o prolong the raid to the uttermost, he proposed to be at no
time far from the Ohio, so that he might avail himself of an opportunity
to recross. On reaching the borders of Pennsylvania, he intended, if
General Lee should be in that State, to make every effort to join him;
failing in that, to make his escape through West Virginia. Information
he had gotten about the fords of the upper Ohio had induced him to
indicate Buffington's Island as the point where he would attempt to
recross that stream. He deemed the passage of the Cumberland one of the
four chief difficulties of the expedition that might prove really
dangerous and insuperable; the other three were the passage of the Ohio,
the circuit around Cincinnati, and the recrossing of the Ohio.

Before noon on the 2d of July my brigade began to cross the Cumberland
at Burkesville and at Scott's Ferry, two miles higher up the stream. The
river, swollen by heavy and long-continued rains, was pouring down a
volume of water which overspread its banks and rushed with a velocity
that seemed to defy any attempt to stem it. Two or three canoes lashed
together and two small flats served to transport the men and the
field-pieces, while the horses were made to swim. Many of them were
swept far down by the boiling flood. This process was necessarily slow,
as well as precarious. Colonel Johnson, whose brigade was crossing at
Turkey Neck Bend, several miles below Burkesville, was scarcely so well
provided with the means of ferriage as myself. About 3 P.M. the enemy
began to threaten both brigades. Had these demonstrations been made
earlier, and vigorously, we could have gotten over the river.
Fortunately by this time we had taken over the 6th Kentucky and 9th
Tennessee of my brigade--aggregating nearly six hundred men--and also
the two pieces of artillery. These regiments were moved beyond
Burkesville and placed in a position which served all the purposes of an
ambuscade. When the enemy approached, one or two volleys caused his
column to recoil in confusion. General Morgan instantly charged it with
Quirk's scouts and some companies of the 9th Tennessee, and not only
prevented it from rallying, but drove it all the way back to Marrowbone,
entering the encampment there with the troops he was pursuing in a
pell-mell dash. He was soon driven back, however, by the enemy's
infantry and artillery.

The effect of this blow was to keep the enemy quiet for the rest of the
day and night. The fo