ORs: (CS) Gen. Braxton Bragg to Maj.-Gen. E. K. Smith - July 20, 1862

War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Series 1, Volume 17, Part 2, Page 651-652

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT No. 2,
Tupelo Miss
July 20, 1862.

Maj. Gen. E. KIRBY SMITH,
C’ommanding, &c., Knoxville, Teun.:

GENERAL:
Your dispatch announcing General Buell's arrival opposite Chattanooga was received and answered yesterday.* Confronted
here by a largely superior force strongly intrenched, it will be impossible for me to do more than menace and harass the enemy from this quarter, as we constantly do with our cavalry by driving in his outposts and capturing his foraging parties and all stragglers from his lines. The fact is we are fearfully outnumbered in this department, the enemy having at least two to our one in the field, with a comparatively short line, upon which he may concentrate. With the division from here, the new levies from Alabama and Georgia, and the 4,000 from among which I authorized General McCown to stop and appropriate, I have hoped you would be able to cope with General Buell’s force, especially as he would have to cross a broad and deep river in your immediate presence. That hope still exists; but I must urge on you the propriety of assuming command in person at Chattanooga. The officer I sent you, I regret to say, cannot be trusted with such a command, and I implore you not to intrust him indeed with any important position. New Madrid fell by his errors and want of decision and firmness, as is supposed, while other prominent instances and evidences of his want of capacity and nerve for a separate, responsible command have just been brought to my notice. His high rank constraining me to send him with his division, I had no alternative at the time. I am left in doubt, from what I can learn, whether yours is a separate command, or still, as formerly, a part of General Johnston’s old department and hence embraced within my command. Can you enlighten me by copies of any orders or instructions you may have? My only desire is to know the precise limits of my responsibilities, not to interfere in the least with your operations and command, as you must know best when and how to act, and have my fullest confidence.

That was a gallant, brilliant operation of Forrest’s, and has given us one of the most obnoxious of the enemy’s leaders. Such successful efforts deserve immediate reward, and I will cheerfully meet with you in recommending Colonel Forrest. This affair, added to his gallantry at Shiloh, where he was severely wounded, mark him as a valuable soldier.

We have driven off the enemy, badly crippled, from Vicksburg, but they are probably organizing for a land attack in force. Curtis has escaped from Arkansas and reached the Mississippi in safety. He will now be enabled to unite against us.

Respectfully, general, your obedient servant,

BRAXTON BRAGG.

See Series I, Vol. XVI, Part II, p. 730.