Johnston, who had a reputation for defeatism, arrived in Jackson on May 13. About 6,000 Confederate troops held the city, including Gregg's recently defeated men, although additional reinforcements were expected. During his journey to Jackson, Johnston had learned that Grant's army had moved into Mississippi, while Pemberton's force was holding a defensive position along the Big Black River. The Union force was between the Confederate positions. Johnston decided that Jackson could not be held in what the historians William L. Shea and Terrence J. Winschel described as "unseemly haste", sent a telegram to his commanding officers in Richmond, Virginia stating "I am too late", and ordered the evacuation of the city. While Johnston and his staff made the retreat to Canton by rail, the rest of his army made the retreat on foot. Gregg's men were tasked with serving as a rear guard at Jackson. While retreating, Johnston sent Pemberton a misleading message suggesting that Johnston's men would support Pemberton in an offensive movement when he had no intention of doing so. The historian Donald L. Miller believes that this was designed to present the appearance in the official records that he was not abandoning Vicksburg.