Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer to Samuel Cooper, November 27, 1861

BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS,        

Thirteen miles west of Monticello, November 27, 1861.

General S. COOPER,
        Adjutant and Inspector-General, Richmond, Va.:

SIR: Two regiments cross the river to-day at Mill Springs to endeavor to cut off 800 of the enemy at Waitsborough, 9 miles above. A mail from Columbia to Monticello has been captured, by which we learn that there are two battalions of cavalry and two regiments of infantry at Columbia. They had heard of my advance and heard my force was 9,000. This they doubt, but think if it is true they will have to retreat for want of numbers. I learn that General Thomas is at Crab Orchard, but have no reliable intelligence of forces other than those at Columbia and Waitsborough. I have sent detachments of cavalry to examine the ferries at Burkesville and Creelsborough, 17 miles above Burkesville; also to get more particular information of the ferries and roads crossing at Dorothea Landing and Horse Shoe Bottom. It is now certain there is no enemy this side of the Cumberland. We have here an abundance of beef, pork, and corn, at low prices. The better classes of citizens sympathize with us.

Very respectfully,

F. K. ZOLLICOFFER,    

Brigadier-General.

[Similar report to Lieutenant-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. 706-7

Colonel Thomas E. Bramlette to Brigadier-General George H. Thomas, November 29, 1861

COLUMBIA, KY., November 29, 1861.        

(Received November 30, 1861.)

General GEORGE H. THOMAS:

I received a dispatch before day this morning from Burkesville that 200 rebel cavalry were at the ferry on the south side of the river; a few of them crossed over and went to Boles', saw and arranged with him and his partners for the slaughter of hogs, and returned. The courier informed me that the men who are acting for the rebels are killing and packing a large number of hogs at Burkesville, viz, J. B. Alexander, J. R. Ryan, James and Sam. Boles, and Robert Cross.

I have no doubt but steamboats will be up in a few days and carry off the large amount of pork, wheat, &c., the rebels are gathering upon the river. All this could be prevented by a force being stationed at Burkesville with artillery to command the river. The rebels are now in possession of the river from Mill Springs down. I sent out scouts towards Glasgow; they went as far as Edmonton, and returned with a rebel flag, which the rebel cavalry had hoisted there the day before. I have a small number at Lairville, opposite Rowena, seven, including James Ferguson.

On yesterday some 50 rebel cavalry appeared on the southern bank. Ferguson and his squad fired upon them, and after about four rounds the rebels fled, leaving one fine horse wounded in the hind leg, some blankets, &c., which our scouts secured.

I sent Colonel Wolford to the aid of Colonel Hoskins with 500 cavalry, embracing part of Colonel Haggard's command.

As I have before advised, the rebels are at Mill Springs, in force about 8,000, but as yet have not crossed the river, and I do not believe will. I am still unshaken in the conviction that their purpose is to seize all the wheat, corn, fat hogs, mules, &c., they can south of the river and return perhaps by steamboats or other craft; perhaps fall back to their former camps in Tennessee.

It would be an easy matter to hem them in were there sufficient forces to make the movement from here. Two days' easy march would throw us in their rear, so that, with the river in front and around and we in their rear, no escape would be left.

Respectfully,

THO. E. BRAMLETTE,        

Colonel First Regiment Infantry Kentucky Volunteers.

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. 459

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Tuesday, October 22, 1861

Eleven men from First Battalion were sent back in the direction of Wildcat to make a report to General Zollicoffer and get orders. They had gone only about one mile when they met the advance of the brigade on the retreat.

Zollicoffer had decided that if the Federal position at Wildcat could have been taken at all by storm, it would have been at a cost of too great a sacrifice of his men, and as he had declined the idea of going back by the way of Mill Springs or Burkesville, as he had intimated to Colonel Murray on the 16th,* he was now on his way back to Camp Buckner.

Passing back through London, the brigade bivouacked six miles from that place, on the Barboursville road.

Twenty-five of Allison's company and about the same number from Harris' First Battallion, went back to within two miles and a half of London to picket that road for the night.

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* On October 28th, at Camp Buckner, Zollicoffer wrote to Murray as follows: “Learning that the enemy had retired from Albany, and desiring to see that the guns were all in position at the gap, I determined to return this way.” Rebellion Records, Vol. IV, p. 483.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 65