Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-03-23
rms RATTLE OF snILoE1.
6sfasorGf 1DoFE's Official Egess0rf-sGelsfe
Ezessfs Of TerinesseGIis.


ISkAmoIsi Correspondence Of Rockville Register
/ could not furnish your readers with anything
half 80 attractive as the unpublished report Of
General Polk, which invests him and every Ten
nessean Of his command with imperishable hon
or. It's we'll to have general whose dignity
and truth are unassailabls enc who is never
Tnisled by fsttery on the one hand, nor BY timid-
ity e tha other 1t is we'll, too, for men to
haye eader, not only as fearless ss Cesar.
but whocan make sheir deeds memorable ia Of
tcial reports, Of such excellence that they will
ever constitute choice pages in the history Of our
country. An ambitious officer and soldier is Pc
cuhRrlY fortunate who, distinguished in Polk's
corps, becomes tie subject of one Of his polish
ca Sentences. Since l copy from voluminous
menuseFpts, which 1 can only use for 8 few
ssuTs, am limited to General Polk's report, as
fellows:
It was resolved by the commander-in-eh chief,
General Johnston, 10 attack the enemy in his
position on the Tennessee river if possible at
daybresk on fhe 5,h Of April. bIy corps con
| sisted Of two divisions Of two brigades each,
I nmanded respectively by Msjor-Gen
/ setham snd BrgsdieT-General Clarke, and
I e IS be eycepdonof three Teginents-oDe from
u siana, Mississippi and Arkansas, respective
/ vas composed Of Tennesseans. Eisjo Gen
~ Cheatham's division wss On outpost duty,
at and near Bethel, on the Mobile and Ohio rail-
| Pihsburg landing, on the river, for the purpose
Of joining in the contemplated attack. On the
/ Sd Of April l was directed to march 50 much of
my corps as was still at Corinth, toward th5
same point. The route to be taken was that
pursued by the corps Of General Hardee, over
the ridge and back roads, and 1 was ordered to
march so as to allow sn interval Of half an hour
between the two corps. This order was direct
| ed to observe until / reached Mickis's On
reaching Miekie's my instructions were to halt
TO allow the corps Of General Bragg, whose
route fell into ours at that point, to fall in and
follow in the immediate rear of General Hsrdee
| The plan Of battle wes, that the corps of Gen.
Hsrdee should form the front line, that of Gen.
! Bragg the second, my corps aud that Of General
BEechiHridge to constitute the third reserve. i
maintained the interval ordered between Gen
! Hardee's and my corps during the night Of the
! 81 aud the following day, and halted the head
OF my column at the cross roads at Mickie's
about dayk on the 4th, according to iustruc-
/ tons, my column being well up. At Miekie's,
we were about y miles from the place st which
our line Of battle was 20 be Termed, and here
the head Of Gen. Bragg corps also bivOuaced
on the same night At shree o'clock on the fol-
/ lowing, Saturday the sta, the whole Of my
command was under arms, in waiting for the
road, which it could not take, as it was occupied
| by the troops Of Gen. Bragg which were fling
Il was now manifest that the attack at day
break could not be made, that the troops could
not reach their positions in time, and that the
failure was owing to the condition Of the roads,
which was exceedingly bad. in consequence of
the heavy rains which had fallen.
took position early in the morning asar
the forks of the road to wait for the troop; Of
Gen. Bragg to pass. While there, at 10 A. N,
Gems. A. s. Johnston and BaauregsId, with
their staffs, rode up from the rear, and hating
opposite me, gave me orders to move promptly
in the rear of Gen. Bragg, 50 that might give
the road to Gen. Breckinridge. who was to fol-
low me, coming in from Gen. Blagg's route.
