coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling you were the better judge, and remembering that 'nothing risked nothing gained,' I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours, for I believe none of us went further than to acquiesce. And taking the work of General Thomas into the count, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success.

"Not only does it afford the obvious and immediate military advantages, but in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing forces of the whole--Hood's army-it brings those who sat in darkness to see a great light.

"But what next? I suppose it will be safe if I leave General Grant and yourself to decide.

"Please make my grateful acknowledgments to your whole army, officers and men.

"Yours very truly,

"A. LINCOLN."

In concluding his official report, Sherman thus speaks of the services rendered by his subordinate commanders, and of the character of his army :—

"Generals Howard and Slocum are gentlemen of singular capacity and intelligence, thorough soldiers and patriots, working day and night, not for themselves, but for their country and their men. General Kilpatrick, who commanded the cavalry of this army, has handled it with spirit and dash to my entire satisfaction, and kept a superior force of the enemy's cavalry from even approaching our infantry columns or wagon-trains. All the division and brigade commanders merit my personal and official thanks, and I shall spare no efforts to secure them commissions equal to the rank they have exercised so well.

"As to the rank and file, they seem so full of confidence in themselves, that I doubt if they want a compliment from me;

but I must do them the justice to say that, whether called on to fight, to march, to wade streams, to make roads, clear out obstructions, build bridges, make 'corduroy,' or tear up railroads, they have done it with alacrity and a degree of cheerfulness unsurpassed. A little loose in foraging, they did some things they ought not to have done,' yet on the whole they have supplied the wants of the army with as little violence as could be expected, and as little loss as I calculated. Some of these foraging parties had encounters with the enemy which would, in ordinary times, rank as respectable battles.

"The behavior of our troops in Savannah has been so manly, so quiet, so perfect, that I take it as the best evidence of discipline and true courage. Never was a hostile city, filled with women and children, occupied by a large army with less disorder, or more system, order, and good government. The same general and generous spirit of confidence and good feeling pervades the army which it has ever afforded me especial pleasure to report on former occasions."

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE END OF HOOD.

In order fully to comprehend how it was possible for a campaign so vast in its magnitude, so decisive in its results, to be conducted to a successful termination with only nominal opposition, it is necessary to recur to the position of Hood's army, which we left at Florence in the early part of November, confronted by the Union army under Thomas, then concentrated at Pulaski, under the immediate command of Major-General Schofield.

It will be remembered that, in view of the numerical inferiority of his army, comprising the Fourth and Twentythird Corps, Hatch's division, and Croxton's and Capron's brigades of cavalry, amounting to less than thirty thousand men of all arms, General Thomas had decided to maintain a defensive attitude, until the arrival of A. J. Smith with two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps from Missouri and the remnant of dismounted cavalry should enable him to assume the offensive, with equal strength, against Hood's forces, consisting of the three old corps of the Confederate army of the Tennessee, under Lee, Stewart, and Cheatham, estimated at thirty thousand strong, and Forrest's cavalry, supposed to number twelve thousand. In preparation for his great invasion of Middle Tennessee, with the declared intention of remaining there, Hood had caused the Mobile and Ohio railway to be repaired, and occupied Corinth, so that his supplies could now be brought from Selma and Montgomery by rail to that point, and thence to Cherokee Station, on the Memphis and Charleston railway.

On the afternoon of the 12th of November the last telegram was received from General Sherman, and all railway and telegraphic communication with his army ceased. From that time until the 17th of November was an anxious period for Thomas, uncertain whether he should have to pursue Hood in an endeavor on his part to follow Sherman, or defend Tennessee against invasion; but on that day Cheatham's corps crossed to the south side of the Tennessee, and suspense was at an end. Hood could not follow Sherman now if he would, for Sherman was already two days' march from Atlanta on his way to the sea.

On the 19th of November, Hood began his advance, on parallel roads from Florence towards Waynesboro'.

General Schofield commenced removing the public property from Pulaski preparatory to falling back towards Columbia. Two divisions of Stanley's fourth corps had already reached Lynnville, fifteen miles north of Pulaski, to cover the passage of the wagons and protect the railway. Capron's brigade of cavalry was at Mount Pleasant, covering the approach to Columbia from that direction; and in addition to the regular garrison, there was at Columbia a brigade of Ruger's division of the Twenty-third Corps. The two remaining brigades of Ruger's division, then at Johnsonville, were ordered to move, one by railway around through Nashville to Columbia, the other by road via Waverley to Centreville, and occupy the crossings of Duck River near Columbia, Williamsport; Gordon's Ferry, and Centreville. About five thousand men belonging to Sherman's column had collected at Chattanooga, comprising convalescents and furloughed men returning to their regiments. These men had been organized into brigades, to be made available at such points as they might be needed. Thomas had also been re-enforced by twenty new one-year regiments, most of which, however, were absorbed in replacing old regiments whose terms of service had expired.

On the 23d, in accordance with directions previously given him, General R. S. Granger commenced withdrawing the garrisons from Athens, Decatur, and Huntsville, Alabama, and

moved off towards Stevenson, sending five new regiments of that force to Murfreesboro', and retaining at Stevenson the original troops of his command. This movement was rapidly made by rail, and without opposition on the part of the enemy. The same night General Schofield evacuated Pulaski, and reached Columbia on the 24th. The commanding officer at Johnsonville was directed to evacuate that post and retire to Clarksville. During the 24th and 25th, the enemy skirmished with General Schofield's troops at Columbia, and on the morning of the 26th his infantry came up and pressed Schofield's line strongly during that day and the 27th, but without assaulting. As the enemy's movements showed an undoubted intention to cross, General Schofield withdrew to the north bank of Duck River, during the night of the 27th. Two divisions of the Twenty-third Corps were placed in line in front of the town, holding all the crossings in its vicinity; while Stanley's fourth corps, posted in reserve on the Franklin pike, was held in readiness to repel any vigorous attempt the enemy should make to force a passage; and the cavalry, under Wilson, held the crossings above those guarded by the infantry.

About 2 A. M. on the 29th, the enemy succeeded in pressing back General Wilson's cavalry, and effected a crossing on the Lewisburg pike: at a later hour part of his infantry crossed at Huey's Mills, six miles above Columbia. Communication with the cavalry having been interrupted, and the line of retreat towards Franklin being threatened, General Schofield made preparations to withdraw to Franklin. General Stanley, with one division of his Fourth Corps, was sent to Spring Hill, fifteen miles north of Columbia, to cover the trains and hold the road open for the passage of the main force; and dispositions were made, preparatory to a withdrawal, to meet any attack coming from the direction of Huey's Mills. General Stanley reached Spring Hill just in time to drive off the enemy's cavalry and save the trains; but he was afterwards attacked by the enemy's infantry and cavalry combined, who nearly succeeded in dislodging him from the position. Although not attacked from the direction of Fluey's Mills, General Schofield was