isons and railroad guards to
enable him to give battle on equal terms to Hood at Pulaski or
Columbia, a raid by Hood's cavalry would probably have resulted in
the destruction or capture of nearly everything in the rear, not
only in Tennessee, but also in Kentucky, except perhaps Nashville
and Chattanooga. It was only wise forethought which suggested that
such might be the nature of Hood's plans, especially in view of
the season of the year and the condition of the roads, which made
aggressive operations of a large army, where all the hard roads
were held by the opposing forces, extremely difficult. The official
returns, now published in the War Records,( 3) show that the troops
were sufficient only for the purpose of garrisons and guards and
defensive action in the field until after the arrival of A. J.
Smith; and this is true even if Hood's cavalry force was no larger
than that which now appears from Forrest's report--5000; for Forrest
might easily have got a day or two the start of his pursuer at any
time, as had often been done on both sides during the war.

It is true that Sherman's instructions to Thomas appear to have
contemplated the possibility, at least, that Thomas might be reduced
to the extreme necessity of holding Nashville, Chattanooga, and
Decatur defensively, even during a long siege, and of abandoning
all points of less importance than the three named, so that all
the garrisons of such minor points and all the railroad guards
might be concentrated with the garrisons of these three important
strategic points, for their defense during a siege. This must of
course have referred to the defensive period of the campaign only,
for the moment that Thomas's reinforcements should enable him to
assume the offensive all the necessities above referred to must
have disappeared. It must, I think, be admitted as beyond question
that, in view of his daily expectation of the arrival of A. J.
Smith's troops from Missouri, Thomas was perfectly right in not
acting upon Sherman's suggestion of extreme defensive action, and
thus abandoning his railroad to destruction.

If, on the other hand, Thomas's reinforcements had arrived in time
to enable him to take the initiative by moving against Hood from
Pulaski or Columbia, then he might have drawn quite largely from
his garrisons in the rear to reinforce his army in the field, since
his "active offensive" operations would have fully occupied Hood's
cavalry, and thus have p