"But instead of halting to consolidate his scattered forces, Rosecrans overplayed his hand, pressing forward in the hopes of destroying what he believed to be a defeated & demoralized Confederate army in Georgia. But the Army of Tennessee was far from beaten. In fact, Bragg had sowed the area with false "deserters" whose job was to deceive Rosecrans. The result was a disjointed advance in which Rosecrans' corps were unable to provide mutual support."
The Shipwreck of Their Hopes by Mackubin T. Owens Ashland University
"Bragg finally recognized that the Union army's demonstrations north of Chattanooga were designed to deceive hime & that Rosecrans' main thrust was to the south. On 7 September, he ordered the evacuation of the city, & the next day all of his troops (including Buckner's corps) began moving toward La Fayette, GA, about twenty-five miles south of Chattanooga. Crittenden's troops occupied Chattanooga on 9 September without a fight, & Rosecrans telegraphed Halleck, "Chattanooga is ours without a struggle & East Tennessee is free." Rosecrans assumed that Bragg's entire force was in full retreat toward rebel supply points at Dalton & Ringold, GA, & that the force could be destroyed while in flight. Rebel deserters attested to the desperate condition of the retreating Confederates.
In fact, far from being in flight, Bragg's rebel army halted east of Pigeon Mountain, near Lafayette. Bragg contemplated an attack on the advancing Federals, whom he had deceived by planting "deserters" with false stories of disorder within the southern ranks."
The Civil War in the West, 1863 by Anderw N. Morris, Center of Military History United States Army, Washington, DC, 2016
I counted 24 similar citations from a google search, which would indicate that the false deserters is accepted history.