Middle Tennessee was the site of two important Civil War campaigns. The first occurred in June 1862, when Confederate Gen. Braxton Braggs maneuvered the Army of Tennessee successfully through the mountains north past Union Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Union army and invaded Kentucky. In June 1863, the situation reversed during the Tullahoma Campaign as Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans maneuvered his Army of Cumberland south from Murfreesboro past Bragg and the Confederate Army of Tennessee. After overwhelming the Confederate defenders of Hoover's Gap on June 24, the Federals occupied Manchester and Shelbyville on June 27 as Bragg retreated. Tullahoma, on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, was an important part of the Confederate communications and supply systems. Late in June, the Federals destroyed railroad tracks to Decherd and at Sewanee. On July 3, Bragg's army began its retreat to Chattanooga, leaving much of Middle Tennessee and the railroad in Union hands after a skillful campaign remarkably low in Federal casualties.