ChaptGPT generated period Union ‘newspaper article’ using actual Union soldier’s letters and diary entries – Hood’s Retreat from Nashville

[Contemporary summary of Hood’s Retreat]

Retreating from the decisive Battle of Nashville, Confederate General John Bell Hood’s army faced a treacherous journey back to Alabama. The events that unfolded during Hood’s retreat shed light on the challenges and hardships endured by the Confederate forces. On the night of December 16, 1864, Lieutenant General Stephen D. Lee’s Confederate rear guard established their camp about seven miles north of Franklin, Tennessee. Exhausted and lacking supplies, the Confederate soldiers had hastily abandoned much of their equipment and muskets in their desperate rush to retreat from Nashville.

As dawn broke on the rainy morning of December 17, the Confederates resumed their march towards Franklin. Along the way, they encountered Union troops on two occasions. The first engagement occurred at Hollow Tree Gap, approximately five miles north of Franklin, resulting in a brief exchange of gunfire with Union Major General James Wilson’s advanced cavalry. A more significant skirmish took place around 9:00 a.m. when two mounted Union regiments launched a frontal charge against the Confederate line. Although the Confederates successfully repelled the attack, inflicting twenty-two Federal casualties and capturing an additional sixty-three soldiers, they realized the growing threat posed by the advancing Union forces.

Around 10:00 a.m., Lee’s rear guard made the decision to withdraw, aiming to cross the Harpeth River and reach Franklin. The Confederate soldiers encountered two bridges spanning the river—a temporary pontoon bridge and a railroad trestle bridge near Fort Granger. By 10:30 a.m., the last of the Confederate wagons had safely crossed the bridges, and the troops began disassembling the pontoon bridge. However, their progress was abruptly halted when Wilson’s cavalry launched an attack.

Brigadier General Randall Gibson’s Brigade, consisting of 500 Louisiana infantrymen, held their position near the river and the railroad overpass at Liberty Pike. Assisted by a portion of Brigadier General Abraham Buford’s cavalry and two field guns, they faced a formidable challenge. Despite their valiant efforts, the outnumbered Confederate soldiers were overwhelmed by the nearly 3,000 Federal cavalrymen. Buford’s cavalry was driven into disarray and forced into the rising waters of the Harpeth River, resulting in chaotic scenes of panic and confusion as the soldiers fled across the pontoon bridge.

During this tumultuous retreat, a Confederate battery positioned along Front Street in Franklin unleashed cannon fire upon Wilson’s cavalry, momentarily forcing them to retreat. Nonetheless, the respite was short-lived, as the Confederate soldiers faced the daunting task of dismantling the pontoon bridge while under enemy fire. Determined to prevent the Union troops from crossing, Hood’s army continued its withdrawal, eventually reaching safety in the town of Thompson’s Station.

Hood’s retreat from Nashville was marked by exhaustion, perilous river crossings, and fierce skirmishes with pursuing Union forces. The Confederate soldiers, already demoralized by their defeat at Nashville, now found themselves battling fatigue, adverse weather conditions, and overwhelming enemy numbers. Despite their resilience, the retreat marked a turning point in the Civil War, as the Union forces closed in on Hood’s army, bringing the Confederacy one step closer to its ultimate defeat.

Headline:

Confederate General Hood’s Retreat: Eyewitness Accounts Illuminate Harrowing Journey Following Battles of Franklin and Nashville

Subtitle: Union Soldiers Provide Firsthand Insights into the Trials and Tribulations of the Confederate Army’s Retreat

Nashville, December 28, 1864 – In the wake of the Battle of Nashville and the preceding Battle of Franklin, the Confederate army, led by General John Bell Hood, embarked on a grueling retreat back to Alabama. Eye-witness accounts from Union soldiers shed light on the intense battles and the hardships endured by the retreating Confederate forces, providing a firsthand perspective on this crucial phase of the Civil War.

Chaplain William C. Holliday of the 90th Ohio Infantry, Company S, documented the events unfolding on the battlefield through a series of letters and diary entries. Writing to his mother on December 18, 1864, Chaplain Holliday shared his observations: “Our troops had moved rapidly after the panic-stricken and fleeing rebels… They slept on the mud and under the rain… Rebels are still going. It is the greatest victory of the war.” Holliday’s account paints a vivid picture of the exhaustion and challenging conditions faced by both Union and Confederate soldiers during the retreat.

In another letter to his wife, written on the same day, Chaplain Holliday describes the aftermath of the Battle of Franklin: “The rebels suffered terribly. They assaulted our works and were killed by the hundred… I counted over three hundred and fifty graves. There were as many on the other side.” These harrowing details offer a glimpse into the ferocity of the fighting and the heavy losses suffered by the Confederate forces.

Moving forward to December 19, Chaplain Holliday’s letter from Spring Hill captures the ongoing pursuit of the retreating Confederates: “All day we have passed the wrecks of Hood’s fleeing army, signs of hot pursuit… Rain increases and our bed is wet as has been for some time.” The relentless pursuit by the Union soldiers and the challenging weather conditions paint a vivid picture of the difficult circumstances faced by the retreating Confederate army.

