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[430] to Rosecrans's safety — in fact, this was not in the line of his prescribed duty — but proceeded promptly and vigorously to complete the recovery of East Tennessee. To this end, he impelled1 Gen. Shackleford directly on the rear of Cumberland gap; on which Gen. De Courcy simultaneously advanced from London on the north; Burnside following in person two days behind Shackleford, who made a forced march of 60 miles in 52 hours, and thus closed in Gen. Frazier, who with four regiments held the gap, and had refused to quit it while he could, supposing himself able to hold it. But his men were in good part disaffected or discouraged, while the mill whereon he depended for flour was burned2 by two companies of Shackleford's men, who crept through his lines and fired it unperceived. When Burnside arrived,3 Frazier had refused our summons; but he found, soon afterward, good reason to change his mind, and surrendered his 2,000 men and 14 guns. Our cavalry moved thence rapidly eastward; chasing off a small Rebel force under Sam Jones into Virginia, destroying the principal railroad bridges, and completing the recovery of East Tennessee, with the direct loss, in Burnside's command, of barely one man.

Halleck says he now ordered Burnside to concentrate his army on the Tennessee river westward from Loudon, so as to connect with Rosecrans, who had just reached Chattanooga, and that “it was hoped that there would be no further delay in effecting a junction between the two armies, as had been previously ordered.” The military reading of the General-in-Chief having been very extensive, he can probably cite numerous instances wherein the leader of a small army has made haste to unite that army with a large one, which would necessarily absorb it, without having been placed under the orders of its commander but, in the recollection of this writer, such instances are rare. At all events, Burnside did not add another, but continued to diffuse his command throughout East Tennessee, until it had been beaten out very thin, and was thus exposed to be cut up in detail. Col. Foster, in the far east, after one skirmish4 near Bristol, was sharply assailed5 at Blue Springs by Sam Jones, whom he defeated, after two days desultory fighting; talking 150 prisoners and disabling at least that number, with a loss to our side of barely 100.

Shackleford now took post at Jonesboroa, with a part of his command, under Wilcox, at Greenville, with two regiments and a battery, under Col. Israel Garrard, 7th Ohio cavalry, at Rogersville, where they were attacked6 by 1,200 mounted men under Brig.-Gen. W. E. Jones, acting under the orders of Maj.-Gen. Sam Jones, who struck them at day-light, surprising and easily routing them with a loss of 4 guns, 36 wagons, and 750 prisoners, and creating such a panic at Jonesborough and Greenville that Shackleford's men raced back to Bull's gap, 18 miles, while Jones and his party were making equally good time in the opposite direction, fearing that Shackleford would be upon them in overwhelming force if they did not. This back-to-back

1 Sept. 5.

2 Sept. 7.

3 Sept. 9.

4 Sept. 21.

5 Oct. 10.

6 Nov. 6.

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