Duck River Bridge. This order was promptly obeyed, and at 7 p. m. Colonel Baird arrived at Duck River Bridge with eight companies and one piece of artillery. Here he assumed command of the post. Soon after or before this two Pennsylvania regiments reported at Duck River Bridge and went into camp.

In the meantime, Manchester and the McMinnville road had been evacuated by General Granger's order, and at Tullahoma the news had been received of cannonading in the direction of Murfreesborough and that the enemy had crossed the railroad and gone toward Shelbyville in large numbers; that Colonel Galbraith had evacuated Shelbyville, being driven from, it, and joined Colonel Baird at Wartrace.

Soon after the dispatch from Colonel Baird arrived that the road had been evacuated, a dispatch was received by me from Major-General Hooker to go to the assistance of Christiana with two good regiments, which place had already been captured several hours.

I answered that I would send such a force forward as I could, that I would have done so before, but not a train had gone north that day.

The Sixty-sixth Ohio had been waiting several hours at that time to go, by my order. The small part of the Seventh Ohio in Tullahoma, numbering nearly a hundred men, was also then ordered to get ready, which was done at once. This was 7 p. m. After this, at 12 o'clock (midnight), another dispatch was received from General Hooker to the senior officer of the Twelfth Corps at Tullahoma, directing him to take two good regiments and to go to Christiana and attack the enemy at daylight. This dispatch stated a train would come to Tullahoma for the troops. The whole force at Tullahoma would not have made two good regiments.

About 1 a. m., October 6, the train came from Normandy, and some 300 of the Sixty-sixth Ohio and 100 of the Seventh Ohio, with one gun of the Ninth Ohio Battery, were started at once on the train.

On arriving at Duck River, the whole line having been evacuated to Murfreesborough, and being in possession of the enemy, probably, it was not deemed advisable to advance with a train before the country had been examined in advance by cavalry, the road in the direction of Christiana running through woods and hills, and there being many curves in it with places favorable for ambushes.

Colonel Baird had some 15 mounted men, and Colonel Galbraith about 200. They were at once ordered to advance in the direction of Wartrace, and scout the country toward Shelbyville.

They started separately, and nothing was heard from them till almost noon of the 6th, when a note was received from Colonel Baird at Wartrace that there were no rebels then there, but that Colonel Galbraith had not scouted any road toward Shelbyville and said he would not. I then ordered the few mounted men yet in camp to proceed at least 7 miles in the direction of Shelbyville on all roads, and return with all speed.

This they did, and on reporting no force in that direction, I deemed it safe to go as far as Wartrace and send Colonels Baird and Galbraith ahead to scour the country.

The train started with the parts of regiments Seventh and Sixty-sixth Ohio. The piece of artillery could not be got on the new train which we were obliged to take. The train proceeded to within half a mile of Wartrace, when a citizen coming out informed me that