Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, November 20, 1861

Setting out from Clinton, the First Battalion moved about fifteen miles and camped on the Wartburg road, in the north corner of Roane County.

Having set out from Knoxville in the afternoon of the 17th, General Zollicoffer rejoined the brigade at Wartburg, 19th, and on the 20th he wrote to A. S. Johnston as follows:

I am moving as expeditiously as possible, with four and a half infantry regiments, a battalion of cavalry and Rutledge's Artillery, to unite with Stanton's command (his and Murray's regiments and McClellan's cavalry) beyond Jamestown, with a view of taking a strong position on the Cumberland River beyond Monticello. . . . . .

I hope, by scouring the country on the north bank down to Burkesville occasionally, to command the river, and draw supplies from Nashville when the roads to Knoxville are bad. From this camp as a base of operations I hope in mild weather to penetrate the country towards London or Danville, or in other directions, and command the approaches to Cumberland Gap or Jacksborough.

. . . I sent a few men up to Greeneville to arrest Andrew Johnson's sons and son-in-law.¹

According to Zollicoffer's official report, the following shows the aggregate present at Wartburg:

Sixteenth Alabama (battalion), 401; Fifteenth Mississippi, 701; Seventeenth Tennessee (Newman), 538; Nineteenth Tennessee (Cummings), 603; Twentieth Tennessee (Battle), 637; McNairy's Battalion, 341 ; and Rutledge's Battery (eight guns), 126—total, 3,565, but only 2,995 were able for duty. Thirty-five of McNairy's Battalion were reported absent.²

Zollicoffer ordered Colonel Stanton, with his regiment, Colonel Murray's Regiment and Lieutenant-Colonel McClellan's Battalion of cavalry, encamped at Camp McGinnis, some ten miles north of Jamestown, to make a rapid and stealthy forward movement to capture as many ferry-boats as possible along the Cumberland River, between Burkesville and Mill Springs.³

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¹ Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 686.

² Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 687.

³ Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., p. 690.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 81-2