Time for another update! This will be a pretty big update, so I'll keep adding stuff as it gets done. Thought I'd be done by now, but it turns out it's taking me longer to fully finish it. As a bonus, once I'm done with it I'll get a map of the full campaign up.
Part Thirty-Two: The Cumberland Campaign
Cumberland Campaign: In 1863, the Confederates launched their most successful campaigns of the war. The most prominent of these was the Cumberland Campaign, which took place from February to July of 1863. The campaign began with the Army of the Carolinas moving west from Charlotte across the Appalachians into Tennessee. Combined with another offensive by the Army of Georgia northward, Knoxville became threatened once again. While the Union won the Battle of Knoxville, it was at great cost and there were many casualties on both sides. The Army of Georgia turned back, but the Army of the Carolinas instead moved northeast. The army soon reached Greeneville, hometown of President Johnson. General James Longstreet ordered the burning of Greeneville, and much of the town's population fled west to nearby Morristown.
After the Greeneville Massacre, Longstreet and the Army of the Carolinas went north then west toward the Cumberland Gap, reaching the gap on April 10th. As the army entered Kentucky, a message was sent to Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, which was waiting in Charleston. Upon receiving the message, Forrest began moving the Second Corps west following the Kanawha River and the Teays Valley, reaching Huntingon and the Ohio River on May 3rd.
As Forrest went west, Longstreet continued travelling north. On April 14th, the Army of the Carolinas reached Williamsburg, Kentucky but was prevented from continuing north by the Army of the Wabash. Over the next three days, Longstreet managed to defeat General Carlos Buell and the Army of the Wabash but it was a close affair. Longstreet and the army continued north almost unopposed over the next three weeks along the route of the Batlimore and Ohio railroad that ran through central Kentucky. However, Buell managed to catch up to Longstreet at Danville on May 5th. Buell defeated Longstreet on this occasion and diverted the Army of the Carolinas from its path toward Frankfort. But this only made Longstreet swing toward Lexington and continue north after a few days of reorganizing.
Meanwhile, Forrest moved the Second Corps west along the Ohio River, and attempted to cross it several times. The first attempt was at Scunthorpe[1], a major iron town along the northern bank of the Ohio. Forrest failed to achieve a crossing of the river at Furnace on May 5th and was blocked by the Union Army of the Ohio, and decided to continue moving the corps along the southern bank. Forrest attempted further crossings at Portsmouth and Manchester, but had no luck. After another failed crossing at Aberdeen, Forrest had the Second Corps rest for a few days in Dover, Kentucky on May 18th.
[1] Ironton, Ohio
