5, notwithstanding the spirited resistance of the defenders of Redoubt No. Schofield's XXIII followed in reserve, and as the assault moved south a gap opened between Smith and Wilson which Schofield was directed to fill. Before the Battle After the fall of Fort Henry on February 6, 1862, Brig. [5][note 2], Hood followed up his defeat in the Atlanta Campaign by moving northwest to disrupt the supply lines of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman from Chattanooga, hoping to challenge Sherman into a battle that could be fought to Hood's advantage. At 9:00 a.m., the fog since burned off by the sun, heavy guns at Fort Negley opened the ball with a booming salvo. In one of the largest victories achieved by the Union Army during the war, Thomas attacked and routed Hood's army, largely destroying it as an effective fighting force. The American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 57,000 acres in 25 states! The cavalrymen formed on Smith's right flank. Redoubt Five was next, and the same sweeping attack soon swamped its gunners. Second, the fortifications had been built overnight by tired troops and consisted of shallow trenches with no head logs or abatis. Hoods disastrous loss of Atlanta in September 1864 sent him and his Army of Tennessee on the run. The regiment lost 40 percent of its men, the highest casualty rate of the battle. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. [1] By and large, his troops were veterans, the IV Corps under Brig. Hood fielded approximately 30,000 men and consisting of 3 infantry army corps and 1 cavalry corps:[42], Although Thomas's forces were much stronger, he could not ignore Hood's army. The movement was witnessed by a great many soldiers and citizens all of whom speak in the highest praise of theconduct of the Col[ored] Troops. Blood Proof: USCT and the Battle of Nashville On the following day, while feinting and . Smith's troops proceeded to Redoubt No. [30], Hood made a serious strategic error before the battle. Hood attempted to retake Nashville, Tennessee, from an occupying Federal army, despite having a significant numerical disadvantage. Hood established his headquarters at Travelers Rest, on John Overtons plantation as his ragged troops spent the entire night entrenching as best they could. Hood ordered a hasty frontal assault, and, although he forced Schofields army to retreat to Nashville, he lost 6 generals and over 6,000 soldiers in the process. [86] Thomas had asked Rear Admiral S. P. Lee, commanding the Tennessee River naval squadron, to destroy the Confederate bridge. [18][note 5]. Stay up-to-date on our FREE educational resources & professional development opportunities, all designed to support your work teaching American history. [50] The attacking force consisted of two brigades drawn from Steedman's Provisional Division: the First Colored Brigade,[note 10] consisting of three regiments of United States Colored Troops (who had previously served as garrison troops or railroad guards), and a brigade composed of rear echelon white troops described by their commander as "new conscripts, convalescents, and bounty jumpers. Updates? Join us online July 24-26! John Schofield and A.J. Thomas's plan was to launch a diversionary attack on the Confederate right that would distract them from the main attack on their left and perhaps cause them to divert troops from their left to their right. 2. Thomas saw his chance to deal a decisive blow to Hood. Confederate GeneralJohn Bell Hoodparticipated in some of the most brutal and iconic actions of the Civil War, including the breakthrough atGaines Mill, the hellacious fighting at the Cornfield atAntietam, and the drive to Snodgrass Hill atChickamauga. Following Nashville, the fall of the Southern Confederacy was now only a matter of time. Every purchase supports the mission. After waiting to join forces with Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry, Hood left Alabama on November 21, 1864. On the left, Steedmans troops assaulted the nearest Confederates on Monday morning, 5 December. The Majority of our funds go directly to Preservation and Education. Only Forrests return from Murfreesboro helped save the army from total destruction. [61] The IV Corps proceeded deliberately up Montgomery Hill, only to find that it was defended by a thin skirmish line. Battle of Franklin Tennessee Civil War Franklin Battle Map Nashvillians who live in the Green Hills, Forest Hills, Oak Hill, Lipscomb, or Brentwood neighborhoods are living on top of a battlefield. While much of the battlefield was lost as the city expanded, sites such as the Peace Monument, Shy's Hill, Fort Negley and the Nashville National Our FREE Virtual Teacher Institute is the can't miss online educator event of the summer. The Battle of Nashville (15-16 December 1864) was a dramatic winter conflict in which Gen. George H. Thomas, with a hastily organized army of heterogeneous troops, moved out of Nashville and fell upon the Confederate forces of Gen. John B. The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Battle | The Battle of Nashville Trust The Union victory at Nashville shattered Hood's Army of Tennessee and effectively ended the war in Tennessee. By Christmas Day it was over. It is well-interpreted. What caused the Battle of Nashville? In so doing, U.S. leadership and its troops competence had to be downplayed. Minnesota lost more men at the Battle of Nashville than in any other Civil War battle. [73], The three brigade attack began on McArthur's timetable. It is considered a major success by the Union army over Confederate forces in the Western Theater of the Civil War. Battle of