At that time the Rebel army, under General Bragg, was making its advance into Kentucky.  General Buell was moving at the same time toward the Ohio River.  The two armies were marching in nearly parallel lines, so that it became a race between them for Nashville and Louisville.  Bragg divided his forces, threatening Louisville and Cincinnati at the same time.  Defenses were thrown up around the former city, to assist in holding it in case of attack, but they were never brought into use.  By rapid marching, General Buell reached Louisville in advance of Bragg, and rendered it useless for the latter to fling his army against the city.

Meantime, General Kirby Smith moved, under Bragg’s orders, to the siege of Cincinnati.  His advance was slow, and gave some opportunity for preparation.  The chief reliance for defense was upon the raw militia and such irregular forces as could be gathered for the occasion.  The hills of Covington and Newport, opposite Cincinnati, were crowned with fortifications and seamed with rifle-pits, which were filled with these raw soldiers.  The valor of these men was beyond question, but they were almost entirely without discipline.  In front of the veteran regiments of the Rebel army our forces would have been at great disadvantage.

When I reached Cincinnati the Rebel army was within a few miles of the defenses.  On the train which took me to the city, there were many of the country people going to offer their services to aid in repelling the enemy.  They entered the cars at the various stations, bringing their rifles, which they well knew how to use.  They were the famous “squirrel-hunters” of Ohio, who were afterward the subject of some derision on the part of the Rebels.  Nearly twenty thousand of them volunteered for the occasion, and would have handled their rifles to advantage had the Rebels given them the opportunity.

At the time of my arrival at Cincinnati, Major-General Wallace was in command.  The Queen City of the West was obliged to undergo some of the inconveniences of martial law.  Business of nearly every kind was suspended.  A provost-marshal’s pass was necessary to enable one to walk the streets in security.  The same document was required of any person who wished to hire a carriage, or take a pleasant drive to the Kentucky side of the Ohio.  Most of the able-bodied citizens voluntarily offered their services, and took their places in the rifle-pits, but there were some who refused to go.  These were hunted out and taken to the front, much against their will.  Some were found in or under beds; others were clad in women’s garments, and working at wash-tubs.  Some tied up their hands as if disabled, and others plead baldness or indigestion to excuse a lack of patriotism.  All was of no avail.  The provost-marshal had no charity for human weakness.