Existing comment:
The Wilderness Road:
In 1796, the Wilderness Road opened "the west" to settlement, and thousands of pioneers poured over the mountains into Kentucky.
A Promising Invasion Route:
At the beginning of the Civil War both Confederate and Union generals viewed the Wilderness Road as a promising invasion route. The North saw a means of reaching and freeing east Tennessee. The South viewed it as a back way into the heart of Kentucky.
"The Wilderness Road from Cumberland Gap to settlements in Kentucky is now compleated."
-- Kentucky Gazette, October 15, 1796
Road's Promise Was Unfulfilled:
Soldiers that walked the road found it unfit for travel. Years of rolling wheels and pounding hooves had taken a roll. Rocks broke wagon wheels, and mud holes swallowed horses and wagons.
"We found the road for three miles lines with the train of wagons, stuck in the mud, mules into their bellies..."
-- Stephen Keyes Fletcher, 33rd Indiana Infantry
The road that looked so inviting on the map proved of little use to either army. |