Diary of Colonel John Beatty, February 25, 1862

General Nelson's command came up the Cumberland by boat and entered Nashville ahead of us. The city, however, had surrendered to our division before Nelson arrived. We failed simply in being the first troops to occupy it, and this resulted from detention at the river-crossing.

SOURCE: John Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 111