Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

Middle Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, 1863–1865 293
Part of the Nashville battlefield, taken as victorious Union troops pursued retreating
Confederates south of the city
catur. By 7:00 that evening, Union troops controlled the town. Two days later, they
learned that Hood’s army had found another crossing some forty miles downstream
and was already south of the Tennessee River on its way to Corinth, Mississippi. 92
When that news arrived, Steedman’s men were marching west toward the
site of Hood’s crossing. Detachments of white Union cavalry that accompanied
them routed the fleeing Confederates near a town called Courtland, some twenty
miles west of Decatur, allowing the infantry to reach there without further trouble.
On 30 December, a company commander in the 12th USCI noted that “want
of . . . blankets & tents, cold & wet weather, the passage of numerous streams &
the usual hardships of a winter campaign have seriously lessened our numbers &
impaired the efficiency of those present. The men . . . are deficient in energy on
the march.” Fortunately for the troops, this phase of the campaign was nearing
an end. On New Year’s Day, General Thomas ordered Steedman to break up his
division and return to Chattanooga with Morgan’s brigade, sending Thompson’s
brigade to Nashville. 93
Regimental officers saw the lull in active operations as an opportunity to bring
their commands up to strength and devote some attention to discipline and drill.
Lt. Col. Henry Stone, ordered back to the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad,
92 Ibid., pt. 1, p. 506, and pt. 2, pp. 384, 400–403, 698; ORN, 26: 671–82; NA M594, roll 207,
12th USCI (quotation).
93 OR, ser. 1, vol. 45, pt. 2, pp. 401, 480, 493; NA M594, roll 207, 12th USCI (quotation).