Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 2

At daylight on the 17th, the pursuit was resumed. The Fourth corps pushed on by the direct Franklin road, and the cavalry moved by the Granny White, to its intersection with the Franklin turnpike, and then took the advance. Wilson now sent one division, under Johnson, to the right, on the Hillsboroa road, with directions to cross the Harpeth river and move rapidly to Franklin, in advance of the enemy. In the meantime, the main column came up with Hood's rear-guard, four miles north of Franklin, and pressed with great boldness and activity, repeatedly charging the infantry with the sabre, and several times quite penetrating the lines. The rebels now fell back across the Harpeth, and Johnson's division coming up on the southern side, compelled them to retire altogether from the river banks; the cavalry then took possession of Franklin, capturing two thousand wounded. On the night of the 17th, the rebels encamped at Spring Hill, and on the 18th, Hood continued his retreat across the Duck river, to Columbia.

On leaving the field on the 16th, the rebel general had dispatched an officer to notify Forrest of the disaster, and directed him to rejoin the army with as little delay as possible, and protect the rear; but Forrest was detained by swollen streams, and unable to overtake the infantry until the night of the 18th, at Columbia. Even after his defeat, Hood at first had hoped to remain in Tennessee, on the line of the Duck river, but at Columbia he became convinced that the condition of his army made it