On the 5th, General Beauregard telegraphed General Pemberton that he would send two brigades of his best troops, and requested that they be kept together under General Gist. On the 6th, the first of Gist's troops, five companies of the Forty-sixth Georgia, under Col. P. H. Colquitt, and the Twenty-fourth South Carolina, under Lieut.--Col. Ellison Capers (Col. C. H. Stevens remaining to bring on the stores of the regiment), left Charleston for Jackson, Miss., by way of Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma and Meridian. Delayed on the way, these commands reached Jackson on the evening of May 13th, and went into bivouac near the depot, with orders to be ready to march out on the Clinton road at dawn next day. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston reached Jackson by the same train.
The situation was most critical in Mississippi. General Grant's army was thrown between Jackson and Vicksburg, holding the railroad at Clinton, where McPherson's corps was encamped. Sherman's corps was between Jackson and Raymond, McClernand's in supporting distance. General Pemberton, with 17,000 men, was at Edwards depot and marching to give battle. General Johnston did not have exceeding 6,000 men in and about Jackson. The three corps of General Grant numbered about 45,000 effectives.
It was easy to beat Johnston at Jackson before Pemberton could possibly come to his aid, as the latter had only reached Edwards on the 13th, and formed for defensive battle at that point. Clinton was 8 miles from Jackson, and Edwards was distant 25 miles, so that Grant was between Pemberton and Johnston, 25 miles from the former and 8 miles from the latter. This was the situation on the night of the 13th of May. McPherson advanced upon Jackson early on the 14th, on the Clinton road, and Sherman at the same time, on the Raymond
