W. H. D. Rouse
speaker
492 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 8 Aug
W. H. D. Rouse’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
not engaged at adairsville johnston again hoped to find a position in which he could give battle but there too the terrain was unsuitable for defense
and the confederate commander was forced to continue his retreat as he fell back however johnston devised a stratagem that he hoped would lead to the destruction of a part of sherman's forces there were two roads leading south from adairsville one south to kingston the other southeast to cassville it seemed likely that sherman would divide his armies so as to use both roads
this would give johnston the opportunity to attack one column before the other could come to its aid when the southerners abandoned adairsville during the night of may seventeen eighteen johnston sent hardee's corps to kingston while he fell back toward cassville with the rest of his army
He hoped that Sherman would believe most of the Southerners to be in Kingston and concentrate the bulk of his forces there.
Hardy would then hold off the Northerners at Kingston while Johnston with Polk and Hood destroyed the smaller Federal column at Cassville.
Sherman reacted as Johnston hoped, ordering MacPherson and the bulk of Thomas' army toward Kingston while sending only Schofield and one corps of Thomas' army along the road to Cassville.
on the morning of may nineteenth johnston ordered hood to march along a country road a mile or so east of the adairsville cassville road and form his corps for battle facing west while polk attacked the head of the federal column
hood was to assail its left flank as hood was moving into position he found northern soldiers to the east this was a source of great danger for had hood formed facing west these federals would have been in position to attack the exposed flank and rear of his corps after a brief skirmish with the northerners hood fell back to rejoin
johnston believing that the opportunity for a successful battle had passed ordered hood and pope to move into a new line east and south of cassville where they were joined by hardee who had been pushed out of kingston johnston formed his army on a ridge and hoped that sherman would attack him there on may twenty as usual the southern commander was confident of repulsing the enemy that night the confederate leaders held a council of war
exactly what happened at the council is a matter of dispute according to johnston polk and hood reported that their lines could not be held and urged that the army retreat believing that the fears of the corps commanders would be communicated to their men and thus weaken the army's confidence johnston yielded to these demands even though he thought the position to be defensible
According to Hood, whose recollection of the council differs markedly from Johnston's, he and Polk told Johnston that the line could not be held against an attack, but that it was a good position from which to move against the enemy.
Johnston, however, was unwilling to risk an offensive battle and decided to fall back across the Etowah.
No definite resolution of this dispute is possible, but most of the available evidence supports Hood's version of the conference.
certainly johnston was not obliged to allow the advice of subordinates to overrule his own judgment the responsibility for abandoning the cassville position rests on the southern commander during the night the confederates withdrew across the etowah as they fell back their feelings were mixed
They had lost a very strong position at Dalton and had fallen back from Rusaka, Calhoun, and Adairsville.
Now they were retreating again under cover of darkness.
That morning, as they prepared for battle, their spirits had been high.
Now their disappointment was bitter.
Although morale would revive in the next few days, many southern soldiers would never again
place as much confidence in Johnston's abilities as they once had.
Showing 121–140 of 492 · page 7 of 25
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