While yielding to none in my appreciation of the gallant General Hood,
there is one page in his book which always arouses my indignation and
which I can never reconcile with what I know of the history of the
Army of Tennessee, from the time General Hood took command to the
surrender. Truly, they were far from being like "dumb driven cattle,"
for _every man_ was "_a hero_ in the strife." It seems to me that the
memory of the battle of Franklin alone should have returned to General
Hood to "give him pause" before he gave to the public the page
referred to:
(_Extract._)
"My failure on the 20th and the 22d to bring about a general
pitched battle arose from the unfortunate policy pursued from
Dalton to Atlanta, and which had wrought 'such' demoralization amid
rank and file as to render the men unreliable in battle. I cannot
give a more forcible, though homely, exemplification of the morale
of the troops at that period than _by comparing the Army to a team_
which has been allowed to balk at every hill, one portion will make
strenuous efforts to advance, whilst the other will refuse to move,
and thus paralyze the exertions of the first.
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