Nashville

After the battles for Atlanta, Hood threatened Sherman's railroad communications with Chattanooga. Sherman pursued as far as Rome, Ga., but couldn't quite catch Hood, so Sherman gave up and hung around Rome for a while. While Hood refitted in Alabama, Sherman the visionary made plans to foreshadow 20th century warfare against civilians and make Georgia howl. He divided up his forces, taking the pick of the crop, including Thomas's prized 14th corps (the one which Sherman had said was so slow before Kennesaw that it would stop to intrench in front of a "plowed furrow"), and sent the discarded troops back to Thomas who had arrived in Nashville on 3 Nov. 1864 with orders to deal with Forrest. True, after it became apparent that Hood intended to invade Tennessee Thomas was given the 4th corps under Stanely as a nucleus, then the gifted calvarly commander from Galena, Illinois, James H. Wilson, and finally the less gifted departmental commander (Army of the Ohio) Schofield. Sherman then blithely bid Hood good speed in his quest to reach the Ohio and beyond and, on 12 Nov. 64, cut his telegraph wire and began his cakewalk or, in Wilson's words, "picnic excursion," or in Piatt's words, "militia march" to the sea against no military opposition.

Schofield's position in Thomas's forces in Tennessee requires explanation. In Missouri he had been a staff officer without battlefield command responsibility. We can safely disregard the Congressional Medal of Honor the then Commander-in-chief of the Army was awarded in 1892 for having led a charge at the battle of Wilson's Creek. In February 1884 he was brought to Knoxville to replace Foster and thus was elevated to command of almost a real army and department. Sherman then, through his brother the senator John Sherman, lobbied Congress to have Schofield confirmed in the command. On 9 April, after only 2 months there, he and his Army of the Ohio were assigned to Sherman's army group for the drive to capture Atlanta. During the battles for Atlanta proper, he becameinvolved in a manufactured dispute with Stanley concerning Stanley's prior date of commission as major general giving him precedence over Schofield. I say manfactured, because the record shows that Sherman knew the question would come up before he issued his instructions. When it indeed did come up, Sherman put on a show of impartiality and sided with Stanley so that Halleck then could later overrule him and officially establish Schofield's precedence over Stanley. Sherman himself gives this away when he wrote that, after having communicated his decision, "General Schofield cheerfully acquiesced, but at my instance he has made the point, that I might submit it for adjudication" [italics mine]. To peruse the whole sorry paper trail, insofar as it is still present in the Official Records, click here.

As a result, when Stanley and Schofield were sent to Thomas, Schofield automatically became Thomas' second in command over Stanley. According to Van Horne, Thomas' first biographer, Thomas knew right away that there was something dubious about Schofield's assignment to Nashville:

The significance of these machinations will become apparent below when we consider the final weeks leading up to the battle of Nashville when Grant began a campaign to oust Thomas.

Meanwhile, Hood led his lean and mean army, along with Forrest, across the Tennessee River on 20 Nov. 64. Nominally in charge of that theater, Beauregard was excluded from Hood's camp so as to keep him in the dark. Not even Davis was consulted for, learning of Hood's plans after the fact, he confessed: "I consider this movement into Tennessee ill-advised." At first Hood's intentions weren't clear to Thomas either, so he had to scatter his limited forces in small, vulnerable units to act as a 100 mile wide picket system. He coordinated this system by means of telegrams, of which hundreds a day were sent back and forth prior to the final battle - in itself a major innovation in military science. Schofield's assigned part in this strategy was to delay Hood as much as possible without risking the loss of his and Stanley's corps. Schofield thus established himself at Columbia on the Duck river. On 29 Nov. Wilson warned Schofield (and Thomas) that Hood was about to cross upriver and outflank him, but Schofield, in spite of direct orders from Thomas to retreat , decided to first find out for himself where Hood was, thus losing 12 hours. However, he didn't have a minute to lose in carrying out Thomas's order, and therefore found Hood all right - between him and Franklin on the road to Nashville. Schofield writes in his memoirs that he never received this order. These two telegrams - the one from Thomas to Schofield, and Schofield's answer - demonstrate that Schofield lied:

<ar93_1137>
NASHVILLE, November 29, 1864--3.30 a.m.
Major-General SCHOFIELD, Near Columbia:
Your dispatches of 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. yesterday are received. I have directed General Hammond to halt his command at Spring Hill and report to you for orders, if he cannot communicate with General Wilson, and also instructing him to keep you well advised of the enemy's movements. I desire you to fall back from Columbia and to take up your position at Franklin [emphasis added], leaving a sufficient force at Spring Hill to contest the enemy's progress until you are securely lasted at Franklin. The troops at the fords below Williamsport, &c., will be withdrawn and take up a position behind Franklin. General A. J. Smith's command has not yet reached Nashville; as soon as he arrives I will make immediate disposition of his troops and notify you of the same. Please send me a report as to how matters stand upon your receipt of this.
GEO. H. THOMAS, Major-General, U. S. Volunteers, Commanding

<ar93_1137>
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO, Franklin Pike, Tenn., November 29, 1864---8.20 a.m.
Major-General THOMAS, Nashville:
The enemy's cavalry has crossed in force on the Lewisburg pike, and General Wilson reports the infantry crossing above Huey's Mills, about five miles from this place. I have sent an infantry reconnaissance to learn the fact. If it prove true I will act according to your instructions received this morning[emphasis added]. Please send orders to General Cooper, via Johnsonville; it may be doubtful whether my messenger from here will reach him.
J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General.

In his Memoirs Schofield further states that he had the whole matter well in hand. He didn't. Schofield's behavior during the entire Nashville campaign is difficult to explain, unless you postulate that he thought he should have been in command instead of Thomas.

On the afternoon of 29 Nov. Stanley reached Spring Hill and, although outnumbered, held it against units of Forrest and Cleburne, thus keeping the road open to Franklin. That night Schofield's troops passed on the main road and within sight of the Confederate campfires north of Spring Hill, while Hood slept. Some Union soldiers even wandered into the Confederate encampment, but no alarm was raised. Most authors write that Hood's subordinates tried to wake him, but couldn't, and nobody dared take action without orders. Many authors assert that Cheatham was off partying at the time, and that Hood had drunk alcohol, potent in combination with the opium-based medicine he took for the pain from his war wounds (amputated leg, maimed arm). For whatever reason, Schofield squeaked through. The next morning, when Hood discovered that Schofield had escaped, he raged and blamed his officers. "You disobeyed my orders, damn you," he shouted at his assembled generals. Starting at 4 that afternoon, while Hood lay down to rest, he ordered his army to make a spine stiffening frontal assault without reconnaissance on Schofield's works south of Franklin. Moreover, the rear guard with most of Hood's artillery had not yet arrived. When one of Stephen Lee's divisions arrived at about 9 PM, Hood sent it in too. At Gettysburg on 3 July 63, Lee had the sense to call it off after one charge and blame himself for the failure. At Franklin Hood kept it up until well after 10 PM: six hours and more of utter madness. Hood's losses that day were about 25% of his army, including 6 generals killed, among them the best battle commander the war had produced for the Confederacy - Irish born Patrick Cleburne.

The Confederates did achieve a temporary success thanks to two poorly placed brigades under Wagner. His troops were isolated about a quarter-mile in front of the Union lines, and in the confusion caused by their retreat into their lines, some Confederate units were able to pierce the center. If Schofield had taken the trouble to inspect his lines, he would have corrected the obvious error. However, the well-timed and heroic counter-attack of Col. Emerson Opdycke and the personal intervention of Maj. Gen. Stanley (who was severely wounded thereby) closed the breach. Schofield watched the battle from the safety of an observation tower on the north side of town. During the battle Schofield got his wagon trains on the road, and then in the evening he abandoned the field to Hood. The next morning, Hood's General Field Orders No. 38 were read to the incredulous survivors:

<ar94_628>
"The commanding general congratulates the army upon the success achieved yesterday over our enemy by their heroic and determined courage. The enemy have been sent in disorder and confusion to Nashville, and while we lament the fall of many gallant officers and brave men, we have shown to our countrymen that we can carry any position occupied by our enemy."

A couple of days later Hood telegraphed to Richmond that he had won the battle, albeit with...ahem...many losses (ar94_643). Just to show that Hood could lie with best of them I quote from his report of 14 Nov.:

<ar93_653>
"During the day I was restrained from using my artillery on account of the women and children remaining in the town."

The estimated ratio of forces engaged to casualties sums it up succinctly: (US 27,939:2326, CS 26,897:6252). A footnote: To the east of Franklin, Wilson's outnumbered cavalry fought Forrest to a standstill, thus keeping the road to Nashville free. Later at Selma, Wilson would beat Forrest at his own game.

After such losses Hood, when he arrived at Nashville the next day, was not in a position to seek battle with Thomas and went into a sort of winter camp just in front of the Nashville works. In any case, it would not have been advisable to attack the Nashville fortifications as they were the most extensive Federal works before any city in the South throughout the entire war. Hood hoped for reinforcements which never arrived, thanks in part to the efforts of Canby in sealing off the Mississippi to major Confederate troop crossings, and for recruits from the local population whose males fled into Nashville by the thousands to avoid conscription. The bushwackers who attacked his wagon trains offered further clues to the peril of his situation. His best chance lay in a premature attack on the part of the Federals which, indeed, would have taken place had Grant gotten his way. Hood had come so far, couldn't go further, couldn't go back. As he wrote later in his memoirs Attack and Retreat: "…the troops would, I believed, return better satisfied even after defeat if, in grasping at the last straw, they felt that a brave and vigorous effort had been made to save the country from disaster." This statement needs no comment.

So he waited, and, while the ordinary Confederate soldiers froze and hungered, the festivities in Hood's headquarters at the well-stocked mansion of John Overton 6 miles south of Nashville continued unabated. Hood even sent Forrest and some infantry off to attack Murfreesboro (a move which puzzles nearly all writers on this battle), while Thomas had been reinforced by militia, commissary troops formed into combat units, a provisional division under Steedman (whom Thomas considered to be one of his finest commanders) including colored units, and 3 divisions of A. J. Smith's Missouri command who had arrived in Nashville at about the same time as Schofield from Franklin. The story of the trek of Smith's troops from the Kansas border to Nashville is a saga in itself. He was an energetic commander and one of the few who had ever defeated Forrest (Tupelo 13-15 July 64). Things were looking up for Thomas.

Thomas, however, had some problems. His plan was to deal with Hood's army once and for all, that is not conduct just another of the Civil War's countless indecisive battles. For this he needed horses in order to re-equip the cavalry of "boy wonder" James H. Wilson, at Chattanooga an adjutant on Grant's staff, but now a major general. Without an effective cavalry there could be no pursuit after the battle and therefore no decisive conclusion to it. However, horses were in very short supply, and Wilson was forced to impress all of the civilian owned horses in that part of Tennessee, causing hardship and eliciting protest. To give a good example Governor Johnson gave up his carriage horses. Another problem was the weather which worsened into an ice storm which lasted for 5 days and did not let up until the 14th.

