After failing to destroy John Schofield’s Federal army near Spring Hill the previous morning, Gen. John Bell Hood led his 30,000 Confederates to the outskirts of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864. Determined not to let Schofield reach the safety of Nashville, Hood unleashed a precipitous frontal assault against the entrenched Federal defenders. Despite nearly breaking through the center of the Union line, Hood’s forces were driven back with heavy losses. The bloody assault cost Hood more than 6,000 casualties, including six dead Confederate generals.