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

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[233] divisions to carry them over the same road in an opposite direction. This going and coming, devised it seems, to delude the Federals, diminished by twelve thousand more combatants the forces which might have operated against Burnside. Longstreet, who arrived at Sweetwater in the evening of the 9th, had only sixteen thousand infantry and five thousand mounted men to take the field. Since Bragg judged these forces sufficient, he had done better had he not displaced Stevenson, and had acted wisely by causing Longstreet to go with one division only.

The latter is detained until the 13th by the necessity of collecting provisions and of organizing his train; besides, he does not find the number of teams which would be indispensable. But time is pressing, and the loss of these few days may be fatal to the Confederates, because, on the one hand, Burnside is on the alert, Longstreet's movements having been promptly reported to him, and on the other hand, which is a more serious matter, Sherman is rapidly advancing, and as early as the 14th the heads of his columns are at Bridgeport. Grant, on the 5th, hearing of the departure of Longstreet, would like to avail himself of this event to attack two days later his adversary, without waiting for the Army of the Tennessee. But although he had brought into requisition all the horses and mules, even the officers' horses, to put to Thomas' artillery, the latter had signified to him that his army was not in a condition to move, and, upon the advice of his brave lieutenant, Grant had renounced his design. He waited only with the more impatience for the occasion to make up for this disappointment, and wrote to Burnside to hold on for a week between Kingston and Knoxville, promising him to interfere at the expiration of that time in such a way as to compel Longstreet to give up his design. Burnside—whom Halleck very unjustly accused of indolence and indecision, for he had, on the contrary, up to that time proved himself obstinate—perfectly understood the part that the general interest of the cause imposed upon him. He could attempt to check Longstreet on the Tennessee, but he thought it preferable to retire, step by step, before him, even if it were necessary to sacrifice Kingston, so as to draw him as far as possible from Bragg, thus causing his campaign to be protracted, and giving Sherman time to rejoin their common chief. The latter,