By the spring of 1862 Union forces controlled fifty thousand square miles of Confederate territory in the West. At this point in the war, the Union army was not prepared to occupy the confiscated lands with a strong force. Conversely small Northern detachments found themselves deep in enemy territory far from Federal supply trains and the main fighting force; these isolated units were vulnerable to Confederate cavalry raids. During the summer and fall of 1862 Confederate cavalry assaults led by Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Hunt Morgan played havoc with Union occupation troops in Kentucky and Tennessee. They destroyed bridges, tunnels, and railroad tracks while seizing supply bases and capturing Northern garrisons. By August these cavalry raids weakened the Union stranglehold over the western lands and opened the West to a spirited Confederate counterattack. Southern troops moved northward through east Tennessee and Kentucky before reaching the Ohio...