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TENNESSEE.
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A Severe Battle at Franklin, Tenn.
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HOOD DEFEATED BY THOMAS.
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The Rebels Desperately Assault Our Works.
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They are Repulsed with Fearful Carnage.
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Six Thousand Rebels Killed and Wounded.
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TWELVE HUNDRED PRISONERS CAPTURED
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Our Loss Less Than One Thousand.
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MAGNIFICENT BEHAVIOR OF OUR TROOPS
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Full and Graphic Account from Our Special Correspondent.
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OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.
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Washington, Thursday, Dec.1.
The following official dispatch concerning the report of the victory in Tennessee, has been received at headquarters:
FRANKLIN, Tenn., Wednesday, Nov.30.
Major-Gen. Thomas:
The enemy made a heavy and persistent attack with two corps, commencing at 4 P.M., and lasting till after dark. He was repulsed at all points with heavy loss — probably of five or six thousand men. Our loss is probably not more than one-fourth of that number. We have captured about one thousand prisoners, including one Brigadier-General.
(Signed,) JOHN SCHOFIELD
Major-General.
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OUR SPECIAL ACCOUNT.
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Special Dispatch to the New-York Times.
FOUR MILES SOUTH OF NASHVILLE.
Thursday, Dec.1.
Gen. SCHOFIELD yesterday fought one of the prettiest fights of the war, resulting most disastrously to the rebels, with little loss to ourselves. After three days’ skirmishing, the rebels crowded our first line of works yesterday afternoon, and at 4 P.M. made a most desperate attack on our right and centre, forcing our lines to our breastworks, which were thrown up from river to river in an open field on the Cumberland Pike, which ran through the centre of the field.
At least half the rebel force engaged endeavored to pierce our centre, and come down viciously on WAGNER’S Division, which, after desperate fighting, fell back, and MANY’S rebel division, of FRANK CHEATAM’S corps, got inside our works and captured two guns. Our centre was not broken, however, and, better still, Gen. WAGNER successfully rallied our troops, who charged on the enemy, recaptured the two guns, and drove the division over the breastworks, capturing one entire brigade and its commander.
At 4:30 o’clock the battle was waged with unabating vigor, the enemy having made during a half hour several attempts to break our centre.
The Federal position was a magnificent one, and the result of these four days’ work were magnificently grand.
All this while the rebels had appeared in front of our right. The plan was to pierce our centre and crush our right wing before dark. A portion of our infantry were engaged three-quarters of an hour firing on the rebel columns who stood their ground like madmen. During the every charge made on our right and centre, volleys of grape and canister were hurled into their lines, and only darkness prevented their sacrifice being more awful. It is said that no canister shot was used by the rebels during the day, but fired shot and shell.
After the first break of WAGNER’S division and its recovery, our line never budged a step. All was quiet after 10 P.M. It was not only one of the prettiest but cleanest battles of the war. The excessive slaughter of the enemy was owing to our wholesale use of canister and grape, and our selection of ground. The battle was fought in an open field, with no trees or undergrowth, or other interruption. The enemy’s loss in killed and wounded approximates 7,000, and we have over 1,200 prisoners, and one general officer and several field officers. The Colonel of the Fifteenth Mississippi, a Northern man, of Illinois, was wounded and taken prisoner. Four-fifths of his regiment were killed, wounded or captured. Our loss does not reach a thousand, hors du cambat. Gen. Bradley, of Illinois, while gallantly leading his troops, was severely wounded in the shoulder. Our loss in field officers is very small. Our troops behaved handsomely. SCHOFIELD commanded on the field, STANLEY on the right, and Cox on the left. Gen. Stanley was wounded slightly in the neck, but remained on the field and is all right to-day.
I have told you all along the programme of Gen. Thomas would electrify you, and this is but the epilogue of the battle to come off.
After our dead, wounded and prisoners were cared for, our army fell back to this point, and are in line of battle while I write. Up to this time, 3 P.M., the enemy has not made his appearance. The Third Corps of Veterans are in readiness, and a battle is expected before daylight to-morrow. All Government work is suspended, and all are under arms, from Gen. DONALDSON down to the unscientific laborers.
The falling back of our troops was accomplished at 8 o’clock this morning, and bridges burned across Harpeth River to retard the transportation of rebel supplies. The cavalry was handled prettily by Gen. WILSON, between Spring Hill and Triune.
