sending me possible reinforcements.
No obedience to any erroneous orders or instructions of his, sent
from a distance whence the actual situation could not be seen as
clearly as at the front, could have justified me in case of failure.
The actual commander of an army in the field must act upon his own
judgment and responsibility, though with due deference to the plans
and wishes of his superior, so far as they are made known to him,
having in view the general object of a campaign. This sound military
principle appears to have been fully recognized by General Thomas
when he made his report. He only claimed that his "plans and wishes
were fully explained" and "properly appreciated and executed," not
that he had given any specific orders or instructions. Why, then,
did he assert, in contradiction of my statement previously made to
him, and in contradiction of the official record I had submitted
to him with that statement in my report, that those "plans and
wishes" of his had been "fully explained" to me _before_ instead
of _after_ I went to Pulaski? What possible difference could it
have made to General Thomas, personally or officially, whether the
records showed that his plans and wishes were made known to me
before or after I assumed command, provided they were received by
me in due time for my action? What possible motive could General
Thomas have had in putting on the public records what was in
substance a flat contradiction of an official statement I had made
to him with full documentary evidence to support it, and that in
the absence of any possible ground for his own contradictory
statement, except his own recollection of some conversation we may
have had more than two months before, in which he might have
explained to me his "plans and wishes"? I cannot believe that
General Thomas ever consciously did any such thing. That feature
of the report must have had some other author besides George H.
Thomas. It is true that the orders telegraphed to me by General
Thomas, November 19, "to fight him [Hood] at Pulaski, if he advances
against that place," were inconsistent with the statement in his
report that he had fully explained to me his plans and wishes as
specified in that report, and in plain disregard of the general
principle recognized in his report, as well as likely to lead to
disastrous results if obeyed. But those orders were on the records,
and could not be expunged, even if such a man as General Thoma