Repossessing the Gibraltar of America: The Confederates Retake Cumberland Gap

When General Edmund Kirby Smith’s army marched into Kentucky in August 1862, he passed the left flank of the Union garrison at Cumberland Gap, crossing at Roger’s, Wilson’s, and Big Creek Gap to drive towards the Bluegrass. General Carter Stevenson’s division was tasked with putting pressure on the Union division of General George W. Morgan that was holding the Gap. By mid-September, Morgan, with supplies fast running out, chose to abandon the Gap and retreat to the Ohio River.

          “Our supplies of food were rapidly becoming exhausted,” Morgan wrote. “Enveloped on every side by the enemy, absolutely cut off from my base of supplies and with starvation staring us in the face,” Morgan called a council of war with his senior subordinates. The generals all agreed: “A retreat was inevitable.”

          “During the night of the 16th of September, a long train of wagons was sent towards Manchester,” explained Morgan. “This entire night and the following day, every preparation was made for the retreat. Mines had been constructed to blow up the magazines and arsenal and fire the vast storehouses constructed and under construction. Everything moved with the precision of a well-constructed and well-oiled piece of machinery.”

          By 8 o’clock the night of September 17th, Morgan’s division was on the road and a group of picked men stayed behind the light the fuses. “Toward morning [of the 18th], Lt. Colonel George Gallup fired the vast buildings and trains leading to the mines. The shock of the explosion was felt 14 miles away, the flaming buildings lit up the sky as though the Gap and mountain crests were a volcano of fire. From time-to-time till after dawn we heard the explosion of mines, shells, or grenades,” Morgan recalled.

          Among the troops of Stevenson’s division who moved to take possession of the Gap was the following correspondent from Hilliard’s Legion.  “Night before last, large fires and heavy explosions gave notice to our army that the last deeds were being performed,” he observed. “Shortly after daylight our cavalry took possession of the abandoned works and pursued the enemy.”

          The Legion had been organized in Montgomery, Alabama in June 1862 and originally consisted of five battalions, one of which was cavalry along with an attached artillery battery. Both artillery and cavalry branches were later detached; the cavalry became the 10th Confederate Cavalry while the artillery became the Barbour Light Artillery.

          The following letter describing the destruction left in Morgan’s wake first saw publication in the September 27, 1862, edition of the Columbus Daily Sun.

 

The early morning explosion of the magazine at Cumberland Gap lit the skies for miles around and was heard 14 miles away. Our Confederate correspondent, on the Southern side of the gap, said that the explosion "gave notice to our army that the last deeds were being performed and shortly after daylight our cavalry took possession of the abandoned works." The Confederates would hold Cumberland Gap for about a year until General Ambrose Burnside's army marched into the area the following September. 

Cumberland Gap, Kentucky

September 19, 1862

          Several days ago, there were strong indications that the enemy was about to evacuate this place. Night before last, large fires and heavy explosions gave notice to our army that the last deeds were being performed and shortly after daylight our cavalry took possession of the abandoned works and pursued the enemy.

          During the day the whole army moved in and this morning the advance into Kentucky commenced. General Carter Stevenson conducts the forward movement while Hilliard’s legion will hold the Gap. Colonel [Jack] Thorington, now in command of the Legion with Colonel Hilliard being absent, holds this important post.

          The destruction of property by the enemy was very great. Hundreds of tents split into ribbons were left standing, quartermaster and commissary stores burnt, their heavy guns disabled and spiked, while thousands of small arms (no doubt designed for the Union men of eastern Tennessee) were consumed. Their sick, to the number of several hundred, were left in the hospital. They tried to explode their principal magazine but fortunately it was very badly prepared and there were many rounds of ammunition uninjured.

General Carter L. Stevenson

          Near where I now write, the boys are busy taking the boxes of ammunition from the ruins. The Yankees did an immense amount of work here in the construction of roads up this side of the mountain and in fortifying the south side of the Gap. No amount of force assailing in front could have taken it, if manned by resolute troops. The Confederacy is fortunate in repossessing this formidable place, the Gibraltar of America.

          That we have not starved the enemy into surrender is not the fault of the army under General Stevenson. General Kirby Smith’s forward movement into Kentucky left the country on that side open to them and they availed themselves of it to subsist their troops during their stay and to attempt their retreat. Whether they will escape to Ohio or be captured by some of our forces, I have no means of obtaining information. I expect to leave with the army for Kentucky this afternoon or tomorrow. If anything of interest should occur, I will drop you a line.

For a Federal perspective on the retreat from Cumberland Gap, check out this post:

With Morgan's Foot Cavalry: Taking and Losing Cumberland Gap

Source:

Letter from J.I.T., Hilliard’s Legion Alabama Volunteers, Columbus Daily Sun (Georgia), September 27, 1862, pg. 2

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