In 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky, hoping to join forces with General Kirby Smith to defeat General Don Carlos Buell and the Army of the Ohio. Bragg intended to deliver Kentucky to the Confederacy but failed miserably and the state remained part of the Union for the rest of the war. This helped Bragg earn the reputation of being the Worst Confederate General of the Civil War.
Confederate Struggles in the Western Theater
By the middle of 1862, Confederate fortunes were declining in the Western Theater of the Civil War.
Union forces controlled Western Tennessee, the upper reaches of the Mississippi River, and the southern port city of New Orleans.
Federal forces had driven the Confederate Army of the Mississippi from the important railroad hub at Corinth, Mississippi to Tupelo, and Union General Ulysses S. Grant was making plans to capture the fortress city of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River.
Bragg Replaces Beauregard
On June 27, 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis relieved General P. G. T. Beauregard of command of the Army of the Mississippi and replaced him with General Braxton Bragg.