August 1, 1862 - Friday - 160 years ago today

 

Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade

By August 1st, Buell had confirmation that the main Confederate army in the west was coming to Chattanooga, with the intent to move northward into Tennessee and Kentucky.  On July 31st, General Bragg met in Chattanooga with General Edmund Kirby Smith, the Confederate commander in East Tennessee, to make a plan for the invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky.  General Kirby Smith was encouraged by the success of the Confederate cavalry, and wanted to move into Kentucky soon.   Bragg wanted to move on Nashville first, and then consider Kentucky later.

Regardless, it was clear that the Confederate armies were moving into Tennessee and Buell would have to counteract that by consolidating his army as much as possible in central Tennessee and then countering any movements by Bragg (while also looking toward moving in Chattanooga if possible).

Wood is at Decherd, TN, on August 1st, and is being ordered to hold position but also to be prepared to move on short notice.  Below are dispatches from August 1st; note that troops are still on half rations.  The mentioned brigade of General Schoepf does not belong to Wood's division, but many troops are being consolidated into this general area.

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HEADQUARTERS,

Huntsville,  August 1, 1862

General WOOD, Decherd:

    The enemy have crossed two or three regiments of infantry certainly at Chattanooga and are working on the Anderson road.  Their talk is of Nashville and Kentucky.  Be prepared at any hour to march and fight.  Keep three days rations cooked.  Nelson is moving forward.

D. C. BUELL.

  

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Decherd,  August 1, 1862.

Col. J. B. Fry:

   Dispatch of to-day received and will be attended to.  General Schoepf arriving with his brigade, but has no subsistence.  Are the troops to be kept on half rations?

TH. J. WOOD.

  

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More Information:

• Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence,  pp. 224-247.
• The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 77.
  
• Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 561-564. 
• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-7.
• Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 42-46.

 

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