The hearts of those in authority in the Confederate Government never beat
so high with hope as during those December days of 1862. Mr. Davis and his
Cabinet, as they surveyed the situation, might well have felt that they
had reason for confidence. The principal army of the Northern foe had been
repeatedly and seriously defeated, and was about to suffer the awful
reverse of Fredericksburg. In Tennessee and Mississippi,--while fortune
had not been so uniformly kindly,--there were all the facilities,
resources, and spirit for successful aggressive work. While much ground
had been lost in the Trans-Mississippi Department, word had lately come
that Hindman had succeeded in raising a fresh army in Arkansas,--a force
that was expected to begin the task of redeeming that State and recovering
Missouri. Pemberton confronted Grant with temporarily superior forces near
Vicksburg. Confederate diplomatic efforts were at length promising to bear
fruit, and the _Alabama_ and other vessels were driving Northern commerce
from the high seas. New Orleans had fallen; but Mobile, Charleston,
Wilmington, and Savannah held out, to offer refuge for the blockade
runners, which brought the precious military stores into the South.

It was under the spell of sentiment, inspired by such conditions, that the
Confederate President paid a visit to his generals and their forces in
Tennessee and Mississippi. Bragg felt so certain of himself and his ground
that he readily fell in with the suggestion of Mr. Davis to detach some
10,000 troops to Pemberton, though Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who was in
command of the whole department, advised against this course. The presence
of their President roused the enthusiasm of the soldiers at Murfreesboro
to a high pitch, and many official and social ceremonies served to vary
the festivities planned for the Christmas season. There were balls,
receptions, theatrical entertainments, and one evening, in the presence of
a brilliant throng, General Morgan took unto himself a wife,--the ceremony
being performed by Bishop-General Polk,--and immediately left for Kentucky
on another of the raids that did so much to harass, impede, and annoy the
Union armies.

Rosecrans had learned of the detachment to Pemberton, of Morgan's
departure, and also had been informed that Wheeler had been sent on a
raid. He rightly concluded that the time to strike Bragg was when the
Confederate cavalry was absent, and his three corps set out from