More than a month had now elapsed since General Rosecranz had been entrusted with the Federal command in Western Virginia, and the commanders of the hostile forces had been intently watching the movements of the opposing armies, anxious for an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. From his headquarters at Clarksburg, General Rosecranz moved forward to resume active operations, and at two principal points the enemy prepared to give him battle. The popular impression was that he intended to attack General Lee, at Cheat Mountain Gap, his nearest and most accessible opponent, then held in check by General Reynolds. Floyd had been permitted to cross the mountains at Summersville, and was known to be then in the Kanawha region, some eighty or a hundred miles distant, where it was the intention of the Federal commander to seek him. It was not until Monday, the 9th of September, that the General reached Birch river, where he concentrated his force, drawn from various encampments, and which had marched in detached bodies to the rendezvous appointed. After leaving the valley of the Big Birch the route lay through a mountainous and densely wooded country, infested with guerrillas, who gave them much annoyance; and as no reliable guide accompanied the army, Rosecranz was obliged to rely chiefly upon the inhabitants for information of the geographical and topographical features of the country. The position of Floyd’s forces was also unknown to him, and it was not until he had reached Cross Lanes, eight miles from Summersville, that he received reliable information that the enemy was strongly posted somewhere in the range of hills that line either side of the Gauley river, immediately facing that village. Floyd was known to be advised of the approach of the Federal army, as his scouts and skirmishers had been encountered frequently on the previous day, and it was the plan of Rosecranz to carefully reconnoitre the position of the enemy before advancing any considerable force within range of his guns; but the eager and importunate requests of various officers, as well as the impetuosity of the men, urged him forward. Colonel McCook was first sent with a squadron of Chicago cavalry to Carnifex ferry, by a road which led through ravines to the Gauley river. In an attempt to destroy a boat found here he was fired upon by the enemy, who were out of range of the carbines of the cavalry. To overcome this opposition, he dispatched a man asking that _ten_ infantry should be sent to his aid. By some mistake the whole of Colonel Lytle’s Tenth Ohio, an Irish regiment, came hurrying down, eager for a fight, and opened fire on the woods on the opposite side that speedily banished the enemy. Colonel Lytle’s regiment continued in the advance, acting as skirmishers, and shortly drove in a detachment of the rebels from an exposed camp on the left, of the road. This road was very narrow, and shut in to the very wagon tracks with the jungle of underbrush.