and dispatched him to take charge of two-thirds of his army, on the extreme, left, at a time of apprehended disaster.
In a letter to his wife (also since dead), dated July 30th, 1864, the original of which is before me, General Hardee mentions the matter in these terms:
"We had a fight Thursday between parts of Stewart's and Lee's corps and the enemy. I received a note in the afternoon saying Hood wanted to see me without delay. I hurried on, and before reaching his quarters received another note, asking me to come as soon as possible. He told me that Lee and Stewart were fighting the enemy on the Lick Skillet road, and he wished me to go out there and look after matters. While I was with him news came that Stewart and Loring were wounded. I went out at once, but did not assume command. I found that Brown's, Walthall's and Clayton's divisions had been severely handled, and that Lee (Stephen Dill) was acting strictly on the defensive."
I myself well remember the successive couriers and the urgency manifested, and accompanied General Hardee to army headquarters and thence to the field.
This, be it remembered, was eight days after Hardee's alleged failure on the 20th of July, and six days after his alleged failure on the 22d, and when the real facts were fresh in mind. And this cotemporaneous act of General Hood towers above all this cloud of calumny a monumental fact to show whether Hardee had disobeyed orders or otherwise failed of his duty on the 20th or 22d of July, and to show also on whose strong arm General Hood leaned in the hour of trial.
jonesboro'.
The main facts as to the operations near Jonesboro' on the 31st of August and 1st of September, and the respective dates, positions, movements and forces involved, are well known. General Hardee gives a summary of them in his report (supra), and he is confirmed by General Sherman, who shows, among other things, that Howard's army had reached the position near Jonesboro' in the evening of August 30th, and that in the morning of the 31st Schofield struck the railroad at Rough-and-Ready, and Thomas' army at two points between there and Jonesboro', and that both were ordered "to turn straight for Jonesboro', tearing up the railroad track as they advanced" (Memoirs, volume II, pages 107-108).
In the night of the 31st of August, the following dispatches, the originals of which I have, were received from General Hood at Atlanta:
