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

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
Read more

Globules of Adipose Pomposity: Top 11 Worst Buckeye Colonels of the Civil War

Image
Ohio Colonels in the Civil War "They weren't all heroes."      It stands to reason that somewhere in the over 200 regimental-sized organizations that Ohio fielded during the war, a bad apple or two would end up in command. Today's article tackles this admittedly sensitive subject with a top 11 list of Buckeye colonels  who exited the service under less than honorable circumstances during the Civil War. It's a list of cowards, drunks, incompetents, and outright scoundrels whose record adds color (or rather off color) to Ohio's history in the Civil War and is "history that deserves to be remembered."       They are presented in the rough chronological order of their exit from the service. 
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

I Don't Thirst for More Fight: An Iron Brigade Sergeant Remembers Gainesville and Second Bull Run

Image
The men of General John Gibbon's brigade became known as the Black Hat Brigade since they wore the regulation black Hardee hats like the one shown above that belonged to a soldier in Co. C of the 2nd Wisconsin. Comprised entirely of western regiments (19th Indiana, 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin, later to be joined by the 24th Michigan), the brigade became well known as "one of the most colorful and distinguished brigades that fought for the Union," stated historian Alan Nolan. After proving their mettle at Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, and Antietam, they became known as the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. The red circle on the hat dates from 1863 and represents the corps badge for the First Brigade of the First Division of the I Army Corps.  The fight at Gainesville, Virginia on August 28, 1862, marked the first time Sergeant Willie Hutchins of Co. B of the 6 th Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade had seen action. The former native of Vermont struggled w
Read more