had passed Eastport, Mississippi, that
rations were probably on their way from St. Louis by boat for supplying
his army, and requesting him to send a gunboat to convoy them; and to
Thomas, suggesting that large parties should be put at work on the
wagon-road then in use back to Bridgeport.

On the morning of the 21st we took the train for the front, reaching
Stevenson Alabama, after dark. Rosecrans was there on his way north.
He came into my car and we held a brief interview, in which he described
very clearly the situation at Chattanooga, and made some excellent
suggestions as to what should be done. My only wonder was that he had
not carried them out. We then proceeded to Bridgeport, where we stopped
for the night. From here we took horses and made our way by Jasper and
over Waldron's Ridge to Chattanooga. There had been much rain, and the
roads were almost impassable from mud, knee-deep in places, and from
wash-outs on the mountain sides. I had been on crutches since the time
of my fall in New Orleans, and had to be carried over places where it
was not safe to cross on horseback. The roads were strewn with the
debris of broken wagons and the carcasses of thousands of starved mules
and horses. At Jasper, some ten or twelve miles from Bridgeport, there
was a halt. General O. O. Howard had his headquarters there. From this
point I telegraphed Burnside to make every effort to secure five hundred
rounds of ammunition for his artillery and small-arms. We stopped for
the night at a little hamlet some ten or twelve miles farther on. The
next day we reached Chattanooga a little before dark. I went directly
to General Thomas's headquarters, and remaining there a few days, until
I could establish my own.

During the evening most of the general officers called in to pay their
respects and to talk about the condition of affairs. They pointed out
on the map the line, marked with a red or blue pencil, which Rosecrans
had contemplated falling back upon. If any of them had approved the
move they did not say so to me. I found General W. F. Smith occupying
the position of chief engineer of the Army of the Cumberland. I had
known Smith as a cadet at West Point, but had no recollection of having
met him after my graduation, in 1843, up to this time. He explained the
situation of the two armies and the topography of the country so plainly
that I could see it without an inspection. I found that he had
established a saw-m