contested by Unionist Tennessean Capt. Powhatan Carter. Although Zollicoffer was killed in action in the January 1862 during the first Kentucky invasion, Union Generals George H. Thomas and later William T. Sherman had difficulty securing the Cumberland Gap. At Pound Gap in nearby Wise County, Virginia, Slemp was among the Confederates opposed by Union Col. (later General and President) James Garfield, who forced their retreat. When Union Major General George Morgan was sent to secure the Cumberland Gap, Colonels William M. Churchwell and James E. Rains pleaded for reinforcements but their pleas were ignored; so they destroyed the supplies and evacuated. When the Union troops tried to secure the gap they likewise failed to receive reinforcements, so Confederate Generals Stevenson and Edmund Kirby Smith were able to retake it in September 1862 as Morgan evacuated into Kentucky. The next fall Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside was sent to take the gap and he delegated the job to an Irishman, John F. De Courcy. He got Confederate Gen. John W. Frazer drunk and believing that many Union troops were coming so in the nearly bloodless Battle of Cumberland Gap, Frazer surrendered his three regiments with 2300 men on September 9, 1863, to fewer than 500 Union soldiers. However, Col. Slemp and Maj. McDowell managed to escape with many men, and also evacuated about 400 Confederates from the Pinnacle nearby. Col. Slemp was convicted of dereliction of duty on November 7, 1863, at a court martial in January 1864, was removed from command and dismissed from the army. The incident related to his moving captured wagons on that date, about two weeks after Union raiders had burned the 64th Virginia's camp near Jonesville. Although many Virginia legislators had urged that General "Grumble" Jones stop the proceedings (and Slemp's Lt.Col. Auburn L. Pridemore attempted to press charges against Gen. Jones for his actions on the same day), charges were pressed by Capt. H. Brown of the 8th Virginia Cavalry and Major Rhea of Tennessee. Col. Slemp hurt his own cause by slipping house arrest in Abington to return home. Nonetheless, Slemp remained a loyal Confederate throughout the war, surrendering after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. He received his parole at the Cumberland Gap in Tennessee on May 2, 1865, with others of the 64th Virginia. Political career After the war ended, Slemp received a pardon, and resumed farming. He became politically involved in