USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > Polk's Nashville (Davidson county, Tenn.) city directory 1865 > Part 11
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*" Hood, in his official report, acknowledging 'the loss of many gallant officers and men,' amongst them enumerates Major-General Cleburne, and Brigadier-Generals Williams, Adams, Gist, Strophel, and Granberg killed, and Major-General Brown, and Brigadier-Generals Carter, Monigel, Quarles, Cockerill, and Scott, wounded; and Brigadier-General Gordon a prisoner. Thirteen General officers lost in a preliminary fight, would be a suspicious ' victory' to any but a Confederate General.
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state of our supplies here, or at Chattanooga, naturally enough grew nervous. There was, however, no real cause for alarm at any time, especially after Hood let his first forty-eight hours here slip by with- out assaulting. Had he attacked at once on arriving here, and massed heavily on our right, the weakest point in our line at that time, though since made one of the strongest, he might have given us some trouble-though he could scarcely have succeeded in his enter- prise. In fact, our last reinforcements, Smith and Steedman, gave Thomas such a happy preponderance of infantry and artillery, that from the hour they were both safely in, nobody here who knew much of affairs ever seriously doubted our ability to hold Nashville at all hazards, and against all contingencies. With Smith, or about that time, came also eight navy gunboats, including the iron clad monitor Neosho-a mere chunk of iron, absolutely invulnerable to all ordinary shot, and whose monster guns could readily upset any river batteries the enemy could bring against her. In ample time, too, citizens were impressed and sent to the fortifications, with pick and shovel. The military forces of the Quartermaster's Department, some 5,000 strong, were also early under arms, and at work on the intrenchments. Two goodly lines of works, exterior and interior, were thus hastily con- structed, under the direction of Brigadier-General Tower, Chief Engineer, encircling the town at a distance varying from a mile to two miles, frowning with forts and redoubts, and bristling with rifle- pits, and crowning our whole outlying hills from the Cumberland around to the Cumberland again. We were thus ready to receive Hood, our forces all thoroughly in hand, and prepared at all points to meet his attack, so long ago as December 5th or 6th. Thomas now waited, but Hood did not come. He tempted him with reconnois- sances, but he would not follow. He peppered him with round shot, but he would not respond. He complimented him with shell, but he would not answer. Hood evidently had the strange idea that Thomas would either evacuate, without fighting, or would be starved into a surrender, by the destruction of his communications, and, therefore, that all he had to do was to make good his investment, and strike, as he was able, at the Louisville Railroad, a la Sherman at Jonesboro, when aiming for Atlanta. He most singularly mistook his man. He forgot he was dealing with the Rock of Chickamauga. A novice in war might have known Thomas better. His forces all in hand, and his works well completed, with fair supplies of all kinds on hand, and abundance of most, Thomas's once anxious brow had long since
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cleared thoroughly up; his usually quiet eyes began now to gleam with the 'fierce light' of battle; and it was soon apparent to all, who happened much at headquarters, that 'Old Pap Tom,' as his soldiers persist in calling him, prudent General as he is, would very speedily be ' spoiling for a fight !'
" Our subsequent battle here would have been delivered now instead of later, for General Thomas was fully ready, was confident of his troops, and knew his troops to be confident of him; but one thing more was yet needed, to make his anticipated victory doubly sure, and that was cavalry. 'A horse ! A horse ! A kingdom for a horse !' might well have been the burden of his cry now, as of Richard the Third's, four centuries ago, as reported by Shakspeare. He had plenty of men, and tolerably good men, too, but little more than half enough horses, and the equine quadrupeds were not to be had any- where, in the regular way, within the required time. In this juncture, the Secretary of War came to his rescue, and telegraphed Wilson, his Chief of Cavalry, to impress and seize all serviceable horses any- where within the Military Division of the Mississippi, whether in Tennessee or Kentucky, and so to remount his men quickly, at all hazards, in any way. The order was rigorously carried out; a week's time or so sufficed to secure the required mounts, and finally, Decem- ber 11th or 12th, Thomas at last felt himself fully prepared 'to move upon ' Hood's 'works.'
