on the right.

Kershaw being on the extreme right of the army and next to the river
on the South, could not move until the troops on the left were well
underway, thus leaving us in position until near midnight. Lieutenant
Colonel Rutherford commanded the rear guard of skirmishers, deployed
several hundred yards on either side of the road. Our march was
extremely fatiguing, the roads being muddy and badly cut up by the
trains in our front. The weather was cold and bleaky; the night so
dark that the troops could scarcely see their way, but all night long
they floundered through the mud and slough--over passes and along
narrow defiles, between the mountain and the river to their right--the
troops trudged along, the greater portion of whom were thinly clad,
some with shoes badly worn, others with none. Two brigades of cavalry
were left near the city until daylight to watch the movements of the
enemy. The next day we met General Ranson with his infantry division
and some artillery on his long march from Virginia to reinforce
Longstreet, but too late to be of any material service to the
commanding General. Bragg's orders had been imperative, "to assault
Knoxville and not to await the reinforcement."

Burnside did not attempt to follow us closely, as he was rather
skeptical about leaving his strong positions around Knoxville with the
chances of meeting Longstreet in open field. But strong Federal forces
were on a rapid march to relieve the pressure against Knoxville--one
column from the West and ten thousand men under Sherman were coming up
from Chattanooga, and were now at Loudon, on the Tennessee.

Longstreet continued the march to Rodgersville, some fifty or sixty
miles northeast of Knoxville, on the west bank of the Holston, and
here rested for several days. It was the impression of the troops that
they would remain here for a length of time, and they began
building winter quarters. But Burnside feeling the brace of strong
reinforcements nearing him, moved out from Knoxville a large
detachment in our rear to near Bean Station (or Cross Roads), the one
leading from Knoxville by way of Rutledge, the other from the eastern
side of the Holston and over the mountain on the western side at
Bean's Gap. Longstreet determined to retrace his steps, strike
Burnside a stunning blow, and, if possible, to capture his advance
forces at Bean Station.

Here I will digress a few moments from my narrative to relate an
incident that too