542

HOOD'S NEW POSITION.

works, lined with rifle-pits, and fringed with abattis, beyond which frowned heavy batteries-commanded all the open country below. Smith paused before this formidable barrier, and began to reconnoitre. Wood and Schofield now came up, and all day long, Hood's intrenchments were swept by a fierce artillery fire, while here and there the infantry attempted to find a weak spot in his lines. But no impression was made on the strong position which the enemy occupied, and no particular advantage gained, except the pos session of a battery, which was carried by a gallant rush. Still, the results of the whole day footed up well-two thousand prisoners captured, with sixteen pieces of artillery.

As the day declined, and darkness began to creep over the landscape, Thomas, who saw that no more could be done that night, ordered the firing to cease, and turning his horse's head, rode off to Nashville to telegraph his success to Washington.

Just as he was leaving the field he remarked to an officer, in his quiet way, "So far I think we have done pretty well. Unless Hood decamps to-night, to-morrow Steedman will double up his right, Wood will hold his centre, Smith and Schofield again strike his left, while the cavalry work away at his rear."

That night Hood took up a new and strong position, two miles in rear of his first, by which his lines were shortened from six miles to three. Thomas, carrying out his original plan, ordered Steedman to move at daylight against the enemy's right as before, while Wood advanced over the deserted works straight on the centre. Their orders, however, were merely to feel the hostile line and wait till Smith and Schofield broke with the thunder-crash of the day before on the rebel left. But the latter, too, were directed simply to hold their ground, until the cavalry which had been sent in a wide circuit to the rear, could be heard from.

SECOND DAY'S BATTLE.

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Hood had again committed the mistake that he did at Atlanta, when he sent off all his cavalry to cut Sherman's communications, leaving that Commander to place his army where his own would be effectually destroyed. He possessed a fine body of cavalry, under Forrest, superior in number to that of Thomas, but he had sent it down the Cumberland after our transports, and back to Murfreesboro', to waste its energies in dashing against our strong defenses. Thomas was aware of this, and hence had no fear that it would interfere with his movements.

It was a long time, however, before our cavalry was heard from. It had made a wide detour to prevent the movement from being detected, so that noon came without any thing of importance being done. There had been heavy artillery firing all the forenoon, and Hood was evidently momentarily expecting an attack. Smith and Schofield chafed under the inaction, and sent to Thomas for permission to assault, but he firmly refused. The short winter's day wore on, and night threatened to come before any thing was accomplished. But Thomas remained imperturbable as ever, amid all the impatience and excitement around him. At length, about four o'clock, a prolonged fire of rifles and carbines, that swept around the rebel flank, and crept up along Hood's rear, told him that the hour had come. His blue eye flashed with sudden inspiration, and turning to his aids, he said, "Now tell Generals Schofield and Smith to advance."

The aids dashed off to deliver the order, but before they reached these impatient Generals, the latter were already advancing. With leveled bayonets and loud, defiant shouts, the columns moved straight on and over the rebel works. Wood, in the centre, at once advanced and came upon a strong fort which commanded the Franklin pike, and aided by Steedman on the left, with his colored troops, attempted to

544

A GALLANT CHARGE.

carry it. At first, the assaulting columns were repulsed with fearful slaughter, but the troops rallied when they heard the shouts of Wood's and Schofield's battalions, as, storming over the hostile batteries, they scaled the bald hill in their front, and again moved with loud cheers against the fort, and captured it, with nine pieces of artillery.

A gentle rain was falling, and not a breeze stirred the leafless branches of the dripping trees, while this whirlwind of death was sweeping the heights. Borne back at every point, the enemy abandoned their batteries, and throwing away every thing that could impede their flight, sped in dismay over the country.

Said a captured Brigadier-General, in speaking of the last charge, "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 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 a run. But right along, cool as fate, your line swung up the hill, and your men walked right up to and over my works and around my brig ade, before we knew that they were upon us. It was astonishing, Sir, such fighting."

Over five thousand prisoners, one Major-General, three Brigadiers, and more than two hundred commissioned officers were captured, not to mention the killed and wounded. Forty pieces of artillery were taken, with any quantity of small arms, battle-flags, &c.

Thus, in two days, Thomas had taken some eight thousand prisoners, and between fifty and sixty pieces of artillery.

As on the day before, so now, night put an end to the

conflict, and our army bivouacked on the field, while the demoralized rebel army retreated through the darkness to Harpeth River. At daylight, the next morning, the Fourth Corps, with the cavalry, commenced the pursuit. On the night of the 19th, Hood crossed Duck River and took up the bridge.

Thomas, in his report, says, "the pontoon train coming up to Rutherford's Creek about noon, of the 21st, a bridge was laid during the afternoon, and General Smith's troops were able to cross. The weather had changed from dismal rain to bitter cold, very materially retarding the work in laying the bridge, as the regiment of colored trops, to whom the duty was intrusted, seemed unmanned by the cold, and totally unequal to the occasion."

This caused a serious delay, but a whole day was lost in a manner not mentioned in any report. The pontoon train took the wrong road, when it left Nashville, and had been gone a part of a day before the mistake was discovered. At Columbia, Forrest's cavalry, that had been operating against Murfreesboro', joined the army, and formed a strong rearguard for it.

Hood now saw the folly of dividing his forces, for Bates' division of Cheatham's Corps, with which Forrest had been sent against Murfreesboro', was repulsed in its attack on the first block house five miles north of the place, and afterward with another division, and twenty-five hundred of Forrest's cavalry, was driven from before Fort Rosecrans, which was under the command of Rousseau. Attacked in their position by Milroy with seven regiments, the rebels were defeated, with a loss of over four hundred men. Although Buford, with his cavalry, entered the town the same day, he was speedily driven out, so that Hood had weakened army to no purpose-and now the whole, once more united, filed back toward Alabama.

his

546

REBEL PLOTS AT THE NORTH.

Thomas kept up the pursuit, though the roads were terrible; but he succeeded in inflicting only slight loss on the enemy.

On the last of the month, Hood crossed the Tennessee, when it was abandoned, and the campaign ended.

This virtually closed the war in the Valley of the Mississippi. Thomas had done his work well and thoroughly, and vindicated the high opinion of Sherman, and nobly fulfilled the trust that had been imposed on him.

But while the months of November and December brought such glorious victories to our armies West and South, the Army of the Potomac won only the laurels due to patient endurance.

Among the minor events of November, was the attempt to burn the City of New York. The diabolical plot originated in Canada, among the rebel refugees there, and was attempted to be put in execution on the night of the 25th of the month. Intrusted to bungling hands, it failed of success, though the fires were started in various buildings. Captain Robert A. Kennedy, of the rebel service, was afterward arrested, at the West, for complicity in it, and tried and executed at Fort Lafayette the following Spring.

Beall, the rebel officer, who in September destroyed two steamboats on the Lakes, was arrested in December, near Suspension Bridge, for attempting to throw a train of cars off the railroad track, and in February was also hung on Governor's Island.

On the 20th of the month, the country was startled by a Proclamation of the President, calling for three hundred thousand more troops. Up to this time, two and a half millions of men had been called for, either for permanent or temporary service, though nothing like this number ever entered the field.

Although the army around Petersburg was engaged in no

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