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In July of 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis gave command of the Army of Tennessee to Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood of Kentucky. Putting the aggressive Hood in charge of that battle-weary army was a desperate move, made at the low ebb of Confederate fortunes in the West. Hood’s reputation had been made on hard-hitting infantry charges, but the Confederacy’s beleaguered situation seemed to call for conserving scarce manpower.

True to form, following the fall of Atlanta, Hood tried to turn the tables on the victorious Federals by carrying the war back to Tennessee. He hoped to defeat the scattered Union forces there, move against Maj. Gen. George Thomas at Nashville, and threaten Sherman’s rear. Hood’s was a rash plan, but one that was welcomed by the Tennesseans in his army, who were anxious to return to their home state.

Hood’s 38,000-man army, underfed and poorly supplied for an early winter campaign, crossed the Tennessee River near Florence, Alabama on November 21. His rapid march north aimed at cutting off Maj. Gen. John Schofield’s two corps, which were marching north from Pulaski. If he could get between them and Nashville, he could defeat them in detail before turning his attention to Thomas at Nashville. Hood caught up to the Federals at Spring Hill and seemed poised, on November 29, to get astride Schofield’s path.

In one of the critical leadership blunders that constantly beset the Army of Tennessee, Hood and his generals allowed Schofield’s troops to pass freely during the night and reach Franklin. There they dug in behind field fortifications left over from an earlier campaign. Hood, livid that the enemy had escaped his clutches and believing that his own army had grown timid, determined to strike the Federals at the first opportunity.

 Cleburne at Franklin, Painting by David Wright

 

That opportunity came soon enough, as the Confederate vanguard reached the vicinity of Franklin at mid-afternoon of November 30. From Winstead Hill, they looked down on Schofield’s army waiting behind well-defended earthworks. Despite facing unfavorable conditions for a frontal assault and lacking artillery for support, Hood ordered an attack. He sent 23,000 stalwart veterans across two miles of open country in one of the most magnificent charges of the war. It proved to be a suicidal effort.

In five hours of ferocious fighting, Confederate regiments hurled themselves against the Union breastworks. Rebel attackers breached the Federal line near the Carter House, but a savage counterattack by Col. Emerson Opdycke’s "Tigers" quickly sealed the gap. When the carnage was finally ended by nightfall, the Battle of Franklin had cost the South 1,750 killed, including six generals, and 7,000 total casualties (compared to 2,000 Federal casualties). Although Schofield continued his retreat to Nashville, leaving the field to the Southerners, it was a hollow gain. Hood’s recklessness had effectively destroyed the Army of Tennessee.

The disaster at Franklin did not deter Hood from carrying on toward Nashville. During the 33 months that Federal forces had occupied Nashville, they had turned the city into one of the most heavily fortified in the nation. In the forlorn hope that Thomas’s army could be lured into a mistake, Hood spread his thin line of troops over hills to the south and west of Nashville. Thomas took his time moving against the ragged Rebel army. When he did, on December 15, he used two brigades of African-American infantry in a diversionary attack on the Confederate right flank. This pressure
kept Hood’s attention from the real threat on his left, against which Thomas sent more men than Hood had in his entire army.

 

USCT troops at Battle of Nashville

On the afternoon of December 16, when a Union charge broke the Confederate line at Shy’s Hill, the Army of Tennessee began to come apart. The breakthrough quickly turned into a rout with the remnants of Hood’s army fleeing southward in an icy rain. Scattered Confederate units continued to fight gamely, allowing what remained of the army to escape across the Tennessee River. These rearguard actions were among the last armed engagements in Tennessee.

Fort Negley, Nashville  

 

Far from being decisive, the Battle of Nashville was a foregone conclusion – a tragic aftermath to earlier debacles at Atlanta and Franklin. That Hood could even make this strike into the heart of Federal-controlled territory was a testament to the fighting caliber of the veteran Army of Tennessee. In his reckless hands, even these battle-hardened troops were used up and wasted. Not until the last Confederate stragglers crossed the state line did the struggle for Tennessee finally draw to a close.

Hoods Campaign - Historical Sites

Prologue | Invasion by River | Fight for West Tennessee | Contest for MiddleTennessee | East Tennessee's Mountain War | Hood's Tennessee Campaign | Epilogue | Civil War Discovery Trail | Civil War Timeline | Tennessee's Civil War Heritage Trail - A clickable map

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