Don Carlos Buell receives orders to turn his Federal command over to William S. Rosecrans for his failure to stop the Confederates’ escape from Kentucky and his refusal to chase them into eastern Tennessee.

Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
Don Carlos Buell receives orders to turn his Federal command over to William S. Rosecrans for his failure to stop the Confederates’ escape from Kentucky and his refusal to chase them into eastern Tennessee.
Don Carlos Buell’s Federal army secures Louisville, Kentucky, from Confederate capture, but the Lincoln administration receives several reports critical of Buell’s leadership.
Don Carlos Buell looks to secure eastern Tennessee for the Federals, but weather and a lack of supplies hamper the mission.
Federals and Confederates clash over control of the vital Cumberland Gap on the Confederacy’s fragile defensive line across Kentucky.
December 28, 1864 – Major General George H. Thomas decided to end his pursuit of the beaten, demoralized Confederates as they left Tennessee for the
December 21, 1864 – Major General George H. Thomas’s Federals struggled to pursue and destroy the rapidly disintegrating General John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee