Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 1

‘ [482] possibly can. Longstreet's force may be larger than was supposed.’ Communication with Burnside was, indeed, quite cut off; Grant knew, from other sources than Halleck, that fighting had begun in East Tennessee, and that Burnside had been driven into Knoxville, and attacked there; but this was all he could learn.

Troops had been moving night and day, ever since Sherman's arrival at Bridgeport, but the bridge of boats at Brown's ferry was frail, and, although it was used without the intermission of an hour, Sherman's passage was slow. The roads from the ferry to Chattanooga were greatly cut up, as well as encumbered with the wagons of other troops, stationed along the road; but on the afternoon of the 20th, Sherman reached Hooker's headquarters, and there met Grant's orders for a general attack on the following day. It was simply impossible for him to obey. Only one division, John E. Smith's, was in position. Ewing was still in Trenton, and the other two were toiling along the miserable roads from Shell-mound to Chattanooga. No troops were ever in better condition or labored harder to fulfil their part. But Sherman was obliged to notify Grant of the impossibility of performing it, and the attack was again postponed.

To Halleck, Grant said: ‘I ordered an attack here, two weeks ago, but it was impossible to move artillery;’ and, now, Thomas had to borrow teams from Sherman, in order to move a portion of his artillery to the places where it was to be used. Sherman had used almost superhuman efforts to get up, and still was delayed; and Thomas could take only about one gun with each battery. ‘I have never ’