The National tribune., 1906-11-22

termaster he declined to fill the requi-
sition, and wrote himself letter Civ
ing the reasons. Then as commander
of the company he wrote to the Post
Quartermaster an indignant letter
denying his conclusions in the latter
office, and so he kept on until he got
himself SO mixed up in his dual capaci-
ty that he vert to the Post Commander
for relief ''~ell, Mr.. Bragg" said the
latter, after looking over the matter a
little, you have quarreled with every
officer in the army, and now you are
quarreling with yourself; l cannot help
you
Bragg had open quarrels with all his
subordinate officers, had preferred seri-
Gus charges against Lieut.-Gen. Polk,
s'aj.-Gen. Hindman and others, had
niIe it so unbearabIe for Hill that the
latre> sought a transfer. had virtually
Sriveh Forrest out of his army. and
had srsained his relations with Long
stSas< G. the breaking 7 int.
>ss.G grngg Might Have Done.
The efcC Bragg had received was
vfSY far froS. being irreparable and
such first-claSS commanders as Grant
Sherman, Sheridan and Rosecrans
would not have regarded II as really
serious. If Bragg had possessed the
genius of any one of these men he
would certainly have withdrawn his
army from in front of Chattanooga,
thrown ii across Lookout Mountain, or
even moved it around the nose of the
mountain in the night, cooped up
Hooker's force, together with that of
the two brigades at Browns Ferry
compelled their surrender, and then
taken the road to Nashville. The Army
of the Cumberland in its enfeebled con-
dition could not have taken advantage
of his absence from its front; he would
not have left any supplies worth whilo
for II TO capture: at most ii could not
have gone farther than Ringgold, and
would eventually have been forced to
surrender, all avenues TO the north hav-
ing been cut off If Bragg had crossed
Lookout Mountain as far south as the
route which McCook had followed this
would have brought him in a few
days to Bridgeport, anu effected more
fatal sealing up of the Army of the
Cumberland than anything that had
gone before. The advantages of this
plan had been pointed out by the Con-
federate officers and those who were
opposed to Jefferson Davis made much
capital cut of the allegation that Davis
had interfered with Bragg's carrying it
out The records, however seem to
indicate that Davis urged this plan up
on Bragg, who rejected 1t. Bragg knew
that Sherman was coming up from
Memphis, but that his progress was
very slow, that he was still far down
the Tennessee River below Mussel
Shoals, and it would be many days be-
fore ne would reach Bridgeport Grant
had seen the necessity of Sherman s
hurrying on to Chattanooga, and had
sent the noted Corp'l Pike on a perilous
Journey down the Tennessee to meet
him. The orders which Corpl Pike
bore were written with Grants custom
ary clearness and precision, and had
an effect upon his intelligent lieuten-
ant, Sherman, that volumes could not
have surpassed The orders read:
Drop everything east of Bear Creek
and move with your entire force to-
wards Stevenson until you receive fur
ther orders" Corpl Pike had left his
skin at the Mussel Shoals, and struck
ac1G.s fne country TO Tuscumbia, where
he had the luck to find Gen. Blair, who
In few minutes, satisfied himself as
TO the messenger and the importance