Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/451

 About the last of August the regiment was again in Memphis and early in September was moved to Brownsville in Arkansas, where it joined the army in the pursuit of Price, first in Arkansas and later in Missouri. In this campaign it marched several hundred miles. Many of the soldiers were without shoes and all of them destitute of sufficient food and clothing. The suffering of the army was very great in the long marches through the States of Arkansas and Missouri. Returning to St. Louis about the middle of November, on the 23d, the regiment with General Smith’s troops marched to reënforce the army of General Thomas in Tennessee.

THE BATTLE OF NASHVILLE

When the Confederate General Hood crossed the Tennessee River, General Thomas was but poorly prepared to meet him. The Battle of Franklin had been fought on the 30th of November and was practically a Union victory although General Schofield abandoned the field. It checked, however, the advance of the Confederate army and dampened its ardor, but after a brief pause General Hood pushed on and threatening a wide extent of country, invested Nashville. General Thomas at once began to call in all of the garrisons from points within reach and put his cavalry in good fighting condition. There was great activity and often heavy skirmishing all along the lines from a short distance below Nashville to Chattanooga on the Tennessee River. At Nashville the Cumberland River makes a sharp bend north and within this bend on the south side the city stands. South of the city and two or three miles distant, General Thomas had posted his army behind strong earthworks. General Hood took a position on a range of hills about two miles beyond and extended his lines from the river on his right to the river on his left. Here he began to fortify, after making a slight demonstration, merely feeling our position and sending his cavalry to cut our lines of communication and harass our army.