158 



AEMY OPERATIONS. 



and the road destroyed. On the next day 

 Humboldt was captured, and an attack was 

 made on Trenton, which was soon surrendered 

 by Col. Fry in command. The railroad depot 

 was burned with all the stores and cotton in 

 it. Other stations on the road, as Dyer, Euth- 

 erford, and Keaton, were taken on the same 

 day. The purpose was to destroy every bridge 

 on the railroad from Columbus to Corinth and 

 Grand Junction, and thus cut off the route for 

 supplies to Gen. Grant's army. The^ conse- 

 quence of destroying his depot of supplies, and 

 disturbing his line of communication, was to 

 make Gen. Grant fall back upon Holly Springs. 

 Subsequently Col. Forrest's force was entirely 

 routed by Col. Sweeney. 



Meanwhile troops had been collected at 

 Cairo and Memphis, for an expedition against 

 Vicksburg. This had been done within the 

 department of Gen. Grant, and the command- 

 er of the expedition, Gen. Sherman, was sta- 

 tioned at Memphis in the same department, and 

 under the command of Gen. Grant. It was 

 an object of Gen. Grant's movements into 

 Mississippi, just related, to reach Jackson 

 in the rear of Vicksburg, and thus cooperate 

 with Gen. Sherman. In this design he was 

 unsuccessful, and obliged to fall back in con- 

 sequence of the attacks on his line of com- 

 munication. After falling back upon Holly 

 Springs, a division of his troops was sent to 

 join Gen. Sherman. The future proceedings 

 of Gen. Grant and of this Expedition properly 

 belong to the record of 1863. 



The second campaign in Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee during the year was virtually ended. 

 The forces of Gen. Grant were reduced by 

 a detachment of ten thousand men to aid 

 Gen. Sherman in the capture of Vicksburg, 

 which was a part of the new campaign. 



Meanwhile the calls of the President for six 

 hundred thousand additional troops were pro- 

 ducing their effect. Vast forces were gather- 

 ing, and new campaigns were about to com- 

 mence. The great march of the Northwest 

 sweeping everything before it to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, was now to be made. The Govern- 

 ment had found that the "Western people would 

 bear no longer with its futile efforts to open 

 the Mississippi and to seize the Southern val- 

 ley. "What we need," said President Lin- 

 coln, " is a military success ; " money and men 

 had been promptly furnished to the full extent 

 of the request. 



This new campaign contemplated the ad- 

 vance of a powerful army under Gen. Eose- 

 crans through Tennessee into Alabama; the 

 movement of a military and naval expedition 

 from Cairo upon Vicksburg ; the cooperation 

 of an expedition under Gen. Banks from New 

 Orleans, and thence into Texas ; and an ad- 

 vance from Missouri upon Arkansas ; and also 

 from Kansas upon the Indian country and 

 northern Texas. Thus the Federal Govern- 

 ment would not only open the Mississippi river, 

 but occupy all the Southwestern States, and re- 



duce the Confederate forces to the limits of the 

 Atlantic States. 



On the 25th of October, Gen. Eosecrans was 

 ordered to Cincinnati to take command of the 

 army of the Ohio, as already stated. This com- 

 mand consisted of what remained of the splen- 

 did army of Gen. Buell, reenforced by new but 

 raw levies, until it became the second army in 

 size of the United States. The preparation for 

 his campaign was no ordinary effort. 



The new troops were to be drilled, disci- 

 plined, and made reliable ; equipments, arms, 

 horses, and stores of every kind were needed. 



The country in which he proposed to march 

 had just been swept of its forage by two ar- 

 miesthat of Gen. Buell, and that of Gen. 

 Bragg. His supplies must come from the 

 States of the Northwest. Only two routes ex- 

 isted for their conveyance : the Cumberland 

 river, which was at too low a stage of water 

 for successful navigation, and the Louisville 

 and Nashville railroad, on which the bridges 

 had been burned, and the tunnel at Gallatin de- 

 stroyed. The work of preparation and organi- 

 zation was vigorously begun, and his army 

 soon began to move southward. On the 1st 

 of November Gen. Eosecrans moved to Bow- 

 ling Green, and on the 5th three divisions of 

 Gen. McCook's corps moved farther on their 

 way to Tennessee. 



The commanders of the corps of the whole 

 army were Gens. Thomas, McCook, Eousseau, 

 and Crittenden. On the 7th the corps of Gen. 

 McCook passed through Nashville. 



The Louisville and Nashville railroad was 

 completed on the 8th to Mitchellsville on the 

 northern line of Tennessee. On the 10th, Gen. 

 Eosecrans arrived at Nashville, and from 

 that time to the close of the year he was con- 

 stantly engaged in concentrating, reorganizing, 

 reequipping, and disciplining his army, accu- 

 mulating supplies by the railroad, of which 

 there was only a single track, and preparing for 

 a forward movement. As early as the 25th of 

 November, the Confederate army manifested 

 a purpose to contest the occupation of middle 

 Tennessee. The railroad bridge at Bridgeport 

 was repaired and troops hurried to Murfrees- 

 borough. Gen. Joseph Johnston had been placed 

 in command of this Confederate department, 

 although unable to engage in active field oper- 

 ations. The Confederate forces were stationed 

 atLavergne, Murfreesborough, McMinnville, &c. 

 Their numbers, under Gen. Bragg, were esti- 

 mated at forty-five thousand effective men. He 

 had been led to believe by the spies of Gen. 

 Eosecrans that the latter intended to go into 

 winter quarters at Nashville, and had despatch- 

 ed one body of cavalry under Gen. Forrest to 

 cut off Gen. Grant's communication, and an- 

 other body under Col. Morgan to cut the com- 

 munication of Gen. Eosecrans in Kentucky, 

 and also a body of infantry to the Confederate 

 army of Mississippi. This appeared to be the 

 opportunity for Gen. Eosecrans to strike an 

 effective blow. At this time, the Federal army 



