On the morning of December 7, 1862, Confederates under John Hunt Morgan attacked the Union garrison camped on a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River two miles south of here after Morgan and 1,300 men crossed the icy river the night before under cover of darkness and falling snow. In a brief two-hour battle, Morgan captured almost 1,800 soldiers, two cannons, and wagons full of much-needed supplies. Union Col. Absalom B. Moore’s troops, who guarded the nearby ford and the road to Lebanon, included three infantry regiments of new recruits, a squadron of cavalry, and a section of artillery. The assault was carried out so quickly that two other Federal brigades camped nine miles away at Castalian Springs could not reach their comrades in time. The defeat and capture of an entire Federal brigade at Hartsville by C.S. Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s forces caused shock, disbelief, and consternation in the Union army, and President Abraham Lincoln demanded an explanation from Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commander of the Army of the Cumberland. After an investigation, Rosecrans cited Moore for negligence but suggested that the quality and quantity of Confederate cavalry determined the battle’s outcome; Moore was reassigned and eventually resigned. Although the victory was called the most successful cavalry raid of the Civil War, the Battle of Hartsville was not strategically significant and was quickly overshadowed three weeks later by the Battle of Stones River. After Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky was defeated from August to October 1862, the Confederates retreated to Tennessee, where Bragg ordered Morgan to raid and harass rail lines and Federal troops in both states before the attack at Hartsville.