Still another problem was Grant himself. Already on 2 Dec. he began a telegram campaign to get Thomas to attack Hood immediately. According to several commentators, he was abetted in this by the ambitious Schofield who was sending false reports to Grant about Thomas' situation. Steedman, one of Thomas' corps commanders at Nashville, stated that on 12 Dec. he showed Thomas a telegram from Schofield to Grant reporting:

"Many officers here are of the opinion that Thomas is certainly too slow in his movements." (Wilbur Thomas, p. 565, Cleaves, pg. 259)

Now, as the battle of Nashville approached, Grant was cashing in his chips. He wanted Hood's army further damaged at any cost in order to prevent any blame from falling on him because of Sherman's lopsided partitioning of the forces after Atlanta (which Grant had approved). Furthermore, Grant did not want Thomas to win another impressive victory which would further enhance Thomas's reputation. And finally, if Grant could get Thomas to step down under the pressure, or if he could get Stanton, Halleck, or Lincoln to remove Thomas (Grant preferred that someone else beside himself do this), then so much the better. He twice had orders written for Thomas' replacement by Schofield, but he needed more time to work up the courage and/or support to actually send them. All of this activity served also to distract from his own lack of progress in the siege of Petersburg where he had sat for 7 months although outnumbering Lee by three to one. So he dangled promotion in front of Schofield in order to get help fabricating the grounds for Thomas' removal. To paraphrase Aesop, any excuse will serve a tyrant, but an excuse there must be.

Things did not work out the way Grant planned. The evening of 15 Dec., just as Grant was leaving Washington for Nashville in order to "take charge" there, the telegrams began arriving. Thomas had attacked and driven Hood back, another attack was planned for the morrow. General Logan, whom Grant had sent on ahead with the third set of orders to Thomas to turn over command to Schofield, was in Louisville, one day's travel from Nashville. Grant recalled Logan, canceled his own trip, sent an insultingly worded telegram of conditional congratulations to Thomas,* and reverted to his proven strategy of correcting history in its written form. For one of the best contemporary evaluations of this situation, see the excerpts below from Wilson's memoirs "Under the Old Flag." In their book "Life of Lincoln" (Vol. X, pg. 29, Nicolas and Hay, Lincoln's secretaries, wrote the following which probably expressed Lincoln's opinion at the time:

Thomas nowhere appears to greater advantage, not even on thehills of Chickamauga, opposing his indomitable spirit to the surging tide of disaster and defeat, than he does during this week, opposing his sense of duty to the will of his omnipotent superior, and refusing to move one hour before he thought the interests of the country permitted it, even under the threat of removal and discrace."

The next morning Wilson's refitted cavalry group consisting of 9000 men (out of 12,000 effectives, 3000 of them couldn't be horsed) rode around Hood's left flank while Schofield's corps took Wilson's place in the line. Wilson's men were equipped with the Spencer repeating carbine (shorter version of Wilder's Spencer rifle), thus having the firepower of an entire infantry corps. Once behind Hood, they dismounted and set up on one of Hood's two escape routes. While Wilson struck from behind,*** the attack was renewed against Hood's entire line. Steedman continued on the left, and Wood and Smith on the right. Despite repeated orders to attack, Schofield on Thomas's right hesitated, and did not move until Smith on his left and Wilson on his right already had broken Hood's left flank. The effect was the disintegration of Hood's line which retreated in disorder along the other road back to Franklin and beyond. The rout would perhaps have been total, that is Hood's escape route along Franklin Pike might have also been closed off if Schofield had vigorously attacked when ordered to. That evening, Captain Van Duzer in Nashville telegraphed to his boss Major Eckert, head of Stanton's telegraph service, a short report which finished with the words: "Everybody, white and black, did splendidly" (ar94_213).

Out of about 50,000 troops engaged the Federals had 3000 casualties. Out of 23,000 to 38,000 Confederates (depending on the source) there were about 6000 casualties including thousands of deserters and captured.

Wilson's cavalry pursued the remnants of Hood's army for the rest of December despite horrendous weather conditions. He was also hampered by lack of forage for his horses (they go on strike if not fed). Steedman then pursued by rail, and the cavalry continued after that as far as Mississippi. Thomas himself came south to organize the pursuit, setting up headquarters in Pulaski, Tenn. and then, for the last 2 weeks of Jan. 1865, in Eastport, Mississippi. It was the longest pursuit after a battle in the Civil War, lasting a month and a half and covering more than 200 miles. Hood ended up with about 13,000 troops, of which about 5000 reported to Johnston in N. Carolina. This was the only time in the Civil War when an army was practically destroyed on an open field of battle, unless you want to include Thomas' victory at the battle of Mill Springs, the first major Union victory of the war.

On 30 Dec. 64 Thomas was named major general of the regular army, albeit with enough delay to put his date of promotion subsequent to that of Meade, Sheridan, and Sherman to the same rank. Grant had a hand in this delay, as is shown in this dispatch to Stanton of 20 Dec. 1864:

<ar94_283>
"I think Thomas has won the major-generalcy, but I would wait a few days before giving it, to see the extent of damages done."

"I suppose it is better late than never, but it is too late to be appreciated. I earned this at Chickamauga." (O'Conner, "Rock of Chickamauga", pg. 327)

Meanwhile the War Department began dismanteling his army. Schofield applied secretly to Grant to be sent to Sherman and joined him in North Carolina, and Stanley was sent to New Orleans. Thomas did, however, organize Wilson's raid which resulted in the defeat of Forrest at Selma and the capture of Jefferson Davis in southern Georgia, and Stoneman's forays into and western Virginia and North Carolina which closed off any escape on Lee's part into the mountains. However, Thomas held no more battlefield command in the war. Grant's campaign for the presidential election of 1868 had already begun, and Thomas was in the way.

Afterward Grant and Sherman, aided by Schofield, took the position that Thomas was too slow in attacking and not vigorous enough in pursuit. From this Grant professed to conclude that Thomas was too inert to mount an offensive, saying: "Thomas is too slow to move and too brave to run away." To damn with faint praise, as Shakespeare used to say. The problem is, Grant was just getting started with the character assassination of Thomas, but that is the story of another battle.

* Grant to Thomas: "I was just on my way to Nashville, but receiving a dispatch from Van Duzer, detailing your splendid success of to-day, I shall go no farther. Push the enemy now, and give him no rest until he is entirely destroyed. Your army will cheerfully suffer many privations to break up Hood's army and render it useless for future operations. Do not stop for trains or supplies, but take them from the country, as the enemy have done. Much is now expected." <ar94_195>

** Col Thomas J. Morgan, cmdr. 14th Colored Brigade: "The troops under my command have, as a whole, behaved well, and if they failed to accomplish all I expected it was my fault, not theirs; I was deceived as to the character of the work built by the enemy on the 14th. Could I have known the exact nature of the work, the troops would have carried it by a direct assault from the north side, with perhaps less loss than was sustained. During the night of the 15th the enemy retired from our front." <ar93_536, 537>

*** Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson: "In concluding this report permit me to say that, if the operations just described have been of any avail in the recent campaign, it is due entirely to the concentration of the cavalry and its reorganization as a separate corps. I have, therefore, to request that the credit awarded it may be used to secure from the War Department the recognition of its separate existence as a corps, and an official approval of the measures already inaugurated for its efficiency. With an opportunity to complete its organization, a full supply of Spencer carbines for the entire command, and we can take the field next spring with a force of cavalry fully competent to perform any work that may be assigned it."

3. Thomas Van Horne on the battle of Nashville and background, taken from his 1882 biography "Life of Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas"

5. Excerpts from Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson's memoirs Unter the Old Flag. Wilson was perhaps the best placed officer to judge both Thomas and Grant. He came up in Grant's staff from the rank of lieutenant to that of brigadier general, was made a made a major general and placed in charge of the Union Cavalry Bureau at Grant's behest, and then performed an essential role under Thomas at the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and afterwards under Thomas's direction in the Selma campaign and the capture of Jefferson Davis.

An excellent museum dealing with the preliminary phases of the battle of Nashville is the Carter House located in Franklin, Tenn. For more information visit its website at http://www.carter-house.org or send E-mail to the director Thomas Cartwright. In Franklin you will find also a thriving downtown business section, a classic version of an American small town.

On the first day of December General Thomas had in hand at Nashville all the troops available for battle, except a part: of his cavalry that had been sent north to be remounted. He then felt secure against attack but not prepared for offense, His purpose was to crush his foe, and this intention was one cause -- perhaps the dominant one -- for his delay of a few days against a pressure of suggestions and positive orders, which might have moved a weaker man to fight the enemy regardless of consequences. But he preferred the loss of command to fighting before he had made preparations to crush Hood's army. He had three corps of infantry from as many military departments, together with mounted and dismounted cavalry, a large element of raw troops, convalescents from the four corps with General Sherman, and six regiments of negro troops, and he requested permission to delay a week, that he might give the semblance of unity to this heterogeneous mass, remount his cavalry, and provide transportation for the pursuit of the enemy, in the event of victory,

These forces did not constitute an army according to any proper ideal of such a body - one with established relations running through all its units great and small, and with corresponding sentiment and esprit-du-corps. It was not an army as compared with the Army of the Cumberland. That army comprised three fighting corps of infantry - the Fourth, Fourteenth and Twentieth - and a body of cavalry, having commander's and soldiers bound together by battle-wrought sympathies and fixed organic relations.

General Thomas did not distrust the troops thus loosely connected, but he would have preferred his own army, cemented by the traditions of oft-repeated battle, and the spirit and discipline that result from long-continued relations and service. He did not propose, however, to give perfected compactness to his forces, but only to take time enough to drill his raw troops, remount his cavalry and provide the necessary transportation.

In the following despatch to General Halleck, Thomas described the situation at Nashville, and made known his plans:

After General Schofield's fight of yesterday, feeling convinced that the enemy very far outnumbered him, both in infantry and cavalry, I determined to retire to the fortifications around Nashville, until General. Wilson can get his cavalry equipped. He has now about one-fourth the number of the enemy, and consequently is no match for him. I have two iron-clads here, with several gunboats, and Commodore Fitch assures me that Hood can neither cross the Cumberland, nor blockade it. I therefore think it best to wait here until Wilson can equip all his cavalry, If Hood attacks me here, he will be more seriously damaged than he was yesterday, If he remains until Wilson gets equipped, I can whip him, and will move against him at once. I have Murfreesboro' strongly held, and therefore feel easy in regard to its safety. Chattanooga, Bridgeport, Stevenson, and Elk River bridges have strong garrisons.

His expressed intention to postpone battle for a. few days to remount his cavalry, produced intense solicitude at Washington, and greatly disturbed the equanimity of General Grant. The lieutenant general having been called

upon by his superiors at Washington to consider the situation at Nashville, entered upon this service with an energy that had no parallel in the war. He opened a series of despatches suggestive, hortatory and mandatory, which would have unwisely deprived General Thomas of the independence that had been accorded to army commanders from the beginning of the war. The President, it is true, had ordered such commanders to enter upon campaigns, but in no case had such a general been entirely restricted in his discretion, or overruled in his judgment as to adequate preparations.

