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Jeffersonville, Sept. 24th 1862

Dear Mary

We arrived here all safe at 8 a.m. & are now making arrangements to cross the river to Louisville.¹ The Lieut. Colonel [Henry Case] went over this morning but has not returned yet. There has been considerable excitement on account of an expected attack by General Bragg, but it is currently reported this morning that he is retreating.²

The Louisville papers this morning are urging the citizens to arm themselves.³ No accidents happened save that a few of the men were left at various places along the road, having wandered off for water &c.

I hope you & the baby are both well. Kiss it for me. Give my love to all. Write soon as you can.

In haste, your affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. The regiment left Camp Pontiac on September 22 aboard a troop train. The soldiers breakfasted the next morning at Michigan City and had supper in the evening of the 23d at Indianapolis. Through the South with a Union Soldier, edited by Arthur H. DeRosier, Jr. (Johnson City, 1969), p. 23. [↩]
2. Gen. Braxton Bragg’s hard-marching Army of Mississippi had reached Munfordville, where it captured the Union garrison on September 17, ahead of Maj. Gen. Don C. Buell’s army. Bragg, having placed his army between Buell and his Louisville base, took position covering the crossing of Green River. To goad Buell into a rash attack on his chosen position, Bragg advanced one of his divisions. Buell refused the bait, and after four days Bragg, learning that his troops were down to three days’ rations, in a “hostile country, utterly destitute of supplies,” determined to abandon his position astride Buell’s line of communications. Orders were issued for a supply train from the Confederate depot at Lexington to meet the army at Bardstown. On September 20 Bragg yielded the advantage gained and turned northeast. Buell, with the Confederate army out of the way, marched for Louisville, where he arrived on the 25th. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (73 vols., 128 parts; Washington, 1880-1901), Ser. I, Vol. XVI, pt. I, pp. 48, 1090-1091; pt. II, p. 542. [↩]
3. Although the crisis had passed, there was great excitement in Louisville on the 24th. “Every able-bodied man” was being impressed to take up arms for defense of the city or to work on fortifications. An attack was momentarily expected. O.R., Ser. I, Vol. XVI, pt. II, p. 542. [↩]