Could it be that both routes were used? Coffeeville is awfully close to the federal cavalry base at Water Valley, but the federal cavalry scouts place a Confederate cavalry force riding from Coffeeville to Pontotoc. Could this force on the Coffeville-Pontotoc road have been simply screening the main body?

I'm curious if you reference the Papers of Ulysses S. Grant for your article, and if it changed your opinion at all of the impact Van Dorn's Raid had on Grant's operational plans.