jessgettysburg1863
2nd Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2012
The Battle of Camp Wildcat took place on October 21, 1861 in western Kentucky, the second engagement in that state of regular army troops representing both the Union and Confederacy. What could have been a retreat against overwhelming odds turned into a Union victory due to the timely arrival of badly-needed reinforcements.
Prelude
Despite being neutral, both sides saw the value of Kentucky in the war. For the Confederacy, control of Kentucky would offer a front line of defense should the Union invade eastern Tennessee; for the Union, control of the Bluegrass State would prevent the rebels from increasing the size of the Confederacy and gaining access to the Ohio River. Both sides were actively recruiting new soldiers.
Confederate Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer assumed command of a brigade in Bristol, Tennessee in July, 1861; from there he began a movement through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky along the Wilderness Road, then considered a major artery to the state's interior. The object of the move was to control the road up to the town of Boonesboro, organize confused Confederate regiments, and prevent a Union invasion; control of the road also meant control of the mountain residents who were pro-union in sentiment.
At the same time, Theophilous Garrard, a grandson of a Kentucky governor who had just resigned his seat in the state senate to take an Army commission as colonel, was given command of a new Union regiment which at that time existed only on paper. Setting up a recruiting station near his home town of Manchester, he managed to enlist nearly a thousand men by late August.
See the link for the full article.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Battle_of_Camp_Wildcat
http://www.civilwarobsession.com/2011_10_01_archive.html
http://wildcatbattlefield.org/battle6.html
Prelude
Despite being neutral, both sides saw the value of Kentucky in the war. For the Confederacy, control of Kentucky would offer a front line of defense should the Union invade eastern Tennessee; for the Union, control of the Bluegrass State would prevent the rebels from increasing the size of the Confederacy and gaining access to the Ohio River. Both sides were actively recruiting new soldiers.
Confederate Brigadier General Felix Zollicoffer assumed command of a brigade in Bristol, Tennessee in July, 1861; from there he began a movement through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky along the Wilderness Road, then considered a major artery to the state's interior. The object of the move was to control the road up to the town of Boonesboro, organize confused Confederate regiments, and prevent a Union invasion; control of the road also meant control of the mountain residents who were pro-union in sentiment.
At the same time, Theophilous Garrard, a grandson of a Kentucky governor who had just resigned his seat in the state senate to take an Army commission as colonel, was given command of a new Union regiment which at that time existed only on paper. Setting up a recruiting station near his home town of Manchester, he managed to enlist nearly a thousand men by late August.
See the link for the full article.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Battle_of_Camp_Wildcat
http://www.civilwarobsession.com/2011_10_01_archive.html
http://wildcatbattlefield.org/battle6.html