A.J. SMITH’s corps is in line of battle, and the situation is particularly grand. Forts Negley, Morton, Cairo and Houston are alive, and the infantry movement perfectly satisfactory. Something must immediately transpire, as Gen. THOMAS is ready to strike no matter how the rebels move.
BENJ. C. TRUMAN
(Telegram.)
FRANKLIN, November 30, 1864–12 M.
MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS, Nashville:
Your despatch of 10.25 A.M. is received. I am satisfied that I have heretofore run too much risk in trying to hold Hood in check, while so far inferior to him in both infantry and cavalry. The slightest mistake on my part, or failure of a subordinate, during the last three days, might have proved disastrous. I don’t want to get into so tight a place again. Yet I will cheerfully act in accordance with your views of expediency, if you think it important to hold Hood back as long as possible. When you get all your troops together, and the cavalry in effective condition, we can whip Hood easily, and, I believe, make the campaign a decisive one. Before that, the most we can do is to husband our strength and increase it as much as possible. I fear the troops which were stationed on the river below Columbia will be lost. I will get my trains out of the way as soon as possible, and watch Hood carefully. Possibly I may be able to hold him here, but do not expect to be able to do so long.
(Signed)
J.M. SCHOFIELD,
Major-General.
The 4th and 23rd Corps (U.S.), respectively served at Franklin.
Here’s some background the 4th Corps during the Civil War:
Missionary Ridge; Orchard Knob; Dandridge; Dalton; Rocky Face Ridge; Resaca; Cassville; Adairsville; New Hope Church; Pickett’s Mills; Kenesaw Mountain; Smyrna Camp Ground; Vining’s Station; Peach Tree Creek; Siege Of Atlanta; Jonesboro; Lovejoy’s Station; Spring Hill; Franklin; Nashville; Occupation Of Texas.
This corps was composed of fighting regiments. Of the regiments in the Western armies, take the ones that sustained the greatest losses in battle, and it will be found that more of them were in the Fourth Corps than in any other. Although all of their fighting was not done while in the Fourth Corps, it was done either in it or in the two corps which were consolidated in order to form the Fourth.
On October 9, 1863, the Fourth Corps was organized by the consolidation of the Twentieth (McCook’s) and Twenty-first (Crittenden’s) Corps, in compliance with the President’s order of September 28th. Though newly-formed, it was composed of veteran brigades whose battle flags were scarred with the marks of hard fought fields; within this new command they were destined to wave amid the smoke and fire of many more. The command of the Fourth Corps was given to General Gordon Granger, the man who marched his division to Chickamauga with no other orders or direction than “the sound of the enemy’s cannon.” The three divisions of this new corps were placed under the commands of Generals Palmer, Sheridan, and Wood. Soon after its organization the corps went into action at Missionary Ridge, where it distinguished itself by its brilliant and successful charge up the heights. In this battle the two divisions of Sheridan and Wood lost 280 killed, 2,078 wounded, and 12 missing; total, 2,370, or more than half the casualties at Missionary Ridge. The first division, under command of General Cruft, was also engaged.
During the following winter the corps marched to the relief of Knoxville, a campaign memorable for the suffering, hunger, and hardships endured by the men. In May, 1864, it moved on the Atlanta campaign, General Howard commanding the corps, and Generals Stanley, Newton, and Wood the divisions. Its hardest fighting during that campaign occurred at Pickett’s Mills, and in the unsuccessful assault on Kenesaw Mountain.
After the evacuation of Atlanta, the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps, under General Thomas, marched northward to confront Hood’s forces, while Sherman, with the main army, wended his way, unmolested, to the sea. General Stanley was then in command of the Fourth Corps, General Howard haying been promoted to the command of the Army of the Tennessee, upon the death of Mac Pherson; Kimball, Wagner, and Wood were in command of the divisions. On November 20, 1864, a few days before the battle of Spring Hill, the corps numbered 14,715 present for duty; about 2,200 more joined before the battle of Franklin. In that battle the Confederates received the bloodiest repulse of the war, their men fighting with unusual desperation, while twelve of their generals were killed or wounded in their unsuccessful attack on the Union intrenchments. At Franklin, Opdycke’s Brigade of the Fourth Corps won special distinction by its promptness and gallantry in retaking a part of the works which the enemy had seized. General Stanley was severely wounded in this action, and General Thomas J. Wood succeeded to his place.
