ound it impossible to ride to headquarters because of the
ice, and in the midst of it came an order from Grant: "I am in hopes of
receiving a dispatch from you to-day announcing you have moved. Delay no
longer for weather or reinforcements."

Thomas replied:

"I will obey the order as promptly as possible, however much I regret it,
as the attack will have to be made under every disadvantage. The whole
country is covered with a perfect sheet of ice and sleet, and it is with
difficulty the troops are able to move about on level ground."

To Halleck, Thomas replied:

"I have the troops ready to make the attack on the enemy as soon as the
sleet which now covers the ground has melted sufficiently to enable the
men to march, as the whole country is now covered with a sheet of ice so
hard and slippery that it is utterly impossible for troops to ascend the
slopes, or even move upon level ground in anything like order. Under these
circumstances I believe an attack at this time would only result in a
useless sacrifice of life."

The reply to this, unquestionably born of the panic to which allusion has
been made, was an order sending General Logan to relieve Thomas. Grant
himself then started from City Point for Nashville to assume general
command. But the ice having melted, he was met at Washington by the news
of Thomas's victory.

The delay that Thomas had insisted upon, in the face of orders twice given
for his relief, gave him the cavalry force he required for the decisive
blow he intended to strike.

While the official inside at City Point and Washington bordered on panic,
everything at Nashville was being pressed forward with activity and
vigilance, and at the same time with deliberation, prudence, and the
utmost imperturbability. At length, and at the first moment possible
consistent with a reasonable expectation of success, the attack began.

THE ATTACK ON HOOD.

The developments of the battle, the energy and success of the pursuit, and
the marvelous results of the whole, namely, the virtual destruction of a
veteran army, reveal at every step what General Thomas had in mind when he
insisted upon waiting till he could remount his cavalry.

In no other battle of the war did cavalry play such a prominent part as in
that of Nashville. In no other pursuit did it so distinguish itself.
Students of the movement will find themselves constantly questioning, as
their investigations proceed, whether, with the force of in