Its strong, sweet odors gave a fillip to his blood, and he pressed his horse to new speed.

He rode without interruption night and day, save a few hours now and then for sleep, and reached the army of Buell which deep in mud was toiling slowly forward.
Buell was not as near to Shiloh as Dick had supposed, but his march had suffered great hindrances.

Halleck, in an office far away in St.Louis, had undertaken to manage the campaign.

His orders to Buell and his command to Grant had been delayed.

Buell, who had moved to the town of Columbia, therefore had started late through no fault of his.
Duck River, which Buell was compelled to cross, was swollen like all the other streams of the region, by the great rains and was forty feet deep.