remained loyal. When Confederate occupation of the region prevented this, Carter raised a brigade of infantry from among the hundreds of East Tennesseans fleeing to Kentucky. During this time he adopted "Powhatan" as a code name when corresponding secretly with Unionists who remained behind Confederate lines. Carter's younger brother, William B. Carter (1820–1902), planned and coordinated the East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy in late 1861. Carter was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers without resigning from the Navy. He led an infantry brigade at the Battle of Mill Springs on January 19, 1862, and participated in operations under Brigadier General George W. Morgan that resulted in the occupation of Cumberland Gap on June 17, 1862. Carter's hope that Morgan would then invade and occupy East Tennessee was dashed when Morgan was forced to retreat in the face of a Confederate move into Kentucky—Braxton Bragg's Perryville Campaign. Following Bragg's defeat and retreat to Middle Tennessee, Carter successfully lobbied his superiors for permission to conduct a raid into East Tennessee. Carter's plan was to cripple the vital East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. This would support the operations of Major General William S. Rosecrans in Middle Tennessee, and test the route through the mountains as a potential path of invasion. The result was the first long-range, large-scale Federal cavalry raid of the war. With a force of just under 1,000 men Carter moved through the rugged mountains of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee during the last week of 1862. On December 30 he destroyed railroad and wagon bridges at both Union and Carter's Depot (present day Watauga), Tennessee. He repeatedly defeated the Confederate forces in his path, captured a moving train, destroyed tens of thousands of dollars of military stores, and returned safely to Kentucky on January 2, 1863. Plans to follow the raid with an invasion and occupation of East Tennessee, a move urged by Lincoln, were canceled when Carter reported the route impracticable for a large force. In July 1863, Carter was placed in command of the XXIII Corps cavalry division and continued campaigning across Tennessee throughout the year, engaging Confederate forces during the Battle of Blue Springs of the Knoxville Campaign. By 1865, Carter was in North Carolina and commanding the left wing of the Union forces at the Battle of Wyse Fork. He was promoted to brevet major general of volunteers on March 13, 1865, briefly commanding the XXIII Corps before