"The noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar.
He only, in a generous, honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them."
CHAPTER II.
THOMAS AS A TACTICIAN.
While General Sherman was pursuing Hood, when that gallant but not very sagacious rebel was making his ill-judged and ill-advised but bold march northward, leaving Atlanta and our armies in his rear, some exigency arose which made General Sherman regret the absence of General George H. Thomas, who had been sent to Nashville. I do not now distinctly remember what the exigency was other than that it related to some important movement—perhaps the movement to the sea—but, at any rate, so undecided and troubled was Sherman in coming to a decision, that he suddenly broke a long silence, during which he had been seriously meditative, by exclaiming to one of his aids,
"I wish old Thom was here! He's my off-wheel-horse, and knows how to pull with me, though he don't pull in the same way."