dmitted the next day, as
stated by Governor Harris, of Tennessee, who was serving as a volunteer
aide on Hood's staff, that he never sent the order. This strange neglect
of the part of his own chief of staff affords a fitting climax to all
the rest of the imbecility that contributed to Hood's failure after he
had personally led the main body of his army to a position where by all
ordinary chances success should have been certain.

There is a bit of Stanley's report that gives a clear glimpse of the
situation as Schofield and Stanley believed it to be after they had met
that night: "General Schofield arrived from Columbia at 7 o'clock in the
evening with Ruger's division. He found the enemy on the pike and had
quite a skirmish in driving them off. My pickets had reported seeing
rebel columns passing, east of our position, as if to get possession of
the hills at Thompson's Station, and the anxious question arose whether
we could force our way through to Franklin. It was determined to attempt
this, and General Schofield pushed on with Ruger's division to ascertain
the condition of affairs."

Another vivid glimpse is afforded in the statement of O.J. Hack, a
conductor on the railroad, who was also interested in a store at
Columbia. He came down the road that day on the last train southbound,
having in charge some goods for the store, and at the Spring Hill
station met the last train northbound, and from the trainmen learned
that the army was retreating. The two trains stood at the station that
afternoon. Some time after dark, being anxious to save his goods, Hack
went over to Spring Hill in quest of a guard to run the trains back to
Franklin. On inquiring for headquarters he was directed to a large brick
house where he found Schofield and Stanley together. Schofield, recently
arrived from Duck river, had just been getting Stanley's account of the
situation, and Hack said that Schofield was in a condition of great
agitation, "walking the floor and wringing his hands." When Hack had
told what he wanted, Schofield sharply replied that the enemy had
possession of the road north of Spring Hill, and the trains could not
move. The report of Stanley and the statement of Hack concur in showing
that it was then Schofield's belief that Hood had possession of the
Franklin pike; that the army was caught in a trap; that the only way out
was the desperate expedient of forcing a passage by a night attack, and,
failing in that, he must fig