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Paper no. 5.
The army now occupied nearly the arc of a circle described from
Perryville by
Harrodsburg upon
Versailles.
Polk held the centre at
Harrodsburg, with
Heth on his immediate right, reaching to McCown's Ferry on the
Kentucky river.
Stevenson occupied
Versailles on the extreme right, while
Hardie on the left retired slowly upon
Perryville, harassed at every step by the enemy.
Marshall had come up from
Owingsville within supporting distance.
Thus the main object of the late movements was accomplished with trifling loss of men or material.
General Bragg's entire forces were now concentrated and well in hand, in a position of his own selection, and a fair field upon which to operate.
The enemy crossed the
Kentucky river at
Frankfort, and were ambuscaded, and severely handled by
Colonel Scott, who, nothwithstanding, was forced to give way before largely superior forces.
General Bragg concluded that the main attack was coming from this quarter.
It proved to be a great error, and unfortunately led him to violate a first principle of military science by dividing his army in the immediate face of the enemy, undoing in a moment all that the retreat, the sacrifices and the hard work of the last few days had accomplished.
General Smith reinforced with
Withers's division, raising his effective strength, exclusive of cavalry, to more than five and twenty thousand muskets, was sent in the direction of
Frankfort to meet this attack, while
General Bragg, with the remainder of his forces, some sixteen thousand men, was left to check the enemy at
Perryville.
Leaving the banks on the morning of the 8th of October,
General Smith marched to
Versailles, where he learned that only one column of the enemy, 10,000 strong, commanded by
General Sill, had crossed at
Frankfort, and that this column had taken the road for
Lawrenceburg.
In the hopes of capturing it,
Smith proceeded rapidly to that point, while
Withers, who was on the
Salorsa turnpike, a few miles to our left, was ordered to make a detour still further to the left, which would bring him to
Salt river, directly across
Sill's line of march.
If thus intercepted in front and pressed in rear by superior forces,
Sill's command would inevitably be compelled to surrender.
At ten o'clock at night
General Smith encamped within a mile of
Lawrenceburg,,
