The gallant old soldier was in something of a passion because the
theories of his superiors did not coincide with his demonstrations, and
of course the demonstrations had to give way in that case.
Passing Gordon's Mills, our division stretched away on the road toward
La Fayette, and after a day's march bivouacked in a wilderness of wood
and on a sluggish stream different enough from the sparkling waters
which came down by the old camp below Waldron's Ridge. McCook's corps,
they said, having crossed the Tennessee below Chattanooga and advanced
southward on the western side of the Lookout range, was to come through
a gap opposite our present position and join us. Then the army, being
together once more, and having gained Chattanooga by McCook's flank
movement, would return to that point. To get Chattanooga was the object
of the campaign, and the movements since we crossed the river were
simply to assure the safe reunion of the several corps.
The idle days wore on until the afternoon of the 18th of September. Then
"the general" was suddenly sounded from brigade head-quarters, the
regimental buglers took up the signal, and in twenty minutes we were on
the road and moving back toward Gordon's Mills and Chattanooga. No
leisurely march this time, however, but a race which tasked even the
legs of the veterans. Two hours of this brought the command to the crest
of a ridge from which, away to the right, a wide expanse of country lay
in view.
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