e us. My principal guide had thus far proved reliable,
and I had made particular inquiries of him as to the character of the
road and the country the evening before, and he assured me that there
were no difficult streams to cross and that the road was good; hence
we approached the Chattanooga River at the ferry without any
information as to the real condition of things. Captain Russell had
managed to ferry the last of his command across about one hour
previous to my arrival, but the enemy had seized and run off the boat
before we reached there.

I then ascertained that there was a bridge some seven or eight miles
up the river, near Gaylesville, and procured new guides and pushed on
as rapidly as possible in order to reach the bridge before the enemy
should take possession of it. We had to pass over an old coal-chopping
for several miles, where the timber had been cut and hauled off for
charcoal, leaving innumerable wagon-roads running in every direction,
and the command was so worn out and exhausted that many were asleep,
and in spite of every exertion I could make, with the aid of such of
my officers as were able for duty, the command became separated and
scattered into several squads, traveling in different directions, and
it was not until near daylight that the last of the command had
crossed the river. The bridge was burned, and we proceeded on and
passed Cedar Bluff just after daylight. It now became evident that the
horses and mules could not reach Rome without halting to rest and
feed. Large numbers of the mules were continually giving out. In fact,
I do not think that at that time we had a score of the mules drawn at
Nashville left, and nearly all of those taken in the country were
barefooted, and many of them had such sore backs and tender feet that
it was impossible to ride them; but, in order to get as near as
possible to the force I had sent ahead, we struggled on until about 9
a. m. when we halted and fed our animals. The men, being unaccustomed
to riding, had become so exhausted from fatigue and loss of sleep that
it was almost impossible to keep them awake long enough to feed. We
had halted but a short time, when I was informed that a heavy force of
the enemy was moving on our left, on a route parallel with the one we
were marching on, and was then nearer Rome than we were.