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I was commanding Company B, 64th Ohio Regiment, Bradley's brigade, Wagner's division. The brigade was under arms that morning by 4 o'clock, and had orders to be ready to march on a moment's notice. It is assumed that all the rest of the army received the same orders, and that this action was taken on account of the information brought by Wilson's courier at 3 o'clock. But nothing was done until 8 o'clock, when the movements began which disposed of our army as follows:

Wagner's division was sent to Spring Hill to guard the reserve artillery and the wagon trains, all ordered to Spring Hill, from any raid by Hood's cavalry. General Stanley, the corps commander, went with Wagner. Cox's division was posted along the river, and was engaged all day in skirmishing with the two divisions under Lee, which kept up a noisy demonstration of forcing a crossing. Ruger's two brigades were posted four miles north of Duck river, where the pike to Spring Hill crosses Rutherford's creek, to hold that crossing. The divisions of Kimball and Wood were aligned between Cox and Ruger, facing up the river towards Hood's crossing. At 9 o'clock Post's brigade, of Wood's division, was sent up the river to reconnoiter, and before 11 o'clock Post had reached a position where he could see Hood's column marching towards Spring Hill, and repeatedly reported that fact.

Nevertheless none of the four divisions near Duck river were started for Spring Hill until after 4 o'clock, when Schofield had heard from Stanley that Hood was attacking at Spring Hill.

After the campaign Schofield claimed that its success was due to his intimate knowledge of Hood's character, gained while they were classmates at West Point, which enabled him to foresee what Hood would do under any given conditions, and then make the best dispositions for defeating him. When, two months later, Schofield was in Washington, where they knew nothing about the details of the campaign, he so successfully impressed his claim on the Administration that he was given the same promotion with which General Sheridan had been rewarded for the victory at Winchester, jumping at one bound from the rank of captain to that of brigadier-general in the regular army. But it is plain that after five hours' of deliberation that morning Schofield had reached a wrong conclusion as to Hood's intention, for if "Actions speak louder than words," there can be no question that Schofield's dispositions were made under the conviction that Hood would march down the river, after crossing, to clear the way for Lee to cross. And so deeply infatuated was he with this self-imposed delusion that, disregarding the order of Thomas and the advice of Wilson, he cherished it for about five hours after Post had reported that Hood was marching towards Spring Hill.

Wagner's advance, double-quicking through Spring Hill at noon, and deploying just beyond on a run, interposed barely in time to head off the advance of Hood's cavalry, Wagner arriving by the Columbia pike from the southwest and the cavalry by the Mount Carmel road from the east. General Forrest, commanding Hood's cavalry, had used his superior numbers so skillfully as to push back Wilson with our cavalry just north of Mount Carmel, which is five miles east of Spring Hill, before noon. Leaving one brigade to watch Wilson, Forrest then crossed over to Spring Hill with all the rest of his three divisions of cavalry. If Wagner had arrived a few minutes later he would have found Forrest in possession at Spring Hill.

General Cox, in his book on this campaign, claims that General Wilson committed a grave error in not crossing over to Spring Hill, in advance of Forrest, with all our cavalry. But in justice to Wilson it must be remembered that at Mount Carmel he acted under the belief that Schofield was following the advice he had given early that morning. If Schofield had been at Spring Hill at 10 o'clock, as Wilson had advised, with all his infantry, what reason could there have been for the cavalry joining him there?

When Bradley's brigade, the rear of Wagner's column, was nearing Spring Hill some of the cavalry approached the pike through the fields to reconnoiter, and the 64th Ohio was sent to drive them away. With the right wing deployed as skirmishers and the left wing in reserve, the regiment advanced steadily, driving before it the cavalry, without replying to the harmless long-range fire they kept up with their carbines, but always galloping away before we could get within effective range. About a mile east of the pike we crossed the Rally Hill road. This was the road by which Hood's infantry column approached. It there runs north nearly parallel with the pike to a point 500 yards east of Spring Hill, where it turns west to enter the village. Leaving one of the reserve companies to watch the road, the rest of the regiment kept on in pursuit of the cavalry until our skirmishers were abreast of the Caldwell house, about 800 yards east of the road, when a halt was called. A few minutes later, at 2:30 o'clock, the left of our skirmish line, north of the Caldwell house, was attacked by a line of battle in front while the cavalry worked around our left flank. At the time we believed the battle line to be a part of Hood's infantry, and in a letter from General Bradley he states that it caused great consternation at headquarters in Spring Hill when Major Coulter, of the 64th, came galloping back with the information that the regiment was fighting with infantry. But investigation has disclosed that the battle line was composed of mounted infantry belonging to Forrest's command. They were armed with Enfield rifles, and always fought on foot like ordinary infantry, using their horses for traveling rapidly from place to place.

The four reserve companies were thrown in on a run at the point of contact, but our line was soon forced to fall back by the cavalry turning our left flank, where they cut off and captured three of our skirmishers. One of the three was badly wounded that evening in trying to escape, a bullet entering from behind and passing through his mouth in a way to knock out nearly one-half of all his teeth. We found him in a hospital at Spring Hill when passing through in pursuit of Hood's army after the victory at Nashville. In relating his experience he stated that when they were captured they were taken before some general, name unknown to him, who questioned them closely as to what force was holding Spring Hill. The general was probably Forrest, for he was personally directing the attack on the 64th, but may have been Hood himself, for he was on the Rally Hill road, less than a mile away, soon after the men were captured. They all declared that they knew the Fourth corps was at Spring Hill, and they believed all the rest of the army. Their declaration must have carried greater weight on account of their own faith in what they were telling, for at that time the whole regiment believed that all the rest of the army had followed to Spring Hill close on the heels of Wagner's division.

Eventually the 64th was driven back across the Rally Hill road, where a last stand was made in a large woods covering a broad ridge abutting on the road about three-fourths of a mile southeast of Spring Hill. While in these woods, occurred a bit of exciting personal experience. A bullet, coming from the right, passed through my overcoat, buttoned up to my chin, in a way to take along the top button of my blouse underneath the coat. That big brass button struck me a stinging blow on the point of the left collar-bone, and, clasping both hands to the spot, I commenced feeling for the hole with my finger tips, fully convinced that a bullet coming from the front had gone through me there and had inflicted a serious and possibly a mortal wound. It was not until I had opened the coat for a closer investigation that I found I was worse scared than hurt.