more than 2,000 men ever appeared on the field of its operations to oppose it. It was not the numbers of the enemy that made its service difficult and creditable, but it was the large extent of country it occupied, the length of the lines it had to guard, and the difficulty of supplying it. Those lines had still to be held in a further advance and with no less force to make them secure, for the force which endangered them had been largely increased by the transfer of a large part of the enemy's cavalry to the north side of the Tennessee River after, the evacuation of Corinth and by the organization of an additional force of guerrillas throughout Middle Tennessee and North Alabama and in the southwestern portion of Kentucky.

The limited force available for a further advance into the enemy's country was not, however, at the time of my arrival, the difficulty, for undoubtedly it was superior to the force which the enemy at that moment had in East Tennessee. Experience has shown what might have been deduced from reason, that if the movement could have been made without serious resistance while the enemy was yet inferior in force, it could have had no permanent result with no more troops than I had. The advance of 60,000 veteran rebel troops through a friendly population into Kentucky, where they undoubtedly met many friends, has been considered bold, and must have proved fatally disastrous to them but for their precipitate retreat. I know no reason why 25,000 or 30,000 men should be sufficient to advance with any greater prospect of a permanent advantage into an exhausted and comparatively barren country and in as close proximity to the whole power of the enemy. It was my error to believe at that time that the thing was practicable, and I did not represent it otherwise when I was assigned to the execution of it; but I must say also, in extenuation, that I did not anticipate that the enemy was to be left so unemployed at other points that he could devote his greatest effort against my enterprise. Besides, I regarded it as in the highest degree important and I supposed that no large force could be spared for it.

However, at the time of my arrival with my army in North Alabama the immediate obstacle to the execution of the first step, the capture of Chattanooga, was that of supplies and the means of crossing the Tennessee river. The means to overcome these difficulties had to be created, for they did not exist. The lumber had to be sawed and a bridge built, and supplies for the troops had to be brought, for the country was destitute of them. The country between Decatur and Huntsville and extending up into Middle Tennessee is a cultivated and productive one; but as far north as the Tennessee line, and even including the southern tier of the counties of Tennessee, it is cultivated mainly in cotton. The planters never produce more than an ample supply of meat and corn for their own use and not always that. Farther north Tennessee produces considerable quantities of surplus provisions, but not enough to supply the demand farther south, as is shown by fact that large quantities of produce from the Northwestern States have annually found a market at Nashville. The demand upon the surplus provisions of Tennessee had been increased by the rebellion, which cut off the supply from the Northwest, and by the armies, rebel and Union, which during the winter and spring of 1862 fed upon the country to a considerable extent. North Alabama particularly was left in a condition to need the necessaries of life, instead of affording subsistence for an army. East of Huntsville the spurs of the Cumberland Mountains run down nearly to the river, leaving only here and there a narrow valley or cove of arable land. The whole country is rough and almost