Nashville, TN
Date(s):
December 15-16, 1864
Location:
Please click on link below for map.
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Campaign(s):
Franklin-Nashville Campaign
(1864)
Battles in
Campaign:
-
-
Decatur, AL
-
October 26-29, 1864 C1
-
Johnsonville, TN -
November 4-5, 1864 B
-
Columbia, TN
-
November 24 [24-29], 1864 C1
-
-
-
Situation:
Commanders:
-
Union:
Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas
-
Confederate:
Gen. John Bell Hood
Principal Forces:
-
Union:
IV Army Corps, XXIII Army Corps,
Detachment of Army of the Tennessee, provisional detachment, and cavalry corps
-
Confederate:
Army
of Tennessee
Description:
-
In a last desperate attempt to force
Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s army out of
Georgia, Gen. John Bell Hood led the
Army of Tennessee north toward Nashville in November 1864.
-
After defeating Hood's
forces at Franklin, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas’
army reached Nashville on December 1st.
-
Although the Army of Tennessee had
suffered terrible losses at Franklin on November 30,
Hood continued to Nashville and reached the outskirts of
Nashville on December 2nd. The Confederate forces began erecting fieldworks on a
line of hills parallel to those of the Union.
-
From the 1st through the 14th,
Thomas made preparations for the Battle of
Nashville in which he intended to destroy Hood’s army.
-
On the night of December 14th,
Thomas informed Maj.
Gen. Henry W. Halleck, acting as Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s
chief of staff,
that he would attack the next day.
-
Thomas planned to strike both of Hood’s
flanks. Before daylight on the 15th, the first of the Union troops, led by
Maj.
Gen. James Steedman, set out to hit the Confederate right.
-
The attack was made
and the Union forces held down one Rebel corps there for the rest of the day.
-
Attack on the Confederate left did not begin until after noon when a charge
commenced on Montgomery Hill. With this classic charge’s success, attacks on
other parts of the Confederate left commenced, all eventually successful.
-
By
this time it was dark and fighting stopped for the day.
-
Although battered and
with a much smaller battle line, Gen. Hood was still confident. He established a
main line of resistance along the base of a ridge about two miles south of the
former location, throwing up new works and fortifying Shy’s and Overton’s hills
on their flanks. The IV Army Corps marched out to within 250 yards, in some
places, of the Confederate’s new line and began constructing fieldworks.
-
During
the rest of the morning, other Union troops moved out toward the new Confederate
line and took up positions opposite it. The Union attack began against
Hood’s
strong right flank on Overton’s Hill. The same brigade that had taken Montgomery
Hill the day before received the nod for the charge up Overton’s Hill. This
charge, although gallantly conducted, failed, but other troops (Maj. Gen. A.J.
Smith’s “Israelites” ) successfully assaulted Shy’s Hill in their fronts.
Seeing the success along the line, other Union troops charged up Overton’s Hill
and took it. Hood’s army fled.
-
Thomas had
left one escape route open but the Union army set off in pursuit. For ten days,
the pursuit continued until the beaten and battered Army of Tennessee recrossed
the Tennessee River.
-
Hood’s
army was stalled at Columbia, beaten at Franklin, and routed at Nashville.
Hood retreated to Tupelo and resigned
his command.
Slide Presentation:
None
[Battlefield Lost Integrity]
Classification1:
A
Casualties2:
-
Union:
2,140
-
Confederate:
4,462
Results:
Union
Victory
Battlefield Website:
Recommended
Resources:
1
Classification:
-
A
- having a decisive influence on a
campaign and a direct impact on the course of the war
-
B -
having a direct and decisive influence on their campaign
-
C -
having observable influence on the
outcome of a campaign
-
D
-
having a limited influence on the
outcome of their campaign or operation but achieving or affecting important
local objectives
2 Casualties are
someone killed, injured, wounded, captured or missing.
Revised
06/05/2008 |
