On the 21st of October, 1862, General Don Carlos Buell, then in command of the department of the Cumberland, being about to withdraw his forces from that vicinity, issued an order directing that the Goose Creek Salt Works near Manchester, Clay County, Kentucky, be destroyed, to keep them from falling into the hands of the Confederate forces which had invaded the state. This order was carried out by Colonel Enyart of the 1st Kentucky Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Hanson of the 20th Kentucky Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel Spencer of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry. On February 16, 1863, Secretary of War Stanton appointed William P. Thomasson, of Louisville, a commissioner to investigate and report the value of the property destroyed.