12/16/1864 - Foolishly positioned before the fortified city of Nashville containing the 55,000 fully equipped and rested soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by 47-year-old Union Major General George Henry Thomas, the fighter from Virginia who has become known as "The Rock of Chickamauga," best the 25,000 Confederates of 47-year-old Lieutenant General John Bell Hood at the Battle of Nashville ... a two day wintery clash that effectively removes the once powerful Army of Tennessee from the American Civil War.
Minnesota Troops Attack Shy's Hill
A hopeful response to losing the city of Atlanta meant to draw Major General William Tecumseh Sherman away from his just beginning "March to the Sea," Lt. General John Bell Hood (an outstanding brigade and division commander recently returned to duty after his left arm is crippled at Gettysburg and his right leg is amputated after the Battle of Chickamauga) starts a campaign in Tennessee with the intent of engaging the 30,000 soldiers of Major General John Schofield (Hood's roommate at West Point), and then hitting the troops of Thomas at Nashville, moves that might change the course of the war in the west. Unfortunately for the southerners, Hood shows that while he might have been an outstanding combat leader, he does not have the mind or personality to handle the operations of an entire army during a winter campaign. Upset believing that not following his orders to the letter has allowed Schofield's command to escape an ambush at Spring Hill as they retreat towards Nashville, on November 30, 1864, Hood sends his troops forward over two miles of open ground into prepared Union defensive positions without artillery support in a bloody clash of eighteen separate charges that will be known as the Battle of Franklin, and cost the Army of Tennessee 6,252 men, gain the nickname of the "Pickett's Charge of the West" among historians, and cost the southerners the services of fourteen generals (among the dead is one of the Confederacy's finest leaders, Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, known as the "Stonewall of the West") and and fifty-five regimental commanders. Locked in to his mission, instead of retreating after the debacle, Hood crosses the Harpeth River the next day and arrays his men before Nashville, one of the most fortified cities in America (with a population of 100,000), where they find themselves confronted by a numerically superior Union force, unable to limp away due to the pounding taken at Franklin and the horrible winter weather that hits the area with freezing temperatures, snow, ice, mud, and rain.
John Bell Hood
Franklin
Schofield
Commanding the Union forces inside Nashville's fort is George Henry Thomas. Born in Virginia, at Newsom's Depot (five miles away from the state's border with North Carolina) on July 31, 1816. A member of a well-to-do family of three girls and three boys on a plantation of 685 acres worked by fifteen slaves. As a youth, Thomas hides from the minions of Nat Turner during the preacher's slave rebellion of 1831. Appointed to West Point in 1836, Thomas rooms with future Union generals Stewart Van Vilet and William T. Sherman, and by the time he is a senior, graduates 12th (out of 42) in the Class of 1840. Appointed a second lieutenant in Company D of the 3rd U.S. Artillery, Thomas will spend the years leading up to the Civil War, fighting in Florida during the state's Second Seminole War, serve at posts in New Orleans, Charleston, and Baltimore, and as part of General Zachary Taylor's army, during the Mexican-American War, earns three brevet promotions while fighting at Fort Brown, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, and Buena Vista. After the war and another posting to Florida, Thomas becomes an instructor at West Point specializing in horse riding (two of his students will be cavalrymen, J.E.B. Stuart and Fitzhugh Lee) and artillery, while under the supervision of the Academy's superintendent, future Confederate general and fellow Virginian, Robert Edward Lee. Teaching assignment completed, in 1854, Thomas leads two companies of cavalry to California by way of a march over the dangerous Isthmus of Panama, becomes a major in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry where he renews his friendship with his former boss Robert E. Lee, and takes over command of the regiment for over two years, suffering the only wound of his long military career when a Comanche arrow passes through the flesh of his chin and hits the major in the chest (a tough one, Thomas pulls the arrow out of his wound and continues to lead the regiment on its patrol of the Brazos River in Texas. Experienced leading infantry, artillery, and cavalry, Thomas is expected to join the South when states begin leaving the Union following Abraham Lincoln's election to president in 1860, but, influenced by his New York wife and early experiences with plantation slaves, decides to support the Union cause instead, much to the chagrin of family (reacting to the decision, Thomas will have his family turn his picture to the wall, destroy his letters, and will never speak to George again), friends, and many former colleagues (J.E.B. Stuart will write his wife that Thomas is a traitor to Virginia and should be hung). Promoted to lieutenant colonel replacing Robert E. Lee, and then colonel replacing Albert Sidney Johnston, when the two officers leave to fight for the Confederacy, Thomas is made a brigadier general of volunteers in August of 1861.