General Wood had served with honor in the armies of the Ohio, and the Cumberland, from the commencement of the war. He commanded the Fourth Corps in its last battle –its last victory, at Nashville. His division generals in that engagement were Kimball, Elliott, and Beatty; the casualties in the corps were 135 killed, 834 wounded and 22 missing; total, 991. The corps joined in the pursuit of Hood’s defeated army, after which General Wood assembled it at Huntsville, Ala., arriving there January 5, 1865. On March 15th it moved into East Tennessee, in order to prevent the possible escape of Lee’s and Johnston’s armies, returning in April to Nashville, where it remained until June 16th, when it was ordered to New Orleans, en route for Texas. Although the war had virtually ended, the Fourth Corps remained in Texas during the rest of 1865, forming a part of Sheridan’s Army of Occupation. The most of the regiments were, however, mustered out in December, 1865, in time for the men to spend Christmas in their homes.
Author Benson Bobrick has recently completed a biography on Union General George H. Thomas titled Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas.
It has been many years since an authoritative and reliable biography on George H. Thomas has been published. Bobrick’s work will fill that gap. The author considers Thomas to be one of the best Union generals.
Here is a link to a recent interview with Bobrick about his new book. Look for a book review coming soon.
General George H. Thomas
The Federal Army suffered roughly 200 killed in the Battle of Franklin (30 November 1864). Most of these men were taken to Murfreesboro and interred in the Stone’s River National Cemetery.
Stone's River National Cemetery
4pp. letter from John D. Messinger of the 104th Ohio Infantry, Company D. Written in ink and datelined
Pulaski, Tenn.
November 20th 1864
Letter reads in part:
We are just getting the particulars of the Election, and as an old ‘darky’ in ‘Alabam’ said one day as we were passing a plantation where about ‘five thousand’ were congregated along the road side. One of the boys ask him what he thought of the music (our comet band was playing) – his answer was ‘dunno suh, but pears like tis getting mity glorious Shuah’ – it pears like the election news from Sherman, begin to make things look ‘mity glorious’ for the Union cause. As the particulars are brought out – the frauds on the part of the copperheads – their total everlasting defeat, it surely is encouraging to all. I believe the end is nigh. ‘Hood’ with his rebel hart is supposed to be on the southern shore of the Tenn. River, about making an attempt to get into East Tenn. I hardly think he will win for we have the army of the Cumberland and Ohio here to whip him with in case he wishes to fight or make a forward movement. I am longing to have this war play out that we may return home to the social haunts in our native town. I rather fear that all the young ladies will have taken the ‘oath of allegiance’ ere our time expires and we will be obliged to ‘migrate’.
Messinger mustered into Company D on 30 August 1862 and was later promoted to First Sergeant. He was reduced to Private at his own request on 7 April 1865 and mustered out on 17 June 1865 at Greensboro, North Carolina. The 104th Ohio saw action at Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kennesaw, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin and Wilmington.
Source: Nate Sanders online auction
Pulaski, Tenn. / November 20th 1864
reads in part,
An old ‘darky’ in ‘Alabam’ said (one day as we were passing a plantation where about ‘five thousand’ were congregated along the road side – one of the boys asked him what he thought of the music (our band was playing) – his answer was ‘dunno, sah, but pears like tis getting mity glorious Shuah’ – it pears like the election news from Sherman,’ begin to make things look ‘mity glorious’ for the Union cause. As the particulars are brought out – the frauds on the part of the copperheads - their total everlasting defeat, it surely is encouraging to all at least sanguine can take hope the end is nigh.
Since the 4th of last month [Oct 4th] we have marched on foot about 300 miles – rode on the cars from Dalton, Ga. to down 40 miles south of Nashville from where we marched to this place making a distance of 15 miles from Nashville south. Hood with his rebel troops is supposed to be on the southern shore of the Tenn. River making an attempt to get into East Tenn. I hardly think he will win for we have the army of the Cumberland and Ohio here to whip him in case he wishes to fight or make a forward movement”
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Found on Nate Sanders auction site 12/24/06 Lot #2201 Item#20975
Notes:
- Soldier’s identity not yet determined
- Says that since the 4th of “last month” (probably October) his regiment has marched 300 miles.
