In December 1862, after his victory at Hartsville and his promotion to brigadier general, John Hunt Morgan led a well-equipped Confederate cavalry force from Tennessee into Kentucky under orders from Braxton Bragg to disrupt the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, especially the large wooden trestles near Elizabethtown. After crossing into Kentucky on December 24, skirmishing at Glasgow, and burning bridges over Bacon Creek and Nolin Creek on December 26, Morgan moved against Elizabethtown on December 27, where about 650 men of the 91st Illinois Infantry under Lt. Col. Henry S. Smith defended the town. After an exchange of surrender demands, Morgan used his knowledge of the town, artillery placed in and beside the road, and dismounted cavalry advancing on the stockades and buildings at the town's edge to open a concentrated bombardment, while mounted men moved to surround the place. The Confederate fire damaged several buildings, and after about 45 minutes, outnumbered and without artillery support, the Federal defenders gave up the fight. Morgan captured 652 prisoners along with rifles and supplies, then on December 28 attacked the stockades guarding the railroad trestles on Muldraugh's Hill at Sulphur Fork and Broad Run, burned both trestles, and over the next days destroyed more railroad infrastructure, bridges, stockades, stores, and supplies before turning back toward Tennessee. By January 3, 1863, Morgan had returned to Tennessee after destroying six railroad bridges, capturing 1,877 prisoners, and closing the railroad for five weeks, though the raid did not prevent Federal forces at Murfreesboro from repulsing a Confederate attack; in May 1863, the Confederate Congress voted thanks for the raid known as the Christmas Raid.