Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 2.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[385] right to Shelbyville on the left. Acting upon this supposition, he divided Polk's corps, took from it Withers' division, which he sent to reinforce Kirby Smith, and ordered him to go with Cheatham's division to join Hardee at Perryville. His intention was to take command of the three divisions massed in the neighborhood of this village, to fight the only corps of the enemy he expected to find there, then to bring them back to the right, so as to form a junction with Kirby Smith. The latter was to draw near him by ascending the Kentucky as far as the neighborhood of Salvisa, where he expected to find the main body of the Federal army. These movements, ordered on the 7th, were executed at an early hour on the morning of the 8th.

Meanwhile, instead of dividing his columns, Buell kept them as close to each other as the scarcity of water permitted. Persuaded that the enemy had divined his intentions, he took it for granted that the latter would wait for him at Perryville to dispute the possession of the springs we have already mentioned, and he concentrated all his forces to take possession of them. On the 6th, McCook's corps, on the left, had encamped halfway between Bardstown and Macksville; Gilbert's, in the centre, at Springfield; and that of Crittenden, on the right, between Springfield and Lebanon. They were thus in a position to give reciprocal support. On the morning of the 7th, McCook posted himself at Macksville, whence he could march either upon Harrodsburg or Perryville; Crittenden, following the direct road from Lebanon to Danville, which passes at a distance of six kilometres south of Perryville, bivouacked near the point where the cross-road leading to the latter village connects. Gilbert was also approaching this point by the Springfield road, driving Hardee's pickets before him.

A few kilometres before reaching Perryville this road encounters a stream called Doctor's Creek, which, although dry at that time, still presented a few muddy pools in its bed; it was the only water within reach of the Federals. Sheridan, whose division formed the head of Gilbert's column, took possession of it on the evening of the 9th, and placed his outposts along the ridge of the hills which rose on the other side. These hills separated the valley of Doctor's Creek from that of another stream, Chaplin's