s, in fact, marked by the greatest prudence throughout. The
Twentieth Corps occupied a strongly fortified bridge-head at the
Chattahoochee River, and the Twenty-third Corps another equally
strongly fortified "pivot" around which the grand wheel of the army
was made. That moving army was much larger than Hood's entire
force, and had all the advantage of the initiative, which completely
disconcerted the opposing commander, and caused him to commit a
blunder that ought to have proved fatal, namely, that of dividing
his inferior force and permitting his superior opponent to occupy
a position between the widely separated wings of his own army.
Yet Sherman refused to take any advantage of that blunder, and sat
still while Hood leisurely reunited his divided forces.

Even if such extreme caution in handling a superior force against
such an antagonist as Johnston could be regarded as wise, it surely
could not against such an antagonist as Hood, whose character of
extreme audacity in the aggressive should have assured his destruction
by a more skilful adversary in command of a superior force. But
Sherman's own knowledge of his own impulsive nature made him unduly
distrustful of his own judgment when under great responsibility in
emergencies, and this in spite of his unusual intellectual activity
and his great confidence in his deliberately matured judgment.
This is the opinion of Sherman's character formed by me after the
closest possible observation and study. For this reason Sherman's
capacity as a tactician was not by any means equal to his ability
as a strategist. He lacked the element of confident boldness or
audacity in action which is necessary to gain the greatest results
by taking advantage of his adversary's blunders, and by tempting
or forcing his adversary into positions of which he might take
advantage. Yet Sherman was very far from lacking skill as a
tactician. Both he and Johnston might well be likened to masters
of the sword so skilful and so equally matched that neither could
give any material advantage over the other. In my opinion, their
duel of ten weeks' duration was never surpassed in the history of
the world for the masterly skill and execution with which the one
pressed the other back step by step, and the other disputed every
foot of the ground, neither giving nor attempting to make an
opportunity to strike a decisive blow. If the object of that
campaign was to capture Atlanta on the one side,