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the garrisons which
General Granger had called to
Stevenson,
1 to their former posts.
He was joined by
Granger at the latter place, and they reoccupied
Decatur on the 27th, but too late to impede
Hood's flight, for he had already crossed the
Tennessee.
But a cavalry force of six hundred men, under
Colonel W. J. Palmer, was sent from
Decatur in pursuit of
Hood's train.
Pressing back
Roddy's cavalry near
Leighton, Alabama,
Palmer moved toward
Columbus, Mississippi, and captured and destroyed
Hood's pontoon train, ten miles from
Russellville.
Another force being reported in pursuit, under cover of darkness
Palmer pushed for
Moulton.
Meeting the
Confederates near
Thorn Hill, he attacked and defeated
them, and arrived safely at
Decatur on the 6th of January.
On the 30th of December,
General Thomas announced to the army the. termination of the campaign,
2 and gave orders for the proper distribution of his troops in winter cantonments at
Eastport, in
Northern Mississippi, at.
Athens and
Huntsville, in Alabama, and at
Dalton, in Georgia.
But
General Grant and the War Department had decided that there should be no rest until the
Rebellion should be crushed.
Sherman had reached the sea,
3 and was prepared for a march northward through the Carolinas into
Virginia, and the siege of
Petersburg and
Richmond was to be prosecuted with vigor.
Accordingly, orders were issued
for
Thomas to send
Wood with the Fourth Corps to
Huntsville, and to concentrate the troops of
Smith,
Schofield and
Wilson, at
Eastport, to await a renewal of the winter campaign in
Mississippi and
Alabama.
Hood's army, as an organization, had almost disappeared, when, on the 23d of January
he was “relieved,” as he said, “at his own request,” at
Tupelo, in Mississippi.
It was during the active campaign in
Middle Tennessee, just considered, that the stirring events in which
Generals Gillem and
Breckinridge were chief actors, occurred, as recorded on page 287.
General Stoneman then took command in that region, and concentrated the forces of
Gillem and
Burbridge at
Bean's Station.
Thence he moved toward
Bristol,
when his advance struck a force under
Basil Duke, one of
Morgan's officers, opposite
Kingsport, dispersed them, captured their train, and took eighty-four of them prisoners.
Burbridge pushed on to
Bristol and
Abingdon, capturing both places, with nearly three hundred prisoners, and destroying five loaded railway trains, and large quantities of stores and munitions of war. At
Abingdon,
Gillem joined
Burbridge,
when
Stoneman menaced the important salt-works at
Saltville, in that vicinity.
By this rapid advance into
Virginia,
Vaughan, in command of the
Confederate frontier cavalry, had been flanked, but he moved on a parallel line to
Marion, where
Gillem fell upon and routed him
and chased him thirty miles into
Wytheville.
That place
Gillem captured
