Victory at Munfordville | Defeat at Antietam, 1862

As Civil War historian James Lee McDonough observes, September 17 stands out dramatically and tragically in the history of the Confederacy as the bloodiest single day of the war, as the Federals and Confederates battled it out in western Maryland along the banks of Antietam Creek, near the town of Sharpsburg. General Robert E. Lee’s army had held on against overwhelming numbers, but was forced to pull out during the night of the 18th, ending Lee’s Maryland Campaign. This gave Lincoln the victory he needed to consider the emancipation of slaves for military purposes. On the 22nd, Lincoln will present Congress his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

When it was over, Gen Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North had failed, and the important border state of Maryland would remain loyal to the Union. The Confederates were forced to retreat into Virginia. Lincoln’s announcement of his Emancipation Proclamation, changed the complexion of the war, and effectively ended the Confederacy’s hope of foreign recognition, a factor which well might have meant success for the Confederacy.

But on that same day, there was a bit of good news for the Confederacy. Bragg forced the surrender of the Union garrison at Munfordville without loss of life. Earlier in the day, Bragg ordered Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, whose home was Munfordville, to attack the bridge on the northern bank of the Green River. Gen. Hardee would attack from the south side, while Gen. Leonidas Polk crossed upriver and would attack the Federal rear. Most of the previous day had been spent getting into position, while skirmishing fire continued on the south bank. Late in the afternoon Bragg sent a message to the Union commander, Col. John T. Wilder, to surrender, and a truce was called for the evening. Wilder surrendered his garrison at midnight.*

According to the Official Records, my great grandfather's brigade, S.A.M. Wood's, participated in the the formal ceremony of surrender on today's date:

By command of Major General Hardee, “Chalmers brigade, Withers’ division, and Wood's Brigade, Buckner’s Division, will be present at the surrender of the garrison of Munfordville at Rowlett’s Station at 6 a.m. to-day.”

Like Lee, Bragg will face his own failure to turn an important state to the Confederacy. In less than a week, he will move his army away from Munfordville and out of Gen. Don Carlos Buell's path, yielding up a strategic and advantageous location for a decisive battle. Also, as McDonough points out, if having decided to move, Bragg had immediately marched on Louisville from Munfordville, his army probably could have taken it. Bragg simply let events slip from his control, stemming from his lack of a clearly defined objective in his Confederate Heartland Offensive.

But Bragg will have one more opportunity to confront the Federal army in early October, in an unexpected encounter in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky.


* Wilder will return to fight a portion of Bragg's army at the Battle of Hoover's Gap, Tennessee, on June 24, 1863. In that attack his mounted infantry, for the first time on a battlefield, will make use of Spenser repeater rifles in a decisive outcome for the Union. He will also have a significant role in the Chickamauga Campaign later that year.

Sources: War In Kentucky, James Lee McDonough; The Third Battalion Mississippi Infantry and the 45th Mississippi Regiment: A Civil War History, David Williamson; Official Records, Vol. 16, Pt. 2

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

Confederate Attack on Munfordville

Munfordville is 20 miles directly north of Glasgow, Kentucky. The vital Louisville & Nashville Railroad crossed the Green River at Munfordville on one of the most important bridges on the entire line, and a relay station on the Louisville-Nashville turnpike.

Knowing that a Confederate attack was imminent, Federal reinforcements were arriving to the Fort Craig garrison at Munfordville on the 13th and 14th. In the meantime, Confederate Gen. Polk’s Corps cut off the Federal supply line at Cave City.

Without consulting the commanding general, Braxton Bragg, who was at Glasgow, Brig. Gen. James R. Chalmers brigade, with reinforcements from Gen. Edmond Kirby Smith that had been sent south to locate Bragg, attacked the Federal garrison. Chalmers was deceived by the strength of the Federals and their ability to repel his assault.

