The Army of the Cumberland | Page 5

second in command, to Camp Joe Holt, with instructions to order Colonel Rousseau with his entire command to report at once in Louisville. The "Home Guards" were also ordered out, and they assembled promptly in large force, reporting at the Nashville depot, and by midnight they were started to the front by train. Rousseau's command followed at once, General Sherman being in command of the entire force, amounting to some three thousand men. The advance by train was stopped at the Rolling Fork of the Salt River, about thirty-one miles south of Louisville, at which point the railroad bridge had been burned by the rebels. During the following day the troops under Rousseau forded the stream, and pressing forward occupied Muldraugh's Hills with its two trestles and a tunnel over fifteen hundred feet long. The Home Guards were left in camp at Lebanon Junction, some two or three miles in the rear, where Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. Johnson of the Third Kentucky Cavalry reported later in the day with some additional companies of Home Guards, and, by order of General Anderson, assumed command of the camp.
This disposition of troops caused Buckner to retire with his entire command to Bowling Green, where he strongly fortified his position.
The Kentucky State troops were under orders for ten days' service only, and their place was then filled by several regiments from the States immediately north of Kentucky. These troops were placed in camp, and there received instruction in drill, discipline, and camp regulations, waiting for orders for the advance.
General Johnston, under his general plan of creating a defensive line from Columbus on the west, running through Bowling Green east to some point to be determined on, early in September sent General Zollicoffer with a force numbering several thousand men to make an advance into Eastern Kentucky by way of Knoxville, East Tennessee, through Cumberland Gap to Cumberland Ford, threatening Camp Dick Robinson. On the 19th of that month the advance of Zollicoffer's command had a spirited skirmish with the "Home Guards" at Barboursville Bridge. These troops were compelled to retire, which they did, to Rock Castle Hills, where they were re-enforced by two Kentucky regiments under Colonel T. T. Garrard, of the Seventh Kentucky Infantry, who had received instructions from General Thomas to obstruct the roads and to hold the rebels in check. Garrard established his force at Camp Wildcat, behind temporary breastworks, where, on October 21st, he was attacked by Zollicoffer with 7,000 troops. Shortly after the attack General Schoepff [NOTE from Brett Fishburne the correct spelling is "Schoepf" as I know because this is my great-great-grandfather, but I have kept the spelling as in the original book for subsequent references], with five regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and a battery of artillery, re-enforced Garrard, and after a severe fight the enemy was repulsed.
After Buckner's retreat to Bowling Green, Zollicoffer fell back to Mill Springs, on the southern bank of the Cumberland River, and soon afterward crossed the river to the opposite bank at Beech Grove, fortifying this encampment with extensive earthworks.
During the month of September, General George H. Thomas, who with General Wm. T. Sherman had been ordered to report to General Anderson for duty in Kentucky--at General Anderson's personal request of the President--was placed in command of Camp Dick Robinson, relieving General Nelson. The latter then established Camp Kenton in Mason County, three miles from Maysville, near the spot where Simon Kenton's station was erected in 1785.
On the 7th of October General Anderson, on account of ill-health, relinquished the command of the department, and General W. T. Sherman on the following day succeeded him. At the same time General A. McD. McCook was placed in command of the force that [had] been ordered to the front under Sherman.
During the month of October 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