By James D. Porter IIISpecial to NKyTribune
By August 1862, the United States was entrenched in the Civil War between the loyal Union states and rebelling Confederate states. Despite an early vote to secede by self-appointed revolutionaries, Kentucky remained faithful to the United States and by the end of the war an estimated 74,000 to 125,000 Kentuckians served as Union soldiers. Regardless, Kentucky officially declared neutrality in May 1861, prompting Confederate attacks in an attempt to take the state as their own (A. C. Quisenberry, “Kentucky Union Troops in the Civil War,” “Register of Kentucky State Historical Society,” vol. 18, no. 54, 1920, pp. 13-14).
On August 14, 1862, the Confederates began a full-scale invasion of Kentucky when General Edmund Kirby Smith’s Confederate Army of Kentucky marched out of its headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. The original plan was for Kirby Smith’s army to drive out the Union forces near the Cumberland Gap, then march back to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to join forces with General Braxton Bragg’s Army of the Mississippi. However, General Smith had no intention of helping General Bragg against the Union forces in Tennessee, led by Major General Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio. Instead, he marched his army straight towards Lexington, Kentucky (D. Warren Lambert, “When the Ripe Pears Fell: The Battle of Richmond, Kentucky,” 1995, pp. 6-7).
Kirby Smith’s actions would lead him directly to the Union Army of Kentucky, commanded by Major General William “Bull” Nelson. On August 29, 1862, the Confederate forces first contacted Nelson’s army via a small skirmish, leading General Kirby Smith to decide on a full attack the next morning. Unfortunately for the Union forces, Nelson had gone away on business, leaving Brigadier General Mahlon D. Manson in charge. To make matters worse, Manson’s army was composed of inexperienced troops who were not prepared for battle (Lambert, “When the Ripe Pears Fell,” pp. 55-60, 24-25)…