Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division
On the 11th, General Halleck was appointed to be General-in-Chief of all the Union armies, and was ordered to Washington. He departed for Washington on the 17th. General Grant was the ranking general remaining in the West, and would take over for General Halleck.
Wood's division was on the move, initially toward Stevenson, AL as ordered on the 12th (see previous blog post). However, om the 13th, Nathan Bedford Forrest, with his Confederate cavalry. captured the Union garrison of 1400 troops at Murfreesboro, TN, and wrecked part of the railroad between Nashville and Chattanooga,. This caused a beehive of activity as Union forces were moved quickly in an attempt to confront and capture Forrest and his men. Part of this effort was to divert Wood's division first to Fayetteville, TN and them further north to Shelbyville, TN on the 16th. Wood was paused at Shelbyville to await further orders as searches continued.
Forrest,was not found by the Union forces, mainly due to lack of cavalry in Buell's army, as it is difficult for foot soldiers to find cavalry on the move. Buell's last request to Halleck was to send more cavalry to him as soon as possible. John Hunt Morgan was also executing a raid with his Confederate cavalry in central Kentucky, causing even more trouble for Union armies.
Supplies were still a problem as Confederate cavalry raids destroyed railroad bridges and other transportation. The hot and dry summer had caused the rivers to lower, making water transportation impossible in certain places. The dispersed armies also created problems for delivery of supplies.
Map centered on Shelbyville, note Murfreesboro about 20 miles to the north, Fayetteville about 20 miles to the south.
More Information:
- Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 134-168.
- The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 76.
- Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-562.
- Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp, 1-4
- Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 42-46.
NEXT POST: JULY 20TH
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