Nashville: Enemies Front and Rear - American Battlefield Trust US Civil War: Battle of Nashville | History, Causes & Results - Video Cheatham's Corps, badly hurt at Franklin, was on the Confederate left flank, which included Shy's Hill and the line of hills to its south. Among the twenty-five bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, Nashvillefought December 15-16, 1864stands as among the most "forgotten." Only two major works, by Stanley F. Horn and James Lee McDonough, have chronicled the engagement. At the crest were but a few artillery pieces. The Battle of Nashville occurred on December 15-16, 1864, south of Nashville, Tennessee. He intended to sever Schofields access to the Nashville road, but communication between Hood and his subordinates broke down and Schofield slipped past the Confederates during the night. Despite the severe beating it had suffered at Franklin, Hood's Army of Tennessee presented a threat by its mere presence and ability to maneuver. General Thomas may have said it best when he turned to his cavalry commander and exalted, Dang it to hell, Wilson, didnt I tell you we could lick em?. "[44], While pressure from Washington continued, a bitter ice storm struck Nashville on December 8, which precluded any offensive action. Sub-freezing weather continued through December 12. Visit Nashville Battlefield | American Battlefield Trust The Army of Tennessee pursued Schofields forces to Franklin, Tennessee, where they found that the Federal troops had entrenched themselves. While the Confederates had originally established their line there, they had withdrawn to equally strong positions on the south side of Brown's Creek, as the original positions were exposed to artillery fire from the Nashville forts. In response, Cheatham stretched his corps further and further to the south. Hoods men began to break, and by nightfall his men had retreated to take up new defensive positions two miles south of their original fieldworks. Battle of Franklin (1864) - Wikipedia Despite tenacious efforts to renew their advance, Steedmans men remained stalled for the rest of the day. 1. On December 15, Thomas launched a demonstration on the Confederate right across the line of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. Union forces had been constructing defensive works around Nashville since the time the city was occupied in February 1862. However, appearances were deceiving. [20][note 6] By 1864, a 7-mile-long semicircular Union defensive line on the south and west sides of the city protected Nashville from attacks from those directions. Austin Davis, Covenant Presbyterian, and the Present Day Battle of Located at 190 Polk Avenue. Hood relinquished his command in shame. From the Cumberland River, a naval squadron of two ironclads and five tinclad gunboats maneuvered to take out pesky Rebel batteries at Bells Mill. However, he would not be deterred. Gen. John B. Seizing the moment, Federal troopers executed a classic envelopment and rampaged well to the south behind Confederate lines. [60], In the meantime, the IV Corps had been tasked with making a frontal assault from Granny White and Hillsboro Pikes on the left end of the Confederate line. After a brief period in which he pursued Hood, Sherman decided instead to cut his main army off from these lines and "live off the land" in his famed March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah. [29] The weather turned cold and many Confederate soldiers took shelter in simple pits which were just big enough for two or three men to sleep alongside each other with a small fire at one end. A weak skirmish line was posted east of the tracks, and on December 14 this was supplemented by a stout four-gun lunette manned by Granbury's (Houghton's after Granbury's death at Franklin) Texas Brigade. Abraham Lincoln and General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant sent letter after letter urging Thomas to crush the Army of Tennessee with haste. Chief John Drake and the men and women of the MNPD join all of Nashville in mourning today's deaths of six innocent persons, three nine-year-old's and three adults, at the hands of an active shooter at Covenant Church/School on Burton Hills Drive. On November 30, 1864, his army lost about 7,000 of its 20,000 fighting men at disastrous assault at the Battle of Franklin. Perryville, in 1862, Stones River, at the 1862-1863 new year, and then Hood's 1864 invasion were all in support of that vision. Meanwhile, Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, commanding the Trans-Mississippi Department, declined to send any hoped-for reinforcements to Middle Tennessee. The Southerners defending Peach Orchard Hill repulsed the four-brigade Union attack, but they could not spare any reinforcements to bolster other parts of their lines. Gen. Thomas Woods corps in support. Help Us Save Hallowed Ground in Tennessee and Kentucky. This page was last edited on 29 June 2023, at 02:44. Hood and his staff officers tried to rally their men along a new line about a mile to the south along the Granny White Pike. Captured in the first day of the battle by troops from the. (Western Theater = west of the Appalachian Mountains, but east of the Mississippi River.) Battle of Nashville, December 1516, 1864 (Additional map 1), Battle of Nashville, December 1516, 1864 (Additional map 2), Battle of Nashville, situation about 1300 Hours (December 15, 1864), Battle of Nashville, situation about 1600 Hours (December 16, 1864), Federal casualties in the battle totaled 387 killed, 2,562 wounded, and 112 missing. November 24-28, 1864 Battle of Columbia; November 29, 1864 . Bobrick notes that despite the actions of black soldiers during the preceding year in Virginia and South Carolina, and at Port Hudson, black soldiers had not been used in the front lines nor in attack in Tennessee. Battle Of Nashville 1864 | Encyclopedia.com [58] At about 2:30 pm, the Union troops attacked the five redoubts guarding the Confederate left. Comptons Hill, which anchored the Confederate left, was so steep that, as one Federal officer observed, [I]t was supposed no assaulting party could live to reach the summit. As menacing as the rise appeared, it was only sparsely defended. Into these tenuous defenses slammed Union cavalry, sending Confederate infantry rearward and capturing several wagons at Belle Meade Plantation. 