h the dictates of established principles in
the conduct of a military campaign: That was to strike with his
superior remaining force for Hood's rear, south of the Tennessee
River. Such a movement could have been commenced immediately upon
Hood's march in that direction. Supplies would have been drawn,
first from Chattanooga, and afterward from Stevenson, and then from
Decatur, Sherman's line of supply being thus very much shortened.
A small detachment at Atlanta could have destroyed the works of
military value in that place, and the railroad thence back to
Chattanooga, being completely covered in this work by Sherman's
army, without delaying its march a single day. Sherman could thus
have easily struck Hood south of the Tennessee before the latter
could have made his preparations for crossing that river. Indeed,
with Sherman marching in that direction, even so bold a man as Hood
could hardly have been so reckless as to have crossed the Tennessee;
and if he had, his destruction must have been sure. Hence the
least result would have been simply to transfer the theater of
operations from Georgia to Alabama, or perhaps to Mississippi, and
greatly to shorten Sherman's line of supply. And what possible
difference could it make in which part of the revolted States the
theater of war might be, so long as the Confederate army, to destroy
which was the only important object of a campaign, was there? To
avoid a transfer of the battlefield from Georgia to Alabama or
Mississippi, was it wise to run the risk of transferring it to
Kentucky or Ohio? Perhaps no movement which could have been
contemplated by the Confederate authorities would have been more
greatly to Sherman's advantage over Hood than the one they adopted.

I cannot better show my own exact impression at the time respecting
the operations of Sherman and Hood in 1864, than by an illustration
that will be at once appreciated on every farm in America. When
two fighting-cocks meet for the first time, battle is joined without
delay, and is prosecuted with all possible vigor and skill. If
the result is decisive the victor's triumph is loudly proclaimed,
while the defeated combatant, with lowered crest, seeks safety in
flight. If, on the contrary, the result is a drawn battle, the
two antagonists, as if by common consent, slowly separate, carrying
their heads high, and sharply watching each other. When distance
has assured the close of that contest, they severally