The National tribune., 1903-11-26

armies then fairly confronted each other;
neither had any strategic experiments to
fear, on flank or rear, for Sills Division
was making a wide and prudent circuit
to get to Buell.. and Dumont was sta
tionary at Frankfort. 1t would have been
fair, square, stand-up fight. Buelfs
strength was less than at any other period
of the eight or 10 days that battle
was imminent. Sill had not gotten up.
The two armies faced each other. not
more than three miles apart The belief
in each army was almost universal, that
on the next morning we would fight. The
troops thought so, and, despite the pour
ing rain and their uncomfortable bivouacs,
they were in high and exultant spirits.
know, for / saw them late in the night,
that some officers of high rank cheer
fully and sanguinely expected battle. On
the next morning, however, Bragg re.
treated to Bryantsvil,e. There was no
undignified haste about this movement The
troops moved off deliberately and in such
order that they could have beer thrown
quickly into line of battle, if it had be-
come necessary. Gen. Bragg manifested
no great anxiety to get away from the
vicinity of the enemy, and Gen. Buell.
certainly displayed no strong desire to de-
tain him.
"Gen. Bragg came to the Western army
with most enviable reputation. He had
already displayed those qualities as an
organizer, a disciplinarian, and military
administrator in which he was unrivalled.
His dashing conduct at Shiloh, and the
courage and ability, there exhibited in
perfection, in which, as a corps command
er, no General excelIed him, had made
him a universal fav0rite. The admirable
method which, when second in command
at COrinth, and really at the head of
affairs, he introduced into all depart
ments; the marvellous skill in discipline
with which ne made of the mob at
Corinth a splendidly ordered, formidable
army, and his mastery evacuation Of the
place. totally deceiving Haleck, caused
him to be regarded as the fit successor
of Albert Sidney Johnston. and the com
ing man of the West. Men waited in
breathless interest the consummation of
such career. But right there it seems
he began to fail. As subordinate, he
had no superior in bravery; as the COM
mander of great army he. apparently.
had no bravery at all. No one now doubts,
l presume, that Gen. Bragg fought at
Perryville with fragment Of his army.
not to win victory, but to check the
enemy and cover his retreat.
ut is not jnfallibly certain that Gen.
Bragg could have defeated Gen. Buell.
Nothing is absolutely certain in military
sense, not even the impregnability of n
work constructed by West Pointer. and
pronounced so by committee Of his class
mates. War is game of various and
varying chances. / think that, under all
the circumstances. and by the rules Of
war, Gen. Bragg should have risked the
chances Of battle, with his entire army
engaged"
SCOUTING AND sKIR,fIsHIyG.
When, on the night of Oct. 10, the army
was concentrated at Harrodsburg, Morgan
was assigned n position six miles from the
town, on the Danville road, to picket the
extreme left flank. The night was very
dark and rainy. The position of the main
bodies of the two armies was distinctly
marked by the long lines of camp fires,
shining the brighter because Of the en-
vironing gloom. Morgan lighted no fires,
and he naturally supposed that any enemy
i'll his immediate front, and on a similar
mission. would exercise a like precau-
ton. Wishing to ascertain what was in
the darkness before him, between him and
the great semicircle made by the enemy's
tires in front of Harrodsburg, he sent
Capt Cnssell to reconnoiter. Cassell re-
returned at daylight and said that small
body OF cavalry was on picket, about a
nile and quarter from Morgan's posi-
ton, and that regiment Of infantry was
few hundred yards beyond the pickets.
Cassell also made the positive statement
that one piece Of artillery had passed
along narrow lane, between the cavalry
picket and the infantry. He had ascer-
tanned this fact by the sense of touch, not
being able to see anything In the intense
darkness. He satisfied himself by feel
Ing the width and depth Of the tracks that
they could have been made only by ar
tillery.
Morgan attacked the pickets, at an early
hour, and drove them back to where Gas
sell had located the infantry. The infan.
try were there. sure enough, and greeted