I was very loath to send Sherman, because his men needed rest after their long march from Memphis and hard fighting at Chattanooga.

But I had become satisfied that Burnside would not be rescued if his relief depended upon General Granger's movements.
Sherman had left his camp on the north side of the Tennessee River, near Chattanooga, on the night of the 23d, the men having two days' cooked rations in their haversacks.

Expecting to be back in their tents by that time and to be engaged in battle while out, they took with them neither overcoats nor blankets.

The weather was already cold, and at night they must have suffered more or less.

The two days' rations had already lasted them five days; and they were now to go through a country which had been run over so much by Confederate troops that there was but little probability of finding much food.