchel's division, under the command of Rousseau, on the line of railroad from Decatur to Columbia. Bragg had so well concealed his intention as to his advance, that Buell was compelled to be in readiness to meet him in the event of one of three movements, which it was supposed he would make if he moved before Buell was ready to advance upon him.

The latter thought Bragg would either move by the left, pass around into Northern Alabama, cross at Decatur, and press north for Nashville. This he regarded as the most likely movement. Or, second, more direct, crossing the mountains, pass through McMinnville, and so on to Nashville. Or, third, to move by way of Knoxville into Eastern Kentucky. The latter, up to the first of September, Buell regarded as hardly a possibility, supposing Bragg's movements all indicated an advance on Nashville. Thomas was ordered to assume command of the troops at McMinnville, to repair the railroad from Tullahoma to that point as he went, and to establish posts of observation with signal stations on the mountains to watch Bragg's movements. Thomas assumed command at McMinnville on the 19th of August, on the same day that Bragg sent a column of three or four thousand troops across the river at Chattanooga. Buell, in anticipation of this being the advance of Bragg's entire army en route for Nashville, despatched Wood to the vicinity of McMinnville, to aid in resisting his advance. He then ordered McCook to move from Battle Creek to the Therman road, where he was to hold the enemy in check until re-enforced by Thomas. Crittenden's division was sent up the valley through Tracy City, by the Altamont road, to be within supporting distance of McCook, and to watch the road from there to Chattanooga. Thomas was directed to hold his command in readiness to move at a moment's notice, either on the Therman or Dunlap road. On the 22d, Buell learned that Bragg's whole army was north of the Tennessee, and he then, further to concentrate his command, moved his supplies from the dep?t at Stenvson to Dechard. Thomas on the same day telegraphed from McMinnville to Buell that he believed Bragg's movements meant an advance of his entire army into Kentucky. Thomas reconnoitered thoroughly the front of his position, and ascertained that the enemy was not there and not as yet even in Sequatchie Valley. This he reported to Buell, and suggested that Wood's division be posted at Sparta, to intercept Bragg's advance, if made through that place; that another division be left at Dechard, to watch any movement in that direction, and that the remaining portions of the command be concentrated at McMinnville, ready to offer battle to Bragg's army if it should advance on that front. Thomas regarded Bragg's advance either on Nashville or Louisville as possible only through McMinnville or Sparta, and he proposed to attack before Bragg could reach either. On the next day Buell, under advices that he regarded as reliable, ordered the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Divisions to concentrate at Altamont, intending there to offer battle. He sent detailed instructions to Thomas, in charge of the movement, as to the disposition of his command, with orders in the event of defeat to fall back, keeping his force between the enemy and Nashville. On the 25th, Thomas reached Altamont, and finding no enemy nearer than the Sequatchie Valley, and regarding Bragg's advance by way of Altamont improbable, owing to the bad condition of the roads, and lack of forage and water, returned to McMinnville with the Fourth and Sixth Divisions. On the 30th, Buell gave orders concentrating his entire command at Murfreesboro, still under the impression that Bragg expected to strike for Nashville. The latter's movements were so well guarded, and Buell had as yet so little reliable information in regard to them, that he hesitated even after the order was issued, and the next day asked Thomas's advice in regard to it, in the light of any further information as to the movements of the enemy. Thomas advised that the movement proceed, having been commenced, and gave a plan of battle in the movement from Murfreesboro. Thomas, on the 30th, captured a despatch that Bragg, on the 27th, had sent to Van Dorn, in command in Mississippi, conveying to him in full his plans in regard to his advance into Kentucky, and informed him that Kirby Smith, re-enforced with two divisions from this army, had turned Cumberland Gap, and was marching on Lexington, Ky.

Buell's army at Murfreesboro consisted of five divisions under his immediate command, the troops being then on the line of the railroad. In addition he had two divisions sent to him from the Army of the Tennessee--General J. C. Davis' division, under General R. B. Mitchell, which arrived at Murfreesboro on the 2d of September, and General E. A. Paine's division, under the command of General J. M. Palmer, which reached Nashville on the 10th. This concentration of the army at Murfreesboro of course withdrew all troops from the mountains, leaving Bragg unhampered in the selection of his route, either west to Nashville, or north to Louisville. He made choice of the latter, and pushed down the valley of the Cumberland to Carthage, where he crossed, moving through Scottsboro and Glasgow, to strike the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Bragg entered Kentucky with five divisions, making an army of some thirty-five thousand men, divided between Generals Polk and Hardee. While at Murfreesboro Buell first learned definitely of Bragg's movements, and of his intended advance into Kentucky. The news of the movements of Kirby Smith and of Nelson's defeat also reached him here.

On August 16th, Buell had ordered Nelson to assume command in Kentucky, and to make such dispositions of his troops as would resist any movement by Kirby Smith, then threatening Cumberland Gap. The plan of the rebels in their campaign, which was intended to free the soil of the South from the Northern armies by carrying the war into the North, was for Kirby Smith to move through Eastern Kentucky to Lexington and thence to Cincinnati, and for Bragg to push through Central Kentucky to Louisville. With these two cities in the possession of their armies it would be a short step to enter upon the rich fields of the Northern States, and with the large number of new recruits gained en route their armies could resist any Northern troops that would be brought against them. This had been Sidney Johnston's plan to be worked out after he had achieved the victory he contemplated at Shiloh, and Bragg as his successor endeavored to carry out Johnston's plan of campaign. One was as much a success as the other, and in both the hour of defeat trod so quickly on their apparent victory that the campaign in each instance ultimately resulted in failure. So far as the advance of Bragg and Kirby Smith into Kentucky was concerned, by it the South suffered a loss instead of a gain, and was compelled from that time on to act upon a steadily lessening line of defence. Bragg's report shows he took a smaller command out than he took into the State.

On the same day that Nelson's orders were dated, Stevenson appeared with his division before Cumberland Gap. George W. Morgan in command there immediately sent out cavalry to the adjoining gaps to watch for further movements of the enemy. When a short distance from Roger's Gap the cavalry struck the head of Kirby Smith's army on its advance to Kentucky. Smith's forces were those of his own command in East Tennessee, re-enforced by the divisions of McCown from Mississippi, sent him by Bragg, and also the two fine brigades of Cleburne and Preston Smith, ordered to report to him from Chattanooga. Kirby Smith moved with his main command to Barboursville, and ordered McCown to Cumberland Ford with a large force, which cut off Morgan, in the Gap, from his base of supplies in that direction. Leaving Stevenson in Morgan's front to engage his attention, Kirby Smith with his entire force advanced into Kentucky, thus entirely cutting off re-enforcements and supplies to Morgan's command. The latter failing in his efforts to bring on an engagement, placed his command on half rations, and after a council of war abandoned the Gap, dismounting his siege guns and destroying what stores and ammunition he could not remove, marched out with his entire command, to the east of Kirby Smith's force, to the Ohio River. John Morgan's cavalry annoyed the command for some days, without inflicting any material loss.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet