Edward Alfred Pollard, The lost cause; a new Southern history of the War of the Confederates ... Drawn from official sources and approved by the most distinguished Confederate leaders.

Gen. Frazier was not satisfied of the genuineness of this order; he suspected some trick of the enemy; he had been left under the recent and emphatic impression that East Tennessee was to be held; and he telegraphed in cipher to Gen. Buckner, stating that he had about forty days rations, that he believed he could hold the position, and asking to be informed if his superiour insisted upon the order of evacuation. The order was countermanded within twenty-four hours, and Buckner's last instructions were to hold the Gap.

Knoxville had at this time been abandoned; and Gen. Buckner and his forces were at Loudon, about thirty miles southwest of Knoxville, at the crossing of the Holstein or Tennessee River. Gen. Frazier prepared for a vigorous defence of the Gap. It was not the “easily defensible pass” which President Davis declared it to be. There were three public roads uniting in it: the Virginia Road, leading eastward to Powell's Valley; the Kentucky Road, running through the Gap from Knoxville into Kentucky; and the Harlan Road, leading along the north side of the mountain. In consequence of the broken nature of the country, declivities, ravines, etc., the artillery commanded these roads very imperfectly. The Kentucky Road to the south at various points in its windings could be reached within range of the guns; but neither of the other roads could be commanded with artillery for a greater distance than about four hundred yards. Batteries were placed to defend these approaches. But the character of the ground permitted an enemy to approach in many directions over the spaces between the roads. The line of proper outward defences for the force in Gen. Frazier's command was about two miles in circuit, which comprised the various rifle-pits placed at irregular intervals, as the surface indicated proper points for their location on or near the summit of the mountain. An unfinished block-house in an isolated position, about a mile and a half from the Gap, was defended by one gun. This position had a limited command of the space around it, owing to the steep declivity and broken ground; but as it commanded the works of the Gap, it was important to prevent its occupation by the enemy. The rifle-pits and artillery epaulements were very incomplete, owing to the rocky nature of the ground, the want of tools, and blasting powder, and the small force of workmen that could be spared from other necessary duties. There were several approaches to the Gap by ravines and depressions through which an enemy could throw a large force under cover of darkness or heavy fog. The chief defences had been prepared to meet a force on the north side; and these were the reliance of Gen. Frazier when he expressed the opinion that he would be able to hold the position, as he anticipated an attack only from that direction.

Ten thousand men should have been assigned for the permanent defence of this position. The fact was that the force at Gen. Frazier's command