Читать книгу Was General Thomas Slow at Nashville? - R.M. Boynton - Страница 3

The concentration and organization of the fragments which finally made up the force with which he practically annihilated his enemy was one of the most remarkable accomplishments of the war. It was prosecuted and consummated in the immediate presence of the enemy, and a large portion of the work was performed during the continued movement, constant skirmishing, frequent affairs, and one great battle of an active campaign.

Arriving at Nashville, the first point of concentration, General Thomas, after careful study of the situation, decided upon his plan of battle. It included, as one of its essentials, the remounting of an effective force of cavalry. From the moment his plans were formed the utmost energy was put forth to prepare for their execution. Greater or more effective activity was never exerted in the Union army than was manifest at Nashville throughout this period. Every stroke of effort was directed toward the predetermined end, with the result which the country knows.

Naturally, the part played by the cavalry in our great battles was often concealed or minimized, while the infantry operations filled the public eye and for the time dimmed the credit due to the cavalry arm. The history of the war does not afford another case where the cavalry formed the determining factor, and, notwithstanding this, where it was so largely overlooked in the distribution of the honors.

It is necessary to a full understanding of the brilliancy, efficiency, and completeness of Thomas’s final movements to have in mind the situation after General Sherman had marched away from Hood and left Thomas in Tennessee to stand between that veteran Confederate army and the Ohio.

Preparatory to the march to the sea the great army about Atlanta had been carefully inspected both as to men and equipments. Every weak man, all convalescents, those whose terms of service were expiring – in short, all the “trash,” as General Sherman expressed it – were sent to the rear, that is, to Thomas. All equipments of infantry, artillery, and cavalry were examined, and every weak or worn piece replaced by new, and all the “trash” either destroyed or “sent to Thomas.” The entire cavalry force was dismounted for close inspection and for the perfect remounting of Kilpatrick’s column. Of the sound men whom Thomas received he lost 15,000 by expiration of terms of service and previous furloughs to vote, within a week after Hood’s movement began.

After this sifting of the armies General Sherman started for the sea with 62,000 veterans, of whom he wrote that “all on this exhibit may be assumed to have been able-bodied, experienced soldiers, well armed, well equipped and provided, so far as human foresight could, with all the essentials of life, strength, and vigorous action.” With this force was included the entire equipment of trains, pontoons, and similar essentials which Thomas, with great care, had perfected for the army of the Cumberland. Thomas’s request that he might have his old corps which he had organized, which had fought under him so long, was refused, and, instead, two small corps were sent him.

The nucleus around which General Thomas was to organize an army to take care of Hood – who from May till November had taxed the offensive resources of Sherman’s three armies – was, the Fourth Corps, General Stanley, with an effective force of 13,907, and the Twenty-third, General Schofield, with 10,358 effectives.

The means of holding Chattanooga are indicated by the instructions from Sherman to Steedman, whose troops had almost dwindled away by expiration of service: “You must organize and systematize the hospitals and men sent back to Chattanooga. You could use some of them for your forts,” and it was suggested to Thomas: “To make things sure, you might call upon the Governors of Kentucky and Indiana for some militia, cautioning them against a stampede.” Thomas was so short of men that when Steedman asked for enough for a small but important garrison, he was obliged to reply: “You might send a force from the organization of convalescents now being made up by General Cruft at Chattanooga.” To which Steedman replied, “So far, all such detachments reported from the front [Sherman] are with furloughs, and are waiting transportation home.”

In place of the 15,000 veterans whose terms had expired, Thomas received 12,000 newly enlisted recruits. General A. J. Smith’s veteran corps had been ordered from Missouri, and a great parade has been made of this fact by those whose interest it was to show that Thomas had been left with a competent force. But the fact that it did not arrive at Nashville till after the battle of Franklin, and that Thomas was waiting for it as well as to remount the cavalry, was not so loudly proclaimed.

However, when Sherman was ready to start for the sea, with Hood’s veteran army concentrated behind him, and Thomas, with the above mentioned elements of an army scattered over a territory as large as France, had been assigned to take care of Hood, General Sherman telegraphed Halleck: “I therefore feel no uneasiness as to Tennessee, and have ordered Thomas to assume the offensive in the direction of Selma, Ala.” And General Grant, after receiving some inflated figures of a great force left with Thomas, telegraphed Sherman: “With the force you have left with Thomas, he must be able to take care of Hood and destroy him.” Later, when the anxiety at City Point referred to in the opening of this paper had become intense, the margin of force with which General Thomas was really operating was found to be so small that General Grant suggested that he should “arm and put in the trenches your quartermaster employees, citizens, etc.,” and again, a few hours later, he was suggesting what he could do “with your citizen employees armed.”