General Grant's attention was called to the situation at Nashville by the following despatch:

The President feels solicitous about the disposition of Thomas to lay in fortifications for an indefinite period, "until Wilson gets equipments." This looks like the McClellan and Rosecrans strategy of do nothing, and let the enemy raid the country. The President wishes you to consider the matter.

If Hood is permitted to remain quietly about Nashville, we will lose all the roads back to Chattanooga, and possibly have to abandon the line of the Tennessee River, should he attack you it is all well, but if he does not, you should attack him before he fortifies. Arm and put in the trenches your quartermaster's employees, citizens, etc.

Ninety minutes after the foregoing, a despatch of the same general purport, but more specific in instructions, was sent:

With your citizen employees armed you can move out of Nashville with all your army, and force the enemy to retire or fight upon ground of your own choosing. After the repulse of Hood at Franklin

it looks to me that instead of falling back to Nashville, we should have taken the offensive against the enemy, but at this distance may err, as to the method of dealing with the enemy. You will suffer incalculable injury upon your railroads if Hood is not speedily disposed of. Put forth, therefore, every possible exertion to attain this end. Should you get him to retreating give him no peace.

Your two telegrams of 11 A. M. and 1.30 P.M., to-day are received. At the time Hood was whipped at Franklin I had at this place but about five thousand men of General Smith's command, which added to the force under General Schofield, would not have given me more than twenty-five thousand men. Besides, General Schofield felt convinced that he could not hold the enemy at Franklin until the five thousand could reach him. As General Wilson's cavalry force also numbered only about one-fourth that of Forrest, I thought it best to draw the troops back to Nashville, and await the arrival of the remainder of General Smith's force, and also a force of about five thousand commanded by General Steedman, which I had ordered up from Chattanooga. The division of General Smith arrived yesterday morning, and General Steedman's troops arrived last night. I now have infantry enough to assume the offensive, if I had more cavalry; and will take the field any how as soon as the remainder of General McCook's cavalry reaches here, which I hope it will in two or three days. We can neither get reenforcements nor equipments at this great distance from the North very easily, and it must be remembered that my command was made up of the two weakest corps of General Sherman's army, and all the dismounted cavalry except one brigade, and the task of reorganizing and equipping has met with many delays, which have enabled Hood to take advantage of of my crippled condition. I earnestly hope, however, in a few more days I shall be able to give him a fight.

It will be observed that General Thomas did not intend a long delay. He wished to call to him the cavalry then in Kentucky, obtaining horses and equipments. He explained the necessity of withdrawing his army from Franklin, and mentioned his embarrassments with marked

particularity. He probably did not put much faith in General Grant's statement, that he could move out against the enemy, and either force him to retire, or choose for him a field of battle, since the general on the defensive has choice of ground, especially, when his army covers its communications and line of retreat.

On the 5^th, Grant with greater emphasis, urged Thomas to attack, and suggested the danger of delay. In answer General Thomas stated that he hoped in three days to mount a sufficient force of cavalry.

The next day, December 6^th, Thomas was ordered peremptorily to attack and wait no longer for a remount of cavalry. Grant said:

"I will make the necessary disposition, and attack Hood at once, agreeably to your orders, though I believe it will be hazardous with the small force of cavalry now at my service."

In the effort to fulfil this promise, he met with obstacles that convinced him that he could not then fight a battle with such results as he desired, and consequently he resolved, though with the consciousness of great personal hazard, to wait until the 9^th or 10^th.

On the 8^th, Grant said to General Halleck: "If Thomas has not struck yet, he ought to be ordered to hand over his command to Schofield. There is no better man to repel an attack than Thomas, but I fear he is too cautious to take the initiative."

In reply Halleck said, "If you wish General Thomas relieved give the order. No one here will, I think, interfere. The responsibility, however, will be yours, as no one here, so far as I am informed, wishes General Thomas removed.

Before issuing an order relieving Thomas, Grant again urged him to attack. Late on the 8^th, he telegraphed :

It looks to me evidently the enemy are trying to cross the Cumberland, and are scattered. Why not attack at once ? By all means

avoid the contingency of a foot-race, to see which, you or Hood, can beat to the Ohio. If you think necessary, call on the Governors of States to send a force into Louisville to meet the enemy, if he should cross the river, you clearly never should cross except in rear of the enemy. Now is one of the fairest opportunities ever presented of destroying one of the three armies of the enemy. If destroyed he can never replace it; use the means at your command, and you can do this, and cause a rejoicing from one end of the land to the other.

I can only say in. further extenuation, why I have not attacked Hood, that I could not concentrate my troops, and get their transportation in order, in shorter time than it has been done, and am satisfied that I have made every effort that was possible to complete the task.

On the 9^th Grant directed that Thomas should be ordered to turn over his command to Schofield, but on the same day suspended the order.

Despatch of 8, P. M,, last evening from Nashville, shows the enemy scattered for more than seventy miles down. the river, and no attack yet made by Thomas. Please telegraph orders relieving him at once, and placing Schofield in command. Thomas should be ordered to turn over all orders and despatches received since the battle of Franklin, to Schofield.

The following despatch having been received from. Lieutenant-General Grant, viz. : "Please telegraph orders relieving him (General Thomas) at once, and placing (General) Schofield in command. The President orders:

I. That Major-General J M. Schofield relieve, at once, Major-General G. H. Thomas, in command of the Department and Army of the Cumberland.

II. General Thomas will turn over to General Schofield all orders and instructions received by him since the battle of Franklin.

Orders relieving General. Thomas had been made out when his telegram of this P.M. was received. If you still wish these orders telegraphed to Nashville, they will be forwarded.

General Thomas has been urged in every possible way to attack the enemy; even to the giving the positive order. He did say he thought he should be able to attack on the 7^th, but he did not do, nor has he given a reason for not doing it. I am very unwilling to do injustice to an officer who has done so much good service as General Thomas has, however, and will therefore suspend the order relieving him, until it is seen whether he will do anything.

"I regret that General Grant should feel dissatisfaction at my delay in attacking the enemy. I feel conscious that I have done everything in my power to prepare, and that the troops could not have been gotten ready before this. And if he should order me to be relieved I will submit without a murmur."

In the same despatch he also stated that a terrible storm of freezing rain, then prevailing, rendered an attack impossible until it should cease.

"I have nearly completed my preparations to attack the enemy tomorrow morning, but a terrible storm of-freezing rain has come on to-day, which ml make it impossible for our men to fight to any advantage. I am, therefore, compelled to wait for the storm to break and make the attack immediately after. Admiral Lee is

patrolling the river above and below the city and I believe will be able to prevent the enemy from crossing. * * * . * Major-General Halleck informs me that you are very much dissatisfied with my delay in attacking. I can only say, I have done all in my power to prepare, and if you should deem it necessary to relieve me I shall submit without a murmur."

"I have as much confidence in your conducting the battle rightly as I have in any other officer, but it has seemed to me you have been slow, and I have had no explanation of affairs to convince me otherwise. Receiving your despatch to Major-General Halleck of 2 P. M., before I did the first to me, I telegraphed to suspend the order relieving you until we should hear further. I hope most sincerely that there will be no necessity of repeating the order, and that the facts will show that you have been right all the time."

The impossibility of attacking the enemy while the hills were covered with ice, still further complicated the case. Late on the 11^th, General Grant said :

"If you delay attacking longer, the mortifying spectacle will be witnessed of a rebel army moving for the Ohio, and you will be forced to act, accepting such weather as you find. Let there be no further delay. Hood cannot stand even a drawn battle so far from his supplies of ordnance stores. If he retreats and you follow, he must lose his material and most of his army. I am in hopes of receiving a despatch from you to-day announcing that you have moved. Delay no longer, for weather and reenforcements."

General Thomas was not then waiting for reenforcements. He had announced his readiness for battle on the 10^th and was only waiting for the melting of the ice. In his reply to this peremptory order he said:

"I will obey the order as promptly as possible, however much I may regret it, as the attack will have to be made under every disadvantage. The whole country is covered with a perfect sheet of ice and sleet, and it is with difficulty the troops are able to move about on level ground. It was my intention to attack Hood as soon as the ice melted, and would have done so yesterday had it not been for the storm."

He subsequently called his corps commanders together, consulted them in reference to his peremptory orders, made effort to move his army into position for attack, but found that it was utterly impossible to fight a battle until the ice should melt, and on the 12^th so reported to General Halleck .

"I have the troop's ready to make the attack on the enemy as soon as the sleet, which now covers the ground, has melted sufficiently to enable the men to march. As the whole country is now covered with a sheet of ice so hard and slippery, it is utterly impossible for troops to ascend the slopes or even move on level, ground, in anything like order. It has taken the entire day to place my cavalry in position, and it has only been finally effected with imminent risk and many serious accidents resulting from the numbers of horses falling with their riders on the road. Under these circumstances I believe that an attack at this time would only result in a useless sacrifice of life."

"There is no change in the weather, and as soon as there is, I shall move against the enemy, as everything is ready and prepared to assume the offensive."

Thomas had previously resolved to abandon all efforts to attack the enemy until the ice should melt, since the barrier to his own action, also kept the enemy quiet in his camp.

Badeau referring to the movement of the enemy's cavalry under Lyon into Kentucky, and the operations against Murfreesboro', states:

"Thus Hood had become bold enough to throw large detachments of infantry and cavalry both to the north and south of Nashville, and in spite of the storms and ice that held Thomas fast, the rebel troops were in constant motion."*

This historian must have failed to look at the dates of these movements. Hood's forces operated against Murfreesboro' on the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th, and on the 8th, General Milroy sallied from his defenses and routed the enemy. General Lyon with a small force crossed the Cumberland River into Kentucky, near Clarksville, on the day the storm began. Both movements preceded the ice blockade that held Thomas and Hood fast in their camps. Lyon was promptly followed by the National cavalry and closely pressed till he was driven back to Tennessee.

But the impossibility of attacking the enemy, of which General Grant had been repeatedly advised, did not change his view of the situation, and on the 13^th, he ordered Major-General John A. Logan to proceed to Nashville and take command of the army, provided that on his arrival, Thomas had still made no advance; and on the 15^th, General Grant left City Point, Va., for the same destination, Both generals were arrested on the way, by the news of the battle of the 15th, Logan at Louisville and Grant at Washington.

Several interesting thoughts are suggested by Grant's despatches in relation to Thomas and the situation at Nashville. Grant's recommendation to Halleck to call upon the Governors of States to send a force of sixty thousand men into Louisville to meet the enemy, should he cross the Cumberland River, and his instructions to Thomas to arm the employes of the quartermaster's department, gave proof of an emergency in the West which had not been anticipated, and for which no adequate provision had been made in the distribution of our veteran forces. It is evident that the equilibrium of distribution, East and West, which had been maintained from the beginning of the war, had been overthrown at the culmination of the second great plan of the enemy for offensive operations in the West. It was not a new measure to call out the militia, and to arm civilians in the employ of the government. This had been done repeatedly to meet emergencies. Soldiers for one hundred days had been enrolled to hold the rear of the two great

National armies in the spring of 1864. The citizen employes of the government had been thrown into the entrenchments at Washington, when a Confederate army had come into the rear of the Army of the Potomac, and menaced the National Capital during the summer of that year. Other emergencies had called forth similar efforts. But when such measures were considered imperative in December 1864, there was an emergency in the West, where, a short time before, there had been a vast preponderance of National forces, and the situation at Nashville pointed to the immense army, marching to the sea through the vacant interior of the Southern Confederacy. The withdrawal of this veteran army had destroyed the equilibrium of the National forces.

