I haven’t used Grant’s narrative at all. Rosecrans did the same thing in every battle he fought. After achieving a tactical victory, no small thing, he pauased & regrouped. It is when an opponent is retreating that they are the most vulnerable if you maintain contact. Loose contact & you allow the opponent to regroup & youhave to fight them all over again. Rosecrans’ brilliant Tullahoma Campaign had to be fought because he did not take Shelbyville when he could have.
I have studied Rosecrans for over 20 years. In my opinion, his creation of the Army of the Cumberland during the winter & spring of 1863 was a master class in leadership. The 240,000 men in the Department of the Cumberland, under his guidance, laid the groundwork for victory in the West. No other general achieved an organizational victory on that scale.
As has been amply documented, under the stress of combat, Rosecrans flitted around the battlefield giving nonsense commands in a staccato stutter. Ironically, it was the game board like tool that Garfield created to counter Rosecrans’ over excitement that triggered the misalignment at Chickamauga.
My analysis of Rosecrans is the fruit of a long, in depth study. I give lectures on his Signal Corps, logistics & intelligence system. If someone has written a new book or discovered new documentation, I want to hear about it. For now, however, I am still analyzing & drawing conclusions from the data I already have at my disposal.