At this point Sherman came up, having reached Graysville with his troops, where he found Palmer had preceded him.  Palmer had picked up many prisoners and much abandoned property on the route.  I went back in the evening to Graysville with Sherman, remained there over night and did not return to Chattanooga until the following night, the 29th.  I then found that Thomas had not yet started Granger, thus having lost a full day which I deemed of so much importance in determining the fate of Knoxville.  Thomas and Granger were aware that on the 23d of the month Burnside had telegraphed that his supplies would last for ten or twelve days and during that time he could hold out against Longstreet, but if not relieved within the time indicated he would be obliged to surrender or attempt to retreat.  To effect a retreat would have been an impossibility.  He was already very low in ammunition, and with an army pursuing he would not have been able to gather supplies.

Finding that Granger had not only not started but was very reluctant to go, he having decided for himself that it was a very bad move to make, I sent word to General Sherman of the situation and directed him to march to the relief of Knoxville.  I also gave him the problem that we had to solve—­that Burnside had now but four to six days supplies left, and that he must be relieved within that time.

Sherman, fortunately, had not started on his return from Graysville, having sent out detachments on the railroad which runs from Dalton to Cleveland and Knoxville to thoroughly destroy that road, and these troops had not yet returned to camp.  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.  They did, however, succeed in capturing some flour.  They also found a good deal of bran in some of the mills, which the men made up into bread; and in this and other ways they eked out an existence until they could reach Knoxville.