He was very angry, and pretty sharp words passed between
them, Schofield saying that his head of column (Hascall’s
division) had been, at the time of the battle, actually
in advance of Hooker’s line; that the attack
or sally of the enemy struck his troops before it
did Hooker’s; that General Hooker knew of it
at the time; and he offered to go out and show me
that the dead men of his advance division (Hascall’s)
were lying farther out than any of Hooker’s.
General Hooker pretended not to have known this fact.
I then asked him why he had called on me for help,
until he had used all of his own troops; asserting
that I had just seen Butterfield’s division,
and had learned from him that he had not been engaged
the day before at all; and I asserted that the enemy’s
sally must have been made by one corps (Hood’s),
in place of three, and that it had fallen on Geary’s
and Williams’s divisions, which had repulsed
the attack handsomely. As we rode away from
that church General Hooker was by my side, and I told
him that such a thing must not occur again; in other
words, I reproved him more gently than the occasion
demanded, and from that time he began to sulk.
General Hooker had come from the East with great
fame as a “fighter,” and at Chattanooga
he was glorified by his “battle above the clouds,”
which I fear turned his head. He seemed jealous
of all the army commanders, because in years, former
rank, and experience, he thought he was our superior.
On the 23d of June I telegraphed to General Halleck
this summary, which I cannot again better state:
We continue to press forward on the principle of an
advance against fortified positions. The whole
country is one vast fort, and Johnston must have at
least fifty miles of connected trenches, with abatis
and finished batteries. We gain ground daily,
fighting all the time. On the 21st General Stanley
gained a position near the south end of Kenesaw, from
which the enemy attempted in vain to drive him; and
the same day General T. J. Wood’s division took
a hill, which the enemy assaulted three times at night
without success, leaving more than a hundred dead
on the ground. Yesterday the extreme right (Hooker
and Schofield) advanced on the Powder Springs road
to within three miles of Marietta. The enemy
made a strong effort to drive them away, but failed
signally, leaving more than two hundred dead on the
field. Our lines are now in close contact, and
the fighting is incessant, with a good deal of artillery-fire.
As fast as we gain one position the enemy has another
all ready, but I think he will soon have to let go
Kenesaw, which is the key to the whole country.
The weather is now better, and the roads are drying
up fast. Our losses are light, and, not-withstanding
the repeated breaks of the road to our rear, supplies
are ample.