A Long, Steep Road

Soldiers and supplies reached the earthwork above by a steep road from below, a route that may have been newly built by the military or improved from an existing trail or road. The men and materiel at the earthwork were supplied from Lexington, the main Union army depot in this part of Kentucky. Goods for the Bluegrass moved from Cincinnati to Lexington on the Kentucky Central Railroad, with a spur to Nicholasville, but supplies bound elsewhere had to be hauled overland, likely from Lexington by way of Athens to Boonesboro and then up this road. Building the earthwork required mainly hand tools such as shovels, picks, axes, and saws, but the soldiers who built and later occupied it also needed food, clothing, tents, cooking utensils, lanterns, and other necessities, all of which had to be carried up the steep grade. The road was muddy in wet weather and rutted and dusty in dry weather, and mules pulling loaded wagons would have moved slowly. Water, another essential supply, also had to be brought up this road because the ridge top had no natural source; all water for drinking, cooking, and washing was hauled from the river in barrels on wagons or sleds. This short but important stretch of road was built, or at least improved, by soldiers using manpower and hand tools under the direction of an army engineer, perhaps Captain Thomas B. Brooks.

Kentucky · United States