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War ranged in the mountains during the four years of the American Civil War. Campaigns intended to capture the Cumberland Gap and the vital railroad line leading out of Knoxville, Tennessee became a prerogative. However, these campaigns evolved from large infantry units to mobile mounted units that allowed them to operate in the mountainous region of Southern Appalachia. First commanders in the area experimented with using the common infantry units, as they would in any military campaign, but they soon found that large infantry units ate out the surrounding communities. Commanders found that mounted units could quickly move through the mountains and to their destination, thereby living off the land for a shorter amount of time and accomplishing their missions more successfully.