Showing results for "franklin"
A Conversation with Cartographer Hal Jespersen
By ECW Correspondent Jason Klaiber In 2003, Hal Jespersen stumbled upon Michael Shaara’s novel The Killer Angels. The book, which had won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975, tells a tale from the viewpoints of men belonging to the Union army as well as Confederates during the battle of Gettysburg in early July of […]
Read more...The Strategic Impact of the Battle of Nashville
When Maj. Gen. George Thomas’ Union forces drove the Army of Tennessee from their position south of Nashville on December 16, 1864, it signaled an end to John Bell Hood’s invasion of Tennessee. Hood’s army in shambles, any hopes of Hood continuing his march beyond and into Kentucky lay dashed on the battlefield. Thomas’ resounding […]
Read more...Bled From the Top: Confederate Officer Corps in the 1864 Tennessee Campaign
When the Army of Tennessee returned to its namesake Confederate state in November 1864, the chance to provide a glimmer of hope for the South in the West marched with it. By early December, that same force was decimated after the combined battles of Franklin and Nashville. Not only did Lieutenant General John Bell Hood […]
Read more...James Wilson and the Battle of Nashville, Part II
As Wilson rested and refitted his troopers during the opening days of December, 1864, Maj. Gen. George Thomas was engaged in another battle. This one was not with John Bell Hood, but with his superiors. Throughout the first two weeks of the month, Thomas corresponded with Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck in Washington […]
Read more...Nashville: The Second Day
Despite the results of the 15th, Hood determined to fight. That night he pulled his army back two miles to a more compact line, anchored on both flanks by hills along the Franklin Pike (US 31 today) and Granny White Pike. He also reorganized, placing A.P. Stewart’s battered corps in the center and moving B.F. […]
Read more...James Wilson and the Battle of Nashville, Part I
The weather was gradually changing, perhaps for the better. For several days, the Union troopers had been pelted with snow and sleet. It had been so harsh that only the woodcutters had been out in the precipitation. With a thaw setting in, the time came to finally move. On December 15, 1864, those troopers who […]
Read more...Nashville: The First Day
The Death Ride of the Army of Tennessee climaxed 150 years ago today and tomorrow, as the Union and Confederacy fought one more large-scale battle between the Appalachians and the Mississippi: the Battle of Nashville.
Read more...John Bell Hood: Dope Fiend?
The American Civil War, it seems, is awash in stories that “everyone” knows to be true. We accept them as fact because they either make for a great story, or they ring so true to life, that it seems natural for them to be established and proven. But how many actually are? How many stories […]
Read more...Battle of the Cedars, 150 Years Ago
There was no rest for the weary after the slaughter at Franklin. Gen. Hood ordered most of his army to continue their pursuit of Schofield’s forces to Nashville. Along the way, on December 2, Gen. William Bate received the following orders: “General Hood directs . . . that the citizens report some 5,000 Yankees at […]
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