JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 21 



Powell was with the pursuing army under Sherman, and was with 

 him on Kenesaw mountain when General Corse was attacked at 

 Altoona. Having driven Hood westward towards Rome, General 

 Sherman turned back towards Atlanta once more, and went on be- 

 yond Jonesboro. A day or two before the railroad communication 

 was broken with Nashville General Sherman concluded that the 

 artillery could be moved across to Savannah. During the cam- 

 paign there was great loss of horses, and the artillery was using old 

 horses and mules to slowly drag the pieces over the country. Sher- 

 man deciding that all these animals were necessary for the quarter- 

 master's train, Powell was ordered to take sixteen batteries of the 

 Army of the Tennessee back to Nashville and ship them around to 

 Savannah. He reached Nashville with the batteries just before 

 the battle of Franklin was fought, and received instruction from 

 Washington to report to General Thomas. Thus it happened that 

 he participated in the battle of Nashville. 



For some days before the battle, he was busily occupied in 

 superintending the constructions of defense. On the morning of 

 the battle, under General Thomas's instructions, he had the six- 

 teen batteries under his command arranged in four divisions and 

 distributed at as many different points along the rear of our army. 

 From time to time, as the battle raged, these batteries were sent to 

 the front under orders from General Thomas, and engaged in the 

 conflict. Major Powell, riding from point to point, occasionally 

 returning to General Thomas for further instructions, was for the 

 first time during the war witness of an entire battle ; that is, he 

 was able to comprehend the operations on the various parts of 

 the line, and to see the most important engagements on the first 

 and second day. 



When, on the morning of the first day, General Hatch's 

 mounted infantry attacked the enemy on the extreme right with 

 two of his batteries, the entire operation could be dimly seen in the 

 mist from the hill where General Thomas stood, and by his side 

 Major Powell watched the progress of the battle. When the Union 

 troops fought their way to the top of the hill, and up to the enemy's 

 works, for a few moments a cloud of mist obscured the scene ; then 

 the wind drove the clouds away, and with their glasses the two 

 officers could see the stars and stripes waving over the enemy's 

 fort, four or five miles in the distance. When the facts were fully 

 demonstrated, General Thomas expressed unmeasured delight, and 

 affirmed that he had no more fear of the result ; the only thing then 

 necessary was to press General Hood so that he could not escape. 



