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was the passage of the
Tennessee River by
Hood's army, a part of which crossed it at the mouth of
Cyprus Creek,
not far from
Florence, in the face of strong opposition from
Croxton's brigade, which was pressed back to the east bank of
Shoal Creek.
It was now evident that
Hood intended to advance into
Middle Tennessee.
General Hatch was ordered to move, with his cavalry division, from
Clifton, to the support of
Croxton; and, as we have seen, the Twenty-third Corps, under
General Schofield, was directed to report to
General Thomas, to whom was given full control of all the troops in the Military Division of the Mississippi, excepting those which were to accompany
Sherman.
1 General Thomas J. Wood's division of the Fourth Corps reached
Athens on the 31st, closely followed by the other divisions, when
Stanley, the commander of the corps, concentrated his whole force at
Pulaski.
In the mean time,
Forrest had
turned his face northward again, and was busy in aiding
Hood.
Leaving
Corinth, he pushed up through
Tennessee with a heavy mounted force and nine guns, and struck the
Tennessee River opposite
Johnsonville, in
Stewart County, which was connected with
Nashville by railway.
This was an important depot of supplies for
Nashville, and these
Forrest came to destroy.
They were guarded by one thousand negro troops under
Colonel C. R. Thompson, and three gun-boats, commanded by
Lieutenant E. M. King.
Forrest opened his guns upon the post,
and after several days' sharp contest, he withdrew
on hearing of the approach of
Schofield, with his corps, from
Nashville, by railway.
Forrest's work was accomplished, but by other hands.
In a conflict with the gun-boats, he had so far won a victory, that it was feared they would fall into his hands.
So, just before the appearance of
Schofield, they and the transports were set on fire.
The flames communicated to the storehouses on the shore, and commissaries' and quartermasters' stores, valued at a million and a half of dollars, were destroyed.
Finding no enemy at
Johnsonville,
Schofield left
Ruger's division as a garrison at that post, and, with the rest of his troops, marched to
Pulaski and assumed command of all the forces there.
At this time,
Thomas's effective force, under
Schofield, confronting
Hood, was only about thirty thousand men,
2 while his antagonist, just re-enforced