Grant's declaration, that Thomas had at Nashville "one of the fairest opportunities" to destroy an army of the enemy, that had ever been presented, was made when Grant was proposing such defensive measures as only threatening emergencies justify. In forecasting a battle at Nashville, or the probable invasion of Kentucky, in face of the belief which Grant entertained in common with Thomas and other generals, that Hood entered Tennessee with an army of fifty thousand men, it was a stretch of the imagination, to regard the opportunity for the destruction of that army as one of the fairest ever presented. The precedents of the war, certainly, did not support such a hope. In view of the supposed or actual strength of Hood's army, the situation at Nashville was not as promising for the complete overthrow of the enemy as other situations in other campaigns had been. One hundred thousand men had been repeatedly hurled against forty or fifty thousand, without destroying the inferior army. History presents few instances, if any, in which one army of slightly superior numerical strength, and of equal morale, has destroyed another army when the latter has had freedom of motion. But history does give instances without number

which armies with communications open to the rear have maintained existence and gathered a fair share of results, in defense, against armies of far greater strength. Our own civil war, prior to December, 1864, was not wanting in such cases. If, therefore, there was ground for the prophecy of disastrous results from Hood's threatening attitude before Nashville, there was no ground for the assumption that the opportunity to crush his army was "one of the fairest opportunities ever presented." On the supposition that it was possible for Hood, with an army at his back, to advance still further from his base, it certainly was possible for him to retreat from Nashville.

It is evident, also, that there were reasons for Grant's urgency for an immediate attack, which were foreign to the situation in Nashville. December 14^th Halleck telegraphed to Thomas:

It has been seriously apprehended, that while Hood, with a part of his forces, held you in check near Nashville, he would have time to cooperate against other important points left only partially protected. Hence, Lieutenant-General Grant was anxious that you should attack the rebel forces in your front, and expresses great dissatisfaction that his order has not been carried out. Moreover, so long as Hood occupies a threatening position In Tennessee, General Canby is obliged to keep large forces on the Mississippi River to protect its navigation and to hold Memphis, Vicksburg, etc, although General Grant had directed a. part of these forces to cooperate with Sherman.

Every day's delay on. your part, therefore, seriously interferes with General Grant's plans.

It is evident from in this despatch, that Thomas was urged to engage Hood's army under forbidding circumstances, because it was feared that Hood, if not compelled to fight immediately at Nashville, would detach forces to menace remote cities, and because the postponement of battle would prevent Canby's cooperation with Sherman.

For the continuation of Van Horne's treatment of the battle of Nashville, go to Part 3 of the "Life of GHT".

excerpt from REPELLING HOOD'S INVASION OF TENNESSEE.
BY HENRY STONE, BREVET COLONEL, U. S. V., MEMBER OF THE STAFF OF GENERAL THOMAS.

ON September 28th, 1864, less than four weeks from the day the Union forces occupied Atlanta, General Sherman, who found his' still unconquered enemy, General Hood, threatening his communications in Georgia, and that formidable raider, General Forrest, playing the mischief in west Tennessee, sent to the latter State two divisions - General Newton's of the Fourth Corps, and General J. D. Morgan's of the Fourteenth - to aid in destroying, if possible, that intrepid dragoon. To make assurance doubly sure, the next day he ordered General George H. Thomas, his most capable and experienced lieutenant, and the commander of more than three-fifths of his grand army, "back to Stevenson and Decherd... to look to Tennessee."

No order could have been more unwelcome to General Thomas. It removed him from the command of his own thoroughly organized and harmonious army of sixty thousand veterans, whom he knew and trusted, and who knew and loved him, and relegated him to the position of supervisor of communications. It also sent him to the rear just when great preparations were making for an advance. But, as often happens, what seemed an adverse fate opened the door to great, unforeseen opportunity. The task of expelling Forrest and reopening the broken communications was speedily completed, and on the 17th of October Thomas wrote to General Sherman, "I hope to Join you very soon." Sherman, however, had other views, and the hoped-for junction was never made. On the 19th he wrote to General Thomas:

"I will send back to Tennessee the Fourth Corps, all dismounted cavalry, all sick and wounded, and all incumbrances whatever except what I can haul in our wagons.... I want you to remain in Tennessee and take command of all my [military] division not actually

present with me. Hood's army may be set down at forty thousand (40,000) of all arms, fit for duty.... If you can defend the line of the Tennessee in my absence of three (3) months, it is all I ask."

With such orders, and under such circumstances, General Thomas was left to play his part in the new campaign.

General Hood, after a series of daring adventures which baffled all Sherman's calculations ("he can turn and twist like a fox " said Sherman" and, wear out my army in pursuit"), concentrated his entire force, except Forrest's cavalry, at Gadsden Alabama on the 22d of October while General,, Sherman established his headquarters at Gaylesville,- a "position," as he wrote to General Halleck, "very good to watch the enemy." In spite of this "watch," Hood suddenly appeared on the 26th at Decatur on the Tennessee River, seventy-five miles north-west of Gadsden. This move was a complete surprise, and evidently "meant business." The Fourth Corps, numbering about twelve thousand men, commanded by Major-General D. S. Stanley, was at once ordered from Gaylesville, to report to General Thomas. On the 1st of November its leading division reached Pulaski, Tennessee, a small town on the railroad, about forty miles north of Decatur, where it was joined four days later by the other two.

Making a slight though somewhat lengthened demonstration against Decatur General Hood pushed on to Tuscumbia, forty-five miles west. Here he expected to find -what he had weeks before ordered -ample supplies, and the railroad in operation to Corinth. But he was doomed to disappointment. Instead of being in condition to make the rapid and triumphant march with which he had inflamed the ardor of his troops, he was detained three weeks, a delay fatal to his far-reaching hopes. Placing one corps on the north side of the river at Florence, he waited for supplies and for Forrest, who had been playing havoc throughout west Tennessee from the line of the Mississippi border, northward to Kentuckyorders to Join him.

Convinced now of Hood's serious intentions, General Sherman also ordered the Twenty-third Corps, ten thousand men, under command of Major-General V J. M. Schofield, to report to General Thomas. Reaching Pulaski, with one division, on the 14th of November, General Schofield, though inferior in rank to Stanley, assumed command by virtue of being a department commander. The whole force gathered there was less than 18 000 men; while in front were some 5000 cavalry, consisting of a brigade of about 1500, under General Croxton, and a division of some 3500, under General Edward Hatch, the latter being fortunately intercepted while on his way to join Sherman.

The Confederate army in three corps (S. D. Lee's, A. P. Stewart's, and B. F. Cheatham's) began its northward march from Florence on the 19th of November, in weather of great severity. It rained and snowed and hailed and froze, and the roads were almost impassable. Forrest had come up, with about six thousand cavalry, and led the advance with indomitable energy. Hatch and Croxton made such resistance as they could; but on the 22d the head of Hood's column was at Lawrenceburg, some 16 miles due west of Pulaski Tennessee and on a road running direct to Columbia, where the railroad and turn-pike

to Nashville cross Duck River, and where there were less than 800 men to guard the bridges. The situation at Pulaski, with an enemy nearly three times as large fairly on the flank, was anything but cheering. Warned by the reports from General Hatch, and by the orders of General Thomas, who, on the 20th, had directed General Schofield to prepare to fall back to Columbia, the two divisions of General J. D. Cox and General George D. Wagner (the latter Newton's old division) were ordered to march to Lynnville-about half-way

to Columbia -- on the 22d. On the 23d the other two divisions, under General Stanley, were to follow with the wagon-trains. It was not a moment too soon. On the morning of the 24th General Cox, who had pushed on to within nine miles of Columbia, was roused by sounds of conflict away to the west. Taking a cross-road, leading south of Columbia, he reached the Mount Pleasant pike just in time to interpose his infantry between Forrest's cavalry and a hapless brigade, under command of Colonel Capron, which was being handled most unceremoniously.* In another hour Forrest would have been in possession of the crossings of Duck River, and the only line of communication with Nashville would have been in the hands of the enemy. General Stanley, who had left Pulaski in the afternoon of the 23d, reached Lynnville after dark. Rousing his command at 1 o'clock in the morning, by 9 o'clock the head of his column connected with Cox in front of Columbia--having marched thirty miles since 2 o'clock of the preceding afternoon. These timely movements saved the little army from utter destruction.

When General Sherman had finally deter mined on his march to the sea, he requested General Rosecrans, in Missouri, to send to General Thomas two divisions, under General A. J. Smith, which had been lent to General Banks for the Red River expedition, and were now repellingPrice into Missouri. As they were not immediately forthcoming, General Grant had order ed General Rawlins, his chief-of-staff, to St. Louis, to direct, in person, their speedy embarkation. Thence, on the 7th of November, two weeks before Hood began his advance from Florence, General Rawlins wrote to General Thomas that Smith's command, aggregating nearly 14,000, would begin to leave that place as early as the 10th. No news was ever more anxiously awaited or more eagerly welcomed than this. But the promise could not be fulfilled. Smith had to march entirely across the State of Missouri; and instead of leaving St. Louis on the 10th, he did not arrive there until the 24th. Had he come at the proposed time, it was General Thomas's intention to place him at Eastport, on the Tennessee River, so as to threaten Hood's flank and rear if the latter advanced. With such disposition, the battles of Franklin and Nashville would have been relegated to the category of "events which never come to pass." But when Smith reached St. Louis Hood was threatening Columbia; and it was an open question whether he would not reach Nashville before the reenforcements from Missouri.

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* Major Henry C. Connelly, of the 14th Illinois cavalry, on August 8th, 1887, wrote to the editors as follows: "when General Hood advanced from the Tennessee River, General Capron's brigade was on the extreme right of our army, and from the 19th of November until the 24th, the day Columbia was reached, we fought Forrest's cavalry. I was with the rear-guard on the occasion referred to; it fell back and found the brigade in good position in line of battle. I rode to General Capron and expressed the opinion that he could not hold his position a moment against the troops pressing us in the rear and on the flanks, which we could easily see advancing rapidly to attack us. General Capron replied that he had been ordered to make a decided stand if it sacrificed every man in his brigade; that we must hold the advancing forces in check to enable the infantry to arrive and get in position. I replied, 'we are destroyed and captured if we remain here.' At this moment General Capron gave the order to retire. While passing through a long lane south of Columbia, Forrest's forces charged the brigade in rear and on both flanks with intrepid courage. Our command was confined to a narrow lane, with men and horses in the highest state of excitement. we were armed with Springfield rifles, which after the first volley were about as serviceable to a cavalryman thus hemmed in as a good club. The men could not reload while mounted, in the excitement of horses as well as soldiers. The only thing that could be done was to get out as promptly as possible, and before Forrest's forces should close in and capture the command.

