General Buell had left Corinth about the 10th of June to march upon Chattanooga; Bragg, who had superseded Beauregard in command, sent one division from Tupelo on the 27th of June for the same place.  This gave Buell about seventeen days’ start.  If he had not been required to repair the railroad as he advanced, the march could have been made in eighteen days at the outside, and Chattanooga must have been reached by the National forces before the rebels could have possibly got there.  The road between Nashville and Chattanooga could easily have been put in repair by other troops, so that communication with the North would have been opened in a short time after the occupation of the place by the National troops.  If Buell had been permitted to move in the first instance, with the whole of the Army of the Ohio and that portion of the Army of the Mississippi afterwards sent to him, he could have thrown four divisions from his own command along the line of road to repair and guard it.

Granger’s division was promptly sent on the 4th of September.  I was at the station at Corinth when the troops reached that point, and found General P. H. Sheridan with them.  I expressed surprise at seeing him and said that I had not expected him to go.  He showed decided disappointment at the prospect of being detained.  I felt a little nettled at his desire to get away and did not detain him.

Sheridan was a first lieutenant in the regiment in which I had served eleven years, the 4th infantry, and stationed on the Pacific coast when the war broke out.  He was promoted to a captaincy in May, 1861, and before the close of the year managed in some way, I do not know how, to get East.  He went to Missouri.  Halleck had known him as a very successful young officer in managing campaigns against the Indians on the Pacific coast, and appointed him acting-quartermaster in south-west Missouri.  There was no difficulty in getting supplies forward while Sheridan served in that capacity; but he got into difficulty with his immediate superiors because of his stringent rules for preventing the use of public transportation for private purposes.  He asked to be relieved from further duty in the capacity in which he was engaged and his request was granted.  When General Halleck took the field in April, 1862, Sheridan was assigned to duty on his staff.  During the advance on Corinth a vacancy occurred in the colonelcy of the 2d Michigan cavalry.  Governor Blair, of Michigan, telegraphed General Halleck asking him to suggest the name of a professional soldier for the vacancy, saying he would appoint a good man without reference to his State.  Sheridan was named; and was so conspicuously efficient that when Corinth was reached he was assigned to command a cavalry brigade in the Army of the Mississippi.  He was in command at Booneville on the 1st of July with two small regiments, when he was attacked by a force full three times as numerous as his own.  By very skilful manoeuvres and boldness of attack he completely routed the enemy.  For this he was made a brigadier-general and became a conspicuous figure in the army about Corinth.  On this account I was sorry to see him leaving me.  His departure was probably fortunate, for he rendered distinguished services in his new field.