Floyd was ordered by Johnston not to fight in the city.(25) Pandemonium reigned everywhere in Nashville for a week before it was taken. The mob, in which all classes participated, had possession of it. The proper officers abandoned their stores of ordnance, quartermaster and commissary supplies, and such as were portable were, as far as possible, carried off by anybody who might desire them. No kind of property was safe, private houses and property were seized and appropriated. No other such disgraceful scene has been enacted in modern times.(26)
Johnston had a right to expect the arrival of the Union Army as early as the 18th, and had wise counsel prevailed, Nashville might have been taken on that or an earlier day.
A diversity of views led to delays in the movement of Buell's army.
Buell early expressed himself favorably to moving directly on
Nashville via Bowling Green or by embarking his divisions at
Louisville on steamboats and thence by water up the Cumberland.(27)
Halleck pronounced the movement from Bowling Green on Nashville as not good strategy, and this opinion he telegraphed both Buell and McClellan. Success at Fort Donelson did not change Halleck's views, and Grant was condemned for advancing Smith's division to Clarksville. After Buell reached Nashville he became panic-stricken, and, though he had 15,000 men, possessed of an idea he was about to be overwhelmed. He assumed, therefore, to order Smith's command of Grant's army to move by boat from Clarksville to his relief.(28)
The first time I saw Grant was on the wharf at Nashville, February 26, 1862. He was fresh from his recent achievements, and we looked upon him with interest. He was then only a visitor at Nashville. His quiet, modest demeanor, characteristic of him under all circumstances, led persons to speak of him slightingly, as only a common-looking man who had, by luck, or through others, achieved success. He was then forty years old,(29) below medium height and weight, but of firm build and well proportioned. His head, for his body, seemed large. His somewhat pronounced jaw indicated firmness and decision. His hands and feet were small, and his movements deliberate and unimpassioned. He then, as always, talked readily, but never idly or solely to entertain even his friends.
Both Halleck and Buell were apparently either jealous of Grant or they entertained or assumed to entertain a real contempt for his talents. Buell paid him little attention at Nashville, and Halleck reported him to the War Department for going there, although the city was within the limits of his district. His going to Nashville was subsequently assigned as a reason for practically relieving him of his command.(30)
Reports that Grant was frequently intoxicated, and that to members of his staff and to subordinate commanders he was indebted for his recent victories, were at this time freely circulated. Grant, like most great generals in war, had to develop through experience, and even through defeats. He, however, early showed a disposition to take responsibilities and to seize opportunities to fight the enemy. He had the merit of obstinacy, a quality indispensable in a good soldier.
In contrast with him, Halleck and Buell, each pretending to more military education and accomplishments, lacked either confidence in their troops or in themselves, and hence were slow to act. Complicated and difficult possible campaigns were talked of by them but never personally executed. They were each good organizers of armies on paper, knew much of the equipment and drilling of troops, also of their discipline in camp, but the absence in each of an eagerness to meet the enemy and fight him disqualified them from inspiring soldiers with that confidence which wins victories. Mere reputation for technical military education rather detracts from than adds to the confidence an army has in its commander. Such a commander will be esteemed a good military clerk or adjutant-general, but not likely to seek and win battles.
The 3d Ohio, with the brigade, marched through Nashville on the 27th of February, and went into camp at a creek on the Murfressboro turnpike about four miles from the city. Quiet was restored in Nashville, the inhabitants seeming to appreciate the good order preserved by the Union troops, especially after the recent experience with the mob.
At Nashville the 3d Ohio's officers (especially Colonel Beatty) were charged with harboring negro slaves, and Buell gave some slave- hunters permission to search the regiment's camp for their escaped "property." The Colonel ordered all the colored men to be assembled for inspection, but it so happened that not one could be found. One of the slave-hunters proposed to search a tent for a certain runaway slave, and he was earnestly told by Colonel Beatty that he might do so, but that if he were successful in his search it would cost him his life. No further search was made. One of the runaway slaves, "Joe," a handsome mulatto, borrowed (?) from Colonel Beatty, Assistant Surgeon Henry H. Seys, and perhaps others, small sums of money and disappeared. Some time afterwards I saw "Joe" in the employ of Hon. Samson Mason in Springfield, Ohio.