When Hood’s army had been scattered into fragments, President Lincoln,
elated by the defeat of what had so long been a menacing force on the
borders of Tennessee was reminded by its collapse of the fate of a
savage dog belonging to one of his neighbors in the frontier settlements
in which he lived in his youth. “The dog,” he said, “was the terror of
the neighborhood, and its owner, a churlish and quarrelsome fellow, took
pleasure in the brute’s forcible attitude.
“Finally, all other means having failed to subdue the creature, a man
loaded a lump of meat with a charge of powder, to which was attached a
slow fuse; this was dropped where the dreaded dog would find it, and the
animal gulped down the tempting bait.
“There was a dull rumbling, a muffled explosion, and fragments of the
dog were seen flying in every direction. The grieved owner, picking up
the shattered remains of his cruel favorite, said: ‘He was a good dog,
but as a dog, his days of usefulness are over.’ Hood’s army was a good
army,” said Lincoln, by way of comment, “and we were all afraid of it,
but as an army, its usefulness is gone.”