9781422278963

The Road to Victory

While the Confederates were threatening the Cumberland Gap, Confederate Generals Bragg and Kirby- Smith decided to launch a campaign against Buell, who had concentrated his troops at Nashville. When he heard the Confederates were heading in his direction, he left a holding force at Nashville and took the bulk of his army to Bowling Green. After achieving a victory at Munfordville, the Confederates issued a proclamation to Kentucky, asking it to support the Confederacy, and a provisional governor was inaugurated on October 4. After the Confederate army, under Van Dorn, had been defeated at Corinth, Mississippi, on October 4, Bragg found himself pretty much on his own. Bragg’s main army was at Louisville and Buell made several diversionary attacks, which

culminated in an inconclusive engagement at Perryville on October 8. After this, Bragg’s army moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in what was effectively a retreat, destroying any supplies that could not be

ABOVE LEFT: General George W. Morgan. ABOVE CENTER: General James Longstreet. ABOVE: General Edmund Kirby-Smith. LEFT: General Buell. OPPOSITE: Topographical Sketch of the Battlefield of Stone (Stones) River Drawn by Lt. O.R. Dahl, 2nd Brigade, 1st Divison, 1862.

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