The success of Ord and Hurlburt was so complete that Grant believed
Van Dorn's army should have been destroyed.(14)
Rosecrans did not move from Corinth until the morning of the 5th of October, and then not fast or far enough to overtake Van Dorn in the throes of battle with Ord and Hurlburt or in time to cut off his retreat by another route. Rosecrans gave as an excuse the exhausted condition of his troops after the battle of the 4th. At 2 P.M., the last day of the battle, he was certain the enemy had decided to retreat, yet he directed the victorious troops to proceed to their camps, provide five days' rations, take food and rest, and be ready to move early the next morning.(15) McPherson, having arrived with a fresh brigade, could have been at once pushed upon the rear of Van Dorn's exhausted troops. Rosecrans' army went into camp again in the afternoon of the 5th, while Ord and Hurlburt were fighting their battle. Although the pursuit was resumed by Rosecrans on the 6th, and thereafter continued to Ripley, it was after the flying enemy had passed beyond reach. But while it is possible that Rosecrans could have done better, it is certain that he and his troops did well; Van Dorn's diversion in favor of Bragg's grand, central invasion, at any rate, failed amid disaster.
But we must return to Bragg and Buell, the principal actors in the march to Kentucky.
Bragg's army commenced to cross the Tennessee at Chattanooga August 26, 1862, and immediately set out to the northward, his cavalry, under Wheeler, keeping well towards the foot of the mountains to the westward, covering and masking the real movement. Buell's army, as we have stated, was concentrated in the neighborhood of Dechard, Tennessee, with detachments of it still holding Huntsville, Battle Creek, and Murfreesboro.
Numerous and generally unimportant skirmishes took place at Battle Creek and other places. Murfreesboro was surprised and disgracefully surrendered to Forrest's cavalry July 13th, and Morgan's forces captured Gallatin, Tennessee, August 12th; but these places were not held.
Bragg continued his march through Pikeville and Sparta, Tennessee, crossing the Cumberland at Carthage and Gainesborough. Uniting his army at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, he proceeded through Glasgow to Munfordville, on Green River, where there was a considerable fortification, occupied by Colonel J. T. Wilder with about 4000 men.
Buell, after having sent some of his divisions as far east into the mountains as Jasper, Altamont, and McMinnville, with no results, moved his army to Nashville, thence with the reinforcements from Grant (two divisions), leaving two divisions and some detachments under Thomas to hold that city, through Tyree Springs and Franklin to Bowling Green, Kentucky, the advance arriving there September 11th.(16) Bragg was then at Glasgow. General James R. Chalmers and Colonel Scott, each with a brigade, the former of infantry, the other of cavalry, attacked, and Chalmers' brigade assaulted Wilder's position September 14th. The assault was repelled with much slaughter, Chalmers' loss being 3 officers and 32 men killed and 28 officers and 225 men wounded.(17) Chalmers then retired to Cave City, but returned with Bragg's main army on the 16th. Bragg having his army up, and Polk's corps north of Munfordville and Hardee's south of the river, opened negotiations for the surrender of the place. Being completely surrounded, with heavy batteries on all sides, Wilder capitulated, including 4133 officers and men. Chalmers was designated to take possession of the surrendered works on the morning of the 17th. Had Buell marched promptly on Munfordville from Bowling Green he would have found Bragg with one half of his army south of Green River and Polk with the other half north of it, and Wilder still holding a position on the river between the two.
Bragg, after the surrender, concentrated his army south of Green River opposite Munfordville along a low crest of hills. He had not yet formed a junction with Kirby Smith, and his force then in position probably did not much exceed 20,000.(18)
The position had no special advantages, was well known to many of Buell's officers, and should have been to Buell himself. In case of defeat, Bragg's army must have been lost and Kirby Smith's left to the same fate. Green River, passable in few places in Bragg's rear and to the north, would have rendered retreat impossible for a defeated army, and, besides, Bragg had no base north to retreat to. The situation was well understood in our army, except by Buell, who seemed to fear a junction with Kirby Smith had been formed, though Wilder (just paroled) and others of his officers on the day of the surrender informed Buell that no junction had been made. Wilder, however, had an exaggerated opinion of Bragg's strength at Munfordville. The junction of the two Confederate armies did not take place until October 9th, at Harrodsburg, the day succeeding the battle of Perryville.(19)
Buell had, south of Bragg, not less than 50,000 effective men. He since admits he had 35,000 men present before he ordered Thomas' division and other troops up from Nashville.(19) Thomas arrived on the 19th and 20th. There was some skirmishing on the 20th, and Bragg was then permitted to withdraw without further molestation across the river, whence he marched northward. The slowness of the movement of Buell's army from Nashville to Bowling Green and, after delaying there five days, thence towards Munfordville, was freely commented on by his army at the time. It was composed of seasoned and experienced troops, eager to find the enemy and give him battle.(20) In the history of no war was a more favorable opportunity presented to fight and reap a victor's fruits than at Green River, but the time and men for great and controlling success were not yet come.