28 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



Some important reconnoissances were made 

 in western Kentucky at this time, extending 

 even to the Tennessee line. The country 

 around Fort Columbus was fully explored, the 

 length and condition of the roads ascertained, 

 the number of bridges and their strength, the 

 depth of the streams without bridges, and the 

 sentiments of the inhabitants. Fort Henry 

 was twice approached by the gunboat Lexing- 

 ton, and its strength estimated. These recon- 

 noissances were made by forces from the Depart- 

 ment of Missouri, then under the command of 

 Maj.-Gen. Halleck. Early in January troops 

 began to concentrate at Cairo, Paducah. and 

 Fort Jefferson from different quarters. To such 

 an extent had this progressed that, in the public 

 mind, it was supposed that a great movement 

 was on foot. 



The plan of the campaign in the West now 

 began to be manifest. At the time when 

 Gen. Buell was ordered to the command of 

 the department of the Ohio, the views of the 

 Government were favorable to an expedition 

 to the Cumberland Gap and into east Tennes- 

 see, for the purpose of seizing the Virginia and 

 east Tennessee line of railroad and affording 

 aid to the loyal citizens. The Confederate 

 line of defence had now become so fully devel- 

 oped, with its strong positions of Bowling 

 Green and Columbus, that the propriety of an 

 expedition by the forces in Kentucky into east 

 Tennessee became a question for military in- 

 vestigation. The mountainous character of 

 the country through which the Gap had to be 

 reached, the roughness of the roads, rendering 

 the conveyance of artillery extremely difficult 

 and slow, and subjecting an army at every 

 interval to formidable resistance, were dis- 

 couraging obstacles to an advance in that di- 

 rection. 



On the other hand, the movement of troops 

 from Cairo up the Cumberland river by trans- 

 ports and gunboats against Nashville, so as to 

 reach the rear of the Confederate army under 

 Gen. Buckner, presented an easy manner of 

 breaking the enemy's line and compelling the 

 evacuation of Kentucky. Its successful achieve- 

 ment might be attended with the capture 

 of the Confederate force at Bowling Green. 

 These views finally prevailed and measures 

 were taken to carry them into execution. The 

 original plan of the western campaign had been 

 for a military and naval expedition to proceed 

 from St. Louis and Cairo down the Mississippi 

 river. For this purpose the gunboats were 

 originally constructed. They were found to be 

 of sufficiently light draft to navigate the Cum- 

 berland and Tennessee rivers, and the coopera- 

 tion of the western department xmder Gen. 

 Halleck was also secured. Indeed the Missis- 

 sippi river expedition was thus diverted at the 

 outset, and Gen. Halleck, by order of the Presi- 

 dent, assumed the entire command After a 

 union of these two armies, they were expected 

 to control the whole country to New Orleans. 



The reconnoissance of Fort Henry had con- 



vinced Com. Foote, in command of the western 

 fleet of gunboats, that it could be easily re- 

 duced by his gunboats. At an early day he 

 applied to Gen. Halleck for permission to at- 

 tack the fort. These views undoubtedly had 

 an important influence on the plan of the 

 western campaign. 



The States which contributed chiefly to the 

 force organized by Gen. Buell in Kentucky 

 were : Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- 

 gan, "Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and 

 Tennessee, as follows: Ohio, thirty regiments 

 of infantry, two and half regiments of cavalry, 

 and eight batteries of artillery ; Indiana, twenty- 

 seven regiments of infantry, one and half regi- 

 ments of cavalry, and five batteries of artillery ; 

 Illinois, three regiments of infantry ; Kentucky, 

 twenty-four regiments of infantry, four regi- 

 ment, of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery; 

 Pennsylvania, three regiments of infantry, two 

 regiments of cavalry, one battery of artillery ; 

 Michigan, three regiments of infantry, one bat- 

 tery of artillery; Wisconsin, three regiments of 

 infantry ; Minnesota, two regiments of infantry, 

 and one battery of artillery; Tennessee, two 

 regiments of infantry. Besides these there 

 were of regulars, three regiments of infantry, 

 and three batteries of artillery. Thus making 

 one hundred and two regiments of infantry, 

 ten regiments of cavalry, and twenty-one bat- 

 teries of artillery ; which might be summed up 

 as follows: infantry 100,000, cavalry 11,000, 

 artillerists 3,000; total 114,000 men, and 126 

 pieces of artillery. This army was divided into 

 four grand divisions under the command of Gens. 

 Alexander McDowell McCook, Geo. H. Thom- 

 as, Ormsby M. Mitchell, Thos. L. Crittenden. 

 Among the brigade commanders, of whom 

 there were twenty, were the following officers : 

 Ebenezer Dumont, Albin SchcepfF, Thos. J. 

 Wood, Wm. Nelson, Richard W. Johnson, Jerre 

 T. Boyle, Jas. S. Negley, Wm. T. Ward. 



The force organized by Gen. Halleck, with 

 his headquarters at St. Louis, was concentrated 

 at that place and Cairo and Paducah, excepting 

 that portion which was in the field in the State 

 of Missouri. It was somewhat less in num- 

 bers than the army of Gen. Buell. For opera- 

 tions in Kentucky and Tennessee it was placed 

 under the command of Gen. Grant. It was 

 drawn chiefly from the States adjacent to Mis- 

 souri. 



The naval force prepared to cooperate with 

 the military consisted of twelve gunboats car- 

 rying an armament in all of one hundred and 

 twenty-six guns. None of these guns were 

 less than 32-pounders, some were 42-pounders, 

 and also 9 and 10 inch naval colnmbiads. In 

 addition, each boat carried a rifled Dahlgren 

 12-pounder boat howitzer on the upper deck. 

 Several of the larger guns on each boat were 

 rifled. 



The boats were built very wide, in proportion 

 to their length, giving them almost the same 

 steadiness in action that a stationary land bat- 

 tery would possess. They were constructed 



