Somewhere in Western Tennessee
Thursday, 5 Nov 1863

Dear Diary,

Well, we're on the march again, and there's 
little doubt where we are headed - it's going 
to be over in Chattanooga, where the Army of 
the Cumberland has got itself in a fine fix.  
I knew the garrison duty we had in and around 
Vicksburg was too good to last for long.

Seems that back in late September, General 
Rosecrans and his army got beaten real bad at 
a place called Chickamauga.  Word has it that 
the Rebs had sent General Longstreet's corps 
by railroad all the way from Virginia to 
reinforce Braxton Bragg.  Anyway, on the 19th 
of September, Bragg attacked.  Our boys did 
pretty well on the first day, but from what I 
can get out of the newspapers and the rumors 
around camp, the second day was a real disaster.  
A whole division moved out of our line, shifting 
to the right, and opened a hole big enough to 
drive a locomotive through, right in the center 
of our line.  The Rebs found the hole, and by 
the time they were finished the whole Army of 
the Cumberland had been driven back into 
Chattanooga, and were pretty much surrounded.

There's been some big changes in the command 
structure as a result.  Lincoln has apparently 
lost trust in Rosecrans, and had him relieved. 
General Grant was ordered to Chattanooga to 
look things over, and he's pretty much in charge 
there now.  Reckon that' why were heading his 
way - he knows that us Ohio boys know how to 
fight!  He's already broken the Confederate 
seige lines, and rumor has it that even the 
troops with General Burnside over in east 
Tennessee are headed to Chattanooga as well.  
When we all get in place, by my figuring, we'll 
have 3 armies in place - nearly 100,000 men.  
That should be more than enough to handle 
whatever the Johnnies have surrounding the 
place.

Our advance started off real slow - we were 
moving along the rail lines, repairing them as 
we went.  It takes a lot of work to repair a 
rail line that's been properly destroyed.  The 
Rebs had pulled up the rails, and made a bonfire 
out of the ties.  When the fires were good and 
hot, the piled the rails on to heat them, then 
twisted them up so they were  unuseable.  We 
pretty much had to lay new lines as we  marched!  
Maybe after all this is over, I'll go into the 
railroad business!

Our advance has speeded up over the last few 
days.  Seems that Grant wants us now - he 
apparently told Sherman to forget about the 
railroad, and get to Chattanooga as fast as 
possible. That's meant some pretty hard marching - 
old Cump hates to be late for a party!  If we 
keep moving at this rate, I reckon we'll be close 
to Chattanooga before the end of the month - and 
I don't doubt there be another big battle for the 
place.  After all, it's right on the Tennessee 
River, and used to be a pretty important river 
port and rail junction.  Of course, the last few 
years have kinda lessened it's commercial 
activity, if you know what I mean.

Our advance through West Tennessee has been 
pretty much unopposed. There's Reb cavalry under 
Forrest operating in the neighborhood, but it's 
pretty obvious he doesn't have the numbers to 
stop us.  More of a distraction, than anything 
else.  Our own cavalry doesn't stand much of a 
chance against him, so they mainly limit 
themselves to patrolling the flanks and clearing 
our advance.  The first sign of Forrest's 
troopers, and they hightail it back to the main 
army.  Who ever saw a dead cavalryman, anyway!

Well, got to get some sleep.  I'm sure we'll be 
on the move again before daybreak.