3; however, its commander, Col. Sylvester G. Hill, was killed by Confederate artillery firing from Redoubt No. Harpeth River By the afternoon, the men in blue were making inroads on Peach Orchard Hill, particularly a brigade that included the 12th, 13th and 100th USCT, which gamely moved up the slope into the Rebel guns. Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas commanded the Federal troops stationed there. Although he suffered terrible losses at Franklin on November 30, he continued toward Nashville. In six months of campaigning, the Army of Tennessee had lost nearly 75% of its fighting force and ceased to be a serious threat to the Federals. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. Wood and Schofield's XXIII Corps having fought in the Atlanta campaign and Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith's "Detachment of the Army of the Tennessee" (a part of the recently discontinued XVI Corps had been redesignated with this unusual name on December 6) having fought at Vicksburg, in the Red River Campaign, at Tupelo against S.D. Hoods next steps were to try to weaken Shermans army without engaging him in the open field, as the Army of Tennessee had been too badly mauled to survive such a battle. The overall Federal commander in Nashville,Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, received telegrams fromUlysses S. GrantandAbraham Lincolnurging him to strike the Confederate army. Gen. John B. Grant was on the verge of sacking Thomas before word arrived that Thomas was on the move. Gen. John McArthur was a fiery Scotsman and a solid combat commander. In the earlier part of the twentieth century there was some talk of creating a National Battlefield Park in Nashville. The effort weakened other parts of his line, but the risk had to be made. Popularized in the 1820s, "Home Sweet Home" was the single hit from the otherwise forgettable opera Clari, or The Maid of Milan, based on the play by John Howard Payne with music by Henry R. Bishop.It remained a popular parlor song throughout the nineteenth century and was a favorite of regimental bands during the Civil War. [54][55] The attack failed in its purpose, since the Confederates were not distracted and in fact had sent brigades from both Lee's and Cheatham's Corps to bolster the threatened left flank,[56] however, Steedman's attack did take the fortifications which made Hood's left untenable and led to his withdrawal at nightfall. 7 Critical Civil War Battles These battles were among the most pivotal in America's bloodiest conflict. Hood sent Brig. The next day Hood reformed his battered line around Shys Hill to the west and Overtons Hill to the east. The Harpeth River flows through the heart of downtown Franklin, the 14th fastest growing city in the United States, and traverses Williamson County, one of the fastest growing counties in Tennessee. The Union troops overran the Confederate trenches and drove the rebels back more than a mile. of the Cumberland), Western Theater of the American Civil War, Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation, List of National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee, National Register of Historic Places listings in Tennessee, Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1864, List of costliest American Civil War land battles, "Story of an African-American Civil War regiment", "Report of Surgeon A. J. Foard, Medical Director, Army of Tennessee", "Civil War Battlefield Preservation in Tennessee: A Nashville National Military Park Case Study", "Killing at Franklin: Anatomy of Slaughter", "The Decisive Battle of Nashville: December 15-16, 1864", "Battle of Nashville: Enemies Front and Rear", "Civil War anniversary: An unlikely hero: Col. Lewis Johnson of the 44th USCT", "Minnesota Civil War 150: Battle of Nashville", "New Civil War monument honors Minnesotans who fought at Nashville", Battle of Nashville In-Depth Academic description, Animated History of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, Battle of Nashville Tour of Historic Homes, General Thomas, the "sledge of Nashville", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Nashville&oldid=1162425739. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The remains of earthworks are faintly visible. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! Bate's Division and one of the two attached infantry brigades returned to Nashville, but Hood had seriously diminished his already outnumbered forces, and he had also deprived his army of its strongest and most mobile unit, Forrest and his cavalry. Grant, ignoring the weather, ordered Thomas to attack going so far as to dispatch Maj. Gen. John Logan to relieve Thomas should an offensive not begin during the course of his journey west.
144 Ruth St, Hamburg, Pa 19526, Obgyn In Mcdonough, Ga That Accepts Medicaid, Paradise Valley Obgyn, Parsons Graduation 2023, How Many Days Left For Ganesh Chaturthi, Articles W