[43] occurred in the presence of Mr. Guthrie and General Wood. The secretary replied that he supposed that the Kentuckians would not in any number take up arms to operate against the rebels, but that he thought that General Sherman overestimated the number and power of the rebel forces; that the government would furnish troops to Kentucky to accomplish the work; that he, the secretary, was tired of this defensive war, and that the troops must assume the offensive and carry the war to the firesides of the enemy; that the season for operations in western Virginia was about over, and that he would take the troops from there and send them to Kentucky; that he begged of General Sherman to assume the offensive and to keep the rebels hereafter on the defensive. The secretary desired that the Cumberland Ford and Gap should be seized and the East Tennessee and Virginia railroad be taken possession of, and the artery that supplied the rebellion cut. Complaint was made of the want of arms, and on the question being asked, “ What became of the arms we sent to Kentucky,” we were informed by General Sherman that they had passed into the hands of the home guards and could not be recovered; that many were already in the hands of the rebels and others refused to surrender those in their possession, alleging the desire to use them in defense of their individual homes if invaded. In the hands of individuals and scattered over the State these arms are lost to the army in Kentucky. Having ascertained that 6,200 arms had arrived from Europe at Philadelphia, 3,000 were ordered to Governor Morton [of Indiana], who promised to place them immediately in the hands of troops for Kentucky; the remaining 3,200 were sent to General Sherman at Louisville. Negley's brigade at Pittsburg, 2,500 strong, two companies of the Nineteenth [regulars] infantry, the Eighth Wisconsin at St. Louis, the Second regiment of Minnesota volunteers at Pittsburg, and two regiments from Wisconsin were then ordered to Kentucky, making in all a
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Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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