"This was done successfully. The brigade was composed of the 14th and 16th Illinois cavalry and the 8th Michigan cavalry."
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As fast as the Union troops arrived at Columbia, in their hurried retreat from Pulaski, works were thrown up, covering the approaches from the south, and the trains were sent across the river. But the line was found to be longer than the small force could hold; and the river could easily be crossed, above or below the town. Orders were given to withdraw to the north side on the night of the 26th, but a heavy storm prevented. The next night the crossing was made, the railroad bridge was burned, and the pontoon boats were scuttled. This was an all-night job, the last of the pickets crossing at 5 in the morning. It was now the fifth day since the retreat from Pulaski began, and the little army had been exposed day and night to all sorts of weather except sunshine, and had been almost continually on the move. From deserters it was learned that Hood's infantry numbered 40,000, and his cavalry, under Forrest, 10,000 or 12,000. But the Union army was slowly increasing by concentration and the arrival of recruits. It now numbered at Columbia about 23,000 e 5000 cavalry -- of whom only 3500 were mounted. General James H. Wilson, who had been ordered by General Grant to report to General Sherman,--and of whom General Grant wrote, "I believe he will add fifty per-cent to the effectiveness of our cavalry,"-- had taken command personally of all General Thomas's cavalry, which was trying. to hold the fords east and west of Columbia. [See article by General Wilson, to follow.]

In spite of every opposition, Forrest succeeded in placing one of his divisions on the north side of Duck River before noon of the 28th, and forced back the Union cavalry on roads leading toward Spring Hill and Franklin. At 1 o'clock on the morning of the 20th General Wilson became convinced that the enemy's infantry would begin crossing at daylight, and advised General Schofield to fall back to Franklin. At 3: 30 the same morning General Thomas sent hi m similar orders. Daylight revealed the correctness of Wilson's information. Before sunrise Cheatham's corps, headed by Cleburne's division, --a division unsurpassed for courage, energy, and endurance by any in the Confederate army,-- was making its way over Duck River at Davis's Ford, about five miles east of Columbia. The weather had cleared, and it was a bright autumn morning, the air full of invigorating life. General Hood in person accompanied the advance.

When General Schofield was informed that the Confederate infantry were crossing, he sent a brigade,
under Colonel P. Sidney Post, on a reconnaissance along the river-bank, to learn if the report was true. He also ordered General Stanley to march with two divisions, Wagner's and Kimball's, to Spring Hill, taking the trains and all the reserve Artillery. In less than half an hour after receiving the order, Stanley was on the way. On reaching the point where Rutherford Creek crosses the Franklin Pike, Kimball's division was halted, by order of General Schofield, and faced to the east to cover the crossing against a possible attack from that quarter. In this position Kimball remained all day. Stanley, with the other division, pushed on to Spring Hill. Just before noon, as the head of his column was approaching that place, he met "a cavalry soldier who seemed to be badly scared," who reported that Buford's division of Forrest's cavalry was approaching from

the east. The troops were at once double-quicked into the town, and the leading brigade, deploying as it advanced, drove off the enemy just as they were expecting, unmolested, to occupy the place. As the other brigades came up, they also were deployed, forming nearly a semicircle,--Opdycke's brigade stretching in a thin line from the railroad station north of the village to a point some distance east, and Lane's from Opdycke's right to the pike below. Bradley was sent to the front to occupy a knoll some three-fourths of a mile east, commanding all the approaches from that direction. Most of the Artillery was placed on a rise south of the town. The trains were parked within the semicircle.

From Spring Hill roads radiate to all points, the turnpike between Columbia and Franklin being there intersected by turnpikes from Rally Hill and Mount Carmel, as well as by numerous country roads leading to the neighboring towns. Possession of that point would not only shut out the Union army from the road to Nashville, but it would effectually bar the way in every direction. Stanley's arrival was not a moment too soon for the safety of the army, and his prompt dispositions and steady courage, as well as his vigorous hold of all the ground he occupied, gave his little command all the moral fruits of a victory.

Hardly had the three brigades, numbering, all told, less than four thousand men, reached the positions assigned them, when Bradley was assailed by a force which the men declared fought too well to be dismounted cavalry. At the same time, at Thompson's Station three miles north an attack was made 9 on a small wagon train heading for Franklin; and a dash was made by a detachment of the Confederate cavalry on the Spring Hill station, north-west of the town. It seemed as if the little band, attacked from all points, was threatened with destruction. Bradley's brigade was twice assaulted but held, its own, though with considerable loss, and only a single regiment could be spared to reenforce him. The third assault was more successful, and he was

driven back to the edge of the village, Bradley himself receiving a disabling wound in rallying his men. While attempting to follow up this temporary advantage, the enemy, in crossing a wide corn-field, was opened upon with spherical case-shot from eight guns posted on the knoll, and soon scattered in considerable confusion. These attacks undoubtedly came from Cleburne's division, and were made under the eye of the corps commander, General Cheatham, and the army commander, General Hood. That they were not successful, especially as the other two divisions of the same corps, Brown's and Bate's, were close at hand, and Stewart's corps not far off, seems unaccountable. Except this one small division deployed in a long thin line to cover the wagons, there were no Union troops within striking distance; the cavalry were about Mount Carmel, five miles east, fully occupied in keeping Forrest away from Franklin and the Harpeth River crossings. The nearest aid was Kimball's division seven miles south, at Rutherford Creek. The other three divisions of infantry which made up Schofield's force --Wood's, Cox's, and Ruger's (in part) --were still at Duck River. Thus night closed down upon the solitary division, on whose boldness of action devolved the safety of' the whole force which Sherman had spared from his march to the sea to breast the tide of Hood's invasion. When night carne, the danger increased rather than diminished. A single Confederate brigade, like Adams's or Cockrell's or Maney's,-- veterans since Shiloh,-- planted squarely across the pike, either south or north of Spring Hill, would have effectually prevented Schofield's retreat, and daylight would have found his whole force cut off from every avenue of escape by more than twice its numbers, to assault whom would have been madness, and to avoid whom would have been impossible.

Why Cleburne and Brown failed to drive away Stanley's one division before dark; why Bate failed to possess himself of the pike south of the town; why Stewart failed to lead his troops to the pike at the north; why Forrest, with his audacious temper and his enterprising cavalry, did not fully hold Thompson's Station or the crossing of the West Harpeth, half-way to Franklin: these are to this day disputed questions among the Confederate commanders; and it is not proposed to discuss them here. The afternoon and night of November 29th, 1864, may well be set down in the calender of

lost opportunities. The heroic valor of the same troops the next day, and their frightful losses as they attempted to retrieve their mistake, show what might have been.

By 8 o'clock at night -- two hours only after sunset, on a moonless night-- at least two corps of Hood's army were in line of battle facing the turnpike, and not half a mile away. The long line of Confederate camp-fires burned bright, and the men could be seen standing around them or sauntering about in groups. Now and then a few would come almost to the pike and fire at a passing Union squad, but without provoking a reply. General Schofield who had remained at Duck River all day, reached Spring Hill about 7 P.M., with Ruger's division and Whitaker's brigade. Leaving the latter to cover a cross-road a mile or two below the town, he started with Ruger about 9 P. M. to force a passage at 'Thompson's Station supposed to be in the hands of the enemy. At 11 P. M. General Cox arrived with his division and soon after Schofield returned to Spring Hill with the welcome news that the way was open. From Thompson's Station he sent his engineer officer, Captain William J. Twining, to Franklin, to telegraph the situation to General Thomas, all communication with whom had been cut off since early morning. Captain Twining's dispatch shows most clearly the critical condition of affairs: "The general says he will not be able to get farther than Thompson's Station to-night.... He regards his situation as extremely perilous.... Thinking the troops under A. J. Smith's command had reached Franklin General Schofield directed me to have them pushed down to Spring Hill by daylight to-morrow." This was Tuesday. The day before, General Thomas had telegraphed to General Schofield that Smith had not yet arrived, but would be at Nashville in three days -- that is, Thursday. The expectation of finding him at Franklin, therefore, was like a drowning man's catching at a straw.

Just before midnight Cox started from Spring Hill for Franklin, and was ordered to pick up Ruger at Thompson's Station. At 1 A. M. he was on the road and the train, over five miles long, was drawn out. At the very outset it had to n single file. So difficult was this whole movement, that it was 5 o'clock in the morning before the wagons were fairly under way. As the head of the train passed Thompson's Station, it was attacked by the Confederate cavalry, and for a while there was great consternation. Wood's division, which had followed Cox from Duck River, was marched along to the east of the pike, to protect the train, and the enemy were speedily driven off. It was near daybreak when the last wagon left Spring Hill. Kimball's division

followed Wood's, and at 4 o'clock Wagner drew in his lines, his skirmishers remaining till it was fairly daylight. The rear-guard was commanded by Colonel Emerson Opdycke, who was prepared, if necessary, to sacrifice the last man to secure the safety of the main body. So efficiently did his admirable brigade do its work, that, though surrounded by a cloud of the enemy's cavalry, which made frequent dashes at its lines, not a straggler nor a wagon was left behind. The ground was strewn with knapsacks cut from the shoulders of a lot of raw recruits weighed down with their unaccustomed burden.

The head of the column, under General Cox, reached the outskirts of Franklin about the same hour that the rear-guard was leaving Spring Hill. Here the tired, sleepy, hungry men, who had fought and marched, day and night, for nearly a week, threw up a line of earth-works on a slight eminence which guards the southern approach to the town, even before they made their coffee. Then they gladly dropped anywhere for the much-needed "forty winks." Slowly the rest of the weary column, regiment after regiment of worn-out men, filed into the works, and continued the line, till a complete bridge-head, from the river-bank above to the river-bank below, encircled the town. By noon of the 30th all the troops had come up, and the wagons were crossing the river, which was already fordable, notwithstanding the recent heavy rainfalls. The rear-guard was still out, having an occasional bout with the enemy. [See map of the field, p. 430.]

