THE UNION CAVALRY IN THE HOOD CAMPAIGN.

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from the right of Schofield’s corps to andheyond the Granny White turnpike, whichpassed north and soutli through Hood’sleft center. Thus it will he seen thatHood’s entire left wing was envelopedfront and rear, and would he obliged togive way whenever it was vigorouslyand simultaneously assailed from oppositesides. Riding close up to the front, andperceiving the advantageous positionwhich my men had gained, I sent mystaff-officers, one after another, to Gen-erals Schofield and Thomas with infor-mation of the success, accompanied bysuggestions that the infantry should at-tack with vigor. It was during this stageof the battle that a most important dis-patch from Hood to Chalmers (ForrestWas still absent) was captured and broughtto me, and forwarded by me at once toGeneral Thomas. This dispatch seems tohave been lost after the battle; at all©vents it has disappeared, but its charac-ter impressed it upon the memory of allWho saw it. It ran, in substance, as fol-lows: “For God ’s sake drive the Yankee©avalry from our left and rear, or all islost.” I found Thomas with Schofield inrear of the right of the line, and explainedto them the situation, which was fortu-nately made entirely clear to them by thesight of the dismounted cavalrymen infull

view, skirmishing heavily Tvith theConfederate left, and also by the fire of a sec-tion of horse artillery, which had been dragged upthe steep hillsides to a commanding position inrear of the Confederate works, and was pouring aheavy fire into them. Occasionally a shot wouldPass over the heads of the enemy and fall into ourown lines. Seeing all this Thomas turned to Scho-field and indicated that the time had come for theWfantry to advance.

This was between half-past three and four o’clock.Schofield ordered his men forward at once, and asthey charged the Confederate lines in front Hatch’sdismounted cavalrymen entered them from therear. Pressed on all sides, and perceiving thatfurther resistance was futile if not impossible,i'he Confederates broke and fled in confusion from^he fielfi^ leaving nearly all their artillery andmany prisoners to fall into our hands. The cav-a irymen had, however, become separated fromtheir horses by an unusual distance, and, althoughihe latter were hurried forward as rapidly as pos-S1 hle, and Croxton, who was most available, wasordered to mount and push without delay through■“fentwood, to be followed by Hatch and Ham-^©nd as soon as they could mount, it had becomeSo dark before they were well under way in pur-st ut that the men could scarcely see their horses’©urs. it was a rainy and disagreeable night, butNevertheless Hatch, Knipe, Croxton, Hammond,°°n, and Spalding dashed forward, each vying^!th the other for the advance, and each doingls best to reach the Franklin turnpike that nights ° as to drive the now thoroughly disorganized

MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES H. WILSON . iliOM A PHOTOGRAPH.

enemy from his last line of retreat. Orders werealso sent to Johnson to move rapidly by the Hills-borough turnpike, and after crossing the Harpeth toturn up its south bank and fall upon the enemy ator near Franklin. Every one obeyed orders withalacrity, but darkness and distance were againstthem. Hatch’s column had not gone more thantwo miles when its advance under Colonel Spald-ing encountered Chalmers’s cavalry strongly postedacross the road behind a fence-rail barricade.They charged it at once, and a spirited hand-to-hand melee ensued, in which many men werekilled and wounded on each side. Colonel Spald-ing had the honor of capturing Brigadier-GeneralRucker, in a personal encounter, in which eachhad seized and wrested the other’s saber fromhim, and used it against its owner. It was a sceneof pandemonium, in which every challenge wasanswered by a saber stroke or pistol shot, and theflash of the carbine was the only light by which thecombatants could recognize each other’s position.The gallant Confederates were driven in turn fromevery fresh position taken up by them, and therunning fight was kept up till nearly midnight.Chalmers had, however, done the work cut out forhim gallantly and well. He was overborne anddriven back, it is true, but the delay which lieforced upon the Federal cavalry by the stand hehad made was sufficient to enable the fleeing Con-federate infantry to sweep by the danger-point thatnight, to improvise a rear-guard, and to make goodtheir retreat the next day.

During the hurrying night ride down the Granny