The Battle of Munfordville, Kentucky, from Harper's Weekly
Source: Wikipedia

The attack was a failure, resulting in 285 Rebel casualties to only 37 on the Union side. Bragg believed that Chalmers’s action had destroyed his option to bypass Munfordville. Nevertheless, Bragg will decide to bring all of the army’s strength to attack the Federals at the bridge on the 16th.

Sources: War In Kentucky, James Lee McDonough; Official Records, Vol. 16

Bragg's army arrives at Glasgow, Kentucky

The Union fort at Munfordville, Kentucky, along the Green River, was defended by a force of 4,000 men under Col. John T. Wilder—large enough to deal with any Confederate raiders that roamed about, but far too small to resist Gen. Braxton Bragg's army of 30,000 men, which was arriving in the vicinity in the early days of September.

On today's date in 1862, a Confederate cavalry brigade under Gen. James R. Chalmers approached Munfordville, and unaware that they were outnumbered, demanded the surrender of the garrison. The next day, more Confederates arrived, bringing his force to 1,900. But unbeknownst to Chalmers, his was still too small of a force to take the fortified Union garrison.

In the meantime, Gen. Bragg was assembling his army. He had begun his invasion from Chattanooga in late August, in hopes that the presence of a Confederate army in Kentucky would encourage the state  to join the Confederacy. Until now, the Union army led by Gen. Don Carlos Buell, had remained further west, uncertain about what Bragg was up to and where he may be headed. When it became clear that he was heading north, Buell turned towards Munfordville. However, Bragg's forces arrived there first.

In only 2 weeks, Bragg had moved his army rapidly through Tennessee’s Sequatchie Valley, traveling through Pikeville to Sparta, and then on to Carthage, crossing the Cumberland River and heading for Glasgow and the Green River crossing at Munfordvile, Kentucky. On today's date, Bragg arrived with the balance of his army at Glasgow, some 30 miles east of Bowling Green, near what is known today as Mammoth Cave National Park. From here, Bragg was in a good strategic position to effectively cut off Buell’s line of retreat, both by road and by railroad, to Louisville.

In camp between Glasgow and Munfordville, with other elements of Bragg's army, was my great grandfather, Nathan Oakes, a private in the 32nd Mississippi Infantry, a volunteer regiment made up of nearly 1,000 men from tiny towns around Corinth, Mississippi. He and Great Uncle Billy Turner were in Company D, comprised of men from their hometown of Kossuth, Mississippi and nearby villages. Three hundred miles from home, these recruits were about to face their first organized battle, the attack on the Union garrison at Munfordville, also known as the Battle of Green River.

Source: War In Kentucky, James Lee McDonough

32nd Mississippi Infantry arrives at Munfordville, 1862

Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell learns that Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army is bypassing Nashville. Both armies are now heading for the Federal railroad supply line running through Cave City, Kentucky, about 28 miles northeast of Bowling Green, and the junction of the Louisville Pike. If Buell arrives first, his army will be between Bragg’s and Gen. Smith’s armies. However, if Bragg arrives ahead of him, then he can unite with Smith and drive Buell out of Kentucky, and perhaps take the fight all the way to Cincinnati. (In fact, Smith's force was at this time only 7 miles from Cincinnati. His army's proximity caused the citizens to flee in panic.)

For the first few days of September, Bragg's Army of Mississippi has been bivouacked in Sparta, Tennessee. Here Bragg receives word from Gen. Smith of the Confederate victory at Richmond. Smith also recommends that the 2 Southern armies join forces at Lexington. But considering both the drought in Kentucky and the inadequate forage for his troops along the way to Lexington, Bragg decides instead to change course for Glasgow, Kentucky. There he hopes to find adequate water and the fertile ground of the Green and Barren Rivers area.