The Columbia Pike bisected the works, which at that point were built just in front of the Carter house, a one-story brick dwelling west of the pike, and a large gin-house on the east side. Between the gin-house and the river the works were partly protected in front by a hedge of Osage orange, and on the knoll, near the railroad cut close to the bank, were two batteries belonging to the Fourth Corps. Near the Carter house was a considerable thicket of locust trees. Except these obstructions, the whole ground in front was entirely

unobstructed and fenceless, and, from the works, every part of it was in plain sight. General Cox's division of three brigades, commanded that day, in order from left to right, by Colonels Stiles and Casement and General Reilly, occupied the ground between the Columbia Pike and the river above the town. The front line consisted of eight regiments, three in the works and one in reserve for each of the brigades of Stiles and Casement, while Reilly's brigade near est the pike hents in the works, and two in a second line, with still another regiment behind that. West of the pike, reaching to a ravine through which passes a road branching from the Carter's Creek Pike, was Ruger's division of two brigades -- the third, under General Cooper, not having come up from Johnsonville. Strickland's brigade, of four regiments, had two in the works and two in reserve. Two off these regiments, the 72d Illinois and 44th Missouri, belonged to A. J. Smith's corps, and had reported to General Schofield only the day before. A third, which was in reserve, the 183d Ohio, was a large and entirely new regiment, having been mustered into service only three weeks before, and having joined the army for the first time on the 28th. Moore's brigade, of six regiments, had four in the works and two in reserve. Beyond Ruger, reaching from the ravine to the river below, was Kimball's division of the Fourth Corps,-- all veterans,-- consisting of three brigades commanded by Generals William Grose and Walter C. Whitaker and Colonel Isaac M. Kirby. All the troops in the works were ordered to report to General Cox, to whom was assigned the command of the defenses.* General Wood's division of the Fourth Corps had gone over the river with the trains; and two brigades of Wagner's division, which had so valiantly stood their ground at Spring Hill and covered the rear since, were halted on a slope about half a mile to the front. Opdycke had brought his brigade within the works, and held them massed, near the pike, behind the Carter house. Besides the guns on the knoll, near the railroad cut, there were six pieces in Reilly's works; four on Strickland's left; two on Moore's left, and four on Grose's left-in all twenty-six guns in that part of the works, facing south, and twelve more in reserve, on or near the Columbia Pike.

As the bright autumn day, hazy with the golden light of an Indian summer atmosphere, wore away, the troops that had worked so hard looked hopefully forward to a prospect of ending it in peace and rest, preparatory either to a night march to Nashville, or to a reenforcement by Smith's corps and General Thomas. But about 2 o'clock, some suspicious movements on the hills a mile or two away--the waving of signal flags and the deployment of the enemy in line of battle--caused General Wagner to send his adjutant general, from the advanced position where his two brigades had halted, to his commanding general, with the information that Hood seemed to be preparing for attack. In a very short time the whole Confederate line could be

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* General D. S. Stanley, who commanded the Fourth Corps, takes exception to this statement. Some of his troops as they arrived were assigned to positions by General Cox. General Stanley, in the performance of his duty, went with General Schofield to the north side of the river, but returned when the firing began and assisted in rallying Wagner's brigades, of his corps, during which he was wounded. General Schofield said in his report of December 31st, 1864: "The troops were placed in position and intrenched under his [Cox's] immediate direction, and the greater portion of the line engaged was under his command during the battle."--Editors.
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seen, stretching in battle array, from the dark fringe of chestnuts along the river-bank, far across the Columbia Pike, the colors gayly fluttering and the muskets gleaming brightly, and advancing steadily, in perfect order, dressed on the center, straight for the works. Meantime General Schofield had retired to the fort, on a high bluff on the other side of the river; some two miles away, by the road, and had taken General Stanley with him. From the fort the whole field of operations, was plainly visible. Notwithstanding all these demonstrations the two brigades of Wagner were left on the knoll where they had been halted, and, with scarcely an apology for works to protect them, had waited until it was too
late to retreat without danger of degenerating into a rout.

On came the enemy, as steady and resistless as a tidal wave. A couple of guns, in the advance line, gave them a shot and galloped back to the works. A volley from a thin skirmish-line was sent into their ranks but without, causing any delay to the massive array. A moment more, and with that wild "rebel yell" which, once heard, is never forgotten, the great human wave swept along, and seemed to insult the little force that had so sturdily awaited it.

The first shock came, of course, upon the two misplaced brigades of Wager's division, which, through some one's blunder had remained in their false position until too late to retire without disaster. They had no tools to throw up works; and when struck by the resistless sweep of Cleburne's and Brown's divisions, they had only to make their way, as best they could, back to the works. In that wild rush, in which friend and foe were intermingled, and the piercing "rebel yell" rose high above the "Yankee cheer," nearly seven hundred were made prisoners. But worst of all for the Union side,, the men of Reilly's and Strickland's brigades dared not fire, lest they should shoot down their own comrades, and the guns, loaded with grape and canister, stood silent in the embrasures. With loud shouts of "Let's go into the

works with them," the triumphant Confederates, now more like a wild howling mob than an organized army, swept on to the very works, with hardly a check from any quarter. So fierce was the rush that a number of the fleeing soldiers--officers and men--dropped exhausted into the ditch, and lay there while the terrific contest raged over their heads, till, under cover of darkness, they could crawl safely inside the intrenchments.

On Strickland's left close to the Columbia Pike, was posted one of the new infantry regiments. The tremendous onset, the wild yells, the whole infernal din of the strife, were too much for such an undisciplined body. As they saw the line rushing to the rear, they too turned and fled. The contagion spread, and in a few minutes a disorderly stream was pouring down the pike past the Carter house toward the town. The guns, posted on each side the Columbia Pike were abandoned, and the works, for the space of more than a regimental front both, east and west of the pike, were deserted. Into the gap thus made, without an instant's delay, swarmed the jubilant Confederates, urged on by Cleburne and Brown, and took possession of both works and guns. For a moment it looked as though these two enterprising divisions, backed by the mass of troops converging toward the pike, would sweep down the works in both directions, and, taking Strickland and Reilly on the flank, drive them out, or capture them. Fortunately, there were at hand reserves of brave men who were not demoralized by the momentary panic. Colonel Emerson Opdycke, of Wagner's division, as already stated, had brought his brigade inside the works, and they were now massed near the Carter house, ready for any contingency. Two regiments of Reilly's brigade, the 12th and 16th Kentucky, which had reached Franklin about noon, had taken position a little in rear of the rest of the brigade, and thrown up works. As soon as the break was made in the lines all these reserves rushed to the front, and, after a terrific struggle, succeeded in regaining the works. Opdycke's brigade, deploying as it advanced, was involved in as fierce a hand-to-hand encounter as ever soldiers engaged in. The two Kentucky regiments joined in the fight with equal ardor and bravery. A large part of Conrad's and Lane's men, as they came in, though wholly disorganized, turned about and gave the enemy a hot reception. Opdycke's horse was shot under him, and he fought on foot at the head of his brigade. General Cox was everywhere present, encouraging and cheering on his men. General Stanley, who, from the fort where he had gone with General Schofield, had seen the opening clash, galloped to the front as soon as possible and did all that a brave man could until he was painfully wounded. Some of Opdycke's men manned the abandoned guns in Reilly's works; others filled the gap in Strickland's line. These timely movements first checked and then

repulsed the assaulting foe, and soon the entire line of works was reoccupied, the enemy sullenly giving up the prize which was so nearly won. Stewart's corps, which was on Cheatham's right, filling the space to the river, kept abreast of its valiant companion, and, meeting no obstacle, reached the works near the Union left before Cheatham made the breach at the Columbia Pike. Owing to the peculiar formation of the field, the left of Stewart's line was thrown upon the same ground with the right of Cheatham's the two commands there became much intermingled. This accounts for so many of General Stewart's officers and men being killed in front of Reilly's and Casement's regiments.

Where there was nothing to hinder the Union fire, the muskets of Stiles's and Casement's brigades made fearful havoc while the batteries at the railroad cut plowed furrows through the ranks of the advancing foe. Time after time they came up to the very works, but they never crossed them except as prisoners. More than one color-bearer was shot down on the parapet. It is impossible to exaggerate the fierce energy with which the Confederate soldiers, that short November afternoon, threw themselves against the works, fighting with what seemed the very madness of despair. There was not a breath of wind, and the dense smoke settled down upon the field, so that, after the first assault, it was impossible to see at any distance. Through this blinding medium, assault after assault was made, several of the Union officers declaring in their reports that their lines received as many as thirteen distinct attacks. Between the gin-house and the Columbia Pike the fighting was fiercest, and the Confederate losses the greatest. Here tell most of the Confederate generals, who, that fateful afternoon, madly gave up their lives; Adams of' Stewart's corps--his horse astride the works, and himself within a few feet of them. Cockrell and Quarles, of the same corps, were severely wounded. In Cheatham's corps, Cleburne and Granbury were killed near the pike. On the west of the pike Strahl and Gist were killed, and Brown was severely wounded. General G. W. Gordon was captured by Opdycke's brigade, inside the works. The heaviest loss in all the Union regiments was in the 44th Missouri, the advance guard of Smith's long-expected reenforcement, which had been sent to Columbia on the 27th, and was here stationed on the right of the raw regiment that broke and ran at the first onset of the enemy. Quickly changing front, the 44th held its ground, but with a loss of 34 killed, 37 wounded, and 92 missing, many of the latter being wounded. In the 72d Illinois, its companion, every field-officer was wounded, and the entire color-guard, of one sergeant and eight corporals, was shot down. Its losses were 10 killed, 66 wounded and 75 missing.

While this infantry battle was going on, Forrest had crossed the river with his cavalry some distance east of the town, with the evident purpose of getting at Schofield's wagons. But he reckoned without his host. Hatch and Croxton, by General Wilson's direction, fell upon him with such vigor that he returned to the south side and gave our forces no further trouble. At nightfall the victory was complete on every part of the Union lines. But here and there on the Confederate side desultory firing was kept up till long after dark, though with little result.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon as the Confederate lines were forming for, their great assault, General Schofield, W reply to a telegram from General Thomas, asking him if he could "hold Hood at Franklin for three days longer," replied, "I do not think I can.... It appears to me I ought to take position at Brentwood at once." Accordingly General Thomas, at 3:30, directed him to retire to Brentwood, which he did that night, bringing away all the wagons and other property in safety. Among the spoils of war were thirty-three Confederate colors, captured by our men from the enemy. The morning found the entire infantry force safe within the friendly shelter of the works at Nashville, where they also welcomed the veterans of A. J. Smith, who were just arriving from Missouri. Soon after, a body of about five thousand men came in from Chattanooga, chiefly of General Sherman's army, too late for their proper commands. These were organized into a provisional division under General J. B. Steedman, and were posted between the Murfreesboro Pike and the river. Cooper's brigade also came in after a narrow escape from capture, as well as several regiments of colored troops from the railroad between Nashville and Johnsonville. Their arrival completed the force on which General Thomas was to rely for the task he now placed before himself --the destruction of Hood's army. It was an ill-assorted and heterogeneous mass, not yet welded into an army, and lacking a great proportion of' the outfit with which to undertake an aggressive campaign. Horses, wagons, mules, pontoons, everything needed to mobilize an army, had to be obtained. At that time they did not exist at Nashville. [See map, p. 434.]

The next day Hood's columns appeared before the town and took up their positions on a line of hills nearly parallel to those occupied by the Union army, and speedily threw up works and prepared to defend their ground.

