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[494] which falterings General Polk was a few days thereafter removed from the command of his corps.1 It may be just and proper to state here that some assign as a reason why Polk did not move and attack as ordered, was that he ascertained that Longstreet's right lapped his (Polk's) left front, and to have advanced would have resulted in the slaughter of our own men.2 But to a military mind this cannot operate as a sufficient excuse, because the danger apprehended could have without delay been obviated by proper instructions to his skirmish line and due notification to the troops in his front of his approaching columns.
1 See the charges and specifications preferred by General Bragg against this officer, copies of which are in my possession. Also, General Bragg's reasons, telegraphed to the President at Richmond, October 1, 1863, from near Chattanooga, likewise in my possession.
2 General Polk's assigned reasons for his delay appears in part in the reports of his subordinate commanders, but were not satisfactory to the Commanding General. （General Bragg's official report of the battle, p. 21.)
Richmond, VA. 1883.
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