Henry W. Halleck to William Starke Rosecrans, November 19, 1862
Cincinnati, Ohio, November 19, 1862.
Maj. Gen. W. S. ROSECRANS, Nashville, Tenn. :
Bruce has been ordered. I hope rebels will fight in Tennessee, but doubt it, unless it bein eastern part. With your forces in front, it seems to me, and the present force at Bowling Green and Columbus, a regiment of cavalry about Jamestown and another about Burkesville is sufficient to cover that part of the country. This disposition, with Bruce at Hopkinsville, a force of Grangerâs command at Somerset and Big Hill, a larger one at Crab Orchard, with the rest in reserve at points in rear, seems to me all that is advisable till you make your move or till depots are established on the Cumberland. It will be next to impossible to maintain a force of any great strength on the Cumberland this winter until it can be supplied by water. âLhe roads will soon become impassable, and the country will supply little. This disposition will enable me to concentrate against any raid, through Cumberland Gap or gaps to the westward, designed to reach the blue-grass region. Short of that the enemy will not stop in force, as he cannot subsist. Morganâs division has been withdrawn from the Kanawha, and the Tennessee regiments sent to you; the remainder down the Mississippi. No more can be withdrawn at present. Nothing new in this section or eastward.
H. G. WRIGHT, Major-General, Commanding.
November 19, 1862â10.30 p. m. Colonel STAGER:
Two small skirmâshes Sunday and yesterday near Nashville; not much damage done. Bragg and Buckner at Murfreesborough Sunday.
Onur. XXXII.) CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.âUNION. (6)
Bragg commands main body. Rebels believed make stand at Tullahoma. Rebels receiving re-enforcements; fortifying Tullahoma. One division at Murfreesborough. Rosecrans sent a number of rebel women outside lines.
WASHINGTON, November 20, 1862. Major-General WRIGHT, Cincinnati:
GENERAL: Your letter of November 15, in relation to the Blind Asylum at Louisville, is received. It is by no means satisfactory. You were directed to restore that building to the blind, and to occupy other buildings for hospital purposes. You have not obeyed the orders of the War Department. It is expected that these orders will be obeyed without further delay.
Is there any necessity for crowding all the sick and wounded into Louisville? It seems to me that it would be much better to leave at least a part at Bowling Green, Danville, &c. Surgeons, for their own convenience, are usually anxious to concentrate everything in the larger cities. Where there is not a very plain necessity for this they should be overruled.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
General-in- Chief,