Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer to Samuel Cooper, November 22, 1861

BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS,        

Jamestown, Tenn., Nov. 22, 1861.

General S. Cooper,

        Adjutant and Inspector-General, Richmond:

SIR: Heavy rains have made the roads slippery and will somewhat retard our progress. Day before yesterday I ordered Colonel Stanton, with his regiment, Colonel Murray's and Lieutenant-Colonel McClellan's cavalry, encamped about 10 miles north of Jamestown, to make a rapid and stealthy forward movement to capture the ferry-boats at four or five crossings of the Cumberland, and, if practicable, the enemy's cavalry said to be on this side of the river. I have not heard whether the movement has been made. I see it stated in the Nashville newspapers that General Ward has 2,000 men at Campbellsville, 1,200 at Columbia, and a regiment at Lebanon. It is reported to Colonel Stanton that the two or three regiments between Somerset and the river have moved towards Columbia, to join other forces there. He communicates also a rumor of the crossing of the Cumberland by a force of the enemy at Green's Ferry; but all these reports seem to be uncertain.  I have no dispatches from Knoxville since I left there, but hear through various scouting parties that the tories in Lower East Tennessee are dispersed, a number of prisoners taken, a few Lincolnites killed and wounded, and several hundred guns captured. Citizens have turned out in large numbers and assisted the soldiers in scouring the mountains and hunting down the fugitive traitors. They should now be pursued to extermination, if possible.

Very respectfully,

F. K. ZOLLICOFFER,        

Brigadier-General.

[Similar report to Colonel Mackall.]

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 690