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no material change in this position of affairs in
western Kentucky occurred while
General Sherman remained in command, though there were several sharp skirmishes between bodies of
Kentucky recruits and Confederate scouting parties in the lower
Green River country.
in the mean time the
East Tennessee expedition was not progressing.
Nelson, whose arbitrary temper had made him enemies among influential politicians, was sent to
eastern Kentucky to superintend recruiting camps, and
Brigadier-General George H. Thomas took command at
camp Dick Robinson.
Thomas was an ardent advocate of the movement on
East Tennessee and bent all his energies to getting ready for it, but his command was not half equipped and was wholly without transportation; staff-officers were scarce, and funds were not furnished.
More patient than
Nelson, he was yet greatly tried by the importunities of the
East Tennessee troops, and of the prominent politicians from that region, who made his camp their rendezvous, as well as by military suggestions from civilians more zealous than wise in such matters.
The speech-making of distinguished visitors became a burden to
him. On one occasion, when
General Sherman visited his camp,
ex-senator J. J. Crittenden,
Senator Andrew Johnson, and
Horace Maynard were there.
A band came from the camp to serenade them, and the soldiers, not yet rid of their civilian characteristics, began calling for speeches from one after another.
Thomas withdrew from the orators to the seclusion of a little room used as an office, on one side of the piazza from which they were speaking.
One of his aides was writing in a corner, but
Thomas did not see him, and began striding up and down the floor in growing irritation.
At last
Sherman, who was not then such an orator as he is now, finished speaking, and cries arose for “
Thomas.”
he blurted out, “this speech-making!
I won't speak!
what does a man want to make a speech for, anyhow.?”
observing that he had an auditor, he strode from the room slamming the door behind him, and kept his own quarters for the rest of the evening.
accustomed to the discipline of the regular army, and fresh from the well-organized army of
General Patterson on the upper Potomac,
Thomas had little confidence in the raw recruits whom, for lack of a mustering officer, he mustered in himself.
He was willing to advance into
East Tennessee with half a dozen well-drilled regiments, and asked for and obtained them, but they came without transportation, and he had none for them.
While he was struggling to get ready for an advance,
Zollicoffer had made several demonstrations, and to oppose him
Garrard's regiment had been thrown forward to
