Hey everyone, welcome to episode number 212 of our

Civil War Podcast. I'm Rich. And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

As y'all recall at the end of the last show, Don Carlos Buehl had divided the army of the Ohio

into four columns. One column would make a faint toward the state capital of Frankfurt,

while the other three marched for Bardstown and beyond. Buehl's plan was to bring the Confederates

to battle and defeat them, or force them to fall back into Tennessee by threatening their line

of communications. The Federals moved out from Louisville on October 1st, 1862. Meanwhile,

Braxton Bragg had left Leonidas Polk and command at Bardstown, while Bragg rode to Lexington

to finally meet up with Kirby Smith. Bragg officially took control of all Confederate forces in

Kentucky and then discussed his options with Smith. Bragg thought it would take Buehl weeks to

resupply and reorganize at Louisville, so Bragg decided that in the meantime, the rebels would

consolidate their gains thus far and also install a pro-Confederate state government in Frankfurt.

A ceremony to do so was planned for October 4th. And that's pretty much where we left things

last time, right? But it didn't take Buehl weeks to get things sorted out in Louisville. The

Federals actually set out again after spending less than a week in the city. Nevertheless, on

October 1st, when Buehl left Louisville, the situation in Kentucky was critical for the union.

The Confederate forces of Braxton Bragg and Kirby Smith controlled virtually the entire state

east of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and were on the verge of grasping the levers

of civil government in the Bluegrass State. All that's to say that Buehl absolutely needed to

wage a victorious campaign or Kentucky could be irritrival-billy lost to Confederacy.

So the states were high indeed as the Army of the Ohio moved out from Louisville.

The Federal Columns left Louisville by four roads.

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