four o'clock in the afternoon
About twenty thousand men were around Thomas , and they alone stood between the Union army and destruction . At all other points it had been not only defeated , but routed . Vast masses of fugitives were fleeing toward Chattanooga . Rosecrans himself withdrew , and , now wholly in despair , telegraphed at four o'clock in the afternoon to Washington : `` My army has been whipped and routed . '' But Thomas was neither routed nor whipped . Many of the brave generals elsewhere refused to flee with the troops , but gathering as many soldiers as possible joined Thomas . Among them was young Sheridan , destined to so great a fame , who brought almost all his own division and stood beside the Rock of Chickamauga , refusing to yield any further to the terrible pressure .