Today in History:

86 Series I Volume XX-I Serial 29 - Murfreesborough Part I

Page 86 KY.,MID. AND E.TENN.,N.ALA.,AND SW.VA. Chapter XXXII.


Numbers 2.-Brig. General Samuel P. Carter, U. S. Army, commanding expedition.


Numbers 3.-Colonel Charles J. Walker, Tenth Kentucky Cavalry, commanding Cavalry Brigade.


Numbers 4.-Lieut. General E. Kirby Smith, C. S. Army, commanding Department of East Tennessee.


Numbers 5.-Major-General Samuel Jones, C. S. Army, commanding Department of West Virginia.


Numbers 6.-Brig. General Humphrey Marshall, C. S. Army, of operations December 30-January 7.


Numbers 7.-Colonel H. L. Giltner, Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, of operations December 30-January 2.


Numbers 8.-Lieut. Colonel E. F. Clay, Third Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles, of operations December 30-January 1.


Numbers 9.-Lieutenant H. H. Duncan, Company A, Third Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles, of operations December 29-30.


No. 10.-Captain William W. Baldwin, commanding cavalry squadron, of operations December 29-January 2.


No. 11.-Colonel Hiram Hawkins, Fifth Kentucky Infantry, of operations December 29-30.


No. 12.-Colonel Campbell Slemp, Sixty-fourth Virginia Infantry, of operations December 29-January 1.


No. 13.-Major Isaac B. Dunn, relative to operations December 29- January 1.


No. 1. Reports of Major-General Horatio G. Wright, U. S. Army, commanding Department of the Ohio, with congratulatory messages.

CINCINNATI, OHIO, January 7, 1863.

GENERAL: I have just received a dispatch from Major-General G. Granger that the cavalry force of about 1,000 men which he sent to East Tennessee on the 21st ultimo, by my order, under the command of Brig. General S. P. Carter, to destroy the East Tennessee Railroad bridges, &c., has been heard from. General Granger has just received a dispatch from General Carter at Manchester, Ky., on his return, stating that on the 30th ultimo he entirely destroyed the Union and Watauga Bridges, with 10 miles of railroad. Five hundred and fifty rebels were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. Seven hundred stand of arms and a large amount of flour, salt, and other rebel stores, also a locomotive and two cars, were captured and destroyed.

A brisk skirmish took place at the Watauga Bridge and another at Jonesville. We lost but 10 men. This expedition, as characterized by General Granger, has been one of the most hazardous and daring of the war, attended with great hardships and privations, owing to the almost impracticable nature of the country, the length of the route (nearly 200 miles each way), and the inclement season. The important results of this expedition can hardly be overrated, severing, as it has, Virginia and the Southerwest; and General Carter, his officers and men, deserve the thanks of the country. Great credit is also due to Major-General Granger, under whose immediate supervision the expedition was fitted out, and whose long cavalry experience was a guarantee that nothing tending to its success would be neglected or forgotten.

H. G. WRIGHT,

Major-General, Commanding.

Major-General HALLECK.


Page 86 KY.,MID. AND E.TENN.,N.ALA.,AND SW.VA. Chapter XXXII.