CHAPTER XII.
FROM MUNFORDVILLE TO PERRYVILLE—BRAGG'S SITUATION AT MUNFORDVILLE—EMBARRASSING CIRCUMSTANCES CONFRONTING HIM—CRITICISMS ON HIS STRATEGY-A REVIEW OF THE FACTS-DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE ARMY IN THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY AND STATE OF FEELING-ABSENCE OF SUPPLIES— NECESSITY OF PROCURING THEM—HIS MOVEMENT TO BARDSTOWN FOR THIS PURPOSE AND FOR CO-OPERATION WITH GENERAL SMITH— THEIR WIDE SEPARATION—MESSAGES TO SMITH-VISIT TO DANVILLE. LEXINGTON AND FRANKFORT-INAUGURATION OF GOVERNOR HAWES—BUELL'S ARRIVAL IN LOUISVILLE AND UNEXPECTED MOVEMENT-SILL'S FEINT ON FRANKFORT-BRAGG'S SUDDEN EVACUATION OF FRANKFORT—HIS FATAL MISINTERPRETATION OF BUELL'S MOVEMENT-CONCENTRATION OF ARMY DEFECTIVE—MOVEMENTS PRECEDING BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE.
THUS far General Bragg's expedition had been a success. He had overcome obstacles of which few unacquainted with the character of the country and the inadequacy of his equipment in transportation and subsistence can form an accurate conception. Without a base, and chiefly dependent upon the country through which he had passed for his supplies, he had marched 200 miles upon the flank of a superbly equipped and veteran army of nearly double his strength and had thrown himself across General Buell's path, with Louisville less than seventy-five miles distant and Buell moving on him from Bowling Green.
The situation and General Bragg's strategy have been the subject of much commentary by military critics as
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