During the first week of September 1861, all pretense of neutrality in Kentucky ended when Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk had Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow advance Confederate troops up to Hickman, Kentucky. On September 18, Kentucky legislators approved the introduction of Federal troops from outside the state. The next day, Simon Bolivar Buckner, the former commander of the Kentucky State Guard, established a Confederate headquarters at Bowling Green, Kentucky while troops under Felix K. Zollicoffer seized Barbourville. Shortly afterward, the bi-speckled newspaperman from Knoxville arrived at Cumberland Ford with approximately 3,200 men in four regiments, a field battery of six guns, and four cavalry companies. This posed an imminent threat to Central Kentucky at a time when increasing numbers of Re
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| - During the first week of September 1861, all pretense of neutrality in Kentucky ended when Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk had Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow advance Confederate troops up to Hickman, Kentucky. On September 18, Kentucky legislators approved the introduction of Federal troops from outside the state. The next day, Simon Bolivar Buckner, the former commander of the Kentucky State Guard, established a Confederate headquarters at Bowling Green, Kentucky while troops under Felix K. Zollicoffer seized Barbourville. Shortly afterward, the bi-speckled newspaperman from Knoxville arrived at Cumberland Ford with approximately 3,200 men in four regiments, a field battery of six guns, and four cavalry companies. This posed an imminent threat to Central Kentucky at a time when increasing numbers of Re
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| Strength
| - 1010(xsd:integer)
- 5500(xsd:integer)
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| Date
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| Commander
| - B.G.William "Bull" Nelson
- Col. John S. Williams
- Col. Joshua W. Sill
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| Casualties
| - 6(xsd:integer)
- 38(xsd:integer)
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| Result
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| Notes
| - Estimated casualties for the expedition: 32 U. S.- 6 killed, 26 wounded, and no missing or captured. 160 CS: 31 killed, 55 wounded, and 74 taken prisoner
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| combatant
| - United States
- CSA (Confederacy)
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| Units
| - Army of Eastern Kentucky C.S.A.
- Fifth Regiment of Kentucky Infantry C.S.A.
- U.S. Expedition Force
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| abstract
| - During the first week of September 1861, all pretense of neutrality in Kentucky ended when Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk had Brig. Gen. Gideon Pillow advance Confederate troops up to Hickman, Kentucky. On September 18, Kentucky legislators approved the introduction of Federal troops from outside the state. The next day, Simon Bolivar Buckner, the former commander of the Kentucky State Guard, established a Confederate headquarters at Bowling Green, Kentucky while troops under Felix K. Zollicoffer seized Barbourville. Shortly afterward, the bi-speckled newspaperman from Knoxville arrived at Cumberland Ford with approximately 3,200 men in four regiments, a field battery of six guns, and four cavalry companies. This posed an imminent threat to Central Kentucky at a time when increasing numbers of Rebels in the Big Sandy Valley of eastern Kentucky appeared intent on entering the Bluegrass Region through McCormack’s Gap (Frenchburg).In response, Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas ordered troops from Camp Dick Robinson into southeast Kentucky to defend against any movement toward Big Hill, Richmond, and Lexington. Former Vice-president John C. Breckenridge and his Confederate ally, Col. Humphrey Marshall added to that concern with a call for “Peace Men” and “States’ Rights Men” to assemble in Lexington for drill. Instead, both men headed off to Mt. Sterling to join Confederate forces in Western Virginia where took command of the Army of Eastern Kentucky posted at Piketon (Pikeville). Several days later, “Bull” Nelson publicly announced he had established his headquarters at Camp Kenton near Washington, Kentucky and would now arm and equip volunteers to end treason in Kentucky. The Philadelphia Press believed the Big Sandy expedition would prevent the Rebels from taking control of the mouth of the Big Sandy River where it entered the Ohio River. That would protect the rear and right flank of Brig. Gen. William S. Rosecrans in Western Virginia, allow Nelson to reinforce Camp Wildcat, and push Zollicoffer back to Knoxville. Nelson made Olympia[n] Springs (Mud Lick Springs) in Bath County the staging area. He named it Camp Gill to honor Harrison Gill the owner of this renowned spa that was eight miles below Owingsville and twenty miles east of Mount Sterling. Directly below there, the Mt. Sterling-Pound Gap Road (Rt. 460) ran through McCormick’s Gap (Frenchburg), the gateway to the Bluegrass Region from Prestonsburg. On September 29, 1861, Maj. John Smith Hurt secured that vital mountain pass with three militia companies. Col. Lewis Braxton Grigsby added his three-hundred men to Hurt’s two-hundred on October 8. Col. James Perry Fyffe had the Fifty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry to Camp Kenton and Col. Leonard A. Harris arrived in Olympian Springs with the Second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Col. Jesse S. Norton came forward from Nicholasville with the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry and over the course of the next two weeks, Nelson had a force of approximately 5,500 volunteers: 3,700 from Ohio and 1,800 from Kentucky. At a farm near Prestonsburg, Rebel Captains Andrew Jackson May and John Ficklin assisted “Cerro Gordo” John S. Williams with the organization the 5th Kentucky Infantry. The 1,010-man unit was badly clothed some called the hard-nosed group the “Ragamuffin Regiment.” The nine companies of infantry and five mounted companies had two pieces of artillery and they carried an assortment of personal weapons that were ill suited for warfare.
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