August 13, 1862 (Thursday): Dogs Clinging to Bears

General William S. Rosecrans

ROSECRANS', August 13, 1862.
Major-General GRANT, Corinth:
    Your dispatch and the copy from Buell received.* If the rebels will go into Tennessee let them do it; let the general in front, if he cannot successfully fight them, draw them in and destroy the crops as he goes. Let the Government study bear-hunting meanwhile, and learn how even a dog hanging on to the haunches of a bear keeps him from moving till the hunter comes and kills him. Let us fortify and provision needful points so as to be foot and hand free. Your reply to D. C. is good.


W. S. ROSECRANS,
Brigadier-General, U. S. Army.

**See Series I, Vol. XVI, Part II, pp. 315, 316.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 17, Part 2, Page 166.

Bragg had moved his forces by rail to Chattanooga, preparatory to an offensive into Kentucky.  Rosecrans, in much more colorful language than used in military textbooks, is simply describing the vulnerability armies face when elongating their supply lines.  The "D.C." mentioned here is Don Carlos Buell, who is referring to a message from Grant to Buell which outlines the anticipated Confederate course of action.