- Timing of letter (i.e., October 4th 1864) starts the Nashville-Atlanta Campaign: Allatoona (Oct5), Decatur (Oct 26-29), and Johnsonville (Nov 4-5).
- Mentions defeat of the Copperheads in 1864 general election, refers to Sherman.
- Talks about how John Bell Hood’s interest if for East Tennesse.
- Says the Army of the Ohio and Cumberland are ready to whip Hood if he goes after Tennessee.
- This letter is written just ten days before the Battle of Franklin
Franklin: The Valley of Death
“(Franklin) is the blackest page in the history of the War of the Lost Cause. It was the bloodiest battle of modern times in any war. It was the finishing stroke to the Independence of the Southern Confederacy. I was there. I saw it.”
–Sam Watkins, 1st Tennessee Infantry
Called “The Gettysburg of the West,” Franklin was one of the few night battles in the Civil War. It was also one of the smallest battlefields of the war (only 2 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide). The main battle began around 4:00 pm and wound down around 9:00 pm.
The Federal (Union) Army consisted of 22,000 infantry / approximately 5,000 cavalry
The Federal Army had arrived in Franklin around 1:00 that morning. Brigadier General Jacob Dolson Cox led the operation and woke up the Carter family, commandeering their home as his headquarters. At that time, the Carter Farm consisted of 288 acres on the south edge of town bordering the Columbia Pike. Their cotton gin (pictured, left) was located 100 yards from the house where eventually the main line of Federal breastworks were constructed. The Federal line commander was Cox who supervised his army in a defensive position surrounding the southern edge of town. He used the existing breastworks built in 1863 and constructed others on the west side of Columbia Pike. About 60 feet from the Carter House, near their farm office and smokehouse, were the inner breastworks.
The Confederate Army of Tennessee consisted of 20,085 infantry / 5,000 cavalry
S.D. Lee’s Corps arrived late with only 1 division participating in the battle.) By 2:00 pm Hood had made plans for a frontal assault. By 2:30 pm a conference was held at the Harrison House. Strong objections were voiced from Hood’s commanders. General Cheatham said, “I don’t like the looks of this fight, as the enemy has a good position and is well fortified.” Generals Cleburne (pictured, right) and Forrest (cavalry) knew they would be flirting with disaster. But Hood would not be dissuaded. As Cleburne mounted his horse to leave, Hood gave strict orders for the assault. Cleburne responded, “We will take the works or fall in the attempt.” The Army of Tennessee knew this assault on the town of Franklin would be suicidal. They bravely advanced toward the Carter House with their heads held high.
The fighting soon became brutal and fiendishly savage, with men bayoneted and clubbed to death in the Carter yard. A Confederate soldier was bayoneted on the front steps of the Carter House. Men were clubbing, clawing, punching, stabbing and choking each other. The smoke from the canons and guns was so thick that you could not tell friend from foe.
During the five hours of fighting, the Carter Family took refuge in their basement. 23 men, women and children (many under the age of 12) were safely protected while the horrible cries of war rang out above them. The head of the family, Fountain Branch Carter, a 67-year old widower, had seen 3 of his sons fight for the Confederacy. One son, Theodrick (Tod), was serving as an aid for General T.B. Smith on the battlefield and saw his home for the first time in 3 years. Crying out, “Follow me boys, I’m almost home,” Captain Tod Carter was mortally wounded and died 2 days later at the Carter House.
After the battle, like so many homes in Franklin, the parlor of the Carter House was converted into a Confederate field hospital and witnessed many surgeries and amputations.
The Aftermath
Federal Casualties – 2,500 men
The 23rd Corps lost 958, and the 4th Corps lost 1,368. 189 men were killed, 1,033 were wounded, 1,104 captured and 287 cavalry casualties. Only 1 Federal General was wounded (Major General David Stanley, Corps Commander).
Confederate Casualties – 7,000 men
More than 1,750 men were killed outright or died of mortal wounds, 3,800 seriously wounded and 702 captured (not including cavalry casualties). 15 out of 28 Confederate Generals were casualties. 65 field grade officers were lost. Some infantry regiments lost 64 % of their strength at Franklin. There were more men killed in the Confederate Army of Tennessee in the 5- hour battle than in the 2-day Battle of Shiloh and the 3-day Battle of Stones River.
