Brig. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer's Confederates moved from Tennessee in an effort to push from Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky and gain control of the important border state. Zollicoffer with some 5,400 men occupied Cumberland Gap and took position at the Cumberland Ford (near present day Pineville) to counter the Unionist activity in the area. He readily brushed aside home guard troops near Barbourville in a what is now known as the Battle of Barbourville.