Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 2 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the warStephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
History
Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 2 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the war
Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Upon the 30th, the whole Union force, in mass, was prepared to move upon
Tullahoma; but on the next day a dispatch was received by General
Rosecrans from General Thomas, announcing to him that the enemy had
evacuated Tullahoma during the night. Pursuit was ordered instantly. The
divisions of Brannan, Negley, and Sheridan entered Tullahoma, and took
possession. The infantry arrived about noon; and the divisions of Negley
and Rousseau pushed on after the retreating rebels, and overtook their
rear-guard at Bethpage Bridge, two miles above the railroad crossing.
The rebels, in strong force, occupied the heights at this place; and the
Unionists engaged in a brisk skirmish with them, in which the National
forces entirely routed the rebels. General McCook, in command of two
divisions, pursued the enemy, on the next day, along the road which lay
west of the railroad. The Elk river was found to be almost unfordable by
the cavalry; while the rebel cavalry on the opposite side did everything
in their power to resist the attempted crossing by the Union forces. But
the rebels were speedily driven away, and the National troops took
possession of the ford. General Thomas, with similar difficulty,
effected a crossing, the enemy having during the night burned the bridge
by which he had expected to cross. The small cavalry force under General
Turchin pushed forward to Hillsboro,’ on the Deckhard road; and finding
the enemy’s cavalry at Elk Ford, near Morris Ferry, engaged them, and
being very soon reinforced by General Mitchell’s troops they forced a
passage across the river, after a sharp conflict. Night then closed the
pursuit. Upon the 3d July, General Sheridan succeeded in crossing Elk
river, and, supported by General J. C. Davis’s division, pushed the
enemy to Cowan, where he learned that the rebels, with their artillery
and infantry, had crossed the mountains by University and Sweden’s Cove,
and that the cavalry alone would be found covering their rear. On the
same day General Thomas got his troops across, also; portions of the
cavalry from Sheridan’s division, and also from the main column were
sent forward, but they only learned that the enemy was gone. The roads
were found to be almost impassable from the heavy rains, and the troops
being well-nigh out of provisions a halt was ordered until supplies
could be forwarded from Murfreesboro’.
Thus ended a campaign of nine days’ duration, in which the enemy had
been driven from two strongly fortified positions, and which had
resulted in giving the Union forces possession of the whole of Middle
Tennessee, and preserving Kentucky from the danger of a second invasion.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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