Nashville

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liis force did not exceed 38,000 men, the Confed­ erate general could not now afford to offer battle.He hoped for reinforcements from Texas , andshould Thomas attack him before their arrival, hebelieved that the assault upon entrenchments wouldmeet with a bloody repulse, as so often happened.So Hood remained in his strong position andawaited the course of events.

The 2d of December was the first day in allthis campaign when the Union army was strongenough to assume the aggressive. The great anddecisive battle of Nashville, about to be described,was fought on the 15th and 16th. Surely the in-terval was not a long one when we consider the

preparations that were necessary to in-

. , Why Thomas

sure a complete and final success, lhe was not rea( j y

material of Thomas’s army was mostly t0 attackexcellent, but it had been hastily scrapedtogether, and some work of organization and equip-ment was required. Especially important were theneeds of the cavalry. Of this Thomas had a largeforce, with a very able commander, and he intendedto make it play a great part in the coming battle.He did not contemplate a victory like Shiloh orGettysburg, in which the enemy should simply becompelled to retire from the field. Such victorieshad been important in their time and place, butsomething more was needed now. Thomas meant