The chances were that Gen.

Marshall, with his vastly superior force, would attack the two bodies of soldiers separately, and crush them before a union could be effected.
Gen.

Buell explained how matters stood to the young colonel of volunteers, and ended thus: "That is what you have to do, Colonel Garfield--drive Marshall from Kentucky, and you see how much depends on your action.

Now go to your quarters, think of it overnight, and come here in the morning and tell me how you will do it." In college Garfield had been called upon to solve many difficult problems in the higher mathematics, but it is doubtful whether he ever encountered a more knotty problem than this one.
He and Colonel Craven represented two little boys of feeble strength, unable to combine their efforts, who were called upon to oppose and capture a big boy of twice their size, who knew a good deal more about fighting than they did.
No wonder the young colonel felt perplexed.

But he did not give up.