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Whatever hope the rebellious South had
for continuing its fight until the North grew tired of the bloody
struggle died - not with the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court
House in April 1865 - but rather on the hills outside of Nashville
Tennessee, when Confederate General John Bell Hood and his Army of
Tennessee were crushed in the last great battle of the Civil War in
December 1864. This last
desperate clash of armies that December 15th and 16th however was
just one of the battles fought in Nashville that month. Commanding
Union General George Thomas, while preparing to fight Hood also had
to fight President Lincoln, Secretary of War Stanton, Army Chief of
Staff Halleck and Commander in Chief U.S. Grant to retain his job
and to confront the enemy according to his plan and timetable. Hood,
with his ruined left arm and missing right leg, already struggling
with pain, medication, and alcohol, also had to fight a crippling
winter storm.
As that December began almost
everything was going the Union's way: Lincoln had been reelected,
Grant still had General Robert E. Lee, and his army of Northern
Virginia, under siege at Petersburg while General William T. Sherman
was about to take Savannah after his devastating march through
Georgia. All was going well, except Hood’s army was marching towards
Nashville with 25,000 to 30,000 men (Thomas thought he had a larger
force) to take that city and then to move on to threaten Kentucky
and Ohio - actions, which, even if partially successful, could
change the outcome of the war.
Nashville, which fell to the Union
without a fight in 1862, after the fall of Ft. Donelson, had grown
in importance and population during the war from 30,000 to about
100,000 as it became “a communication, transportation and supply
center for Federal military operations in the west.” The South’s
failure to even try to retake Nashville during the war was a measure
of its inability to defend its territory.
Given Nashville’s extensive
fortifications – encircled with forts and redoubts, along with the
Cumberland River acting like a moat around some of it, Hood could
have taken months to plan an attack with 120,000 men and still have
failed, but this was Hood – and nothing would stop him from trying.
Jefferson Davis (“You must first
beat him (the enemy)…and advance to the Ohio River”), in picking
Hood to replace General Johnston in Atlanta that July, followed
Lincoln’s example in his selection of Grant – he needed a fighter
and he got one. Hood did fight - first by attacking General William
T. Sherman outside Atlanta, and then by invading Tennessee to try to
relieve the pressure on Lee in Virginia and the people of Georgia.
Despite the great odds against him, he could have achieved some
level of success had his tenacity been matched by wisdom.
As the Army of Tennessee made its
way towards Nashville, Hood, due to command failures, let General
John M. Schofield’s army - sent by Sherman to reinforce Thomas slip
through his lines outside the small town of Spring Hill 30 miles
south of Nashville on November 29th. The next afternoon, Hood (“We
shall make the flight”) launched a frontal assault against
entrenched Union rear guard positions in Franklin, 18 miles south of
Nashville, as Schofield continued his march to reinforce Thomas.
Hood’s army was badly beaten,
suffering over 8000 casualties, including 6 generals killed, in just
four hours. In recent years, as the Battle of Franklin has received
more attention, it has become popular to treat Nashville as almost
an after thought – a historical mistake. As one writer puts it:
“Hood was knocked down at Franklin - but he was knocked out in
Nashville.”
Unchallenged on their way, Hood,
and still dreaming of reinforcements from Texas, reached the
outskirts of Nashville and began to prepare a defense for the attack
he knew would be coming - but first he and his men would have to
fight the weather. Thomas’ men had the same weather but their forts
and redoubts were built, most were well rested, all were well
clothed, shod and fed, and the delays caused by the soon to be
frigid climate worked to Thomas’ advantage giving him time to refit
his cavalry. It was a far different story for Hood’ bedraggled army.
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The Battle
of Nashville - Day 1, December 15, 1864
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The relatively mild Tennessee
weather in early December took a sudden turn for the worse the night
of the 8th. A cold rain soon turned to snow and by the next morning
the ground was frozen, covered with snow and sleet. This was
followed by 6 days of rain, freezing rain and sleet – Nashville, and
its environs, was encased in ice These conditions were brutal for
the mostly barefooted rebels (one historian says only 25 men in the
while army had shoes or parts of shoes on their feet) already
severely weakened in Franklin, without warm clothes or much in the
way of food and their cannons, caissons and wagons up to their hubs
in mud. Demoralized, cold, hungry troops now had to break frozen
soil to try to establish defenses for the attack they knew would be
coming when the weather broke. It must have seemed that even the
Lord was against them. (I once lived through one of these ice storms
as a resident in that area – we were paralyzed for days).