" Jack Frost, however, now set in, and soon all the hills about Nashville were aglare with ice. Neither man nor beast could now keep his feet, and so Thomas for some days yet was still further com- pelled to ' nurse his wrath to keep it warm.' But now at last the hour had struck, and the time had come. On Wednesday, December 14th, there came a thaw, with evidence at sundown of a general break-up, and Thomas at once issued his orders for attack on Thurs- day at early dawn. His plan of battle was simple, yet well matured, and will well bear consideration. The future historian, judging it by its rich results, will pronounce it superb. As we have said, the right of his line rested on the Cumberland, covered by gunboats, and extended thence in order as follows : Sixteenth Army Corps, Brevet Major-General A. J. Smith commanding ; Fourth Army Corps, Brigadier-General Wood commanding; Twenty-third Army Corps, Major-General Schofield commanding; and a provisional organiza- tion of white and colored troops, Major-General Steedman command- ing, thus round to the Cumberland again, his left also covered by gun-
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boats. His plan was to demonstrate boldly on the left, where the enemy was strongest, while he in reality massed every thing compactly on the right, where the enemy were actually weakest, and thus-with the gunboats covering-to overwhelm Hood's left, mash in his line, and roll it back on the center, and, having thus got well upon his flank and rear, to crush his center, too, if possible, as the result of the first day's work. This having been done, the job assigned for the second day was to smash Hood's right, and then either to envelop him with our wings, or at all events to bruise and hammer him so roundly, that he would be glad to pull up stakes and push straight for the Tennessee. In pursuance of this plan, then, A. J. Smith was ordered to advance at daylight, December 15th, his right covered by Wilson's cavalry, the gunboats also co-operating, if necessary. Wood was ordered to leave only a heavy curtain of skirmishers in front of his works, to mass every thing else compactly on Smith's left, and thus to hold himself in readiness to support Smith's attack, at a moment's notice. Schofield received similar orders, but to mass instead on Wood's left, and to hold himself rather in reserve. Steed- man, in addition to holding the extreme left, was also placed in charge of the inner line of works, with a force composed of the Garrison proper of Nashville, Brigadier-General Miller commanding ; a Pro- visional Division of white and colored troops, Brigadier-General Cruft commanding ; and the quasi Military Organization of the Quarter- master's Department, Brevet Brigadier-General Donaldson, Chief Quartermaster, commanding. In accordance with his orders, before dawn Steedman on the left deployed a heavy line of skirmishers, con- sisting principally of excellent Colored Troops, and soon after daylight he pushed his line up to and across the Murfreesboro pike. The enemy's piekets resisted stontly, but presently fell back, and Steed- man pursued, until he came plump up against a battery, planted beyond a deep rocky cut of the Chattanooga Railroad, too long for his line to flank and impossible for it to cross. Not knowing this at first, his men eagerly charged the battery, and would probably have carried it handsomely, had not the deep cut aforesaid prevented them from reaching it. As it was, they fell back with considerable loss ; but their attack had been so eager and vehement, that Hood was doubtless misled to believe, that the whole army was there in force. A fatal mistake for him, as he subsequently learned to his grievous cost; for, almost immediately, Thomas opened in full blast on our right ; A. J. Smith, supported by Wood and covered by the cavalry, swept forward
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like an avalanche on Hood's feeble left; and, almost before the enemy knew we were advancing, we were upon him, and over him, were crushing his line, storming his batteries, and flanking his positions, and in a trice, so to speak, his whole left wing was hopelessly doubled up and gone forever. This let the cavalry loose, and now Wilson swept round and past our right like a thunderbolt. One Division, under Brigadier-General Johnson, he dispatched down the Cumber- land to look after Chalmers, and a battery reported there, which was afterward taken; with the other two, Croxton's and Hatch's, he covered Smith's right, and hung like an avenging cloud on the flank and rear of the rebels, as they fell sullenly baek on their center.
