Hey everyone, welcome to the 210th episode of our Civil War Podcast.

I'm Rich. And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Thanks for tuning into the podcast. At the end of the last show, Confederate General Braxton Bragg

had been forced to abandon his position at Munfordville, Kentucky on September 20th, 1862. As y'all recall, we said that Bragg's army had been in a fantastic tactical situation at Munfordville,

but logistically, it was in serious trouble. Yep, at Munfordville Bragg's Confederates stood squarely between Don Carlos Buehl's federal army and its supply base at Louisville.

But as Bragg's men and animals had marched north, they'd suffered severely for one of water in the worsening drought, and at Munfordville, they were also fast running out of food and forage.

The bottom line was that if the rebels stayed in Munfordville more than a few days, they'd begin to starve.

And so on September 20th, just three days after capturing the place, Bragg abandoned Munfordville and turned northeast toward Bardstown, where he expected to resupply and link up with the other Confederate General who figures into our story, Kirby Smith.

When Bragg abandoned Munfordville, Buehl's road to Louisville was open, and the army of the Ohio hustled northward toward Kentucky's largest city, reaching it safely on September 25th.

While Bragg and Buehl had maneuvered northward, Kirby Smith's small rebel army had spread out and secured north central Kentucky.

Detachments pushed north and west to within 10 miles above Louisville and Cincinnati.

Smith's victory at the Battle of Richmond and subsequent occupation of Lexington had caused considerable consternation in the state's north of the Ohio River.

Henry Heath's division of Confederates had arrived south of Cincinnati during the first week of September and stayed until September 18th.

Heath was content to probe the city's defenses with his 6,000 men, but he didn't risk an assault.

Nonetheless, his presence sparked a panic in Cincinnati and in southern Ohio.

Ohio Governor David Todd sent several newly recruited regiments directly to the city, and local civilians, including a sizable number of free blacks, dug trenches around Cincinnati, and just across the Ohio River at Covington, Kentucky.

Downstream in Louisville, the federal situation was equally chaotic. Colonel Scott's Confederate cavalry probed the city's eastern outskirts on September 5th, and the effect was electric.

The remnants of Bull Nelson's command had staggered into Louisville after their defeat at the Battle of Richmond, and the men had been put to work digging trenches and putting the city into a defensible condition.

Bull Nelson was in Louisville, but was sidelined because he'd been wounded in the leg at Richmond.

Kentucky's military governor, Jeremiah Boyle, was making noises about declaring martial law, which would only inflame the situation.

In desperation, Department Commander Horatio Wright cast about for a suitable officer to bring order out of the growing confusion, and he hit on an unusual solution.

Wright took 40-year-old regular army captain Charles C. Gilbert, and without any legal authority to do so, Wright promoted Gilbert on the spot to acting major general, and gave him command of the troops in Louisville.

Wright's reasoning for this unusual move remains murky, but he clearly had more faith in a fellow veteran of the old army than in any of the Union officers who had been beaten at Richmond.

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