not possible for them to give to any plan of his that whole-hearted, unquestioning support that gives the best guarantee of success. Simple as his plan was, they all failed to grasp the importance of getting possession of the pike and, Cleburne excepted, they all acted as if they were expecting a repetition of the disastrous experience that had followed the attacks on Sherman. The promptness with which Cleburne turned and rolled up Bradley's brigade when he was so unexpectedly assailed on his own flank, was the only energetic action on the part of any of them after they had crossed Rutherford's creek; and, no doubt, if Cleburne had not been halted by Cheatham's order, he would have gone on until he had reaped the full measure of success made so easily possible by the faulty situation of our army. But amid all the exciting occurrences of that eventful evening it is amazing that no inkling of that faulty situation seems ever to have entered the mind of any one of those veteran generals.

Hood made a mistake, as stated by himself, in not taking Bee's corps on the flank march instead of Cheatham's corps. He believed that with Bee in Cheatham's place he would have succeeded, and in view of the skill with which Lee executed the part assigned to him to hold Schofield at Duck river, it is more than probable he would have given at Spring Hill far better support than Cheatham gave. Hood led Cheatham within sight of an easy and brilliant success, and it was the hesitation displayed by Cheatham. Brown and Bate at the critical time, that defeated Hood's plan and saved Schofield's army. That their hesitation was not due to any lack of courage on their part, or on the part of the troops they commanded, was abundantly proved by the unsurpassed courage with which they assaulted at Franklin next day when it was everlastingly too late. If they had fairly utilized at Spring Hill one-tenth part of the courage that was thrown away on the breastworks of Franklin they would have changed the later current of the war with results too far reaching to be estimated.

The prime purpose of Schofield's campaign was to delay Hood. How well he succeeded in that purpose can be significantly stated in a single sentence: The evening of November 29th he was at Duck river, and the morning of December 1st he was at Nashville, more than forty miles away. Then followed the panicky feeling displayed by the Administration, and by General Grant, because General Thomas was not ready to attack Hood immediately on his appearance in front of Nashville. If Schofield's orders at Duck river had been to make no effort to delay Hood but to get inside the fortifications of Nashville with the least possible delay, he would not have covered the distance in so short a time without the spur of Hood's flank movement, and the celerity with which he ran out of the country was due to the scare he got at Spring Hill.

From Franklin next day he wired General Thomas at Nashville that he had come through, but that the least mistake on his part, or the fault of any subordinate, might have proved fatal, and he did not want to get into such a tight place again; that a worse position for an inferior force than the one at Franklin could hardly be found; that he had no doubt Forrest would be in his rear next day, or doing some worse mischief, and that he ought to fall back to Brentwood at once. In short, his Franklin dispatches, read by the light of Stanley's report and of Hack's statement, clearly show that his mind was still dominated by the fright of Spring Hill, and that he could feel no security short of Brentwood, where he would be backed up too close to Nashville for Hood to have room to repeat that terrible flank movement. Not even the wrecking of Hood's army on the breastworks of Franklin that evening could reassure Schofield. He insisted on retreating to Nashville that night when thousands of the men were in such a condition from more than forty hours' of incessant marching, fortifying and fighting that they dozed on their feet while they were walking, and in spite of the manly protest of General Cox, who was so urgent in his efforts to persuade Schofield no more running was necessary, that he offered to pledge his head he could hold the position.