The city was
crowded with an army and those who supply it and live by it, and it was a
center of vivid activity. Dick had letters from his mother and he also
heard in a roundabout way that Colonel Kenton had gone through the battle
of Perryville uninjured and was now with Bragg at Chattanooga.
But the boys soon heard that despite the winter there was great activity
in the Southern camp. Undismayed by their loss of Kentucky, the Southern
generals meant to fight Rosecrans in Tennessee. The Confederacy had
not been cheered by Lee's withdrawal at Antietam and Bragg's retreat at
Perryville, and meant to strike a heavy blow for new prestige. The whole
Confederate army, they soon heard, had moved forward to Murfreesborough,
where it was waiting, while Forrest and Morgan, the famous cavalry
leaders, were off on great raids.
It was this absence of Forrest and Morgan with the best of the cavalry
that put it into the mind of Rosecrans to attack at once. The thousands
of lads in the army who were celebrating Christmas received that
night the news that they were to march in the morning.
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