General Halleck while commanding the Department of the Mississippi had had control as far east as a line drawn from Chattanooga north.

My district only embraced West Tennessee and Kentucky west of the Cumberland River.

Buell, with the Army of the Ohio, had, as previously stated, been ordered east towards Chattanooga, with instructions to repair the Memphis and Charleston railroad as he advanced.

Troops had been sent north by Halleck along the line of the Mobile and Ohio railroad to put it in repair as far as Columbus.

Other troops were stationed on the railroad from Jackson, Tennessee, to Grand Junction, and still others on the road west to Memphis.
The remainder of the magnificent army of 120,000 men which entered Corinth on the 30th of May had now become so scattered that I was put entirely on the defensive in a territory whose population was hostile to the Union.