OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. [CHAP.XII.
and companies, and send their names to this office for commission. The Ordnance Bureau will forward to Cincinnati, Ohio, 10,000 stands of arms and accouterments, six pieces of field artillery, two smooth and two rifle bore cannon, and two mountain howitzers, and ample supplies of ammunition, to be carried thence through Kentucky into East Tennessee, in such manner as you may direct, for distribution among the men so mustered into service and men organized as Union Home Guards. You will also, at the same time, muster into the service, or designate some suitable person so to do, in Southeast Kentucky, three regiments of infantry, to be commanded and officered in the same manner as herein provided for the Tennessee regiments.
All of the regiments aforesaid will be raised for service in East and West Tennessee and adjacent counties and in East Kentucky. Blank muster rolls and the usual instructions to mustering officers will be sent to you from this office, and in carrying out this order you are authorized to employ such service and use such means as you may deem expedient and proper for its faithful execution. you will likewise report frequently to this office as you progress with your work.
I am, sir, &c.,
L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General.
CINCINNATI, OHIO, July 16, 1861.
To the ADJUTANT-GENERAL U. S. ARMY:
SIR: For your information I beg to report what has been accomplished towards the Tennessee expedition.
On Sunday, 14th, I met the principal gentleman of Southeast Kentucky at Lancaster, Ky., and Crab Orchard, and after examining the whole question I appointed Speed S. Fry, of Danville, to be colonel of the First Regiment of Infantry in the expedition; Theophilus T. Garrard, of Clay County, colonel of the Second; Thomas E. Bramlette, of Adair, colonel of the Third, and Frank L. Wolford, of Casey County, to be lieutenant-colonel of the cavalry regiment authorized, reserving the colonelcy for W. J. Landram, who served in a cavalry regiment during the war with Mexico. Runners were immediately started in all directions, and thirty companies of infantry and five of cavalry will soon be raised - sooner, in fact, than the arms, &c., will reach here for them. To each of the colonels I addressed a letter, a copy of which is inclosed herewith, the place of rendezvous only differing. The transportation of 13,000 stand of arms, with ammunition, accouterments, artillery with its ammunition, &c., also supplies and camp equipage from Cincinnati beyond the Cumberland Gap, a distance of 240 miles, is an undertaking of no little labor. To Nicholasville, Ky., 110 miles, I shall forward them by railroad; thence to Crab Orchard, 34 miles, is a good turnpike road; thence to the Gap, 96 miles, is a tolerable dirt road.
I have directed the captains of the armed Home Guard at Nicholasville to furnish a sufficient guard for the stores while detained at that place, and also detailed a guard to escort the trains along the road and guard all the bridges to Crab Orchard, where I have ordered five companies to rendezvous immediately to guard the depot at that place, Crab Orchard being at the end of the turnpike. There the wagons must be unloaded and reloaded, for a wagon can haul double on a good pike than on a dirt road. Crab Orchard becomes necessarily the depot of the expedition. The number of wagons to be hired will be large. It is cheaper to hire than to purchase. The articles to be transported
