October 18, 1863

October 18, 1863

---Even while Gen. Halleck is sending orders to Rosecrans to attack the Rebels on Lookout Mountain, Grant sends orders to relieve Rosecrans of command and put George Thomas in his place:

SPECIAL ORDERS,

HDQRS. DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

No. 1.

Louisville, October 18, 1863.

Major-General Rosecrans having been relieved from the command of the Department of the Cumberland by direction of the President of the United States, per General Orders, No. 337, of October 16, 1863, Major-General Thomas is hereby assigned to the command, and will at once assume its duties. General Rosecrans will turn over all books, papers, maps, and other property pertaining to the command to Major-General Thomas. All staff officers, except the aides-de-camp authorized by law now on duty with General Rosecrans, will report to General Thomas for assignment as soon as relieved. General Rosecrans will proceed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and report to the Adjutant-General of the Army by letter for orders.

By order of Major-General Grant:

ELY S. PARKER,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

---Kate Cumming, a Confederate Army nurse in northern Georgia, records in her journal some conversation with the wounded officers, and rumors in the army about Gen. Bragg, and the trouble with his subordinates:

We have a wounded captain, named Desha, related to the family in Mobile of that name. He is from Kentucky, and a cousin of Professor Pickett, whom I met at Ringgold. I have been told he is one of the bravest and best men in our army. I was conversing with him one day relative to the ignorance of our men. He said there was no doubt it was very great, but not greater than that of the northerners. He had seen hundreds of letters from the people in the North, and they were not only illiterate, but vulgar. This I have often heard said before.

Dr. B. is as kind as ever to the patients. He is constantly going around inquiring if they get enough to eat, and is using every means to get plenty for them. We get quantities of buttermilk, which is a great treat.

Dr. B. tells me he has over fifty relatives in the army, and he has not heard from them since the battle.

The president has just paid a visit to the Tennessee army; it is said for the purpose of making inquiries as to the dissatisfaction against General Bragg among his officers.

It seems that all his generals, excepting General Breckinridge, sent a petition to the president to have him removed. General Bragg has heard of it, and begged to be relieved, but the president refuses, as he says he does not know who to put in his place.

---Fighting in Charlestown, Virginia, sputters sporadically as Gen. Imboden's Rebels attack the town and overwhelm the 9^th Maryland Infantry, but later are driven off by the arrival of Federal reinforcements.