Whatever the cause for the misdirection, Donelson continued, "I accordingly gave orders for a change of direction further to the right, in making this move I sent forward a staff officer to order Col Savage Comdg Regt on the right to halt when in the proper direction, until I could bring up the other two Regts in line of battle." That was the sentence that really caused problems for the historian. What may have been over-looked is the fact that
two orders were given in the preceding quote. The
first order was to "change direction." The
second order was to "halt when in the proper direction" in order to await the formation of the two supporting regiments—the Fifteenth and Thirty-eighth Tennessee. The very next sentence in Donelson's report can create even more confusion if taken
out of context. "This order was not obeyed because as I have since learned one of Genl Cheatham's Staff ordered said Regts to move forward rapidly."
[1] Apparently, the majority of historians have only noted the first order—to change direction. With that understanding, historians have concluded that when the regiment was ordered to change direction,
that order was countermanded by a staff officer of General Cheatham who instructed Colonel Savage—according to Noe—with the other two regiments of the brigade to "continue pushing straight ahead" in their original axis of advance.
[2] This may have been an oversight by historians. However, given the fact that the only known cabins that existed on the field were those of Widow Gibson, historians had to mold the facts to fit their understanding of the field. Donelson's sentence was thus dissected, or left out in its entirety—but still cited, or used out of context. Whether this was an oversight, or the only way to make sense of the recorded materials is hardly questionable. Without altering the context of Donelson's comment, there was no way to make sense of Savage's regiment advancing toward cabins that—according to modern scholarship—weren't there.
Taken
in context, it is clear that it was not the order to
change direction that was over-ridden by General Cheatham, but rather it was Donelson's order to
halt that was overridden. Cheatham didn't want
any hesitation pressing forward in the attack. Thus after making the change in direction and having committed to the attack, the order to await the formation of the two supporting regiments (Fifteenth and Thirty-eighth) was not obeyed by Colonel Savage. Savage did as instructed and charged headlong in the
new direction toward the enemy battery on the right that he now confronted. Following in his rear were the two supporting regiments that had fallen far behind Savage's lead regiment. His regiment was also acting as the guide for the brigade. A guide is an individual or unit upon whose movements a larger force traces or conducts its movement. While the Fifteenth and Thirty-eight regiments reformed and aligned for the new direction, the Sixteenth Tennessee raced ahead—at an angle of nearly ninety degrees
to the right of their original direction of march.
[3]
It appears that without knowledge of the Hafley cabin site, and the belief that Cheatham instructed Savage to continue in the
original direction of march, historians concluded that Donelson's advance took them up a long valley due west of their attack position. This valley contains an intermittent stream that is referred to as Donelson's Run at the battlefield today. The attack ended at the only
known structures on the battlefield—Widow Gibson's cabins.
[1] Brig. Gen. D. S. Donelson,
Report of Battle of Perryville (William P. Palmer Collection, WRHS Collection, Box 28, Folder 9)
[2] Kenneth Noe,
Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001), 199-200.
[3] John H. Savage,
Life of John H. Savage (Nashville, TN: John H. Savage, 1903) 126.
Bringing the