Content source: The Carter House Museum
In the spring of 1866, the McGavock Family of Franklin donated 2 acres near their home, Carnton, to establish a Confederate Cemetery where 1,481 soldiers are laid to rest.
Around midnight, the Federal Army retreated to Nashville to join the forces of General George Thomas.
Aftermath of the battle (Wikipedia, 12/3/06)
The devastated Confederate force was left in control of Franklin, but its enemy had escaped again. Typically, a Civil War battle is deemed a victory for the army that forces its opponent to withdraw, but Hood’s “victory” came at a frightful cost. More men of the Confederate Army of Tennessee were killed in five hours at Franklin than in two days at the Battle of Shiloh. The Confederates suffered 6,252 casualties, including 1,750 killed and 3,800 wounded. Their military leadership in the West was decimated, including the loss of such skilled generals as Patrick Cleburne. Fifteen Confederate generals were casualties (6 killed, 8 wounded, and 1 captured), and 65 field grade officers were lost. Union casualties were 189 killed, 1,033 wounded, 1,104 missing.
The Army of Tennessee was all but destroyed at Franklin. Nevertheless, Hood immediately advanced against the entire Union Army of the Cumberland, firmly entrenched at Nashville with the Army of the Ohio, leading his battered forces to further, and final, disaster in the Battle of Nashville.
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Battle Cry of Freedom, historian James M. McPherson wrote,
“Having proved even to Hood’s satisfaction that they could assault breastworks, the Army of Tennessee had shattered itself beyond the possibility of ever doing so again.”
Background to the Battle of Franklin (Wikipedia, 12/3/06)
Franklin followed the Battle of Spring Hill of the previous day. The Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, had failed to destroy part of the Union force in Tennessee, allowing the Union Army of the Ohio, commanded by Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, to escape. Hood had hoped to destroy Schofield before he could link up with the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj. Gen. George Henry Thomas, farther north in Nashville, Tennessee. That combined Union force would be over 60,000 men, almost twice as large as Hood’s army. As the armies met at Franklin, however, Hood had approximately 38,000 men to Schofield’s 32,000.
Rippavilla Plantation in Spring Hill
Schofield’s advance guard arrived in Franklin at about 6:00 a.m., after a forced march north from Spring Hill. Brig. Gen. Jacob Dolson Cox, a division commander temporarily commanding the Union XXIII Corps (and later governor of Ohio), immediately began preparing strong defensive positions around breastworks originally constructed for the First Battle of Franklin in 1863. The defensive line formed approximately a semicircle around the city, from northwest to southeast; the other half of the semicircle was the Harpeth River.
Schofield’s decision to defend at Franklin with his back to a river seems odd. The reason was that he had insufficient pontoon bridges available to cross the river; the bridges had been left behind in his advance to Spring Hill due to lack of wagons to transport them. Now he needed time to repair the permanent bridges spanning the river and calculated that the breastworks were well positioned and adequate to delay Hood’s inevitable assault.
By noon the Union line was ready. Counter-clockwise from the northwest were the divisions of Maj. Gens. Nathan Kimball (from the IV Corps), Thomas H. Ruger (XXIII), and Cox (XXIII). Two brigades of the IV Corps division under Brig. Gen. George D. Wagner were forward, screening the Confederate approach. Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood’s division of the IV Corps was posted north of the Harpeth. Schofield planned to withdraw across the river by 6:00 p.m. if Hood had not arrived by then.
The Federal (Union) Army consisted of 22,000 infantry / approx 5,000 cavalry
- 23rd Corps (Army of Ohio) commanded by Jacob Cox
- 4th Corps (Army of the Cumberland) commanded by David Stanley
The Federal Army had arrived in Franklin around 1:00 that morning. Major General John M. Schofield led the operation and woke up the Carter Family, commandeering their home as his headquarters. At that time, the Carter Farm consisted of 288 acres on the south edge of town bordering the Columbia Pike.
Their cotton gin was located 100 yards from the house where eventually the main line of Federal breastworks were constructed. The Federal line commander was Cox who supervised his army in a defensive position surrounding the southern edge of town. He used the existing breastworks built in 1863 and constructed others on the west side of Columbia Pike. About 60 feet from the Carter House, near their farm office and smokehouse, were the inner breastworks.
Content source: The Carter House Museum
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