fternoon_ of that day--so late, however, that
some of the troops, at least, becoming impatient at the long delay,
did not wait even for the orders they had asked for, but initiated
on their own responsibility the action which resulted in victory
before any directions whatever from General Thomas had reached
them. Or else, if General Thomas had clearly in his mind the
appropriate action of his several corps suggested by the condition
of the enemy _as he himself had seen it_ just before dark, or as
it might be modified during the night, he must, it would seem, have
felt so sure of Hood's retreat in the night that he did not think
it worth his while to give any orders except for pursuit. However
this may be, it seems to be clearly established by the records that
the movements which prepared the way for the final assault, and
that assault itself, were both made under the orders of subordinates,
and not in obedience to any orders or directions from General
Thomas, nor in accordance with any general plan which he had informed
them was to be the guide for their action that day.

The battle of the 15th was fought in very close conformity to the
plan prepared, some time before the 14th, doubtless by General
Thomas himself, though spoken of by General Wood, in his confidential
letter of the 14th to Thomas, as "our plan," and modified at the
conference which was called that day upon the suggestion of Wood
in that confidential letter, and, as he said, "at the instance of
Schofield and Smith."( 1) But the battle of the 16th appears to
have been emphatically a battle of the troops themselves, acting
under the independent orders of their own subordinate commanders,
with such co-operation and support as they had arranged among
themselves, in the absence of any orders or instructions from their
common superior.

THE PHRASEOLOGY OF GENERAL THOMAS'S REPORT

It seems proper for me to say that I have never claimed for myself
any part of the credit due to subordinates that day (December 16).
Having failed in the night of December 15 to obtain any appropriate
orders for my action, or for the conjoint action of the corps on
my right and left, and also to obtain any such orders on the 16th,
the only orders I gave were those to support the movements on my
right and left initiated by the subordinate commanders there. For
this action General Thomas, in his report, gave the full credit
due to my troops, and,