was also ordered to halt my column one aud
half miles in the rear Of the place Of which
Gen. Bragg's line of battle crossed the road, and
to deploy my corps 20 the left on q parallel TO
that Of Gen Bragg, Gen. BIeckjnri6g5 having
bsen ordered to halt at the same point and de-
ploy his corps TO the right, with his left resting
Oh my right
Il was near two o'clock before tho whole of
Gen. Brsgg's corps had passed. shea put my
column in motion, and rode to She front. Pro
eeediag half a mile, I sent Lieut. Richmond,
my Aid-de-Camp, forward to ascertain the point
at which Gen. Br8gg's line would cross the T0ed,
snd to measure back for the place / was TO halt
and deploy This he did, and on reaching the
place, Lieut. Richmond informed me that the
road l was pursuing ran into that across which
Gen. Bragg was forming at sn obsuse angle. II
became necessary, then, before / could form, TO
ascertain the general direction of the line in
front of me. To effect this, j sent forward my
Inspector General Blake, now Of Rockville
s. L. and leaving q staff officer to halt my col
umn at the proper place, l proceeded myself 10
aid in the reconnaissance. had not advanced |
far before l came upon Gen. Ruggies, Wh0 COM !
msnded Gen. Bragg's left, deplOying hi5 troops, |
Having ascertained the direction Of the linei
did not wait for bin to complete it. bat returned
to the head Of my column to give the neces-
sary orders.
By this time It was near four o'clock, and oa
arriving was informed that General Bsaufe-
gard desired to see me Immediately. 1 rode
forward at once to his headquarters, where l
found General Bragg and himself in converse
ton. He said, with some feeling, " / am very
much disappointed at the delay which has occur
red in getting the troops into position" l re-
piled, So am l. sir; but, so far as 1 am coz
earned, my orders are to form another line, and
that line must first be established before l can
form upon IT," 1 continued F" 1 reacbed
Miekie's at nightfsll yesterday, whence I could
not move, because Of the troops which were
before me, until 2 P N. to-day. ! then prompt
ly followed the column IN fr0ns OF me- and have
been in position to form upon it 50 soon as its
line was established" He said he regretted tha
delay exceedingly, IS it would make II neees-
sary TO forego the attack altogether, thst our
success depended upon onT surprising the enc
my. that it was now impossible and we mu5t
fall back to C0rinih. Here General johnston
came up and asked what was the matter
General Beauregard repeated what lie had SAID
to me. General Johnston remarked that this
would never do, and proceeded to assign reasons
for the opinion. He then asked what l thought
Of it. Ireplied that my troops were in IS good
condition IS they had ever been, that they were
eager for the battle; that to retire now would
operate iujuriously upon them, and thought we
ought to attack.
General Breckenridge, whose troops were IN
the rear, and by this time had arrived upon the
ground, here joined u.s. and, after some discus
sion, it was decided to postpone further move
ment till the following day, and to make the
attack at daybreak.
1 then proceeded to dispose Of my divisionsi
Cheatham having arrived according to an al
Eerstion in the programme, and was blv0uaeed
for the night At the appointed hOHr OF the
morning ofthe 9Th, my troops We're moved for
ward, and s1en as they were freed from An OBJ
struetion formed By thieket of undeTbrUsh,
they were formed in columns Of hrigadas. and
pressed onward to the support of the second
| line. Gen. Clarke's division was in front We
had not preceded far before the first hne, un-
| der Gen HaTdee, was under fire. Bragg was
also engaged.
The frst order received by me was from Gen.
Johnston, who had ridden to the front to watch
the opening operations, and who, as comman-
der-in-ehief, seemed deeply impressed With the
responsibilities Of his position. Il was observed
that he entered upon his work with tbs ardor
and energy Of true soldier, and the vigor with
which he pressed forward his troops, gave SIS,
saTsnee that his persistent determination would
close the day with glorious victory. The or
der was to send him brigade to the right, for
the support Of Gen. Bragg line, then hotly en-
gagged. The brigade OF Gen Stuart, Of Gen.
Clsrke's division was Immediately dispatched to
him, and was led By him in person to the point
requiring support. was then ordered by Gen.
Beauregard to send one Of the brigades Of my
rear division to sho support Of Gen BIagg's lett
which was pressed by tho enemy. Orders were
given to that effect to Gen. Cheathsn, who
took charge Of the brigade in person, and exc
euted the 4noveoent nromptlY. nv two re-