"If Longstreet is not driven out of the valley entirely and the road destroyed east of Abington, I do not think it unlikely that the last great battle of the war will be fought in East Tennessee. Reports of deserters and citizens show the army of Bragg to be too much demoralized and reduced by desertions to do anything this winter. I will get everything in order here in a few days and go to Nashville and Louisville, and, if there is still a chance of doing anything against Longstreet, to the scene of operations there. I am deeply interested in moving the enemy beyond Saltville this winter, so as to be able to select my own campaign in the spring, instead of having the enemy dictate it to me."
Source: Official Records
Commentary
Some say that most important judgement of a commander’s worth is the opinion of him by his battlefield enemies. If this is true, then one must consider the following words from Ulysses S. Grant in an official dispatch regarding operations in Tennessee late in 1863 and Longstreet’s role there: