Burnside was not a man to be satisfied with quasi-military duty and
the administration of a department outside of the field of active
warfare. He had been reappointed to the formal command of the Ninth
Corps before he came West, and the corps was sent after him as soon
as transportation could be provided for it. He reached Cincinnati in
person just as a raid into Kentucky by some 2000 Confederate cavalry
under Brigadier-General John Pegram was in progress. Pegram marched
from East Tennessee about the middle of March, reaching Danville,
Ky., on the 23d. He spread reports that he was the advance-guard of
a large force of all arms intending a serious invasion of the State.
These exaggerations had their effect, and the disturbance in the
Department of the Ohio was out of proportion to the strength of the
hostile column. [Footnote: Letter of Governor Robinson, Official
Records, vol. xxiii. pt. ii. p. 97; _Id_., pp. 121, 126.] The troops
belonging to the post at Danville retreated to the hither side of
the Kentucky River at Hickman's Bridge, where they took up a
defensive position. They saved the railway bridge from destruction,
and Brigadier-General Quincy A.
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