[CHAP.XII. OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE.
Stanton were approaching Alabany with their regiments, and from the best information he could get they feared an attack, and desired me to send him once company of cavalry. This morning I set [our] for Alabany with 150 men; reached our destination by 12 o'clock. We found Colonel Murray with his command there, and no foe in all the country.
From the best information I can get from our friends in this section, there ar no organized forces in Kentucky nearer this point than Camp Goggin, in Pulaski County, on the Cumberland River, about 40 miles north of this point. There is an encampment supposed to number some 12,000 or 15,000. Home Guards, cut-throats, renegades, and thieves, under the command of Colonels Hoskins and Wolford, and my opinion is we could disperse them with a small fore. Colonel Murray informed me this evening that he was moving his command to Camp Zollicoffer, Tenn. Why this stranger move I cannot say, for certainly this is the pass we should guard, in a military point, with vigilance. As I have no means of communicating with General Zollicoffer except by way of Knoxville, inclosed I send you a report. Please forward.
Yours, truly,
GEO. R. McCLELLAN, Lieutenant-Colonel, Fifth Battalion, S. C.
BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS,
Camp Buckner, october 29, 1861.
Colonel W. B. WOOD, Sixteenth Alabama Regiment, Knoxville, Tenn:
SIR: We commence moving part of the brigade to Cumberland Gap to-day, and part of the command will be placed near Jacksborough. The road over the Log Mountains, now bad, will, I am told, soon become almost impassable. I have some reason to suppose that, if the enemy advances at all, it will be by one of the Jacksborough gaps. If Major A. E. Jackson, quartermaster for the brigade, has left Knoxville, forward the inclosed letter to him wherever he may be, after reading it yourself and showing it to Major Burleson, and ascertaining whether he can give me any aid with reference to the artillery horses and the horseshoes.
Very respectfully,
F. K. ZOLLICOFFER, Brigadier-General.
HDQRS. FIRST DIVISION, WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
Columbus, Ky., October 30, 1861.
Colonel HEIMAN, Fort Henry:
Your communication by the hands of Lieutenant Milton is received. Your report of dispositions for defense of Forts Donelson and Henry are satisfactory, and I hope you will not relax your vigilance. You will have Captain Bolling's company of cavalry mustered into service, and aid him in making requisitions for what troops he may require. Lieutenant Milton says they can supply themselves with arms. As to the horses you speak of, they should be bought by the quartermaster for artillery horses, if they are suitable for that purpose.
