[87], Steedman's Provisional Division was sent by rail from Nashville to Chattanooga and from there by river boat to Decatur, Alabama, to cut off Hood's retreat. 2, which was quickly captured. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. Rucker's cavalry brigade patrolled to the south of Cheatham's Corps. He followed the pattern of the first day, hoping to pin the Confederate right while smashing the left. The monument was severely damaged by a tornado in 1974, and during the 1980s interstate highway construction left the monument landlocked on a small plot of ground overlooking the massive highway interchange of I-65 and I-440. Hood altered his orders yet again: he would cross the Tennessee River and retake Nashville, posing a threat to Union-held Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Stay up-to-date on our FREE educational resources & professional development opportunities, all designed to support your work teaching American history. He retreated with his army to Tupelo, Mississippi, resigned his command on January 13, 1865, and was not given another field command.[95]. When something does surface, all too often the church leadership quiets it down. Granbury's lunette was well masked by trees and brush. Schofield estimated 1,750 killed, 3,800 wounded, 702 missing/captured. Their depleted artillery feebly held the line, short 19 guns lost to the Federals that day. On that day alone, McArthurs men claimed several flags and artillery pieces, plus some 1,600 prisoners. They met with immediate success, capturing that day two Union transports carrying horses, mules and fodder. Join us online July 24-26! [7] Sherman disengaged and turned east, leaving the matter of Hood's army and the defense of Tennessee to Thomas[note 3]. [83], Because of the misdirected pontoon train, Thomas was not able to cross the Duck River until December 23. [85] Hood was able to get his army across the Tennessee River on a pontoon bridge near Bainbridge, Alabama by December 28. In January 1865, Hood resigned his command. [63] Stewart's corps had been wrecked by the day's fighting and retreated to a new line of defense a mile or two to the south. A part of Lee's Corps maintained good order and covered the retreat on Franklin Pike. Despite tenacious efforts to renew their advance, Steedmans men remained stalled for the rest of the day. Thomas saw his chance to deal a decisive blow to Hood. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant is determined to move quickly to capture the much larger Fort Donelson . The replacement was not needed, though: Thomas mobilized his forces on December 15. At Spring Hill on November 29, a Rebel trap nearly snapped shut on Schofield. Union forces advanced on both hills. NATIVE HISTORY ASSOCIATION - Dragging Canoe, The Chickamauga Cherokees The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. A commercial, industrial and social centerpiece of the region, its loss took with it all of the upper South, especially resource-rich Middle Tennessee, with the rest of the state following by the end of 1863. Army of the Cumberland (Dept. Grant later said of the situation, "If I had been Hood, I would have gone to Louisville and on north until I came to Chicago." Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata. The Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, fought December 15-16, 1864, shattered the Confederate Army of Tennessee and marked the end of major Confederate offensives in the Western theater during the Civil War. "[52][note 11], The Confederate right was anchored on the west side of a deep cut on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. It was composed of garrison troops and railroad guards from Tennessee and Georgia and included eight regiments of United States Colored Troops. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Kelley's Point: This is a short but attractive greenway that runs from a Lowe's Super Center parking lot on Charlotte Pike at its intersection with Davidson Road to the site of a Confederate battery on the Cumberland River. November 24, 1864 The Battle of Columbia. Gen. Edward C. Walthall to his Cavalry Corps. The Confederate line was rolled up west to east. Army of the Cumberland (Dept. The cavalrymen formed on Smith's right flank. A secure Tennessee and a shattered Confederate army meant that the Union was closer than ever to winning the war. Thomas knew he had to attack, but he prepared cautiously. [75] McArthur's second brigade hit these Confederates while they were so distracted. Battle of Nashville - Background: Though badly defeated at the Battle of Franklin, Confederate General John Bell Hood continued pressing north through Tennessee in early December 1864 with the goal of attacking Nashville.Arriving outside the city on December 2 with his Army of Tennessee, Hood assumed a defensive position to the south as he lacked the manpower to assault Nashville directly. Federal cavalry under Brig. Schofield and his men were intent on getting across the Harpeth and really did not expect Hood and his army to attack; the fact that they did attack with such ferocity soon made the U.S. troops realize that they had changed from a delaying action to a desperate fight for survival. Help beat the odds and save more of Americas history by Our FREE Virtual Teacher Institute is the can't miss online educator event of the summer. Moving up the slopes, his men advanced at the double quick with bayonets fixed. Coordinates: 36.0881N 86.8098W The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign [3] [4] that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. In due time a renewed assault on Overtons Hill caused a complete rout of the Confederates. Building on their momentum, McArthurs men turned to their left and began rolling up Lt. Gen. A.P. Unrelenting, Hood continued to drag his bloodied Army of Tennessee, approximately 30,000 strong, north . Glen Leven: This Greek Revival home on Franklin Pike was built in 1857. 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. