In honor of Pvt. Nathan R. Oakes, CSA

150 years ago, my great grandfather, Nathan Richardson Oakes, served as a private in Company D of the distinguished 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment in the Army of Tennessee. He participated in the great Civil War campaigns, including the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Franklin, Nashville, and Bentonville. I am writing about his engagements as well as some details about fighting for the Lost Cause. I hope to honor him and commemorate the events and individuals that contributed to making this a renowned unit in the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Siege of Munfordville

Munfordville, 1862
Source: Civil War Trust
Learning of Chalmers’ repulse at Fort Craig, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg decided on today's date in 1862, to avenge the defeat. He diverts his army 50 miles around Bardstown to Munfordville, and there will surround the federal garrison. At midnight, he forces the garrison to surrender without a fight.

While awaiting an attack by Buell, Bragg, with tired men and exhausted supplies, will grow apprehensive and make the lamentable decision to abandon his strategic position to join Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, moving out on the 20th.

Abandoning Munfordville will give Federal Gen. Don Carlos Buell unimpeded access to the Louisville road and cost Bragg the opportunity to take the Federal Depot at Louisville before Buell’s army arrives there. On the same day, Federal Gen. G.W. Gordon’s Federal troops evacuated Cumberland Gap and moved east to the Ohio River.

Source: The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and the 45th Mississippi Regiment: A Civil War History, David Williamson
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