On today's date in 1862, my great grandfather's regiment, the 32nd Mississippi Infantry, arrived near Munfordville, Kentucky. With Gen. Hardee's left wing, they completed their march to join the rest of Bragg’s army at Glasgow, about 30 miles south of the Union garrison at Munfordville, which guarded the strategic Green River bridge on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

Lee's simultaneous invasion of Maryland, 1862

Over about the same period of time when Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee was invading Kentucky, Gen. Robert E. Lee embarked on is own campaign into Maryland. It will be his first invasion into the North and will begin on this date in1862, and last through the 20th.

Gen. Robert E. Lee

Following his victory in the Northern Virginia Campaign, Lee moved north with 55,000 men through the Shenandoah Valley toward Maryland. His objective was to resupply his army and to damage Northern morale in anticipation of the November elections. His plan was risky, splitting his army so that he could continue north into Maryland, while simultaneously capturing the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferrry. In an accident of war, Lee's orders to his subordinate commanders fell into the hands his opponent, Gen. George McClellan, enabling him to plan Lee's defeat accordingly.

While Lee's general, Stonewall Jackson, was taking Harpers Ferry from the 12th through the 15th, McClellan moved his army of 84,000 through the South Mountain passes that separated him from Lee. The Battle of South Mountain/Boonsboro Gap ensued on the 14th, which delayed McClellan's advance and allowed Lee sufficient time to concentrate most of his army at Sharpsburg. The Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg* on September 17, was the bloodiest day in American military history, with over 22,000 casualties. Lee, outnumbered 2 to 1, moved his defensive forces to ward off each offensive blow. However, McClellan never deployed all of his reserves to capitalize on successes and destroy the Confederates. On September 18, Lee ordered a withdrawal across the Potomac. On September 19–20, fights by Lee's rear guard at Shepherdstown ended his campaign.

Although from a tactical perspective Antietam was a draw, Lee's Maryland Campaign failed to achieve its objectives. As a result of McClellan's success, President Lincoln used the timing of Union victory for his announcement to free the salves in Southern states, to be effective on January 1, 1863. His public stance on slavery effectively will end any threat of European support for the Confederacy.


* To take a virtual tour of the battlefield visit the Civil War Trust webpage, Antietam 360.

Capture of Frankfort, Kentucky, 1862

On today's date in 1862, fresh from their complete victory at Richmond on September 3, Confederate forces under Gen. Edmond Kirby Smith capture Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky. Frankfort will be the only Union state capital captured in the war, earning Smith the "Thanks" of the Confederate congress. Generals Smith's and Braxton Bragg's armies will continue their invasion of Kentucky in an attempt to outflank the Union army in a series of military movements to win that state for the Confederacy.

Kentucky's Capital Building Cir. 1862

During Frankfort's occupation, Gen. Bragg installed a provisional Confederate government. However, he was only able to hold Frankfort for less than a month. Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell ambushed the inauguration ceremony on October 4, and drove the provisional government from the state. Frankfort, along with Kentucky, will continue to have strong sympathies for the Union, and the Confederate government will continue only in shadow until the end of the war.

The Battle of Richmond, 1862

Traveling on different routes out of Chattanooga, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg moved his army across the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau, while Gen. Edmond Kirby Smith began the first major battle of the Confederates' Kentucky Campaign at Richmond.

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne

On today's date in 1862, Gen. Smith converged on Federal Maj. Gen. Nelson’s forces defending Richmond. Brig. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, under whom my great grandfather will eventually serve, led the Confederate attack together with Colonel John S. Scott’s cavalry. Just after noon, Federal artillery joined the battle, forcing the Confederates to retire to Big Hill. Federal Brig. Gen. Mahlon D. Manson then ordered a brigade to march to Rogersville in the direction of the Confederates. That night Manson informed Gen. Nelson of the situation, and Nelson ordered another brigade to be ready to march.

Gen. Smith ordered Cleburne to be ready to attack the next morning, promising him reinforcements. A Confederate victory is at hand.

