Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

---

[84] apparently the most exposed route, but the shortest, and in reality the best; for there was nothing more dangerous than to defer the reunion of his corps under the protection of this river. Van Cleve moved in the direction of Dyer's Ford via Pealer's Mills, and Palmer in the direction of Reed's Bridge via Gilbert. Wilder, who was recalled in the night from Tunnel Hill, was ordered to cover this movement on the south by marching to the left of Palmer's column. If Bragg had adopted his measures earlier and his troops had marched rapidly, they would have arrived on the flank of that column and surprised Crittenden in the most dangerous operation that can be executed in the presence of the enemy. But they reached very late the positions which had been assigned to them, and the Unionists encountered on the road only Pegram's cavalry: Wilder undertook to keep them in check. A vigorous attack, in which the two parties fought with sabres, drove the Confederates back to the tannery called Leet's tanyard, near the Dalton and Gordon's Mills road, and the Union artillery soon dislodged them from this important position. This engagement cost Wilder about thirty men and Pegram nearly fifty.

Bragg, deceived by the reports brought in by his cavalry, had not been in a hurry to attack the Federals, believing that Crittenden, far from crossing the West Chickamauga, was advancing toward him at once from Ringgold and Gordon's Mills. He decided on the 12th, in the evening, to go and meet him, and enjoined Polk to take the direction of Pea-Vine Church to begin the fight, while Buckner and Walker should support him.

Although these orders, thrice repeated, were of a positive character, Polk believed, as Hill did, that he could disobey his chief. He replied to Bragg in the night that he had taken a strong defensive position, and requested to have reinforcements promptly sent to him. Bragg vainly renewed his injunctions, and when he arrived on the ground on the 13th, in the morning, he found his lieutenant inactive in the position which the latter valued so much. It is already known that the enemy expected by the one and sought by the other was quietly encamped upon the left bank of the Chickamauga: the Confederate skirmishers soon found that out. Still, the enemy was not beyond reach, although protected by the river, and his isolation made his position yet very precarious in