The Army of the Cumberland | Page 6

the rebel Colonel J. S. Williams was
organizing a force of some two thousand troops at Prestonburg, on the
Big Sandy River, intending to operate in Central Kentucky through
McCormick's Gap. General Nelson early in the month started with all
the troops of his command to drive the rebels out of their encampment.
Nelson ordered the Second Ohio under Colonel L. A. Harris to move
from Paris, and the Twenty-first Ohio under Colonel Norton to advance
from Nicholasville to Olympia Springs, where the entire command was
concentrated. From here he advanced to McCormick's Gap, and then
divided his command, sending the Second Ohio, a section of Captain
Konkle's battery, and a company of Ohio cavalry under Captain
McLaughlin--all under the command of Colonel Harris--through West
Liberty to unite with the command at Salyersville. Nelson then moved
forward with three regiments of infantry, two detachments of Kentucky
troops, and two sections of Konkle's battery, with a battalion of cavalry,
on the road to Hazel Green. On the 23d Harris occupied West Liberty,
after a brisk skirmish. The command united at Salyersville and
followed the enemy to Prestonburg. At this point Nelson sent the
Thirty-third Ohio, with the Kentucky troops and a section of Konkle's
battery under Colonel Sill, by a detour to the right to flank the rebel
position at Ivy Mountain. Nelson on the next day then advanced with
his command on the direct road to Piketon, and encountered the enemy
in ambush on the mountain at Ivy Creek. Pushing forward at once with
the force under his immediate command, Nelson attacked the enemy,
and after a brisk engagement, lasting over an hour, routed them from
their cover and drove them in full retreat.
Sill occupied Piketon on the 9th without much opposition. General
Nelson arrived there on the 10th, when the rebels leaving the State and

retreating through Pound Gap, he was ordered to report with his
command to General Buell at Louisville.
On the retirement of General Anderson, as the ranking officer in the
department, General Sherman assumed the command. On the 9th of
November, by general order from the headquarters of the army, No. 97,
the Department of the Ohio was created, "to consist of the States of
Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, that portion of Kentucky east of the
Cumberland river, and the State of Tennessee, and to be commanded by
Brigadier-General D. C. Buell, headquarters at Louisville;" and General
Sherman was relieved from command at his own request.
Nelson's command being ordered out of East Kentucky, the rebel forces
again entered, and in small bands were depredating on Union people in
the Big Sandy Valley. The Fourteenth Kentucky under Colonel L. P.
Moore was ordered to move from Catlettsburg and advance up the
valley. General Buell finding that the rebel force had been largely
re-enforced by the advance of General Humphrey Marshall, one of the
ablest rebel generals in that part of the country, ordered the
Twenty-second Kentucky under Colonel Lindsay from Maysville to
join the Fourteenth, and Lindsay was placed in command of the two
regiments. Marshall was a graduate of West Point; he had served in the
Black Hawk War and had seen service in Mexico as a Colonel of
Kentucky cavalry, winning distinction at Buena Vista. He had now
entered the State from Virginia through Pound Gap, and had reached a
strong natural position near Paintville, where he was rapidly increasing
his army, with the intention of raising a sufficient force--already some
five thousand--to operate on General Buell's flank and to retard his
advance into Tennessee. The Forty-second Ohio, just organized, was in
a camp of instruction near Columbus, Ohio, under its Colonel, James A.
Garfield. While there, in December, he was ordered by General Buell
to move his regiment at once to Catlettsburg, at the mouth of the Big
Sandy River, and to report in person to Louisville for orders.
Starting his regiment eastward, from Cincinnati, Garfield, on the 19th
of December, reported to General Buell, who informed him that he had
been selected to command an expedition to drive Marshall and his

forces from Kentucky. That evening Garfield received his orders,
which organized the Eighteenth Brigade of the Army of the Ohio, and
placed him in command. General Buell with these orders sent a letter of
instruction, giving general directions as to the campaign, leaving all
matters of detail and the fate of the expedition, however, largely to the
discretion of the brigade commander. The latter reached his command
on the 24th of December, at Louisa, some twenty-eight miles up the
Big Sandy. He then proceeded to concentrate his troops, the main body
consisting of his own regiment--the Forty-second Ohio--the Fourteenth
Kentucky, and a battalion of Ohio cavalry under Major McLaughlin,
which was with him; but these gave only some fifteen hundred men for