After the Battle of Shiloh, General Braxton Bragg took over the southern armies in the west. Bragg devised a plan to clear Union troops out of Nashville. He moved his forces first to Chattanooga and joined up with Kirby Smith then the two moved behind the Union lines into Kentucky. Bragg hoped for two outcomes. First that the Union would have to follow him to Kentucky and leave Tennessee and second, he hoped that by clearing out the Union in Kentucky they would finally join the Confederacy.
Historically Speaking 