Some accounts that indicate supplies were sent by rail from Taylor's headquarters at Selma, through Meridian and Corinth, to Cherokee.

Oct. 30, 1864
Gen. John Bell Hood, at Tuscumbia, to Lieut. Gen. R. Taylor, at Selma: "I am here, and need at once twenty days' supply of breadstuffs and salt with some forage for the supply train animals, which will have to go to Cherokee for the supplies. Please give me all the assistance you can in obtaining them. I am very much obliged for the aid you have hitherto extended to this army. Can't the cars on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad run directly to Cherokee so as to avoid reshipment at Corinth?" OR Vol. 39, Chap. 51, Part 3, Page 868

Gen. John Bell Hood: "Not-withstanding my request as early as the 9th of October that the railroad to Decatur be repaired, nothing had been done on the 1st of November toward the accomplishment of this important object. I had expected upon my arrival at Tuscumbia to find additional supplies, and to cross the river at once. Unfortunately, I was constrained to await repairs upon the railroad before a sufficient amount of supplies could be received to sustain the army till it was able to reach middle Tennessee." Invasion of Tennessee, Page 427

Nov. 1, 1864
Geo. Wm. Brent, Tuscumbia, to Lieut. Gen. R. Taylor, at Selma: "The Mobile and Ohio Railroad refuse to send rolling-stock enough to supply the wants of the service on the road from Corinth here. It is most important that this should be at once attended to. General Beauregard desires that you will take measures promptly to get the Mobile and Ohio and Memphis and Charleston Railroads to work together and secure enough cars and motive power. As the trip here is long, General Beauregard prefers your remaining in Selma and attending to this matter, instead of coming here, as requested." OR Vol. 52, Chap. 64, Part 2, Page 772

Nov. 6, 1864
Maj. Geo. Whitfield, Q.M., at Okolona, Miss., to Capt. Chas. M. Williams, Asst. Q.M., Railroad and Transportation, Meridian, Miss.: "We need the Jackson and Ross badly. I expected to have gotten negroes out of the lot that went up the road to-day for work on his road, but the officer in charge of them said they were to work on fortifications at Corinth. Telegraphed to Noble, at Montgomery, to send forward immediately the tools to General Roddey's quartermaster for the building of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

Tell Colonel Tate to come up as soon as possible. You must stay on the line of the Mobile road and hurry forward stores, particularly commissary stores, from Mobile, Meridian, Columbus, and Macon. Tell Colonel Tate I can only take a general supervision of repairs, and that I have telegraphed Young to send a quartermaster to keep all money and property accounts. If we can get Sanders and his force we can rebuild his road rapidly. We are losing daylight by not being at work. Colonel Burtwell, of General Roddey's command, is [at] work on his road, but not much has been done. If necessary travel up and down the road and allow no stores to lay on the road, particularly commissary stores." OR Vol. 39, Chap. 51, Part 3, Page 902

Maj. David Ward Sanders, Asst. Adjt. Genl., French's Division, Stewart's Corps, Army of Tennessee, later wrote: "General Hood expected to find stores and supplies accumulated at Tuscumbia in sufficient quantity to supply the wants of his army, and that he would be detained but a few days. The condition of the railroads, with their limited rolling stock, was now made apparent. The Mobile & Ohio railroad, north of Okolona to Corinth, was in a miserable condition, and could scarcely be operated. The Memphis & Charleston railroad, from Corinth to Tuscumbia, was much worse, and there were only seven miles of passable roadbed between the two last named points.

Major Fleming, superintendent of the Mobile & Ohio railroad, with the limited resources at his command, had repaired his road north of Okolona, but it was difficult to transport supplies over it to Corinth, and the Memphis & Charleston railroad was in a manner repaired from Corinth to Cherokee Station, eighteen miles west of Tuscumbia, and, with great difficulty, supplies were transported over it to Cherokee, and thence hauled over the dirt roads to Tuscumbia.

The army, in consequence of the difficult operations of these railroads, was barely furnished with the meanest rations. The weather changed, and it rained incessantly. The dirt road to Cherokee was almost impassable, and the teams of the army, instead of being rested and recruited for the march into Tennessee, were heavily worked and well-nigh exhausted, in hauling stores and supplies from Cherokee. It was difficult to supply forage for the animals, and they suffered heavily because of this. Hood had all these difficulties to contend with, and it required a vast amount of energy to overcome them, and to provide rations and forage for men and animals." Hood's Tennessee Campaign, Chapter IV," Southern Bivouac, Vol. 3, March 1885, Page 289