Sherman postponed his decision till he was quite sure what course Hood would take, for the latter was concentrating his army at Gadsden and having a conference with Beauregard on the day of the interviews on our side which I have narrated. After agreeing with his immediate superior upon the plan of entering Tennessee at or near Guntersville, Hood started on the morning of the 22d, but in accordance with confidential directions he gave his corps commanders, his column changed direction at Benettsville, taking the Decatur road, which there branched to the left and forced the marching westward. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 831, 835, 81, 843.] The gloss which he afterward put on the matter was that he changed his plan in consequence of information that Forrest could not join him as he expected. [Footnote: Advance and Retreat, p. 20.] This does not bear examination. Forrest was, under the orders of General Taylor, preparing a raid into western Tennessee to bring out all the supplies that country contained and to break up the railway to Memphis, sending the iron to repair the road in the vicinity of Tuscumbia, where the base for the new operations in middle Tennessee would be. On the 20th Hood had himself informed Taylor of his purpose to cross at Guntersville, [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 835.] and Wheeler's cavalry was relied upon to cover the movement till middle Tennessee should be reached. [Footnote: _Id._, p. 845.] On the 22d Taylor was directed to have Forrest open communication with Hood "by letter or otherwise," and act for the time under his orders, [Footnote: _Ibid._] but no immediate interference with what Forrest was doing in western Tennessee was indicated. The only reasonable interpretation of Hood's conduct is that when he faced the consequences of a movement to Guntersville with Sherman at Gaylesville ready to close the _cul de sac_ behind him, even his audacity shrunk from the plan, and he proved the truth of Sherman's prediction that he would not dare to do it. Beauregard explicitly says that the change in Hood's plan was made after leaving Gadsden, where it had been definitely arranged. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xlv. pt. i. p. 662.]