Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Crittenden's Corps - Wood's Division - Wagner's Brigade
General Buell, having gathered, reorganized, and resupplied his army at Louisville, commenced on the first to ride out into Kentucky to find the rebels. He sent two divisions directly east toward Shelbyville, and Frankfort. His intention was for this to be a diversion, as he marched the rest of his army toward Bardstown, KY along three mostly parallel roads that all met at Bardstown. Crittenden's Corps, with the 40th Indiana, took the center route directly toward Bardstown.
General Bragg, meanwhile, had left General Polk in charge at Bardstown, and proceeded first toward Danville, KY, and then on to the capital at Frankfort. Several things happened on this trip. Bragg met General Kirby Smith, and assumed command of his army as well, ending their divided commands and putting Bragg in charge of all the Confederate forces in Kentucky.
Since the start of the war, Kentucky had had both a Union and a Confederate government, and as the Union had possessed Frankfort, the Union Kentucky government was installed, Kirby Smith, however, had now taken the capital, and Bragg decided to install the Confederate Kentucky government; the intent being to recruit soldiers for the Confederacy, but also, as a last resort, to conscript Kentuckians into the Confederate army.
The diversionary force sent by Buell toward Frankfort drove back Confederate cavalry and neared the town. Bragg decided not to hold Frankfort, but to instead consolidate all the Confederate forces in the area of Danville and Harrodsburg, KY, which is about 25 miles southwest of Lexington, and due south of Frankfort. Polk, having detected the lead elements of Buell's main force, was already moving the army from Bardstown toward the Harrodsburg area. It was Wood's division, after some intense fighting with Confederate cavalry, that was able to take Bardstown on the 4th.
Here is a map of the area: Louisville upper left, Lexington upper right, Bardstown lower left center, Harrodsburg/Danville lower right center.
More Information:
- Link: War Operations, see Volume XVI, Chapter XXVIII, Part II, Correspondence, pp. 560-574.
- The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 85.
- Shelby Foote: The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1, Fort Sumter to Perryville, pp. 726-729.
- Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol 3. The Tide Shifts, pp,4-14.
- Kenneth Noe, Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle, pp. 73-95.
No comments:
Post a Comment