The battle on the 30th began with a brief artillery duel. A Confederate attack on the enemy's right, forced the Federal troops to give way and retreat to Rogersville. But the Confederates carried the day. Of the 6,500 Federal troops who went into battle, 4,300 were taken prisoner. All total, the Confederates inflicted 5,353 casualties on the Federal force, while themselves suffering only 600 killed, wounded, or missing.

Having readied his troops overnight, Confederate Brig. Gen. Patrick Cleburne marched them north, driving back Federal skirmishers on his way to Kingston, Kentucky, to confront Federal Brig. Gen. Manson’s force near Zion Church. As the day progressed, additional troops joined both sides.

The Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, was one of the most complete Confederate victories of the war in the West. However, it will soon be offset by subsequent tactical failures, ending the campaign at the Battle of Perryville.


Having distinguished himself at the earlier Battle of Shiloh, Gen. Cleburne is now the hero of the Battle of Richmond. He will continue to lead with distinction on many more battlefields, rightly deserving the title, "The Stonewall of the West."


On this same day, the leadership in Washington D.C. is in full panic mode. The Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee has just defeated Maj. Gen. John Pope’s army at the Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Manassas) in Virginia. And now the news of the Federal defeat in Kentucky.

Invasion of Kentucky: The Generals

Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell

Don Carlos Buell, an Ohio native, served with distinction in the Mexican War of 1846-48. When the Civil War began, he became a brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac. In November 1861, Gen. George McClellan recommended Buell to replace William T. Sherman as commander of the Department of the Ohio for operations to liberate East Tennessee from the Confederacy. Believing that he didn't have the forces necessary to control all of Tennessee and that Nashville was militarily more important, Buell moved on that capital unopposed, occupying Nashville on Feb. 25, 1862.

By the spring of that same year, as the Confederate Army under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was retreating to Corinth, Mississippi, Buell was in pursuit. Arriving at Pittsburg Landing on April 7, the second day of the bloody Battle of Shiloh, Buell played a key role that ensured a Union victory, but one that embarrassed the commanding general, U.S. Grant, sparking one of many after-battle controversies.

After Shiloh, Buell served under General Henry W. Halleck in the Union advance on Corinth, after which he was sent to capture Chattanooga, to hold that city and head off a Confederate invasion into Kentucky. That invasion, led by Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, began this date 150 years ago today.

Gen. Braxton Bragg

Also by this date, Gen. Bragg had reorganized his 30,000-man Army of Mississippi into 2 wings. The Right Wing is commanded by Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, and consists of Cheatham’s and Wither’s infantry divisions and Lay’s Cavalry Brigade. The Left Wing is commanded by Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee, and is made up of Simon Buckner’s and Patton Anderson’s infantry divisions, and Wheeler’s Cavalry Brigade. Wood's Brigade, including the 32 Mississippi Infantry Regiment, is placed in Buckner’s Division. They will begin their invasion today by crossing the Tennessee River. Soon, the Confederates will be marching through Kentucky before Buell or Washington D.C have any idea where they are or what they are up to.

Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith

Bragg departs believing that he has the support of fellow commander, Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, to join forces in cutting Buell's line of communication by moving from Chattanooga to take Nashville. But he will soon learn that Smith has different plans. Smith will lead his army of 20,000 into Eastern Kentucky with Lexington as his immediate objective. Although Bragg was Smith's senior in rank, he will be compelled to make Kentucky his objective and forced to react both to Smith's movements and the enemy forces he encounters.

Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky will be practically simultaneous with Robert E. Lee’s invasion of Maryland. These 2 movements will cause ominous foreboding and dismay in the North. The war will come very close to the Northern people when Confederate detachments soon appear near Covington, in sight of Cincinnati, and also across the Potomac River into the Maryland.

But on Thursday, August 28, barely 17 years old, my great grandfather, Pvt. Nathan Oakes of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment along with Great Uncle William Turner, crossed into Tennessee with the Confederate invasion force. They will soon see fighting in Kentucky. The excited soldiers march from Chattanooga singing hymns and, of course, "Dixie." In time, though, their songs will be muted by the arduous trek up from the Tennessee Valley, through the mountains on the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau.

Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, 1862
Source: Civil War Trust

At the peak of the campaign, the Confederate army will battle the Federal army as far north as Perryville in October. Although Buell will check the Confederate advance, unfortunately for him he does not pursue the retreating Confederates quickly enough following that battle on October 8. As a consequence shortly thereafter, Buell will be relieved of his command and replaced by Gen. William Rosecrans.

Sources: Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1862, Thomas Lawrence Connelly; An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War, Charles P. Roland; Stone's River: The Turning-Point of the Civil War, Wilson J. Vance

Occupied Homefront: Kossuth, 1862

While Great Grandfather Nathan Oakes was away with the Confederate Army in Chattanooga, his hometown of Kossuth, Mississippi was occupied by Federal forces. It wasn't a peaceful time for families back home. On this date 150 years ago, 2 companies of the Union 7th Kansas Regiment under Capt. Malone, while scouting the countryside around Kossuth to the Hatchie River, were ambushed by Rebels about 5 miles from Kossuth. Four of his men were killed and 8 wounded, while his force killed 2 and wounded several of the Rebel attackers. The Union dead were buried in Kossuth.

Source: Official Records, Vol. 17, Part 1, pp. 42-43

Pvt. Nathan R. Oakes of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry turns 17

On today's date in 1862, my great grandfather, Nathan R. Oakes, a private in the Confederate Army of Mississippi (soon to be renamed "The Army of Tennessee") turned 17 years of age. Having reenlisted earlier in March, following the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, Pvt. Oakes served the last part of his 17th year in the newly formed 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, participating in various skirmishes and  maneuvers in and around Corinth, Mississippi. In just the past few days, however, he along with nearly 30,000 other troops, underwent an arduous rail transfer from Tupelo to Chattanooga. Now on his birthday, 150 years ago today, he is but a week away from his first real military campaign to Kentucky. Gen. Bragg is currently moving his army to a position above Chattanooga in preparation for the Kentucky invasion.

32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment is transferred to Chattanooga, 1862

In July of 1862, the Army of Mississippi was regrouping in Tupelo following its evacuation from Corinth in the closing days of May. Gen. Braxton Bragg, having only recently assumed command of the army from Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, was deciding which would be his army’s next campaign: to attempt retaking Corinth or to advance against Union Gen. Buell's army through Middle Tennessee.

Maj. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith had just decided to take his Army of East Tennessee, about 10,000 men, to invade Kentucky from Eastern Tennessee. He hoped to advance Confederate support in that border state and to confront Union forces under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell beyond the Ohio River. To succeed in his plan, Smith needed to be reinforced by Bragg's Army of Mississippi.

After considering his options, Bragg agreed to join forces with Smith’s army in a great “Confederate Heartland Offensive,” which would avert Union attention away from the strategic strongholds of Vicksburg and Chattanooga. But first, it meant relocating Bragg's 30,000-man Army of Mississippi almost 800 miles to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It would become the largest Confederate troop movement by railroad during the war.

Beginning July 23, 1862, Bragg began moving his infantrymen on various trains on the Mobile & Ohio line, while his cavalry, artillery, and supply wagons moved by road. It would be a tortuous trip from Tupelo through Mobile and Montgomery, through Georgia to Chattanooga. Amazingly, with his army and cavalry reassembled in Chattanooga, Bragg will be ready to move with Smith’s forces toward Kentucky by the end of August.

According to company reports, my great grandfather’s 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment departed from Tupelo on this date, 150 years ago, via Mobile and Montgomery, to West Point, Atlanta, and Dalton, arriving near Chattanooga on August 3. The company will camp in various places around Chattanooga until the Army departs on August 28 on its invasion of Kentucky.