This week we go into the history of the Civil War, and one of the most important overlooked elements of the war, the end of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
When you look at the Civil War, Gettysburg was where Lee realized he couldn't win the war on bravado and determination, the fall of Georgia and Vicksburg broke the spirit of the South, but I think it was when the Confederate Army of Tennessee was defeated that Lee knew the gig was up. There were not going to be any reinforcements so when his army lost a man, that was it. There was no replacement.
What I didn't know until this week was how badly Confederate General John Bell Hood mismanaged the Army in the final few battles. They pretty much did themselves in. They tried to draw Sherman and his army out of Georgia, but instead, Sherman and Grant sent a few different military corps/brigades to deal with the Confederates. The plan was the Union forces would meet up at Nashville and repel the expected Confederate strike.
Nashville fell fairly early in the Civil War, with the Union having control of the town in 1862. The feeling Hood had was if they could retake the city, it would galvanize Southern pride and help get more people to fill in the quickly depleting ranks of the Confederate forces. It didn't go as planned.
Three consecutive battles pretty much wiped out the Army of Tennessee, Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville.
Spring Hill was more of a monumental blunder by the Confederates. They had the Union forces trying to get to Nashville cornered, but they failed to notice the northern troops had slipped away in the middle of the night. Hood was furious at the miscommunication which in turn left the road to Franklin open.
The Battle of Franklin really was the end for the Army. The north had high ground, and although the Union forces had a weakness in how they were stationed on the south side of Franklin, it ended up being a massive trap for the Confederates. They chased the first line of Union forces back to their secondary line and when the Union forces were across, the North opened fire with everything they had at point-blank range. On top of that, the Confederates were unaware of a third Union line hidden behind a hill, giving the North a massive advantage. Not only did the Union kill Confederates at a 3-1 ratio (troops they could not replace), but they also took out a shocking amount of Confederate generals, a large portion of their command structure. My guess would be, in an effort to make up for the mistake at Spring Hill, the officers rode to the front line to meet their demise.
Nashville was almost a predetermined outcome, and if not for the reluctance of the commanding officer General George Thomas, Union forces would have routed the Army of Tennessee earlier. A lot of Minnesota troops fought in Tennessee and there is a painting of the soldiers at Nashville in the Governor's office at the Minnesota Capitol.
Here are three different videos which will take you through the timeline. Enjoy a forgotten piece of Civil War history.
