152 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



garrison but to surrender or evacuate the po- 

 sition. On the 14th of July, an expedition 

 was sent against a body of Confederate cavalry 

 at Wallace Cross Roads, and after a brief skir- 

 mish the latter retired. Again, on the 9th of 

 August, Col. De Courcy was on a foraging 

 expedition with the 16th and 42d Ohio, 14th 

 and 22d Kentucky, when the 14th Kentucky, 

 being advanced a short distance beyond Taze- 

 well, was attacked by the llth and 42d Ten- 

 nessee, 30th Alabama, and 21st Georgia, under 

 Col. Rains. A severe conflict ensued, hi which 

 the Confederate forces were compelled to retire 

 before the artillery that was brought to the aid 

 of the Federal forces. 



On the 17th of August, a small Confederate 

 force approached in front of the position, and 

 attacked a body of Union cavalry some two 

 miles out in the valley, who were compelled to 

 retire with a loss of two or three killed and 

 wounded. Their camp, however, was pro- 

 tected from the approach of the Confederate 

 force by the guns on the mountain. On the 

 same day information was received by Gen. 

 Morgan that a large Confederate force had ap- 

 peared at Barboursville and London, Ky., and 

 captured his supply trains nearly as far back as 

 Crab Orchard. Its object was to hold the 

 Blue Grass region of Kentucky, and ultimately 

 to force the entire division of Gen. Morgan to 

 surrender or hastily evacuate the position. 

 The comparative success of Gen. Bragg in his 

 movements in Kentucky, cut off all the com- 

 munications of Gen. Morgan, and by Sept. 

 11, his corn was all gone and nothing re- 

 mained for his troops but a scanty supply of 

 beans and rice. The force, however, had not 

 remained inactive during this period ; about 

 three hundred prisoners and two hundred 

 horses had been captured. The destitute con- 

 dition of the force for clothes and food, caused 

 the evacuation of the gap by Gen. Morgan on 

 the 17th of September. On that day the 23d 

 Indiana and the 9th Ohio battery left with 

 all the ammunition. During the succeeding 

 night all the troops left except a squad 

 that remained to finish the work of destruc- 

 tion. The magazine was blown up, and the 

 commissary building burned. Nothing but 

 ammunition and a few of the most useful 

 cooking utensils were brought away. Tents, 

 wagons, gun carriages, arms, and accoutre- 

 ments were changed to a mass of fragments 

 and ashes. The line of retreat was two hundred 

 and fifty miles with a large Confederate force 

 intervening. But the position was one of the 

 strongest in the country, and Gen. Morgan had 

 represented that his supplies were abundant. 

 By the 4th of October the division reached the 

 Ohio river. It had foraged on the country, 

 but suffered at times for water. During the 

 entire march, a Confederate cavalry force har- 

 assed the retreat. During nineteen nights the 

 troops bivouacked without a tent. New roads 

 were made, trees cut out, provisions gathered, 

 a hovering enemy kept at check, and a large 



force brought safely through to the borders of 

 Ohio. 



This body of troops under Gen. Morgan 

 numbered more than ten thousand men. It 

 brought twenty-eight pieces of artillery, six of 

 which were 20-pounder siege guns, and four 

 hundred wagons. Four heavy siege guns 

 were destroyed before evacuating the gap, and 

 a large number of sick men were left behind. 



The march was through a mountainous and 

 unproductive country. A court of inquiry was 

 subsequently ordered to investigate the causes 

 of this evacuation. The position has been sub- 

 sequently occupied by a small Confederate 

 force. 



It has been stated, that on the advance of 

 the Confederate army from Richmond to at- 

 tack the forces of Gen. Pope, troops were sum- 

 moned by the general-in-chief from points ad- 

 jacent to come to his support. Among others a 

 portion of the troops of Gen. Cox in western 

 Virginia were brought on to unite with the 

 army of Virginia. The effect of thus reducing 

 the force in western Virginia was an invasion 

 by a Confederate force under Gen. Loring. He 

 advanced up the Kanawha Valley as far as 

 Charleston, which he occupied for some time. 

 His troops were finally required to reenforce 

 Gen. Lee's army, when he retired. The chief 

 advantage derived from this invasion by the 

 Confederate people was the seizure of the salt 

 works in the Kanawha Valley. Perhaps there 

 was no article of which they were so destitute 

 in comparison to its importance as salt. It was 

 exchanged by the Confederate colonel Echols, 

 who had charge, for forage for his troops. 

 Affairs remained in this situation until the 

 return of Gen. Cox's forces early in November, 

 when the Confederate forces retired. 



It has also been stated that, on the invasion 

 of Kentucky by Gen. Bragg, a portion of Gen. 

 Grant's troops were withdrawn from Missis- 

 sippi and sent to Kentucky and Cincinnati to 

 give confidence to the new levies, and to re- 

 enforce Gen. Buell. The consequence of the 

 withdrawal of these troops was to induce 

 the Confederate officers to renew their opera- 

 tions in north Mississippi and western Tennes- 

 see. On the departure of Gen. Halleck to 

 take the position of general-in-chief, Gen. Grant 

 was put in command of the department of 

 west Tennessee, including the districts of 

 Cairo and Mississippi, that part of the State of 

 Mississippi occupied by Federal troops, and that 

 part of Alabama which might be occupied by 

 the troops of his particular command, includ- 

 ing the forces heretofore known as tbe army 

 of the Mississippi. 



In the department of Gen. Grant it became 

 apparent in August that the Confederate forces 

 south of his position had assumed a threaten- 

 ing attitude upon his line between Corinth in 

 Mississippi, and Tuscumbia in Alabama. On 

 the 10th of September the 2d brigade of Gen. 

 Stanley's division, commanded by Col. Murphy, 

 evacuated Tuscumbia, and fell back thirty 



