The Confederates held a long line of fortifications across Kentucky, Tennessee and into Missouri under Albert Sidney Johnston.

These defenses were now held by Col. James Edward Rains after Zollicoffer's defeat and death at Mill Springs.

Morgan proposed to Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell that Chattanooga be threatened in order to force the Confederates to pull their strength away from the Cumberland Gap.

At the same time General Edmund Kirby Smith, Confederate commander in eastern Kentucky, proposed a threat against Nashville to draw Union forces away from the gap.

Through two weeks of maneuvering through enemy territory Morgan reached the gap without losing a single man.

As late as August, 1862 Morgan reported he had no intentions of evacuating the gap and "if the enemy attacks he will be crushed".

Morgan was forced to abandon the gap in September 1862, but managed to conduct a masterful withdrawal through enemy territory.