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. Gen. James Holtzclaw, whose brigade was causing much of their destruction, noted their gallantry in his official report before concluding that they came only to die. It was all for naught, however, as these Union attacks were repulsed, the units involved suffering approximately a third of all Federal casualties for the entire battle. Austin Davis, Covenant Presbyterian, and the Present Day Battle of Of the two rival commanders in chief, most people in 1861 thought Jefferson Davis to be more capable than Abraham Lincoln. Sign up for our quarterly email series highlighting the environmental benefits of battlefield preservation. Hood established his headquarters at Travelers Rest, on John Overtons plantation as his ragged troops spent the entire night entrenching as best they could. After four unsuccessful attacks against the Union, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood abandoned Atlanta in September 1864 and retreated into Alabama. Howard Pyle and Painting the Revolution | Historical Digression Battle of Nashville, 1864, Civil War, Summary, Importance [43], Meanwhile, Washington fumed at the seeming procrastination. In the shadows of the setting sun, Brig. In reserve and holding the city were thousands of men who worked in the quartermaster warehouses. [57][note 12], Thomas planned a huge wheeling movement that would ultimately come down on the Confederates' exposed left flank. On November 30, Hood attacked the troops of General John Schofield (1831-1906) at Franklin, Tennessee. In June 1861, Tennessee became the 11th and final state to officially secede from the Union. Union Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas commanded the Federal troops stationed there. The United States Colored Troops of Major General William T. Sherman's army wanted to fight during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, but "Cump" had a dim view of black troops and did all he could to keep them in the rear. The Battle of Nashville. [79], At this point, the pursuit slowed because Thomas had sent his pontoon bridge train towards Murfreesboro rather than Franklin and Columbia, and his artillery and supply trains could not cross the Harpeth River until the pontoon train arrived. Battle of Nashville Facts, APUSH, Civil War, 1864 The center followed a series of sturdy dry stack stone walls enhanced by entrenching. [17], Schofield withdrew from Franklin during the night and marched into the defensive works of Nashville on December 1, there coming under the command of Thomas, who now had a combined force of approximately 55,000 men. Gen. John McArthur, on his own initiative, ordered his three brigades to charge the hill. The Battle of Nashville occurred on December 15-16, 1864, south of Nashville, Tennessee. Only Maj. Gen. James B. Steedman's Division lacked experience fighting together. Second, the fortifications had been built overnight by tired troops and consisted of shallow trenches with no head logs or abatis. 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. Hood delayed for three weeks at Florence before learning of Georgias devastation, and thereafter he abandoned hope of drawing Sherman north. This way, he was certain that Sherman would engage him. [65], Hood put Lee's Corps on the right flank. [92] Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, Hood's nominal superior, advised the Confederate President on January 13 that the Army of Tennessee had fewer than 15,000 men. But on the morning of December 15, not all were finished due to lack of time, shallow bedrock and the still-frozen ground. The Rebel gunners fought tenaciously, but their fire lofted over the heads of the attackers. Harpeth River Thomas directed Smith to comply with this request. Updated: August 21, 2018 | Original: November 9, 2009. Shiloh Battle Facts and Summary | American Battlefield Trust [33] While the railroad between Nashville and Murfreesboro was broken in a number of places, the Murfreesboro garrison drove off the Confederates in the Third Battle of Murfreesboro (also called the Battle of the Cedars) on December 7. Nashville had been occupied by the Union since the early months of 1862. 1 Civil War | Historic Site Shy's Hill Nashville, TN 2 Civil War | Historic Site Battle of Nashville Monument Nashville, TN 3 Civil War | Historic Site Belle Meade Plantation Nashville, TN 4 Civil War | Historic Site The Battle of Nashville (1864) - Blackpast US Colored Troops at the Battle of Nashville Hood anchored his left with five redoubts, three close together and the other two farther afield. Hood devised a plan to march into Tennessee and defeat Thomas's force while it was geographically divided. [35][36], The Union force (of about 55,000 men), was a conglomerate of units from several different departments provisionally attached to Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas' Department of the Cumberland or Army of the Cumberland and consisted of:[37], The Confederate Army of Tennessee under command of Gen. John B. Hood and his damaged army retreated to Mississippi, the Army of Tennessee no longer a viable offensive fighting force. Located at 190 Polk Avenue. The remains of earthworks are faintly visible. [30], Hood made a serious strategic error before the battle. At Nashville, a large force of Yankees faced a rebel force estimated at around half its size, and historians have questioned why Hood even approached the strongly fortified city with the odds so stacked against him. 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. However, he would not be deterred. Timeline of the Battle of Nashville. This rapid development has already caused harm to the river from adding treated sewage, increasing stormwater runoff, and withdrawing water. In the Battle of Franklin on November 30, Hood ordered almost 31,000 of his men to assault the Union works before Schofield could withdraw across the Harpeth River and escape to Nashville. Rearguard actions by reinforcements from Lee's Corps kept the retreat from becoming a rout. In November, Sherman took the remainder of his army on his march across Georgia. He proceeded no further. 2. [22] During the amassing of his forces and the construction of his defenses, Thomas' troops punctuated their entrenching with small offensive operations and raids. Gen. James H. Wilson, was poorly armed and mounted, and he did not want to proceed to a decisive battle without effective protection of his flanks. Donations to the Trust are tax deductible to the full extent allowable under the law. Hood sent Brig. On December 7, Wednesday, the enemy returned, Morgans troops drove them off again. Colonel Morgans 1st Colored Brigadethe 14th, 16th, 17th, and 44th USCIs and three companies of the 18th USCIand the veteran 68th Indiana and 18th Ohio Veteran Infantry attacked Rebels opposite their position taking prisoners and scattering the rest. Each regiment was competing with the others to reach the redoubt first, recalled one participant. The Battle of Nashville | American Battlefield Trust They stopped to reorganize, and at about the same time that Smith's Detachment was rolling up the Confederate redoubts, they advanced on the main Confederate line. Smith's XVI Corps detachment followed, turning south after a mile or so towards the Confederate flank.
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