However, a closer look at the orders actually issued that day reveals that by 2 p.m., the time French was beginning his withdrawal and therefore too late to influence events, Sherman had only ordered Cox and the Twenty-Third Corps to take position to the north and east of Kennesaw Mountain. They had spent the day marching north from Atlanta. Sherman even supplied a staff officer to guide him into position to protect the right flank of the Fourteenth Corps. By 3 p.m a signal officer reported that Cox had only just then passed through Marietta. Only on October 6, the day after the battle, did Sherman order Cox to “Have a brigade ready to go there to-morrow early.” The brigade did not leave Big Shanty until dawn on the 7th, and did not arrive at Allatoona until approximately 11 a.m., two days after the battle. Indeed, Sherman's memory was faulty. He did order Cox to reconnoiter the Dallas-Acworth Road on the 7th, but the purpose of lighting the fires along the way was so that Sherman, atop Kennesaw Mountain, could track his progress.