Near dawn on September 19th, the Union Army of the Cumberland is spread thin. Two division of the Fourteenth Corps are far north of the Twenty-First Corps at Lee and Gordon’s Mill. Another one is marching, and the final one is guarding the ford at Glass Mill farther to the south. The Twentieth Corps is in an even more precarious position. It is even farther south than Glass Mill, marching hard to reunite with the other two corps. The Reserve Corps is retiring toward Rossville to the north.
In contrast, the Confederate Army of Tennessee is relatively intact and together. Hood and Buckner’s corps are in line of battle east of the Viniard Farm. The Reserve Corps is at or near Alexander Bridge, and Cheatham’s division of Polk’s Corps is in support. Hindman’s Division is to the south opposite the Union Twenty-First Corps at Lee and Gordon’s Mill, and Hill’s Corps is opposite Glass Mill.
Were Bragg to march forward immediately, he would cut the isolated Fourteenth Corps from the rest of the Union army, and catch some of its divisions while on the march. Only two regiments of Dick’s brigade stand between the Confederate army and the Lafayette Road. From there, only Wilder’s Lightning Brigade could stop two Confederate corps from reaching the Dry Valley Road and Rosecran's headquarters. |
