22 JANUARY 1994, Page 28

Franklin and Nashville: 1864 These tracks of blood over these

frozen ruts Were made by unshod men, Hood's threadbare remnant. Watch them, then, Stumble across the scrub, as from the heights Others are watching: in those piled redoubts Cannon and howitzers incline And rake the ragged line.

Retreat and stand, fire and fall back. The trees, Armoured with ice, are bound In iron earth. All that disputed ground, All those encumbered bodies, freeze Into a blizzard of cold certainties: `Perfect example of the art Of war', 'a model chart Judged so instructive that academies All the world over trace Again and yet again each move, each place...': Decisive and meticulous strategies. Meanwhile, among the stiffly rattling trees Two thousand stones mark out What it was all about.

Anthony Thwaite