But the boys soon heard that despite the winter there was great activity in the Southern camp. Undismayed by their loss of Kentucky, the Southern generals meant to fight Rosecrans in Tennessee. The Confederacy had not been cheered by Lee’s withdrawal at Antietam and Bragg’s retreat at Perryville, and meant to strike a heavy blow for new prestige. The whole Confederate army, they soon heard, had moved forward to Murfreesborough, where it was waiting, while Forrest and Morgan, the famous cavalry leaders, were off on great raids.
It was this absence of Forrest and Morgan with the best of the cavalry that put it into the mind of Rosecrans to attack at once. The thousands of lads in the army who were celebrating Christmas received that night the news that they were to march in the morning.
“I’ve fought three great battles this year,” said Warner, “and I don’t think they ought to ask any more of me.”
“Be comforted,” said Dick. “We start to-morrow, the 26th, which leaves five days of the year, and I don’t think we can arrange a battle in that time. You’ll not have to whip Bragg before the New Year, George.”
“Well, I’m glad of it. You can have too many battles in one year. I didn’t get rest enough after my wound at the Second Manassas before I had to go in and save our army at Antietam, and then it was but a little time before we fought at Perryville. That wasn’t as big a battle as some of the others, but Dick, for those mad three hours it seemed that all the demons of death were turned loose.”
“It certainly looked like it, George, you stiff old Vermonter, and I don’t forget that you came to save me.”
“Shut up about that, or I’ll hit you over the head with the butt of my pistol. I merely paid back, though I only paid about half of what I was owing to you. The chance luckily came sooner than I had hoped. But, Dick, what a morning to follow Christmas.”
A chilly rain was pouring down. A cold fog was rising from the Cumberland, wrapping the town in mists. It was certainly a dreary time in which to march to battle, and the young soldiers rising in the gloom of the dawn and starting amid such weather were depressed.
“Pennington,” said Warner, “will you help me in a request to our Kentucky friend to join us in three cheers for the Sunny South, the edge of which he has the good fortune to inhabit? I haven’t seen the real sun for about a month, and I suppose that’s why they call it sunny, and I’m informed that this big river, the Cumberland, often freezes over, which I suppose is the reason why they call it Southern. I hear, too, that people often freeze to death in North Georgia, which is further south than this. After this bit of business is over I’m going to forbid winter campaigns in the south.”
“It does get mighty cold,” said Dick. “You see we’re not really a southern people. We just lie south of the northern states and in Kentucky, at least, we have a lot of cold weather. Why, I’ve seen it twenty-three degrees below zero in the southern part of the state, and it certainly can get cold in Tennessee, too.”
“I believe I’d rather have it than this awful rain,” said Pennington. “I don’t seem to get used to these cold soakings.”
“Good-bye, Nashville,” said Dick, turning about. “I don’t know when we will have to come back, and if we do I don’t know what will have happened before then. Good-bye, Nashville. I regret your roofs and your solid walls, and your dry tents and floors.”
“But we’re going forth to fight. Don’t forget that, Dick. Remember how in Virginia we pined for battle, and the use of our superior numbers. Anyhow Rosecrans is going out to look for the enemy, but all the same, and between you and me, Dick, I wish it was Grant who was leading us. I saw a copy of the New York Times a while back, and some lines in it are haunting me. Here they are: