January 6.—Major General Foster, from his headquarters at Knoxville, issued the following order: “All able-bodied colored men, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, within our lines, except those employed in the several staff departments, officers’ servants, and those servants of loyal citizens who prefer remaining with their masters, will be sent forthwith to Knoxville, Loudon, or Kingston, Tennessee, to be enrolled under the direction of Brigadier-General Davis Tillson, Chief of Artillery, with a view to the formation of a regiment of artillery, to be composed of troops of African descent.”
—By orders from General Foster, Brigadier General O. B. Wilcox was assigned to the command of the district of Clinch, including the region between the Cumberland and Clinch Mountains, and extending from Big Creek Gap on the west, to the eastern line of the State of Tennessee, on the east.
