event, the enemy's strength
would be so much reduced, that all of East Tennessee, as far down as
Knoxville, would be for some time, in possession of the Confederates.
General Morgan's strength, including the portions of General Vaughan's
brigade, was about sixteen hundred and two pieces of artillery. The men
were badly armed and equipped and had been much discouraged by their
late reverses, but reanimated by the presence of their leader, whom they
loved all the more as misfortunes befell them, they were anxious for
battle.

A small frame house upon the left side of the road leading from
Jonesboro' to Greenville, was often pointed out to me subsequently, as
the spot where General Morgan received (as he rode past the column), the
last cheer ever given him by his men. Reaching Greenville about 4 P.M.
on the 3rd of September, he determined to encamp there for the night and
move on Bull's Gap the next day. The troops were stationed on all sides
of the place, and he made his headquarters in town, at the house of Mrs.
Williams. The younger Mrs. Williams left Greenville, riding in the
direction of Bull's Gap at the first rumors of the approach of our
forces, to give, we have always believed, the alarm to the enemy.

The Tennesseeans of Vaughan's brigade (under Colonel Bradford), were
encamped on the Bull's Gap road, and were instructed to picket that road
and the roads to the left. Clark's battalion of Colonel Smith's brigade
and the artillery were encamped on the Jonesboro' road, about five
hundred yards from the town. The remainder of Colonel Smith's brigade
was encamped on the Rogersville road. Colonel Giltner's command was also
stationed in this quarter, and the two picketed all the roads to the
front and right flank. The town, had all instructions been obeyed and
the pickets judiciously placed, would have been perfectly protected. It
has been stated, I know not how correctly, that the enemy gained
admittance to the town, unchallenged, through an unaccountable error in
the picketing of the roads on the left. According to this account, the
enemy, who left Bull's Gap before midnight, quitted the main road at
Blue Springs, equi-distant from Greenville and Bull's Gap, and marched
by the Warrensburg road, until within one mile and a half of the town.

At this point, a by-road leads from the Warrensburg to the Newport road.
The pickets on the Warrensburg road were not stationed in sight of this
point, while on the Newport road