Dispatches have been sent east for help.

My regiment and several others that really belong in the west have been asked for, and we are to start in three days.

Dick, do you know how many men of the Winchester regiment are left?
We shall be able to start with only one hundred and five men, and when we attacked at Donelson we were a thousand strong." "And the end of the war, sir, seems as far off as ever." "So it does, Dick, but we'll go, and we'll do our best.

Starting from Washington we can reach Louisville in two days by train.

Bragg, no matter what progress he may make across the state, cannot be there then.
If any big battle is to be fought we're likely to be in it." The scanty remainder of the regiment was brought to Washington and two days later they were in Louisville, which they found full of alarm.
The famous Southern partisan leader, John Morgan, had been roaming everywhere over the state, capturing towns, taking prisoners and throwing all the Union communications into confusion by means of false dispatches.
People told with mingled amusement and apprehension of Morgan's telegrapher, Ellsworth, who cut the wires, attached his own instrument, and replied to the Union messages and sent answers as his general pleased.