Chapter 5

THE NIGHT AND THE NEXT DAY

The dusk of the short winter's day had already come on when the last desperate charges of the Confederate hosts were repelled. As though by common consent, the firing ceased almost simultaneously on both sides, and a period of comparative calm succeeded the storm of battle.

Never was a cessation of strife more welcome than to the two armies. The Army of the Cumberland had been so riven and torn during the struggle as to bear scarcely any resemblance to the compact organization of the morning. Divisions had been swept away from the rest of their corps, brigades had been torn away from divisions, regiments from brigades, and even battalions and companies from regiments. It was in very truth an improvised battle-line,--the line that had clung to the Nashville Pike during the closing hours of the engagement. A vast number of individual soldiers,--not by any means all skulkers, but, in many cases, men who had become separated from their own commands and had done valiant service wherever opportunity offered, with or without orders,--were wandering about back of the Union lines, seeking the camp-fires of their comrades. To restore a semblance of order and alignment was the first task of officers,--great and small,--and it was hours before this could be accomplished in part. It was the intention of Rosecrans to forbid fires, for fear of drawing attacks from the enemy; but before any order could be issued, they were lighted all along the line, and the exhausted troops got an opportunity to boil coffee and toast bacon before sinking down to sleep.

On the Confederate side there was less confusion. The Army of the Tennessee,--though clearly fought out for the time being,--had preserved far more of the autonomy of its several commands, and as the camp-fires were kindled along its battle front, the impression was universal that the fight would be renewed on the morrow. Bragg himself was in a state of exultation, for though his cherished plan had not yet been carried out, he felt that success had merely been deferred.

There was a council of the principal Federal officers during the night at the commanding general's headquarters. Rosecrans, it is said, had in mind a retirement of a few miles to Overall's Creek, but this was given up when it was pointed out that the new position was scarcely as strong as the one now held, and offered few advantages. Then somebody suggested the question of retreat. There is a tradition to the effect that Thomas had fallen into a doze during the talking, but that he woke up when this unpleasant word was uttered.

"Retreat!" he exclaimed,--so the story goes,--"This army can't retreat!"

This assurance seemed to satisfy the timid ones, and the question was dropped forthwith.

New Year's Day, 1863, dawned clear and cold. During the night every effort had been made to strengthen the Union position, and to good effect; for Bragg had a cloud of skirmishers out with the dawn, and all day they searched the line in every part, at times being aided by the artillery. But not a crevice could be found, and the Confederate maneuvers at no time developed into movements of importance. But Wheeler's Cavalry found plenty to do, and its capture of a wagon-train caused the liveliest rumors of disaster among the garrison that had been left at Nashville.

Despite, however, the activity of the horsemen of the enemy, Rosecrans managed to get through the lines a considerable store of rations, ammunition, and other supplies. So the day ended with the situation much as it had been when the day began, except that the soldiers on both sides had had an opportunity to restore themselves after the intense fatigue of the first day's fight, and that order had been evolved out of the chaos into which the Army of the Cumberland had been thrown.

One change in the situation,--at the time regarded as of little account, but which was to have momentous results,--had been made. During the day Rosecrans gave some scrutiny to Breckinridge's division of the Army of the Tennessee, which had retired to its original position on Bragg's right. As this force was posted, it was too far away to be watched closely, and Rosecrans, as a precautionary measure, directed Crittenden to throw Van Cleve's division, now under Gen. Samuel Beatty (for its own white-haired commander had been wounded), together with Grosse's brigade, across the ford to a position in Breckenridge's front. The movement, which had for its purpose little more than observation, was accomplished without interference on the afternoon of January 1, 1863.