Kentucky 5th Mounted Infantry (Confederate)

Ivy Mountain

In the fall of 1861, General William "Bull" Nelson, Union commander in northeastern Kentucky, was ordered to break up a large Confederate recruiting camp in Prestonsburg. In what would be the first major clash in eastern Kentucky, Confederate Capt. Andrew Jackson May's recruits took up positions at this site, where they waited in ambush. The Battle of Ivy Mountain ended the first phase of the struggle for the Big Sandy Valley.READ MORE

Middle Creek

The story of Middlecreek battlefield begins January 10, 1862, when an unknown colonel, James A. Garfield (who would later be President of the United States), leads the Union soldiers against the experience of Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall and his Confederate soldiers, in what would become the largest and most significant Civil War battle in Eastern Kentucky.READ MORE

Shiloh

On the morning of April 6, 1862, 40,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston poured out of the nearby woods and struck the encamped divisions of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.READ MORE

Perryville

On October 7, 1862, Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, in pursuit of Gen Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi, approached the crossroads town of Perryville, Kentucky. Union forces skirmished with Confederates on the Springfield Pike before heavy fighting began on Peters Hill. The next day, fighting continued as a Union division advanced up the pike. After noon, a Confederate division struck the Union left flank and forced it to fall back. When more Confederates joined the fray, the Union line ma…READ MORE

Hartsville

The Battle of Hartsville has been called "the most successfully executed cavalry raid of the War Between the States." From this battle Col. John Hunt Morgan received his commission to brigadier general. The seventeen-stop driving tour includes buildings that were used as hospitals after the seventy-five minute battle, a river crossing where Morgan rushed 1,834 prisoners across the Cumberland towards Lebanon Tennessee, rendezvous points, homes and a cemetery.READ MORE

ColonelD. H. Smith

Stones River

After his October 1862 defeat at Perryville in Kentucky, Gen. Braxton Bragg withdrew his army into middle Tennessee and resupplied his men near Murfreesboro.READ MORE

ColonelHiram Hawkins

Chickamauga

After the successful Tullahoma Campaign, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans continued the Union offensive, aiming to force Gen. Braxton Bragg's Confederate army out of Chattanooga. Through a series of skillful marches towards the Confederate-held city, Rosecrans forced Bragg out of Chattanooga and into Georgia. Determined to reoccupy the city, Bragg followed the Federals north, brushing with Rosecrans' army at Davis' Cross Roads. While they marched on September 18th, his cavalry and infantry skirmished with Un…READ MORE

Ringgold Gap

Following the Union victory at Missionary Ridge outside of Chattanooga and the subsequent Confederate retreat, Yankee troops set out in pursuit as the Rebels moved south into Georgia. Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne's division was ordered to fall back to Ringgold Gap with orders to hold the Western & Atlantic Railroad which passed through Taylor's Ridge there. Control of the railroad at the gap was critical to moving the badly needed Confederate supply trains to the rear. Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Hooker, with ab…READ MORE

Rocky Face Ridge

During early May 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman would successfully outmaneuver the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in multiple battles in northwest Georgia. Each time, Johnston would fall back to a new defensive position closer to the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta. By May 7th, Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley. As Sherman approached, he decided to demonstrate against the position with two columns to the north while he…READ MORE

Resaca

Following his withdrawal from Rocky Face Ridge, the first battle in Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston established a four-mile defensive position protecting the Western & Atlantic Railroad west and north of Resaca, where the railroad crossed the Oostanaula River. On May 13th, Sherman tested the Rebel lines, sending forward divisions to skirmish with the Confederates, with little substantive result. On the 14th, the fighting erupted into a full-…READ MORE

Dallas

During early and mid-May 1864, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman successfully outmaneuvered the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in multiple battles in northwest Georgia. Each time, Johnston fell back to a new defensive position closer to the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta. Stopped at New Hope Church on Johnston's left on May 26th, Sherman attacked Johnston's right at Pickett's Mill on May 27th. The next day, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps probed the Union defensive line, held by Maj. Gen. John A. Log…READ MORE

Kennesaw Mountain

Fearing envelopment northwest of Atlanta, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army to a new defensive position astride Kennesaw Mountain near Marietta. Johnston selected this position in order to protect the Western & Atlantic Railroad, his supply link to Atlanta. Prior to taking up this new line on June 19th, Johnston had pioneers working through the night digging trenches and erecting fortifications, turning Kennesaw into a formidable earthen fortress. Having defeated Lieut. Gen. John…READ MORE

Peachtree Creek

Weary of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's pattern of retreat through northwest Georgia in the face of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's advancing armies, President Jefferson Davis removed him from command of the Army of Tennessee, replacing him with Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood. On July 20th, Hood determined to take the fight to the enemy by setting upon an isolated portion of Sherman's forces in front of Atlanta. Hood's target would be the Union corps of Maj. Gens. Oliver O. Howard and Joseph Hooker from Maj. Gen. Geo…READ MORE

Lieutenant ColonelHiram Hawkins

Atlanta

Despite the defeat at Peach Tree Creek, Confederate Lieut. Gen. John Bell Hood still had hopes of driving Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Yankees from the outskirts of Atlanta with an offensive blow. On the night of July 21, 1864, Hood ordered Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps to make 15-mile night march and assault the Union left flank east of the city, held by Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. Joining the attack with Hardee would be the corps of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham. Hood attac…READ MORE

Utoy Creek

In the days following Ezra Church, Gen. William T. Sherman ordered Generals George Thomas and John Schofield to keep testing and pressuring the Rebels in their front. With his artillery bombarding Atlanta, Sherman pursued his plan of inching his army's right flank southward toward the Macon & Western Railroad between Atlanta and East Point. His hope was "to draw the enemy out of Atlanta by threatening the railroad below." Sherman was confident that by thinning and extending his lines, shifting Thomas'…READ MORE

Jonesborough

By late August 1865, the city of Atlanta was not yet subdued by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's armies. A few supply lines remained open to the city supporting the army of Lieut. Gen. John B. Hood encircled there. Union cavalry raids inflicted only superficial damage, quickly repaired by the Confederates. Sherman determined that if he could destroy the Macon & Western and Atlanta & West Point Railroads to the south the Rebel army would be forced to evacuate the city. On August 25, Union infantry beg…READ MORE