first generous
beam of hope by his crushing defeat of Zollicoffer. In the recent campaign
in Kentucky it was his soldierly instinct that had penetrated the plans of
the enemy; his counsel, which followed, led to success,--which
disregarded, led to failure. It was he who below Chattanooga was to gather
around him the fragments of a broken army, the commander of which had fled
the field, and fighting on, was to win lasting fame as the "Rock of
Chickamauga." It was he who, at Nashville,--waiting amid a storm of
criticism, abuse, and threats from those higher in authority,--sallied
forth, when all was ready, to win the most complete victory of the four
years' struggle.

The right wing of the Army of the Cumberland was under command of
Maj.-Gen. Alexander McDowell McCook, a native of Ohio, and one of the
"Fighting McCooks," so-called, because so many of his family fought for
the Union. The left wing was commanded by Maj.-Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden,
scion of a noted Kentucky family, which, with great liberality and rare
impartiality, contributed stalwart representatives to both sides of the
war. Among the division commanders was Philip H. Sheridan, who later was
to defeat Early in the Valley of the Shenandoah, and, by throwing his
columns across the line of Lee's retreat from Richmond, was to furnish the
prelude for the final scenes of the war drama at Appamatox.

Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, had, after the Battle of Shiloh, been
occupied as a secondary base by the Army of the Cumberland, and had been
heavily fortified. Distant 150 miles from Louisville,--the primary
base,--with lines of communication frequently interrupted by the
ubiquitous Morgan and other Confederate raiders, it was difficult to
accumulate sufficient supplies for a campaigning army; but by December
ample stores were in hand. Murfreesboro, where the headquarters of the
Army of the Tennessee had been established, was an important military and
strategic place as it was the converging point of a large number of
unusually good wagon-roads and by reason of its location on the Nashville
and Chattanooga Railroad. Its facilities gave it dominance over a wide
stretch of country, rich in supplies and recruits for the Confederates,
and its possession was the first requisite in that movement for the relief
of East Tennessee and its harassed Unionists,--a movement that had been so
constantly urged by President Lincoln upon the Federal commanders in that
region.