, as the adjacent region was sterile and thinly populated. He
also said that the prisoners were suffering from cold, were destitute of
blankets, and that he had not wagons to supply fuel. He showed me
duplicates of requisitions and appeals for relief that he had made to
different authorities, and these I indorsed in the strongest terms
possible, hoping to accomplish some good. I know nothing of this Wirtz,
whom I then met for the first and only time, but he appeared to be
earnest in his desire to mitigate the condition of his prisoners. There
can be but little doubt that his execution was a "sop" to the passions
of the "many-headed."

Returned to Meridian, the situation of Hood in Tennessee absorbed all my
attention. He had fought at Franklin, and was now near Nashville.
Franklin was a bloody affair, in which Hood lost many of his best
officers and troops. The previous evening, at dusk, a Federal column,
retreating north, passed within pistol-shot of Hood's forces, and an
attack on it might have produced results; but it reached strong works at
Franklin, and held them against determined assaults, until night enabled
it to withdraw quietly to Nashville. This mistake may be ascribed to
Hood's want of physical activity, occasioned by severe wounds and
amputations, which might have been considered before he was assigned to
command. Maurice of Saxe won Fontenoy in a litter, unable from disease
to mount his horse; but in war it is hazardous to convert exceptions
into rules.

Notwithstanding his frightful loss at Franklin, Hood followed the enemy
to Nashville, and took position south of the place, where he remained
ten days or more. It is difficult to imagine what objects he had in
view. The town was open to the north, whence the Federal commander,
Thomas, was hourly receiving reenforcements, while he had none to hope
for. His plans perfected and his reenforcements joined, Thomas moved,
and Hood was driven off; and, had the Federal general possessed dash
equal to his tenacity and caution, one fails to see how Hood could have
brought man or gun across the Tennessee River. It is painful to
criticise Hood's conduct of this campaign. Like Ney, "the bravest of the
brave," he was a splendid leader in battle, and as a brigade or division
commander unsurpassed; but, arrived at higher rank, he seems to have
been impatient of control, and openly disapproved of Johnston's conduct
of affairs between Dalton and Atlanta. Unwillingness to ob