As part of the Tullahoma campaign, Union cavalry with Col. Robert Minty’s First Brigade moved in advance of Gen. Gordon Granger’s Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland and engaged Confederates holding Guys Gap on June 6, 1863. The action was part of the overall plan of Gen. William S. Rosecrans to fix Confederate attention on Shelbyville while his forces to the north sought to cut-off the Confederates at Tullahoma. They withdrew from the area two days later allowing Granger’s corps to press through the gap toward Shelbyville unopposed.
Bulls Gap
In November 1864, Confederate Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge mounted an expedition into East Tennessee from Virginia to secure food