Second Seminole War
Battle Of Buena Vista
Major George Thomas
His first command of the war is leading a brigade in the Shenandoah Valley for Union Major General Robert Patterson, before he is transferred to the soldiers operating under Major General Robert Anderson in Kentucky. On January 18, 1862, Thomas defeats Confederate Brigadier Generals George B. Crittenden and Felix Zollicoffer at the Battle of Mill Springs, giving the Union their first major victory of the war, a triumph that breaks Confederate strength in eastern Kentucky. In the reorganization of the Department of the Mississippi following Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant at Shiloh, in April of 1862, Thomas is promoted to Major General and given command of the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee consisting of five divisions of soldiers, which participate in, and help Grant win the siege of Corinth. Leadership changed from Grant to Union Major General Don Carlos Buell, as second-in-command of the Army of the Tennessee, Thomas participates in the Battle of Perryville, where Confederate General Braxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky is halted (first meeting Bragg when the officer is a Captain of Artillery fighting in Mexico, it is Bragg who recommends Thomas for the position of instructor at West Point, and later, for a promotion to major when Thomas is a member of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry). Top commander changed again, this time the position is given to Union Major General William Rosecrans, Thomas is given command of the Department of Mississippi's "center wing," now known as the Army of the Cumberland, and prevents Bragg from gaining decisive victory at the Battle of Stone's River, when his soldiers hold the center of the retreating Union troops, is in charge of the most important maneuvering during Rosecrans' Tullahoma Campaign in the summer of 1863, and as commander of XIV Corps in September of 1863, prevents Rosecrans' army from being destroyed (moving units about on the first day of battle to reinforce his line, Rosecrans instead mistakenly opens up a breach in his defensives that the Confederates immediately exploit) by Bragg when he rallies his men and fleeing soldiers against over twenty Confederate attacks upon his position atop Snodgrass Hill during the Battle of Chickamauga (a defense that will win Thomas the moniker of the "Rock of Chickamauga) as northern soldiers retreat into Chattanooga. Replacing Rosecrans, Thomas is part of the command structure that reports to Grant when the general takes over the defense of Chattanooga, and is in charge of the troops that go beyond their orders and storm through the Confederate positions outside the city at the Battle of Missionary Ridge. Under Sherman when Grant is given the Eastern Theater of the war to fix, Thomas is in on the taking of Atlanta, making the victory possible when he prevents the southerners of Hood from breaking the siege of the city at the Battle of Peachtree Creek in July of 1864. When Hood moves away from Atlanta and Sherman starts his march to the sea, Thomas is ordered to keep Tennessee free of Confederates, and takes the Army of the Cumberland to Knoxville.
Bragg
Rosecrans
The Rock Of Chickamauga
Recognizing the sublime opportunity Hood's stupidity has provided him, Thomas readies his plans to attack the Army of Tennessee, but realizing extra mobility and pursuit veterans might be required to defeat the Confederates, he postpones sallying out of his Nashville defenses until his cavalry chief, Union Brigadier General James Harrison Wilson (one of the few men to best the horsemen of Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest during the war) can rest and remount his troopers. For the delay (and egged on by the secret reports of Schofield, an officer who has borne Thomas a malicious grudge since instructor Thomas almost had him expelled from West Point over not discipling other cadets in the classroom where Schofield is serving as teaching assistant), Thomas is soon receiving daily telegrams from Lincoln, Grant, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and Major General Henry Wager Halleck telling him not to lose his chance and to attack as quickly as is possible. Ready to go, Thomas holds back next due to the weather when a major winter storm hits the area on the 8th and lasts until the 12th ... the attack will go forward as soon as any kind of a thaw takes place. Meanwhile, already aggravated by the situation out west, Grant orders Union Major General John Alexander "Black Jack" Logan, a veteran of Bull Run, Belmont (an early Grant victory), Fort Donelson, the siege of Corinth, Grant's Vicksburg campaign (Logan's command will be the first to enter the captured Mississippi River hub), and the taking of Atlanta, to go to Nashville and take over command there if Thomas has not started his attack before Logan arrives (he is in Louisville when Thomas begins his operation) ... and anxious about the outcome, Grant leaves the siege of Petersburg to personally supervise the change in field commanders (he makes it to Washington D.C. before he receives the news that Thomas has sallied out of Nashville. And unlike other moments of the war, the delay proves fortuitous, as Hood weakens his force even more by sending off three brigades of men to attack the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, and an additional two brigades of infantry and two of cavalry to reinforce Forrest's command that are sent on a feint to draw troops away from the Tennessee capital (Thomas does not take the bait). Rested, well equipped troops (the men come from various units of the Army of the Cumberland, the Army of the Ohio, the Army of the Tennessee, the District of Etowah, and the Post of Nashville), attacking from behind twelve miles of fortifications that cover each of eight roads leading into the city versus a demoralized southern command that is outnumbered by Thomas, poorly clothed (uniforms in tatters and not made for winter operations, many of the men will go into battle wearing no shoes), defending four miles of makeshift fortifications (among them are five small detached redoubts of two to four artillery pieces and about 150 soldiers each) that only covers four of the roads leading into or out of Nashville ... everything is in place for what becomes known as the Battle of Nashville on December 15, 1864.
