General A.J.Smith at that time was in Missouri, with the two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps which had been diverted to that quarter to assist General Rosecrans in driving the rebel General Price out of Missouri.

This object had been accomplished, and these troops, numbering from eight to ten thousand, had been ordered to Nashville.

To these I proposed at first to add only the Fourth Corps (General Stanley), fifteen thousand; and that corps was ordered from Gaylesville to march to Chattanooga, and thence report for orders to General Thomas; but subsequently, on the 30th of October, at Rome, Georgia, learning from General Thomas that the new troops promised by General Grant were coming forward very slowly, I concluded to further reenforce him by General Schofield's corps (Twenty-third), twelve thousand, which corps accordingly marched for Resaca, and there took the cars for Chattanooga.

I then knew that General Thomas would have an ample force with which to encounter General Hood anywhere in the open field, besides garrisons to secure the railroad to his rear and as far forward as Chattanooga.

And, moreover, I was more than convinced that he would have ample time for preparation; for, on that very day, General R.S.Granger had telegraphed me from Decatur, Alabama: I omitted to mention another reason why Hood will go to Tusomnbia before crossing the Tennessee River.