A fortified camp was established at Cumberland
Gap as the right of General Johnston's line, and an important point for
the protection of East Tennessee against invasion. Thus General Johnston
located his line of defense, from Columbus on the west to the Cumberland
Mountains on the east, with his center at Bowling Green, which was
occupied and intrenched. It was a good base for military operations, was
a proper depot for supplies, and, if fortified, could be held against
largely superior numbers.
On October 28th General Johnston took command at Bowling Green. He
states his force to have been twelve thousand men, and that the enemy's
force at that time was estimated to be double his own, or twenty-four
thousand. He says: "The enemy's force increased more rapidly than our
own, so that by the last of November it numbered fifty thousand, and
continued to increase until it ran up to between seventy-five and one
hundred thousand. My force was kept down by disease, so that it numbered
about twenty-two thousand."
The chief anxiety of the commander of the department was to procure arms
and men. On the next day after his arrival at Nashville, he wrote to the
Governor of Alabama, "I shall beg to rely on your Excellency to furnish
us as rapidly as possible, at this point, with every arm it may be in
your power to provide--I mean small-arms for infantry and cavalry." The
Governor replied, "It is out of the power of Alabama to afford you any
assistance in the way of arms.
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