" Hood now saw his mistake of the early morning, and, from the hights about Nashville, could be distinctly seen in the distance his long lines of infantry and artillery, hurrying frantically over from his right to support his imperiled center. His position was yet a very strong one, stretching along the wooded sides and crests of a series of high hills, covered with skillful breastworks, fringed with rifle-pits and abattis, and bristling with cannon, that swept all the sides and gorges, and Hood now evidently bent all his energies to hold it to the last. A. J. Smith, though brave as a lion, was too good a General to butt his brains out against such a position, and so he halted to recon- noiter and report. As the result of his observations, Wood was brought well up on Smith's left, and Schofield, who had hitherto been chafing in reserve, was moved out, and swung round ou Smith's right, while Wilson was pushed out still further round to the right, so as to outflank and gain the rear of Hood's new position, if he found it practicable. Hood's line was now thoroughly felt, by both artillery and infantry, from point to point, and though there were some successes here and there, yet the enemy held his ground so stubbornly that little was effected until just at nightfall, when Wood charged a battery that had been shelling his line most of the afternoon, and carried it with a rush in the handsomest style. This substantially closed the operations of the first day, and our army bivouacked on the field thus so manfully won. Sixteen pieces of artillery and over 2,000 prisoners were the fruit of the day's work, and Thomas rode home to his headquarters at dark, to telegraph to Washington the results of his beginning.
" As he left the position he had occupied chiefly through the day, it is reported, he remarked to an officer, 'So far, I think we have
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succeeded pretty well. Unless Hood decamps to-night, to-morrow Steedman will double up his right, Wood will hold his center, and Smith and Schofield again strike his left, while the cavalry work away at his rear.' His words had almost the prescience of prophecy ; for nearly this exact movement took place next day. Under cover of the night, Hood drew back his right center and right, so as to straighten the new line he had been forced to assume, and in the morning was found in position along the Overton Hills, some two miles or so to the rear of his original line.
"It will be seen that Hood had thus shortened his line, by drawing in and concentrating his forces, and had planted himself squarely across the Granny White and Franklin pikes, to cover his trains, that were already, no doubt, fast hurrying to the rear. All his strong lines of works nearer the city, upon which it was afterward found he had bestowed a vast deal of labor and care, were thus wholly aban- doned, because obviously untenable after the thorough smashing and turning of his left as on Thursday, and it was soon evident to all that his present stand was now only in desperation. Indeed, every body now felt that Hood was, in fact, already well whipped, and that, if let alone, he would, of his own accord, soon depart whence he came. But Thomas, sturdy old soul, had not the least idea of letting him alone. He had given 'Old Tom' too much trouble to stop yet awhile ; and so, with the break of day, our skirmishers were up to, and over, and through his old works. Thence our lines swept easily and steadily forward, on the center and left, until a thick curtain of rebel skirmishers, and the opening of their artillery, warned us to halt and consider. Hood's new position, on examination, as already indicated, proved to be one of great strength, and, as was afterward found, had been selected and carefully fortified by him days before, in wary antici- pation, doubtless, of all possible contingencies. His line on Thurs- day had been originally over six miles long, until his left was doubled up, or, rather, battered in, when it was reduced to about four. But here on Friday he occupied a line scarcely three miles in length, run- ning along the wooded crests of closely-connecting hills, and which even a better General than Hood might well have regarded with com- placent satisfaction. The two keys to his position were directly on and covering the Granny White and Franklin pikes, leading to Frank- lin, Columbia, Pulaski, and so down the country to the Tennessee. Both of these, it will be freely admitted, were admirably adapted for defense, as well by nature as by the work of Hood's industrious axes 9
