BRAGG’S ADVANCE AND RETREATJ

BY DAVID UEQUHART, COLONEL, C. S. A.; MEMBER OF GENERAL BRAGG’S STAFF.

ENERAL BRAGG’S Kentucky campaign has drawn on him more criti-

VJ cism than any other part of his career as a military commander. Duringthat memorable march I rode at his side from day to day, and it was hishabit to confide to me his hopes and fears.

About the end of June, 1862, General Bragg was visited by many prominentcitizens of Kentucky , who had abandoned their homes, and who assured himthat Kentuckians were thoroughly loyal to the South, and that as soon asthey were given an opportunity it would be proven. Fired with this idea,he planned his offensive campaign. On the 21st of July, 1862, the move-ment of the Army of Mississippi from Tupelo was ordered. The infantrymoved by rail, the artillery and cavalry across the country. Headquarterswere established at Chattanooga on the 29th. On the 30th Major-GeneralKirby Smith visited General Bragg at that point, and it was arranged thatSmith should move at once against the Federal forces under General GeorgeW. Morgan in Cumberland Gap. In this interview General Bragg was verycertain that he would begin his forward move in ten or fifteen days atlatest, and if Kirby Smith was successful in his operation against Morgan hewould be on his offensive against Buell. Kirby Smith took the field on the13th of August, 1862. On the 28th, after some inevitable delays, Braggcrossed the Tennessee , his right wing, under Polk, 13,537 strong; the leftwing, under Hardee, 13,763 strong,— total effective, 27,320 rank and file.

General Bragg by this time was deeply impressed with the magnitude ofhis undertaking. He had lost faith somewhat in the stories that had beentold him of Kentucky ’s desire to join the South, but he proposed to give thepeople a chance of so doing by the presence of Southern troops. At the sametime he was resolved to do nothing to imperil the safety of his army, whoseloss, he felt, would be a crushing blow to the Confederacy. He reached Car-thage on the 9th of September. On the 12th he Avas at Glasgow, Kentucky ,where he issued a proclamation to Kentuckians . About that time also thecorps of Polk and Hardee were ordered to unite. Buell was now movingon Bowling Green from the south. On the 16th our army surrounded andinvested Munfordville, and General Wilder, AA r ith its garrison of four thou-sand men, was forced to capitulate. General Kirby Smith, having foundMorgan’s position impregnable, detached a part of his forces to invest it,and, advancing on Lexington, defeated the Federal forces encountered atRichmond, Ky. He Avas relying on an early junction Avith General Bragg.

On the 17th of September Generals Polk and Hardee were called to acouncil at Munfordville. With the map and the cavalry dispatches out-spread before him, General Bragg placed General Buell and his army in ourrear, Avith Munfordville on the direct line of his march to Louisville , the

J See also articles by General Wheeler and General Buell, pp. 1 and ' 22 .

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