the Union men remained quiet until the time had arrived for prompt
and decided action, with men, and arms for their support, in the
measures they adopted to retain Kentucky in the Union.

In accordance with a general plan of operations adopted by General
Albert Sidney Johnston, on September 18th, General Buckner broke
camp with the rebel forces at Camp Boone, Tenn., near the Kentucky
line, and marching north, occupied Bowling Green, throwing out his
advance as far as Elizabethtown.

On receipt of reliable information as to Buckner's movements,
General Anderson sent General W. T. Sherman, second in command,
to Camp Joe Holt, with instructions to order Colonel Rousseau with
his entire command to report at once in Louisville. The "Home
Guards" were also ordered out, and they assembled promptly in large
force, reporting at the Nashville depot, and by midnight they were
started to the front by train. Rousseau's command followed at once,
General Sherman being in command of the entire force, amounting to
some three thousand men. The advance by train was stopped at the
Rolling Fork of the Salt River, about thirty-one miles south of
Louisville, at which point the railroad bridge had been burned by
the rebels. During the following day the troops under Rousseau
forded the stream, and pressing forward occupied Muldraugh's Hills
with its two trestles and a tunnel over fifteen hundred feet long.
The Home Guards were left in camp at Lebanon Junction, some two
or three miles in the rear, where Lieutenant-Colonel R. W. Johnson
of the Third Kentucky Cavalry reported later in the day with some
additional companies of Home Guards, and, by order of General
Anderson, assumed command of the camp.