On this day the 16th Ohio, or elements thereof, was relieved by the 22nd Kentucky. Pvt. Newt Gorsuch, Company B, reports on this day he and fellow soldier, Pvt. John Boling, stopped at their old Camp (Virginia), at the northwest entrance of the Gap, to bathe. Gorsuch also mentions that the Rebels, under a flag of truce, demanded that Morgan surrender the Gap.

Only limited details on the action and movements of the 16th Ohio during the next few days are available.

* Information and quotations from Civil War Diaries and Selected Letters of Robert Newton Gorsuch, recently published in book form by Newt Gorsuch's great grandson, Everett Gorsuch Smith, Jr. The book is available for purchase from various Internet sources.

Period military map showing the approximate location of the 16th Ohio and Col. DeCourcey's brigade atop of the mountain ridges north of The Gap. Gen. Morgan had moved the brigade into this position to defend his main force holding The Gap from any approach by Gen. Kirby Smith's Confederate troops from the north. Additionally, Morgan was protecting what he had already likely planned as his Division's escape route in a few weeks if no relief came from the Union Army. The regiment was involved in several foraging missions, moving down into the valley, below, skirmishing with Rebel troops and collecting corn or any other food items they could scavenge from the land below their mountain stronghold.

Image ©2000 by Cartography Associates via David Rumsey Map Collection