Nelson made Olympia Springs (Mud Lick Springs) in Bath County the staging area. He named it Camp Gill on honor of Harrison Gill, owner of the renowned spa eight miles south of Owingsville and twenty miles east of Mount Sterling. The Mt. Sterling-Pound Gap Road (Rt. 460) ran through McCormick's Gap (Frenchburg), the gateway to the Bluegrass Region from Prestonsburg. On September 29, 1861, Maj. John Smith Hurt occupied the vital mountain pass with three militia companies. Col. Lewis Braxton Grigsby added his 300 men to Hurt's 200 on October 8. Col. James Perry Fyffe had the 59th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment march to Camp Kenton, and Col. Leonard A. Harris arrived in Olympian Springs with the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Col. Jesse S. Norton came forward from Nicholasville with the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and during the next two weeks, Nelson's forces grew to about 5,500 men, 3,700 from Ohio and 1,800 from Kentucky.