19th Tennessee Infantry - Battle of Barbourville

Battle of Barbourville

Union loyalist sentiment was as strong in Eastern Kentucky as it was in East Tennessee, and Zollicoffer feared that local Home Guard units might take action against his forces. On September 18, Zollicoffer sent a mixed force of 800 troops, including Companies B and K of the 19th, to destroy Camp Andrew Johnson, a Union training facility at Barbourville, KY.

In a dawn attack, the Confederates surprised about 300 Bushwhackers. The Unionists fled after a brief exchange of gunfire, and the Confederates took the camp and captured a meager store of supplies. Though several were wounded, only one man was killed. Lt. Robert D. Powell of Company K acquired the dubious distinction of being the first Confederate killed in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.

The regiment remained in Kentucky for a time, even managing a couple of successful raids to acquire supplies, but the assorted diseases that spread through the camps like wildfire were taking their tolls. By the end of the month, only about 600 men from the regiment were fit for duty.

By late October 1861, General Zollicoffer was receiving reports that a Union invasion somewhere between Cumberland Gap and Bowling Green was impending. His brigade returned to Tennessee, leaving a large garrison at Cumberland Gap, and the rest, including the 19th marched to Jamestown. Indeed, also believing that invasion was imminent, Unionist guerillas had stepped up actions in East Tennessee, including the burnings of several key railroad bridges, but the revolt was soon suppressed by Confederate reinforcements in the region.