History Learner
Banned
To cut Schofield's line of retreat they need to beat Thomas quickly and easily and cross 10 miles before he can respond. For MacPherson it is 15 miles and there is still a bridge further beyond that. And in both cases they have to hold against fresh Union forces that are now between them and their line of supply and retreat. Given the forces involved are numerically even the odds of beating Thomas rapidly and easily are fairly low. I don't think Hood thought about more than mauling Thomas to divert the flanking moves and buy time for Atlanta
Hood's entire plan was to beat Thomas and then turn on Schofield and McPherson. He also did not need to advance all the way to the fords themselves to cut off the Federals, but merely get behind them; this is especially doable in the case of Schofield, as that would require an advance of probably no more than four miles (There was a two mile gap between Thomas and Schofield). Given Schofield is pinned in place by Cheatham's larger command, I sincerely doubt he will be able to do much of anything before he suddenly finds Hood to his rear in addition to the forces already to his front. Once that occurs, that leaves just McPherson, who is probably going to have to make a run for the fords. Hood's forces would also not be risking their own rear as there are no federal forces to their flanks or rear,
As for the Battle itself, Hood's force did come close to decisively breaking Thomas as any reading of the battle shows. There were numerous lost opportunities, whether from the need to re-position prior to the battle, the failure for Manney and Cleburne to be decisively committed, etc.
The British reinforcements were a show of force and contingency, the intention was to go to war if the US did not do as they wanted. All Albert did was soften the language of the ultimatum sent to the US, the decision was unanimous in Lincolns Cabinet to give the British what they wanted, and public opinion among the political class was turning that way before they found out the British demands. Unless a more strongly worded ultimatum somehow changes the minds of a bunch of people who wanted to avoid war, they would do the same as OTL and avoid war
In other words, exactly as I said.