Wilson
Logan
Forrest
Thomas' plan of battle is simple, on the Confederate right he will launch a diversionary attack by two brigades of colored troops pulled from the command of Union Major General John B. Steedman (the men have no combat experience and have previously only served as garrison troops and railroad guards) and a brigade of rear echelon white soldiers (described by their commander as being "new conscripts, convalescents, and bounty jumpers") ... 7.600 men accompanied by two batteries of artillery. On the Confederate left, the attack will consist of a large wheeling movement of roughly 12,000 men commanded by Wilson and 12,000 soldiers under Union Major General Andrew Jackson "Whiskey" Smith that will fall on a weak spot in the Confederate line. Officers given their orders the night before at Nashville's St. Cloud Hotel, Thomas puts on a brand new uniform, checks out of the hotel and rides to the front though the grey dawn light of an extremely foggy morning. The diversion on the Confederate right, into a white mist begins at about 6:00 in the morning and will be stopped when Steedman's troops run into close range enfilading cannon fire from a four gun lunette of Texans. By 11:00 in the morning the attack peters out, but for the entire day, as planned, Steedman's troops keep pressure on the southerners. Fog burnt off by 9:00 (the northern soldiers are amazed that hundreds of Nashville's citizens have taken up positions on the city's hills to watch the show), Wilson's command begins their attack on what proves to eventually be a warm and sunny day. Maneuvering to fall on the flank of the Confederates, at 2:30 Wilson's men fall on the five redoubts guarding Hood's army. One after the other fall to the northerners, with #1 being swamped by troops attacking it from the north, south, and west. But the suppression of the redoubts is not without costs ... leading his men as they capture Redoubt #3, 44-year-old Colonel Sylvester G. Hill, is killed by a shell fired his way from Redoubt #2, the highest ranking northern officer to be killed in the battle. Now able to hit the left end of the main Confederate line, Thomas' soldiers move down Granny White and Hillsboro Pikes and over Montgomery Hill, pressing Hood's men backwards, but before a victory completed, early night falls and the Confederates are able to put together a defensive line about two mile to the south as reinforcements from Lieutenant General Stephen Dill Lee are able to keep the retreat from becoming a rout (already exhausted from the previous day's battle, the southerners will spend most of the night digging into the tough, frozen Tennessee turf).