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and shovels; and here now the enemy grimly stood, prepared to deliver a final battle, that was undoubtedly to decide, for this war at least, the fate of Tennessee, and, perhaps, also of Kentucky. If successful here, Hood could retire at his leisure, his trains intact, sweeping the country as he marched; or, for that matter, if he chose, could return to the front of Nashville, and try another bout with 'the chuckle- headed Thomas,' as the Rebel General Cheatham is reported to have dubbed him, because of his obstinate fighting at Chickamauga. If unsuccessful, his trains were menaced, his army endangered, Tennessee in effect lost, the morale of his troops gone, and a rapid flight down the country, and across the Tennessee at Florence, with Thomas hack- ing and thundering at his heels, his only alternative. A more pru- dent commander would have thought twice, and hesitated long, before accepting such perilous chances. But Hood never was a prudent com- mander, and Thomas now was only too glad to grapple with such an audacious blunderer. Accordingly, as indicated the night before, Thomas now at once pushed forward his left, and as Steedman ad- vanced he found the Murfreesboro and Nolensville pikes, as had been expected, comparatively free of the enemy. A few cavalrymen dis- puted his advance here and there, but their resistance was feeble, and practically amounted to nothing. As he came up to the Overton Hills, however, and stretched across to connect with Wood, the enemy opened on him with an advanced battery, and in pursuance of his pre- vious instructions, Steedman halted now and awaited orders. Wood meanwhile had come up early on the Franklin pike, and was now en- gaged in briskly shelling the enemy's lines on Overton Knob, though only meaning to hold him in position there. Both he and Steedman, as yet, were acting only as foils, and they were both directed now to await the further development of movements off on the right. There massed, on or about the Granny White pike, and extending well to the right of it, were A. J. Smith and Schofield, with the Sixteenth and Twenty-third Corps, with Croxton and Hatch of Wilson's cav- alry eagerly co-operating, feeling briskly, but most intently, all points of the enemy's position there, but unable, as yet, with all their assid- uity, to find the vulnerable point now desired.
"The delay thus wore on apace. Noon came, with but little valua- ble result, as yet. Smith and Schofield were both chafing, and eager to assault, and both felt confident of their ability to carry the opposing lines; but Thomas, as yet, refused them his consent. He was not yet fully ready ; he had sent the cavalry well around to the right, to gain
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Hood's flank, and menace his rear, and he was still waiting to hear the result, before he launched at Hood's head these twin thunderbolts of war .*
" Now, however, well on to four o'clock P. M., news from the cav- alry suddenly came, in a prolonged fire of rifles and carbines, that swept round the rebel flank, and crept up along Hood's rear, and then the hour had struck, and the time had come. 'Now tell Generals Schofield and Smith to advance,' was Thomas' quiet order. Away sped his aids, spurring like the wind ; but before the order could reach either Smith or Schofield, they had both already caught the meaning of the fierce fire along the Rebel flank and rear, and, without waiting to hear from their imperturbable old chief, they both at once ordered a general assault; and, simultaneously, with leveled bayonets and ringing cheers, their lines swept superbly forward, up to, and over, and around the Rebel works, while Wood and Steedman on their left, catching up the inspiration, pressed gallantly forward, and almost in a twinkling, our general movement carried all before it. For a time, there was hot work. The whole Rebel line, from end to end, was ablaze with musketry and a roar with cannon. The hills shook, the earth trembled, and the whole field was like 'the sulphurous and gaping mouth of hell.' But in an hour or so, the conflict was mainly over, and what were left of the Rebels, were in full retreat-almost pellmell-down the Granny White and Franklin pikes, and so away for Dixie,
"'For Dixie's land, away, AWAY!'
"Some few stood their ground bravely, and fought most desperately to the last. But many abandoned their muskets, where they rested between the logs of the breastworks, and others threw muskets, knap- sacks, blankets, every thing aside, that would impede their locomo- tion, as they fled wildly and panic-stricken, apparently, away from the battlefield. Said a captured Rebel Brigadier General to the writer afterward, in speaking of this charge and rout, 'Why, sir, it was the most wonderful thing I ever witnessed. I saw your men coming, and held my fire-a full brigade, too-until they were in close range, could almost see the 'whites of their eyes,' and then poured my volley
* The query, "Where was Forrest all this time?" will, doubtless, occur to the reader. The answer is, that Hood had previously scattered his cavalry, a part being sent off " on the ram- page," down the Cumberland, after our transports, aud the balance on a wild goose chase around Murfreesboro, where they got thoroughly drubbed, about the time Hood was being pummeled on Thursday. Thomas, it Is reported, knew of Forrest's being thus away, before ordering his attack.
