Buell had, south of Bragg, not less than 50,000 effective men. He since admits he had 35,000 men present before he ordered Thomas' division and other troops up from Nashville.(19) Thomas arrived on the 19th and 20th. There was some skirmishing on the 20th, and Bragg was then permitted to withdraw without further molestation across the river, whence he marched northward. The slowness of the movement of Buell's army from Nashville to Bowling Green and, after delaying there five days, thence towards Munfordville, was freely commented on by his army at the time. It was composed of seasoned and experienced troops, eager to find the enemy and give him battle.(20) In the history of no war was a more favorable opportunity presented to fight and reap a victor's fruits than at Green River, but the time and men for great and controlling success were not yet come. The water supply northward of Bowling Green, already spoken of, was at best poor and deficient, especially in the hot September weather. The pools or ponds, befouled by the shooting in the February preceding of diseased and broken-down animals of Hardee's army on its retirement from Bowling Green, contained the most noxious and revolting water, yet it was at one time, for a large part of the army, all that was to be had for man or beast. I remember Colonel John Beatty and I, on one occasion near Cave City, stood in a hard rain storm holding the corners of a rubber blanket so as to catch a supply of water to slake our thirst. The army, however, as was generally the case when moving, suffered little from sickness. The wagon train of Buell's army was dispatched with a cavalry guard from Bowling Green on a road to the westward of Munfordville through Brownsville, Litchifield, and Big Spring to West Point at the mouth of Salt River on the Ohio, thence to Louisville.(21) Bragg continued his march unmolested and unresisted north from Green River along the railroad to near Nolin, thence northwestward by Hodgensville to Bardstown, then through Perryville to Harrodsburg, some part of his army going as far as Lawrenceburg, Lexington, and Frankfort.(21) Buell marched _after_ Bragg to near Nolin, thence keeping to the west through Elizabethtown and West Point to Louisville, the advance, General Thomas' division, arrived there September 25th, and the last division the 29th. Both train and army reaching the city in safety had the effect, at least, of relieving the place from further danger of capture, and for this Buell had due credit, though the country and the authorities at Washington were highly displeased with the result of his campaign.