On Sunday morning, July 5, 1863, Capt. Ralph Sheldon led several hundred Confederates of Company C, 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, into Bardstown and drove the small Union force into a livery stable two blocks north of the courthouse. Lt. Thomas W. Sullivan of the 4th U.S. Cavalry took position in the stable and defended it for several hours. After an initial assault, Sheldon demanded surrender, but Sullivan refused, and fighting continued through the evening. Sheldon had ropes stretched across the street to prevent escape, and the Confederates even tried unsuccessfully to burn the stable, but the Union soldiers put out the fire and kept resisting. Just before daylight on Monday morning, July 6, 1863, Gen. John Hunt Morgan arrived from Springfield, and Sheldon again demanded surrender, warning that artillery would be used if the Union troops refused. Sullivan again declined. After more small arms fire, Union sentinels reported that the streets were filled with Confederates and that four artillery pieces were in position against the stable. Realizing his situation was hopeless, Sullivan came out under a flag of truce, but Col. Richard Morgan rejected the effort because the terms had already been refused twice. Sullivan returned to the stable until Richard Morgan sent in a flag of truce demanding unconditional surrender, which the Federals accepted. After the soldiers filed out, Gen. Morgan exclaimed, "You twenty-five damned Yankees have cost me twenty-four hours." Around 10 a.m., Morgan's command left Bardstown on the Shepherdsville Road, heading northwest toward the Ohio River.