MARCH 7, 1864:
General James
Longstreet C.S.A. refuses to heed direct orders from President Jefferson Davis
to move his Command from the borders of Tennessee into southern Kentucky.
It
was Davis’ hope that an invasion of Kentucky might reignite the war there and
stimulate action among Confederates within the State. Longstreet however knows
that he simply does not have enough men to launch an offensive into the now
tightly-held Union Commonwealth of Kentucky; he also knows that whatever
Confederates there may have been in Kentucky at the beginning of the war have
all long since emigrated southward; but mostly he knows that Davis has no
reinforcements to send him. He refuses to sacrifice to no advantage the men he
has.
