Incident at Waynesboro

In November 1863, military governor Andrew Johnson ordered Union Maj. John Murphy, 5th Tennessee Cavalry, to take charge of two companies of Union Guards in Nashville. These 200 newly mustered men were from Wayne County and vicinity and were not yet organized into a regular regiment. Johnson told Murphy to proceed with them to Waynesboro and open a recruiting office. As they traveled along the old Natchez Trace, the Federals had several minor engagements with small parties of Confederate partisans and soon learned to be wary of guerrilla tricks, disguises, and ambushes.