The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 30, In Four Parts. Part 1, Reports. Page: 34
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KY., SW. VA., TENN., MISS., N. ALA., AND N. GA. [CHAP. XLI1.
and trestle bridges were rapidly prepared at Caperton's Ferry, Bridge-
port, mouth of Battle Creek, and Shellmound, and the army, except
cavalry, safely crossed the Tennessee in face of the enemy. By the
8th of September Thomas had moved on Trenton, seizing Frick's and
Stevens' Gaps on the Lookout Mountain; McCook had advanced to
Valley Head and taken Winston's Gap; while Crittenden had crossed
to Wauhatchie, communicating on the right with Thomas, and
threatening Chattanooga by the pass over the point of Lookout
Mountain.
The first mountain barrier south of the Tennessee being success-
fully passed, General Rosecrans decided to threaten the enemy's
communication with his right, while his center and left seized the
gaps and corimanding points of the mountains in front. General
Crittenden's reconnaissance on the 9th developed the fact that the
enemy had evacuated Chattanooga on the day and night previous.
While General Crittenden's corps took peaceable possession of
Chattanooga, the objective point of the campaign, General Rose-
crans, with the remainder of his army, pressed forward through the
difficult passes of the Lookout and Missionary Mountains, apparently
directing his march upon La Fayette and Rome.
On ascertaining these facts, and that General. Burnside was in pos-
session of all East Tennessee above Chattanooga, and hearing that
Lee was being rapidly re-enforced on the Rapidan, it seemed proba-
ble that the enemy had determined to concentrate his forces for the
defense of Richmond, or a new invasion of the North. The slight
resistance made by him in East Tennessee, and his abandonment,
without defense, of so important a position as Chattanooga, gave
plausibility to the reports of spies and deserters from Lee's army of
re-enforcements arriving there from Bragg.
Fearing that General Rosecrans' army might be drawn too far into
the mountains of Georgia, where it could not be supplied, and might
be attacked before re-enforcements could reach it from Burnside, I
sent him, on the 11th, the following telegram :
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, D. C., September 11, 1863-1.35 p. m.
Major-General ROSECRANS,
Chattanooga :
General Burnside telegraphs from Cumberland Gap that he holds all East Tennes-
see above Loudon, and also the gaps of the North Carolina mountains. A cavalry
force is moving toward Athens to connect with you.
After holding the mountain passes on the west, and Dalton, or some other point
on the railroad, to prevent the return of Bragg's army, it will be decided whether
your army shall move farther south into Georgia and Alabama.
It is reported here by deserters that a part of Bragg's army is re-enforcing Lee.
It is important that the truth of this should be ascertained as early as possible.
H. W. HALLECK,
General-in-Chief.
On the same day the following telegram was sent to General Burn-
side:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, D. C., September 11, 1863-2 p. m.
Major-General BURNSIDE,
Cumberland Gap :
I congratulate you on your successes.
Hold the gaps of the North Carolina mountains, the line of the Holston River,
or some point, if there be one, to prevent access from Virginia, and connect with
General Rosecrans, at least with your cavalry.*
* For paragraph, here omitted, see p. 149.34.
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United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 30, In Four Parts. Part 1, Reports., book, 1890; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152978/m1/45/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.