Probably no commander ever underwent two weeks of greater anxiety and distress of mind than General Thomas during the interval between Hood's arrival and his precipitate departure from the vicinity of Nashville. The story is too painful to dwell upon, even after the lapse of twenty-three years. From the 2d of December until the battle was fought on the 15th, the general-in-chief did not cease, day or night, to send him from the headquarters at City Point, Va., most urgent and often most uncalled-for orders in regard to his operations, culminating in an order on the 9th relieving him, and directing him to turn over his command to General Schofield, who was assigned to his place --an order which, had it not been revoked, the great captain would have obeyed with loyal single-heartedness. This order, though made out at the Adjutant-General's office in Washington, was not sent to General Thomas, and he did not know of its existence until told of it some years later by General Halleck, at San Francisco. He felt, however, that something of the kind was impending. General Halleck dispatched to him, on morning of the 9th: "Lieutenant-General Grant expresses much dissatisfaction at your delay in attacking the enemy." His reply shows how entirely he understood the situation: "I feel conscious I have done everything in my power, and that the troops could not have been gotten ready before this. If General Grant should order me to be relieved I will submit without a murmur." As he

was writing this, -- 2 o'clock in the afternoon on December 9th, -- a terrible storm of freezing rain had been pouring down since daylight, and it kept on pouring and freezing all that day and a part of the next. That night General Grant notified him that the order relieving him--which he had divined--was suspended. But he did not know who had been designated as his successor. With this threat hanging over him; with the utter impossibility, in that weather, of making any movement; with the prospect that the labors of his whole life were about to end in disappointment, if not disaster,-- he never, for an instant, abated his energy or his work of preparation. Not an hour, day and night, was he idle. Nobody -- not even his most trusted staff-officers -- knew the contents of the telegrams that came to him. But it was very evident that something greatly troubled him. While the rain was falling and the fields and roads were ice-bound, he would sometimes sit by the window for an hour or more, not speaking a word, gazing steadily out upon the forbidding prospect, as if he were trying to will the storm away. It was curious and interesting to see how, in this gloomy interval, his time was occupied by matters not strictly military. Now, it was a visit from a delegation of the city government, in regard to some municipal regulation; again, somebody whose one horse had been seized and put into the cavalry; then a committee of citizens, begging that wood might be furnished, to keep some poor families from freezing; and, of evenings, Governor Andrew Johnson--then Vice-President elect--would unfold to him, with much iteration, his fierce views concerning secession, rebels, and reconstruction. To all he gave a patient and kindly hearing, and he often astonished Governor Johnson by his knowledge of constitutional and international law. But under, neath all, it was plain to see that General Grant's dissatisfaction keenly affected him, and that only by the proof which a successful battle would furnish could he hope to regain the confidence of the general-in-chief.

So when, at 8 o'clock on the evening of December 14th after having laid his plans before his corps commanders, and dismissed them, he dictated to General Halleck the telegram, "The ice having melted away to-day, the enemy will be attacked to-morrow morning," he drew a deep sigh of relief and for the first time for a week showed again something of his natural buoyancy and cheerfulness. He moved about more briskly; he put in order all the little last things that remained to be done; he signed his name where it was needed in the letter-book, and then, giving orders to his staff-officers to be ready at 5 o'clock the next morning, went gladly to bed.

The ice had not melted a day too soon; for, while he was writing the telegram to General Halleck, General Logan was speeding his way to Nashville, with orders from General Grant that would have placed him in command

of all the Union forces there assembled. General Thomas, fortunately, did not then learn this second proof of General Grant's lack of confidence and; General Logan, on reaching Louisville, found that the work intended for him was already done-- and came no farther. At the very time when these orders were made out at Washington, in obedience to General Grant's directions, a large part of the cavalry was unmounted; two divisions were absent securing horses and proper outfit; wagons were unfinished and mules lacking or unbroken; pontoons unmade and pontoniers untrained; the ground was covered with a glare of ice which made all the fields: and hillsides impassable for horses and scarcely passable for foot-men. The natives declared that the Yankees brought their weather as well as their army with them. Every corps commander in the army protested that a movement under such conditions would be little short of madness, and certain to result in disaster.

A very considerable reorganization of the army also took place during this enforced delay. General Stanley, still suffering from his wound, went North, and General T. J. Wood, who had been with it from the beginning, succeeded to the command of the Fourth Corps. General Ruger, who had commanded a division in the Twenty-third Corps, was also disabled by sickness, and was succeeded by General D. N. Couch, formerly a corps commander in the Army of the Potomac, and who had recently been assigned to duty in the Department of the Cumberland.* General Wagner was retired from command of his division, and was succeeded by General W. L. Elliott, who had been chief of cavalry on General Thomas's staff in the Atlanta campaign. General Kenner Garrard, who had commanded a cavalry division during the Atlas assigned to an infantry division in Smith's corps. In all these cases, except in that of General Wood succeeding to the command of the Fourth Corps, the newly assigned officers were entire strangers to the troops over whom they were placed.

On the afternoon of the 14th of December General Thomas summoned his corps commanders, and, delivering to each a written order containing a

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* General Couch was in command of the Department of the Susquehanna from June 11th, 1863, to December 1st, 1864. On December 8th, 1864, he took command of the Second Division of the 'twenty-third Corps.- Editors.
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detailed plan of the battle, went with them carefully and thoroughly over the whole ground, answering all questions and explaining all doubts. Never had a commander a more loyal corps of subordinates or a more devoted army. The feeling in the ranks was one of absolute and enthusiastic confidence in their general. Some had served with him since his opening triumph at Mill Springs; some had never seen his face till two weeks before. But there was that in his bearing, as well as in the confidence of his old soldiers, which inspired the new-comers with as absolute a sense of reliance upon him as was felt by the oldest of his veterans.

The plan, in general terms, was for General Steedman, on the extreme left to move out early in the morning, threatening the rebel right, while the cavalry, which had been placed on the extreme right, and A. J. Smith's corps were to make a grand left wheel with the entire right wing, assaulting and, if possible, overlapping the left of Hood's position. Wood was to form the pivot for this wheel, and to threaten and perhaps attack Montgomery Hill while General Schofield was to be held in reserve, near the left center, for such use as the exigency might develop.

It was not daylight, on the morning of the 15th of December, when the army began to move. In most of the camps reveille had been sounded at 4 o'clock, and by 6 everything was ready. It turned out a warm, sunny, winter morning. A dense fog at first hung. over the valleys and completely hid all movements, but by 9 o'clock this had cleared away. General Steedman, on the extreme left, was the first to draw out of the defenses, and to assail the enemy at their works between the Nolensville and Murfreesboro' pikes. It was not intended as a real attack, though it had that effect. Two of Steedman's brigades, chiefly colored troops, kept two divisions of Cheatham's corps constantly busy, while his third was held in reserve; thus one Confederate corps was disposed of. S. D. Lee's corps, next on Cheatham's left, after sending two brigades to the assistance of Stewart on the Confederate left, was held, in place by the threatening position of the garrison troops, and did not fire a shot during the day. Indeed, both Cheatham's and Lee's corps were held, as in a vise, between Steedman and Wood. Lee's corps was unable to move or to fight. Steedman maintained the ground he occupied till the next morning, with no very heavy loss.

When, about 9 o'clock, the sun began to burn away the fog, the sight from General Thomas's position was inspiring. A little to the left, on Montgomery Hill, the salient of the Confederate lines, and not more than six hundred yards distant from Wood's salient on Lawrens Hill, could be seen the advance line of works, behind which an unknown force of the enemy lay in wait. Beyond, and along the Hillsboro' Pike, were stretches of stone wall, with here and there a detached earth-work, through whose embrasures peeped the threatening Artillery. To the right, along the valley of Richland Creek, the dark line of Wilson's advancing cavalry could be seen slowly making its difficult way across the wet, swampy, stumpy ground. Close in front, and at the foot of the hill, its right joining Wilson's left, was A. J. Smith's corps, full of cheer and enterprise, and glad to be once more in the open field. Then

came the Fourth Corps, whose left, bending back toward the north, was hidden behind Lawrens Hill. Already the skirmishers were engaged, the Confederates slowly falling back before the determined and steady pressure of Smith and Wood.

By the time that Wilson's and Smith's lines were fully extended and brought up to within striking distance of the Confederate works, along the Hillsboro' Pike, it was noon. Post's brigade of Wood's old division (now commanded by General Sam Beatty), which lay at the foot of Montgomery Hill, full of dash and spirit, had since morning been regarding the works at the summit with covetous eyes. At Post's suggestion, it was determined to see which party wanted them most. Accordingly, a charge was ordered -- and in a moment the brigade was swarming up the hillside, straight for the enemy's advanced works. For almost the first time since the grand assault on Missionary Ridge, a year before, here was an open field where everything could be seen. From General Thomas's headquarters everybody looked on with breathless suspense, as the blue line, broken and irregular, but with steady persistence, made its way up the steep hillside against a fierce storm of musketry and Artillery. Most of the shots, however, passed over the men's heads.

It was a struggle to keep up with the color s, and, as they neared the top, only the strongest were at the front. Without a moment's pause the color, bearers and those who had kept up with them, Post himself at the head, leaped the parapet. As the color s waved from the summit, the whole line swept forward and was over the works in a twinkling, gathering in prisoners and guns. Indeed, so large was the mass of the prisoners that a few minutes later was seen heading toward our own lines, that a number of officers at General Thomas's headquarters feared the assault had failed and the prisoners were Confederate reserves who had rallied and retaken the works. But the fear was only momentary; for the wild outburst of cheers that rang across the valley told the story of complete success.

Meanwhile, farther to the right, as the opposing lines neared each other, the sound of battle grew louder and louder, and the smoke thicker and thicker, until the whole valley was filled with the haze. It was now past noon, and, at every point the two armies were so near together that an assault was inevitable. Hatch's division of Wilson's cavalry, at the extreme right of the continuous line, was confronted by one of the detached works which Hood had intended to be "impregnable"; and the right of McArthur's division of A. J. Smith's infantry was also within striking distance of it. Coon's cavalry brigade was dismounted and ordered to assault the work, while Hill's infantry brigade received similar orders. The two commanders moved forward at the same time, and entered the work together, Colonel Hill falling dead at the head of his command. In a moment the whole Confederate force in that quarter was routed and fled to the rear, while the captured guns were turned on them.

With the view of extending the operations of Wilson's cavalry still farther to the right, and if possible gaining the rear of the enemy's left, the two divisions of the Twenty-third Corps that had been in reserve near Lawrens Hill were ordered to Smith's right, while orders were sent to Wilson to gain, if possible, a lodgment on the Granny White Pike. These orders were promptly obeyed, and Cooper's brigade on reaching its new position got into a handsome fight, in which its losses were more than the losses of the rest of the Twenty-third Corps during the two days' battle.

But though the enemy's left was thus rudely driven from its fancied security, the salient at the center, being an angle formed by the line along Hillsboro' Pike and that stretching toward the east, was still firmly held. Post's successful assault had merely driven out or captured the advance forces; the main line was intactd came of the successful assault on the right, General Thomas sent orders to General Wood, commanding the Fourth Corps, to prepare to attack the salient. The staff-officer by whom this order was sent did not at first find General Wood; but seeing the two division commanders whose troops would be called upon for the work, gave them the instructions. As he was riding along the line he met one of the brigade commanders -- an officer with a reputation for exceptional courage and gallantry -- who, in reply to the direction to prepare for the expected assault said, "You don't mean that we've got to go in here and

attack the works on that hill?" "Those are the orders," was the answer. Looking earnestly across the open valley, and at the steep hill beyond, from which the enemy's guns were throwing shot and shell with uncomfortable frequency and nearness, he said, "Why, it would be suicide, sir; perfect suicide." "Nevertheless, those are the orders," said the officer; and he rode on to complete his work. Before he could rejoin General Thomas the assault was made, and the enemy were driven out with a loss of guns, colors, and prisoners, and their whole line was forced to abandon the works along the Hillsboro' Pike and fall back to the Granny White Pike. The retreating line was followed by the entire Fourth Corps (Wood's), as well as by the cavalry and Smith's troops; but night soon fell, and the whole army went into bivouac in the open fields wherever they chanced to be.

