, with
artillery. A little sharp shooting was also done upon both sides. Two
guns belonging to Rain's brigade of infantry, which was General Smith's
rear-guard, were brought back and replied to the enemy's fire. One man
of this section killed, was the only loss sustained upon our side. The
cannonading was kept up until dark. We held the town during the night.
Only one division of Buell's army (as has already been stated), was sent
to Lancaster.

On the morning of the 14th, we moved slowly away from Lancaster, our
command forming (with Colonel Ashby's) the extreme rear-guard of General
Smith's corps. We were not at all pressed by the enemy, and on the 15th
halted at Gum Springs twenty-five miles from Richmond. Colonel Morgan
obtained permission from General Smith to select his own "line of
retreat" from Kentucky, with the understanding, however, that he should
protect the rear of the infantry until all danger was manifestly over.
He represented to General Smith that he could feed his men and horses,
and have them in good condition at the end of the retreat, by taking a
different route from that pursued by the army, which would consume
every thing. He explained, moreover, how in the route he proposed to
take, he would cross Buell's rear, taking prisoners, capturing trains,
and seriously annoying the enemy, and that establishing himself in the
vicinity of Gallatin again, he could, before he was driven away, so tear
up the railroad, once more, as to greatly retard the concentration of
the Federal army at Nashville. It was perfectly apparent to General
Smith, that all this could be done, and that, when Morgan reached the
portion of Tennessee which he indicated, he would be in exactly the
proper position to guard one flank of the line, which Bragg's army would
probably establish. He accorded him, therefore, the desired permission,
and on the 17th, when the infantry had gotten beyond Big Hill and were
more than thirty miles from an enemy, Colonel Morgan turned over to
Colonel Ashby the care of "the rear" and prepared to leave Kentucky in
his own way. Colonel Ashby had proven himself competent to the
successful discharge of even more important duty.

Colonel Morgan's force consisted at this time, counting troops actually
with him, of the Second Kentucky (with the exception of one company),
Gano's regiment (the Third Kentucky), and Breckinridge's battalion which
had rejoined us at Lancaster--in all about eighteen hundred men. C