| Spring
Hill, Tennessee
Following the fall of Atlanta in September 1864,
the chances of Confederate victory in the West seemed
remote. In a desperate attempt to reverse the tide,
Lieutenant General John B. Hood, commander of the
Confederate Army of Tennessee, decided to take the
war into Middle Tennessee.
Major General William T. Sherman, Federal commander
in the West, refused to follow, but did send Major
General George H. Thomas and reinforcements to deal
with Hood's threat.
As the Confederate army of 38,000 moved north into
Tennessee, Hood saw the opportunity to outflank Major
General John M. Schofield's 30,000 man force. While
Lieutenant-General Stephen D. Lee's Confederates held
Schofield in place at Columbia, Hood drove the rest
of his army north to Spring Hill to cut off the Federal
retreat.
On the afternoon of November 29, 1864, Schofield
was hurrying his army north along the Columbia-Nashville
Turnpike as Confederate forces appeared from the East.
Lieutenant General Nathan B. Forrest's cavalry arrived
on the scene first, attacked the Federals just southeast
of Spring Hill and were easily repulsed. By 3:30 p.m.,
the first of Hood's infantry, Major General Patrick
Cleburne's division, appeared and attacked the Federal
infantry under Brigadier General Luther Bradley who
were positioned south of Spring Hill.
Bradley's men could not withstand Cleburne's assault
and eventually withdrew north. Cleburne advanced further,
only to be stopped by massed Union artillery posted
along the Columbia-Nashville Pike. Cleburne withdrew,
having suffered nearly 500 casualties. The Federals
lost some 150 men.
Whether because of confusion, exhaustion or ineptitude
-- or probably a combination of the three -- Confederate
plans now fell apart. By the time another Confederate
advance was made it was dark, and the feeble assault
died almost before it began. In the meantime, Schofield's
army slipped away north. Lieutenant Chesley Mosman,
59th Illinois, wrote later that, "the Rebels were
in line of battle south of town, a quarter of a mile
from the Pike along which we marched, and their long
lines of campfires burnt brightly. Staff officers
were stationed along the Pike to caution the men not
to talk or let their canteens rattle so as to make
a noise; that those were the fires of the enemy. So
we passed time sub silentio...We realized our
situation and moved rapidly and marched to Franklin."
The next day, November 30, Schofield's army was
digging in at Franklin. When Hood awoke to discover
the Federals gone, he was furious, and ordered an
immediate pursuit. Arriving before Franklin later
that day, Hood sent his men forward in an ill-conceived
and poorly planned assault against the Federal works.
By ten o'clock over 7,000 Confederates, including
5 Generals (among them Cleburne), lay dead or mortally
wounded and the once proud Army of Tennessee had basically
been destroyed.
The Civil War Preservation Trust
has given $1,080,000 for the purchase of 110 acres
at the site of this significant battle.
|