Battle Map
Steedman
Smith
Hill's Death
Union Troops At Nashville
The second day of battle finds the Confederates along a shorter (the line is now less than two miles long and covers only two of the eight Nashville turnpikes)), stronger and more compact line than the previous day that anchors on Shy's Hill (formerly known as Compton's Hill, after the battle, it is forever known as Shy's Hill, for 26-year-old Lieutenant Colonel William Mabry Shy, who dies defending the location when he is hit in the head by a Union bullet) on the Confederate left, and on Peach Orchard Hill on the southern right. A cold rain begins falling at noon. Repeating the same movements as on the first day, Thomas launches a diversionary attack on right, hoping to pull troops away from the center and left that the Union man hopes to roll up with the men of Wilson's, Schofield's, and Smith's commands. At Peach Orchard Hill, a stronger Union force than the day before begins its attacks at about 3:00 in the afternoon, but is forced back down the hill by the massed fire of men from Stephen Lee's command (achieving its purpose, Hood moves troops from his left to the threatened Confederate right, but its effectiveness comes at a terrible cost, attacking last and alone, the colored troops of Steedman's 2nd Colored Brigade gain the Confederate parapets, but suffer casualties to 221 officers and men in the process (along with one of the unit's battle flags), reducing the unit's effectiveness by 40%. Pushing forward on the left side of the Confederate line as Major General Benjamin Franklin Cheatham bends his troops backwards to prevent his flank from being turned, Schofield is daunted.by the prospect of charging up Shy's Hill, and doesn't attack despite receiving the extra men he requested from Smith's command. Worried that an early evening will once again prevent the Union soldiers from obtaining victory (there is only an hour of daylight left), Union Brigadier General John McArthur, a division leader in Smith's command, takes matters into his own hands and sends his troops up Shy's Hill. Confederates holding, as both sides and the citizens of Nashville watch, McArthur's men (three brigades worth) swarm up and over the hill ... and the Confederate line suddenly disintegrates, with the southern line being rolled up from west to east, with Wilson's cavalry now blocking movement down Granny White Pike. Just trying to survive, Hood's men flee to the south, moving along Franklin Pike and then trough a gap in the Overton Hills that takes them along Otter Creek, their movements protected as best they can by members of Lee's Corps and Colonel Edmund Winchester Rucker cavalry (Rucker will be wounded, captured, and sent to the Union prison at Johnson's Island in Ohio, where he has his left arm amputated ... exchanged for a Union officer in 1865, the brave horseman passes away in Birmingham, Alabama on April 13, 1924 at the age of 88). Lacking a pontoon bridge that has been sent in the direction of Murfreesboro (Thomas can't move his supplies and artillery over the Harpeth River), the pursuit of Hood moves along in fits and starts as Forrest's two divisions of cavalry (along with an infantry division commanded by Brigadier General Edward C. Walthall) finally arrives to fight rearguard actions at Richard Creek, Anthony's Hill, and Sugar Creek, and burn the bridge over the Duck River, while low water prevents Union gunboats from interdicting the Confederates crossing the Tennessee River. Safe on the other side of the wet, by the 30th of the month, Thomas' pursuit comes to an end.
Colored Troops Atop Peach Orchard Hill
Shy
Cheatham
Rucker
Thomas Triumphant
Only four more months left in the war, the bloody battle is the last major clash of the conflict, and the the Army of Tennessee is so badly mauled at first Franklin, and then at Nashville, that effectively it is eliminated from the Western Theater as a fighting force (the cost of the final big battle is 3,061 Union casualties against Confederate losses of over 6,000 men) ... campaigning through Tennessee since September of 1864, Hood's command by December is reduced from 38,000 men to a beaten rabble of about 15,000 soldiers (there are also about 2,000 desertions). Although Hood blames his subordinates for the defeat and takes no responsibility for the loss, at Tupelo, Mississippi on January 13, 1865, Hood offers to resign his command, and ten days later Confederate President Jefferson Davis complies with the general's request, replacing the bitter cripple with Lieutenant General Richard Taylor (after the war, Hood moves to Louisiana, becomes a cotton broker, president of insurance company, marries Anna Marie Hennen of New Orleans and becomes a father of 11 children over 10 years, writes a memoir of the war called "Advance and Retreat," and dies on August 30, 1879 in New Orleans from yellow fever at the age only 48 (the epidemic also takes Hood's wife and eldest daughter, while the other children are taken care of by members of the Texas Brigade Association before eventually being adopted by families in Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, and New York.
Hood
Thomas, the victor at Nashville, ends the war as a major hero of Union arms (along with Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan). After the conflict, he has commands in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. During the Reconstruction period, Thomas plays an integral role in protecting freedmen from the abuses of their white former owners and the depredations of the Klu Klux Klan (a racist organization started by the illustrious "Wizard of the Saddle," Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest) and sets up military commissions to enforce labor contracts. With the intent of eventually replacing Grant with Thomas as general-in-chief, President Andrew Johnson offers to promote "The Rock of Chickamauga" to the rank of Lieutenant General, but unwilling to get involved in politics, Thomas asks the Senate to withdraw his nomination, which that body does. In 1869, Thomas is assigned to command the Military Division of the Pacific, with his headquarters at the Presidio in San Francisco, California. There, while answering an article written by Schofield criticizing his generalship during the war, Thomas suffers a fatal stroke on March 28, 1870 and dies at the age of 53. Family refusing to attend his funeral, he is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery of Troy, New York. Known as "The Rock of Chickamauga," "Slow Trot Thomas," "Old Slow Trot," and "Pap," "The Sledge of Nashville" now rests in white marble sarcophagus with an eagle sitting atop, sculpted by artist Robert E. Launitz.
Thomas In The Field
Thomas
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