Bragg’s plan worked like a charm, and by early September Rosecrans’ army was spread out over a large area, with the three corps separated by 60 miles of mountainous, heavily wooded terrain. The rough terrain made it hard for the three corps to maintain contact. Each of the three corps commanders was operating in the dark, not knowing where the enemy army was located.

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In truth, Bragg had concentrated his army on the east side of Chickamauga Creek, hidden in the dense forest from the eyes of the Union army. While Federals laboriously inched southward, Bragg’s army was preparing for battle. Bragg had been heavily reinforced with two divisions from the Army of Mississippi and an entire corps from the Army of Northern Virginia. The original plan was to attack Thomas’ corps as it crossed Chickamauga Creek and began its climb up the Pigeon Mountain, and to crush the corps before help could arrive. Other segments of Bragg’s army would wait for Maj. Gen. Thomas Crittenden’s corps and then attack it. Finally, the full weight of the Confederate army would be brought down on Maj. Gen. Alexander McCook’s corps, destroying the Army of the Cumberland corps by corps.

By September 10, Rosecrans had begun to realize that Bragg’s army was not in retreat. Units from Thomas’ corps began to report the presence of large Rebel units. Major General James Negley’s division encountered a strong Rebel force when it crossed the Chickamauga, and Negley was forced to retreat. Thomas reported back to Rosecrans that the enemy was no longer falling back in disarray, as they had been led to believe. Both Thomas and McCook were concerned about being spread so far apart. After consulting with Thomas, McCook started making plans to shift his corps northward and closer to Thomas’ corps.

Wilder’s brigade was now attached to Crittenden’s corps and on September 11 had marched near Ringgold, Ga., where it had skirmished with Colonel J.S. Scott’s brigade of Confederate cavalry, driving it toward Tunnel Hill, then skirmished for half an hour with a second Rebel force before driving the enemy back toward Buzzard Roost.

The next day the brigade was ordered back to Ringgold. About four miles from its destination, the brigade encountered pickets from Brig. Gen. John Pegram’s division of Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate cavalry. The brigade attacked and drove Pegram’s units down the road to LaFayette. Soon Wilder learned that Brig. Gen. Otto F. Strahl’s Confederate brigade was deployed across the road to Lee and Gordon’s Mill. Wilder’s brigade was cut off, virtually surrounded by enemy forces. Luckily for Wilder, the Confederates hesitated to attack his brigade, not knowing the composition of the Union force that had suddenly appeared in their midst.

At dusk, Wilder ordered his men to build fires over a large area to make the enemy believe that a large force was camping for the night. While the 72nd Indiana and the 98th and 123rd Illinois formed a line of battle with Lilly’s battery, the 17th Indiana started searching for a way out. Scouts were sent out to round up some local inhabitants who were threatened with death if they failed to lead the Union forces out of the trap.

By 8 p.m., the 17th Indiana had found a way out, and the brigade began to march north past the pickets of Strahl’s brigade. The brigade got out of the situation without losing a man. Wilder’s brigade reached Crittenden’s position about midnight, tired and exhausted from the long and arduous march, yet happy to have escaped certain capture.

With more and more units reporting encounters with Rebel units, Rosecrans decided to unite his three corps, and messages were sent to Thomas and McCook to concentrate their forces on Crittenden’s corps. The Army of the Cumberland was still vulnerable to attack–and now Bragg was ready to attack.

On September 15, Bragg announced his final plans at a meeting of his senior officers. He intended to march northward and then west to interpose the army between Chattanooga and the Union forces. This would force Rosecrans to either fight or fall back across the Tennessee River to keep his supply line open.

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