Thomas meanwhile was under attack
by his superiors in Washington and Petersburg for what, in their
growing panic at the advancing southern army, was their perception
that he was just too slow in taking on Hood. Thomas, although not as
ready as he wanted to be, gave into pressure and was going to attack
on the 10th when the ice storm hit the area suspending his plans.
(“A terrible storm of freezing rain has come today which will make
it impossible for our men to fight”). When Grant (“I was never so
anxious during the war as at that time.”) heard of further delay, he
asked Halleck to draw up orders relieving Thomas, to be replaced by
Schofield (who may have been behind misleading information getting
to Grant). Halleck resisted (“No one here wishes General Thomas’
removal”) and these orders were never sent.
The six day weather related delay
finally exhausted Grant’s patience and he ordered General John A
Logan sent west to assume command of Nashville. Logan got as far as
Louisville when the weather cleared enough on the 15th for Thomas to
finally launch his attack on Hood. Logan was recalled. It’s still
uncertain whether Thomas knew how close he came to losing his job.
The battle lines shown on two maps
of the 15th and 16th tell the story of the conflict. It was,
“according to at least one military authority, a perfect
exemplification of the art of war.” Another authority said: “No
battle of the war was better planned and none was so nearly carried
out to the letter of the plan as the Battle of Nashville.” General
Thomas’ battle plan in this engagement is the only one of the Civil
War that is “now studied as a model in European military schools.”
It was the only battle of the war that destroyed an army.
Thomas’s forces moved out under
cover of an early morning fog and attacked with a diversionary
action on Hood’s right, and then hit his thinly defended lines very
hard on the left, while holding back reserves units to respond as
needed. Hood, without reserves could only fall back – doing so miles
to the south as the first day ended with him barely avoiding a rout.
It’s a tribute to the courage of the rebels that, despite their
conditions and the losses they sustained the first day, they were
able to mount a vigorous defense of their remaining positions the
second day but they could not hold on forever in the face of
overwhelming numbers. Their lines broke on Overton Hill and what is
now Shy’s Hill It was then “everyman for himself” as the battle
finally turned into a rout. Pvt. Owen J. Hopkins of the 182nd Ohio
Infantry called Thomas, “A God of battles,” writing, “Hood’s
demoralized and badly whipped Rebels are flying towards the
south…the victory is complete.” The once proud Army of Tennessee
would be no more.
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The Battle
of Nashville - Day 2, December 16, 1864
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Thomas followed in pursuit of the
fleeing rebels almost immediately but was hampered by more bad
weather – heavy rains that made even streams impassable. Once again
he would hear from Halleck stating the obvious. (“Permit me, General
to urge the vast importance of a hot pursuit…if you can destroy
Hood’s army Sherman can entirely crush out the rebel Military force
in the Southern states.”) Finally Thomas, who would have made his
life a little easier had he reported on conditions in more detail
throughout December, had enough and replied with an angry telegram:
“We cannot control the elements…pursuing an enemy through an
exhausted country, over mud roads, completely sogged with heavy
rains, is no child’s play!” Stanton got Thomas’ message in more ways
than one and immediately sent him a telegram assuring him of “the
most unbounded confidence in your skill, vigor and determination…to
destroy the enemy.” Grant also sent congratulations on the great
victory. Thomas would not be bothered again. He continued his
pursuit until there was no more army left to pursue.
Mercifully, for the numbers engaged
at Nashville (Blue – 50,000 vs. Gray – 23,000), the casualties on
both sides were relatively modest (Blue – 3061 vs. Gray – est. 1500
with 4500 captured). Hood had lost his last battle. Thomas won –
against Hood and those who tried to interfere with his plans. He
would later receive “The Thanks of Congress” for Franklin and
Nashville, “one of only 15 army officers so honored during the
entire war.” Had the war continued, it was likely that Hood would
have been court marshaled for his actions at Franklin.
The North – the United States – was
the biggest winner. There would now be no doubt we would remain one
country. That fact made this engagement the “most decisive battle of
the Civil War” according to Sir Edward Creasy in his “Fifteen
Decisive Battles of the World.” Creasy defined a decisive battle as
one “of which a contrary event would have essentially varied the
drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes.” Other historians
agree: “It was the crushing defeat of the Army of Tennessee at the
Battle of Nashville that sealed the fate of the Confederacy.”
References:
The Decisive Battle of Nashville
by Stanley F. Horn
The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War
by David J. Eicher
Advance And Retreat: Personal Experiences In The United States And Confederate States Armies
by John Bell
Hood
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters, 1839-1865 (Library of America)
by
U. S. Grant |
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George Thomas
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John Bell
Hood
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