At dark, Hood, who at 12 o'clock had held an unbroken fortified line from the Murfreesboro to the Hillsboro Pike, with an advanced post Montgomery Hill and five strong redoubts along the Hillsboro Pike, barely maintained his hold of a line from the Murfreesboro Pike to the Granny White Pike, near which on two large hills the left of his army had taken refuge when driven out of their redoubts by Smith and Wilson. These hills were more than two miles to the rear position. It was to that point that Bate, who had started from Hood's right when the assault was first delivered on the redoubts, now made his way amidst, as he says, " streams of stragglers, and artillerists, and horses, without guns or caissons -- the sure indications of defeat."

General Hood, not daunted by the reverses which had befallen him, at once set to work to prepare for the next day's struggle. As soon as it was dusk Cheatham's whole corps was moved from his right to his left; Stewart's was retired some two miles and became the center; Lee's also was withdrawn and became the right. The new line extended along the base of a range of hills two miles south of that occupied during the day, and was only about half as long as that from which he had been driven. During the night the Confederates threw up works along their entire front, and the hills on their flanks were strongly fortified. The flanks were also further secured by return works, which prevented them from being left "in the air." Altogether, the position was naturally far more formidable than that just abandoned.

At early dawn the divisions of the Fourth Corps moved forward, driving out the opposing skirmishers. The men entered upon the work with such ardor that the advance soon quickened into a run, and the run almost into a

charge. They took up their positions in front of the enemy's new line, at one point coming within 250 yards of the salient at Overton's Hill. Here they were halted, and threw up works, while the Artillery on both sides kept up a steady and accurate fire. Steedman also moved forward and about noon joined his right to Wood's left, thus completing the alignment.

On his way to the front General Thomas heard the cannonading, and, as was his custom, rode straight
for the spot where the action seemed heaviest.

As he was passing a large, old-fashioned house, his attention was attracted by the noise of a window closing with a slam. Tur cause, he was greeted by a look from a young lady whose expression at the moment was the reverse of angelic. With an amused smile, the general rode on, and soon forgot the incident in the excitement of battle. But this trifling event had a sequel. The young lady, in process of time, became the wife of an officer then serving in General Thomas's army,--though he did not happen to be a witness of this episode.

The ground between the two armies for the greater part of the way from the Franklin to the Granny White Pike is low, open, and crossed by frequent streams running in ever y direction, and most of the fields were either newly plowed or old corn-fields, and were heavy, wet, and muddy from the recent storms. Over ton's Hill, Hood's right, is a well-rounded slope, the top of which was amply fortified, while hills held by the left of his line just west of the Granny White Pike are so steep that it is difficult to climb them, and their summits were crowned with formidable barricades, in front of which

were abatis and masses of fallen trees. Between these extremities the works in many places consisted of stone walls covered with earth, with head-logs on the top. To their rear were ample woods, sufficiently open to enable troops to move through them, but thick enough to afford good shelter. Artillery was also posted at every available spot, and good use was made of it.

The morning was consumed in moving to new positions. Wilson's cavalry, by a wide detour, had passed beyond the extreme Confederate left, and secured a lodgment on the Granny White Pike. But one avenue of escape was now open for Hood--the Franklin Pike. General Thomas hoped that a vigorous assault by Schofield's corps against Hood's left would break the line there, and thus enable the cavalry, relieved from the necessity of operating against the rebel flank, to gallop down the Granny White Pike to its junction with the Franklin, some six or eight miles below, and plant itself square across the only remaining line of retreat. If this scheme could be carried out, nothing but capture or surrender awaited Hood's whole army.

Meantime, on the National left, Colonel Post, who had so gallantly carried Montgomery Hill the morning before, had made a careful reconnaissance of Overton's Hill, the strong position on Hood's right. As the result of his observation, he reported to General Wood, his corps commander, that an assault would cost dear, but he believed it could be made successfully; at any rate he was ready to try it. The order was accordingly given, and everything prepared. The brigade was to be supported on either side by fresh troops to be held in readiness to rush for the works the moment Post should gain the parapet. The bugles had not finished sounding the charge, when Post's brigade, preceded by a strong line of skirmishers, moved forward, in perfect silence, with orders to halt for nothing, but to gain the works at a run. The men dashed on, Post leading, with all speed through a shower of shot and shell. A few of the skirmishers reached the parapet; the main line came within twenty steps of the works, when, by a concentrated fire of musketry and Artillery from every available point of the enemy's line, the advance was momentarily checked, and, in another instant, Post was brought down by a wound, at first reported as mortal. This slight hesitation and the disabling of Post were fatal to the success of the assault. The leader and animating spirit gone, the line slowly drifted back to its original position, losing in those few minutes nearly 300 men; while the supporting brigade on its left lost 250.

Steedman had promised to cooperate in this assault, and accordingly Thompson's brigade of colored troops was ordered to make a demonstration at the moment Post's advance began. These troops had never before been in action and were now to test their mettle. There had been no time for a reconnaissance, when this order was given, else it is likely a way would have been found to turn the enemy's extreme right flank. The colored brigade moved forward against the works east of the Franklin Pike and nearly parallel to it. As they advanced, they became excited, and what was intended merely as a demonstration was unintentionally converted into an actual assault.

Thompson, finding his men rushing forward at the double-quick, gallantly led them to the very slope of the intrenchments. But, in their advance across

the open field, the continuity of his line was broken by a large fallen tree. As the men separated to pass it, the enemy opened an enfilading fire on the exposed flanks of the gap thus created, with telling effect. In consequence, at the very moment when a firm and compact order was most needed, the line came up ragged and broken. Meantime Post's assault was repulsed, and the fire which had been concentrated on him was turned against Thompson. Nothing was left, therefore, but to withdraw as soon as possible to the original position. This was done without panic or confusion, after a loss of 467 men from the three regiments composing the brigade.

When it was seen that a heavy assault on his right, at Overton's Hill, was threatened, Hood ordered Cleburne's old division to be sent over to the exposed point, from the extreme left, in front of Schofield. About the same time General Couch, commanding one of the divisions of the Twenty-third Corps, told General Schofield that he believed he could carry the hill in his front, but doubted if he could hold it without assistance. The ground in front of General Cox, on Couch's right, and opportunities for a successful assault. Meantime the cavalry, on Cox's right, had made its way beyond the extreme left flank of the enemy, and was moving northward over the wooded hills direct to the rear of the extreme rebel left.

General Thomas, who had been making a reconnaissance, had no sooner reached Schofield's front than General McArthur who commanded one of Smith's divisions, impatient at the long waiting, and not wanting to spend the second night on the rocky hill he was occupying, told Smith that he could carry the high hill in front of Couch,--the same that Couch himself had told Schofield he could carry,--and would undertake it unless forbidden. Smith silently acquiesced, and McArthur set to work. Withdrawing McMillen's (his right) brigade from the trenches, he marched it by the flank in front of General Couch's position, and with orders to the men to fix bayonets, not to fire a shot and neither to halt nor to cheer until they had gained the enemy's works, the charge was sounded. The gallant brigade, which had served and fought in every part of the South-west, moved swiftly down the slope, across the narrow valley, and began scrambling up the steep hillside, on the top of which was the redoubt, held by Bate's division and mounted also with Whitworth guns. The bravest onlookers held their breath as these gallant men steadily and silently approached the summit amid the crash of musketry and the boom of the Artillery. In almost the time it has taken to tell the story they gained the works, their flags were wildly waving from the parapet, and the unmistakable cheer "the voice of the American people," as, General Thomas called it, rent the air. It was an exultant moment; but this was only a part of the heroic work of that afternoon. While McMillen's brigade was preparing for this wonderful charge, Hatch's division of cavalry, dismounted, had also pushed its way through the woods, and had gained the tops of two hills that commanded the rear of the enemy's work. Here, with incredible labor, they had dragged, by hand, two pieces of Artillery, and, just as McMillen began his charge, these opened on the hill where Bate was, up the opposite slope of which the infantry were scrambling. At the same time

Coon's brigade of Hatch's division with resounding cheers charged upon the enemy and poured such volleys of musketry from their repeating-rifles as I have never heard equaled. Thus beset on both sides, Bate's people broke out of the works, and ran down the hill toward their right and rear as fast as their legs could carry them. It was more like a scene in a spectacular drama than a real incident in war. The hillside in front, still green, dotted with the boys in blue swarming up the slope; the dark background of high hills beyond; the lowering clouds; the waving flags; the smoke slowly rising through the leafless tree-tops and drifting across the valleys; the wonderful outburst of musketry; the ecstatic cheers; the multitude racing for life down into the valley below,-- so exciting was it all, that the lookers-on instinctively clapped their hands, as at a brilliant and successful transformation scene, as indeed it was. For, in those few minutes, an army was changed into a mob, and the whole structure of the rebellion in the South-west, with all its possibilities, was utterly overthrown. As soon as the other divisions farther to the left saw and hear d the doings on their right, they did not wait for orders. Everywhere, by a common impulse, they charged the works in front, and carried them in a twinkling. General Edward Johnson and nearly all his division and his Artillery were captured. Over the very ground where, but a little while before, Post's assault had been repulsed, the same troops now charged with resistless force, capturing fourteen guns and one thousand prisoners. Steedman's colored brigades also rallied and brought in their share of prisoners and other spoils of war. Everywhere the success was complete.

Foremost among the rejoicing victors was General Steedman, under whose command were the colored troops. Steedman had been a life-long Democrat and was one of the delegates, in 1860, to the Charleston convention, at which ultimately Breckinridge was nominated for President. As he rode over the field, immediately after the rout of the enemy, he asked, with a grim smile, as he pointed to the fleeing hosts, "I wonder what my Democratic friends over there would think of me if they knew I was fighting them with 'nigger' troops?" I have not space to tell the story of the pursuit, which only ended, ten days later, at the Tennessee River. About a month before, General Hood had triumphantly begun his northward movement. Now, in his disastrous retreat, he was leaving behind him, as prisoners or deserters, a larger number of men than General Thomas had been able to place at Pulaski to hinder his advance --to say nothing of his terrific losses in killed at Franklin. The loss to the Union army, in all its fighting,-- from the Tennessee River to Nashville and back again,-- was less than six thousand killed, wounded, and missing. At so small a cost, counting the chances of war, the whole Northwest was saved from an invasion that, if Hood had succeeded, would have more than neutralized all Sherman's successes in Georgia and the Carolinas; saved by the steadfast labors, the untiring energy, the rapid combinations, the skillful evolutions, the heroic courage and the tremendous force of one man, whose name will yet rank among the great captains of all time.