The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 8: Soldier Life and Secret Service.
Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed.

[206] Their field operations, from beginning to end, extended through seven States—Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, in all of which they fought important battles. Some of their divisions and brigades operated in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.

Operations in the West opened early in 1861, with St. Louis and the Ohio River as primary bases. By the summer of 1862, armies under Halleck in Missouri, under Grant in Tennessee, and under Buell in Kentucky had pushed their way hundreds of miles southward. These operations involved much marching, but, in view of later experiences, were not marked with such peculiar incidents as to claim attention here.

In September, 1862, occurred a march which alarmed the North much as did Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania the following year. General Don Carlos Buell's troops occupied points in Tennessee. The Confederates, under General Bragg, so threatened his rear that he was obliged to abandon his position. Then ensued a veritable foot-race between the two armies, on practically parallel roads, with Louisville as the goal. Buell reached the city just in advance of his opponent —both armies footsore and jaded from constant marching and frequent skirmishing.

An early march, and one well worthy of remark, was that ordered and directed by General Grant, in the fall of 1862. The objective point was the rear of Vicksburg. His army moved in two columns—one from La Grange, Tennessee, under his own personal command; the other from Memphis, Tennessee, under General Sherman. Their advance reached the neighborhood of Grenada, Mississippi, having marched a distance of one hundred miles. Further progress was stayed by the capture of Holly Springs, Mississippi, in their rear, with all its ammunition stores and commissary supplies, by the Confederate general, Forrest. As a consequence, a retrograde march was inevitable.