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right into their faces. I supposed, of course, that, when the smoke lifted, your line would be broken, and your men gone. But, it is surprising, sir, it never even staggered them. Why, they did not even come forward on the run. But, right along, as cool as fate, your line swung up the hill, and your men walked right up to, and over my works, and around my Brigade, before we knew they were upon us. It was astonishing, sir, such fighting. If I must say it, it was per- fectly splendid.'
"Our reply was, 'Yes, it was pretty good. Our men have learned to fight now. The first year of the war you gave us Big Bethel and Bull Run, and they were instructive lessons. But now we are paying you back, with Chattanooga and Atlanta, Nashville and Savannah.'
"' What,' said he, very eagerly, 'has Sherman got Savannah ?'
"'No, not yet! But he is well on the way there, and he will have it very soon. And then, for Charleston and Richmond! After that, you will 'cave in' all round, and then Maximilian might as well 'get up and git,' and Canada will have to behave herself.'
"'Ah!' said he, apparently very sorrowfully, 'I fear we shall never come together again.'
"'Oh! yes, we shall, General,' I replied. 'Never you fear for that. 'Blood is thicker than water;' and when we do come together again, if they care to fight us, we'll whip the world in arms!'
" The General laughed, took a proffered drink of whisky and a cigar, and so we parted-he for the Provost Marshal's, and I for my ยท confiscated ' Nashville quarters.
"Pardon this digression. As we have indicated, General Hood's whole army, once so exultant, was, now and here, thus thoroughly routed. Over 5,000 prisoners, including one whole division, one major-general, three brigadier-generals, and over two hundred com- missioned officers, here threw down their arms, in addition to the killed and wounded; and the afternoon's work produced, besides, some 40 pieces of artillery, many flags, and an almost innumerable quantity of small arms. The total results of both battles, as near as can be ascertained here, at this writing, foot up about as follows: nearly 8,000 prisoners, including 5 general officers, 56 pieces of ean- non, 1 headquarters' wagon train, many flags and small arms, almost by the field full. If this was not a good pounding, a pretty thorough thrashing, not to say smashing, of one of Jeff Davis' armies, we would like King Jeff to tell us what it was. History will declare, that no other victory of this war has been more thorough and complete, not
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even excepting Bull Run. Hood's campaign, and not Sherman's, thus proved to be 'Moscow over again!' Night alone elosed the conflict, and our troops again bivouacked on the battlefield, wearied with the pursuit, and surfeited with prisoners. Had Thomas now had a fresh division of reliable cavalry, to hurl remorselessly on Hood's shattered and flecing columns, he would have ' gobbled up' the most of his trains, and the balance of his artillery, and not 5,000 rebs would have recrossed the Tennessee, in all probability. As it was, he resumed pursuit early in the morning, and at this writing is still driving and harrying Hood, as he hurries into Dixie. It is not germain to this paper to trace his progress further, as our only object in writing at all, is merely to elucidate events that occurred just here.
"In conclusion, however, we may add a word of general eulogy- not much, however, nor should we particularize; for where all did so well, and behaved so heroically, it would be invidious to select for praise, or to omit from honor, any command or any body. Besides, none need either here. Their great and splendid achievements are now the nation's wild pride and exultant joy, and so they will remain forever. Heroes all, from Thomas to his lowest soldier, the nation will extend to each and to all its profoundest thanks, and embalm the names of their fallen comrades in its memory forever. Conquerors with Sherman at Atlanta, they are now again fit conquerors at Nash- ville, while yet his victorious legions are marching through Georgia, or thundering, perchance, at the gates of Savannah. In view of these great triple triumphs, for Freedom and the Union, made by the same common army, in one campaign, let the nation reverently resolve once more to 'thank God, and take conrage ' for the future.
"' In the name of our God, we have set up our banners, and through Him we shall yet do valiantly!'
" NASHVILLE, TENN., December 20, 1864."
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