Delay in Renewing the Attack on the 16th
The fact is that Hood’s left wing had been much weakened to strengthen his right, which had been heavily pressed a short time before, as fully described by General Thomas, and his army was already substantially beaten. Its spirit seemed to be gone. What little fight was left in it after November 30 had been greatly diminished on December 15. Hood, almost alone of that army, was not whipped until the 16th. He, the responsible leader of a desperate cause, could not yield as long as there was a ray of hope. Under any ordinary circumstances a commander even of the most moderate capacity must have admitted his campaign a failure the morning after Franklin. It would be absurd to compare the fighting of Hood’s troops at Nashville, especially on the second day, with the magnificent assaults at Atlanta and Franklin. My own appreciation of the result was expressed in the following despatch:
“Headquarters, Army of the Ohio,
“December 16, 1864, 7:45 P. M.
“Major-General George H. Thomas,
“Commanding Department of the Cumberland.
“General: I have the honor to report four pieces of artillery and a considerable number of prisoners captured by General Cox’s division this afternoon. General Cox also reported four other pieces and caissons captured in the valley between the hill carried by General McArthur and that taken by General Cox. I learned, however, upon inquiry, that General McArthur’s troops claimed, and I have no doubt justly, the honor of capturing the last four. My provost-marshal reports seventy-four prisoners captured this P. M. I have conversed with some of the officers captured, and am satisfied Hood’s army is more thoroughly beaten than any troops I have ever seen.
“I congratulate you most heartily upon the result of the two days’ operations. My messenger will wait for any orders you may have to send me. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“J. M. Schofield, Major-General.”
It now appears to be fully established by the records that Hood’s infantry force in the battle of Nashville was very far inferior to that of Thomas, and he had sent a large part of his cavalry, with some infantry, away to Murfreesboro’. This disparity must have been perfectly well known to Hood, though not to Thomas. Hence it would seem that Hood must have known that it was utterly impossible for his army to resist the assaults which he must expect on December 16. Since all this has become known, it is impossible not to see now that the comparatively feeble resistance offered by the Confederate troops at Nashville was due not so much, perhaps, to any lack of valor on the part of those troops, as to their comparatively small numbers. I recall distinctly the conversation I had with a Confederate field-officer a few minutes after he was captured that day, and which I reported to General Thomas that evening. In answer to my question as to when the Confederate troops recognized the fact that they were beaten, he answered, “Not till you routed us just now.” I did not believe him then, for I thought they must have recognized their defeat at Franklin, or at least on the 15th, at Nashville. But now I think he probably told me the exact truth. I doubt if any soldiers in the world ever needed so much cumulative evidence to convince them that they were beaten. “Brave boys were they!” If they had been fighting in a cause that commanded the sympathy and support of the public conscience of the world, they could never have been beaten; it is not necessary to search for any other cause of the failure of the Confederate States.