Blogs by Karen Palumbo
On This Day 11/30/1864
11/22/2009 5:44:14 PM
The "Battle of Franklin", Tennessee
The once proud Confederate "Army of Tennessee" suffers a devastating defeat when its commander General John Bell Hood orders a frontal assault on strong Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee. The loss cost General Hood six of his finest Generals and nearly a third of his troops.
General Hood assumed command in late July, 1864 while the Confederate troops were pinned inside Atlanta, Georgia by the Armies of Union General William T. Sherman. General Hood made a series of desperate attacks against General Sherman but finally relinquished the city in early September, 1864.
No longer able to wage an offensive against the massive Union troops, General Hood retreated into Alabama to regroup. In early November, 1864 General Hood moved north into Tennessee to draw General Sherman out of the Deep South.
By now, General Sherman had enough troops to split his Army. General Sherman dispatched General George Thomas to the Nashville, Tennessee area to deal with General Hood's threat while General Sherman took the rest of the troops on his infamous "March to the Sea", during which his men destroyed most of central Georgia.
General Hood approached Franklin, Tennessee just south of Nashville, Tennessee on November 29, 1864. General Thomas waited in Nashville, Tennessee while another Union troop under General John Schofield was moving from the south to join General Thomas.
General Schofield was aware of General Hood's position and was attempting to move past the Confederate troops on his way to rejoining the rest of the Union Army. General Hood tried to flank General Schofield, but General Schofield marched right past General Hood's Army and planted his Union troops in existing defenses at Franklin, Tennessee.
General Hood blamed his subordinates for failing to block General Shofield's route, and then prepared for a frontal assault on the formidable Union trenches. General Hood was handicapped by the fact that one of his three divisions was still marching toward Franklin, Tennessee and much of his artillery had not yet arrived.
Under these circumstances, General Hood's decision to attack may seem foolish, but he was probably motivated by an attempt to discipline his Army and rebuild his men's lost confidence.
On the afternoon of November 30, 1864 the Confederate troops charged into the Union defenses. The Confederate lines moved forward in nearly perfect unison, the last great charge of the "Civil War".
Parts of the Union's outer trenches fell to General Hood's troops, but a Union counterattack spelled disaster for the Confederate troops. They did not penetrate any further and suffered frightful casualties.
The fighting continued until after dark before General Schofield resumed his march northward. Of fifteen thousand Union troops engaged, two hundred were killed and slightly more than two thousand were injured.
The Confederate troops had twenty-three thousand men at Franklin, Tennessee. One thousand seven hundred fifty died and five thousand five hundred were wounded or captured.
The losses among the Confederate leadership were horrifying. Six Generals were killed, including General Patrick Cleburne, one of the Confederate Army's finest Division commanders.
Another five were wounded, one more captured, and sixty of General Hood's one hundred Regimental Commanders were killed or wounded. Despite the defeat, General Hood continued to move against General Thomas.
Just two weeks later, General Hood hurled the remnants of his Army against the Union troops at Nashville, Tennessee with equally disstrous results.
(K) (HST)
John Bell Hood Confederate General
William T. Sherman Union General
George Thomas Union General
John Schofield Union General
Patrick Cleburne Confederate General
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Blogs this month
• On This Day 11/30/1864 - Sunday, November 22, 2009
• On This Day 11/29/1864 - Sunday, November 22, 2009
• On This Day 11/28/1862 - Sunday, November 22, 2009
• On This Day 11/27/1863 - Saturday, November 21, 2009
• On This Day 11/26/1863 - Saturday, November 21, 2009
• On This Day 11/25/1863 - Saturday, November 21, 2009
• On This Day 11/24/1863 - Thursday, November 19, 2009
• On This Day 11/23/1819 - Thursday, November 19, 2009
• On This Day 11/22/1864 - Thursday, November 19, 2009
• On This Day 11/21/1861 - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
• On This Day 11/20/1864 - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
• On This Day 11/19/1863 - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
• On This Day 11/18/1863 - Tuesday, November 17, 2009
• On This Day 11/17/1863 - Tuesday, November 17, 2009
• On This Day 11/16/1863 - Tuesday, November 17, 2009
• On This Day 11/15/1864 - Monday, November 16, 2009
• On This Day 11/14/1862 - Monday, November 16, 2009
• On ThisDay 11/13/1861 - Monday, November 16, 2009
• On This Day 11/12/1864 - Sunday, November 15, 2009
• On This Day 11/11/1811 - Sunday, November 15, 2009
• On This Day 11/10/1865 - Sunday, November 15, 2009
• On This Day 11/9/1862 - Tuesday, November 10, 2009
• On This Day 11/8/1864 - Tuesday, November 10, 2009
• On This Day 11/7/1861 - Tuesday, November 10, 2009
• On This Day 11/6/1861 - Monday, November 09, 2009
• On This Day 11/5/1862 - Monday, November 09, 2009
• On This Day 11/4/1864 - Monday, November 09, 2009
• On This Day 11/3/1816 - Thursday, November 05, 2009
• On This Day 11/2/1861 - Thursday, November 05, 2009
• On This Day 11/1/1861 - Thursday, November 05, 2009
• On This Day 10/31/1861 - Wednesday, November 04, 2009
• On This Day 10/30/1862 - Wednesday, November 04, 2009
• On This Day 10/29/1863 - Wednesday, November 04, 2009
• On This Day 10/28/1864 - Tuesday, November 03, 2009
• On This Day 10/27/1864 - Tuesday, November 03, 2009
• On This Day 10/26/1864 - Tuesday, November 03, 2009
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