[228] as the Fourteenth corps, is reorganized, divided into three corps, and called the Army of the Cumberland. Thomas, Mc-Cook, and Crittenden each retains the troops under his respective command, forming the Fourteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first corps.1
The positions taken by Bragg are very strong. The great plateau of the Cumberland, forming the échelon farthest west of the Alleghanies, extends southward as far as the thirty-fourth degree of latitude; the Tennessee, after traversing from east to west the first chain of hills, called Waldron's Ridge at the north and Lookout Mountain at the south, hugs the eastern base of the plateau as far as Guntersville, where it winds around its extremity as it flows in a westerly direction. The waters which descend on the opposite side of this plateau toward the plains of Tennessee are absorbed on one side by Duck River, and on the other by the tributary of the Cumberland called Caney Fork. These two rivers cover Bragg's front, which extends from McMinnville on the right to Columbia on the left, passing through Manchester and Shelbyville. The infantry is concentrated between these two latter points and Tullahoma; the first two mentioned are occupied by Morgan's cavalry on the right and Wheeler's on the left. All the roads traversing the plateau of the Cumberland pass through defiles easy to defend: the aridity of the soil and the rough climate of this plateau are moreover calculated to oppose a serious obstacle to the Federals if they attempt to force the line of Caney Fork and of Duck River. But, on the other hand, the character of this section of country does not afford the Confederate army the necessary means of subsistence. These must be sought for at Columbia, and even farther yet in the rich country between Duck River and the Tennessee. As we have stated, the cavalry which Van Dorn had organized at Grenada came, during the month of February, to occupy this section of country and to protect it effectively against the incursions of the Federals. It was, besides, the only reinforcement granted to Bragg. He had asked for twenty thousand men to repair his losses: the Richmond government did not even reply to him.