In addition to Chaplain Holliday’s accounts, the diary of Addison Lee Ewing, a soldier from the 63rd Indiana Infantry, provides further insights into the challenges encountered during the retreat. On December 20, Ewing notes the presence of wrecked Confederate equipment along the route of their march: “All day we have passed the wrecks of Hood’s fleeing army, signs of hot pursuit.” Ewing’s observation underscores the relentless pursuit of the retreating Confederates by the Union forces.

The retreat of the Confederate army was marked by hardship, exhaustion, and skirmishes with pursuing Union troops. Stripped of supplies and equipment, the Confederate soldiers faced increasingly difficult conditions as they made their way south. However, the Union forces, driven by their recent victories, pursued the retreating enemy with determination and resolve.

The Confederate soldiers’ retreat was a test of their endurance and resilience. With each passing day, the Union soldiers closed in on their retreating foes, pressing them relentlessly. The Confederate soldiers, once filled with hope and determination, now found themselves on the defensive, battling fatigue and the elements.

As the war continued to unfold, the Union forces remained steadfast in their commitment to restoring peace and unity to the nation. The Battle of Franklin and the Battle of Nashville had dealt significant blows to the Confederate cause, and the pursuit of General Hood’s army marked a critical phase in the Union’s efforts to bring an end to the rebellion.

The sacrifices and struggles endured by both sides in these battles served as a testament to the courage and resilience of the soldiers on the front lines. As we reflect on the events that have transpired, we honor the bravery and sacrifice of all those who have fought to preserve the Union and ensure a better future for generations to come. The retreat of General Hood’s army is a poignant reminder of the realities of war and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

As the Civil War rages on, the nation eagerly awaits further developments, hoping for an end to the bloodshed and a return to peace. The battles of Franklin and Nashville have shifted the tide in favor of the Union, but the ultimate outcome of the war still hangs in the balance. The Union soldiers’ unwavering resolve and the Confederate soldiers’ dogged determination ensure that the path to victory will be arduous, but the dream of a reunited and stronger nation remains within reach.

December 2, 1864 New York Times stories about Franklin

Hood’s Advance at Spring Hill, Tenn., Thirty-two Miles South of Nashville.

Franklin, the scene of the great victory over HOOD on Thursday, is the capital of Williamson County, Tenn., and is situated on the south bank of Big Harpeth River, about 18 miles from Nashville, on the line of the Nashville and Decatur Railroad. Before the war it was a beautiful village, with a population of about 2,000 people. Franklin has changed hands several times during the war. After VAN DORN’s success in capturing a Union brigade at Spring Hill, near Franklin, in March, 1863, that rebel Commander moved upon the latter place, which he attacked on the 10th of April. Major-Gen. GORDON GRANGER was in command of the village. His forces comprised two infantry divisions of 1,600 men, 2,000 cavalry under SMITH and STANLEY, and eighteen guns. The only artificial defence was an uncompleted fort, which mounted two siege guns and two three-inch rifled guns. VAN DORN’s force was estimated at nine thousand infantry and two regiments of cavalry. The rebels were handsomely repulsed, losing three hundred, while GRANGER’s total loss was only thirty-seven. The town proper is built upon an open, level spot; but circling round to the west and south of it are the Harpeth Hills. Big Harpeth River has its source in Bedford County, and flows northwest through Williamson, past the town of Franklin, enters Davidson County, and falls into the Cumberland River thirty-five miles below this city, after a general comparative course of sixty miles.

NASHVILLE, Wednesday, Nov. 30 — Midnight RECEIVED Dec. 1 — 9 A. M. Heavy skirmishing for the past few days, and still going on between our troops and FORREST. There was a sharp fight yesterday at Spring Hill, twelve miles south of Franklin. Our cavalry was driven back on our infantry lines which checked the enemy. A squad of rebel prisoners were in charge of these troops, when the rebel cavalry made a dash on them, releasing their men and capturing ours. A train was attacked near Harpeth River. The engineer detached the locomotive, and both are supposed to be captured. The rest of the train was saved. A squad of rebel cavalry dashed across the Chattanooga line yesterday, near Cheshire, tearing up the track. The train was detained all night, but came in next morning. Our troops have fallen back around Franklin. The main part of HOOD’s army is across Duck River. Every indication of a heavy battle in a few days, but we are confident of the result.

Most Desperate Attack

NASHVILLE, Thursday, Dec. 1. Parties who have arrived from the front, and who witnessed the battle of yesterday, describe the attack of the rebel forces as desperate. Four charges were made upon the Federal masked batteries in columns four lines deep. Each time the rebels were repulsed with fearful loss. The fort is on the north bank of the river, opposite the town, extending up the river, and encircling the town was the line of masked batteries. Eye-witnesses say that this engagement, in desperation and furious fighting, was hardly equaled by the battle of Stone River. FORREST in person was on the field rallying his men. A rumor is in circulation that he was killed, but it lacks confirmation. About 7 o’clock last night heavy reinforcements reached SCHOFIELD, which caused a complete rout of the rebel forces. The city to-day is full of fleeing residents of Williamson and other counties south. They state HOOD it gathering up all the horses, hogs and mules that he can find, and sending them south. There is great panic among the negroes in the counties south of Nashville. Numbers are fleeing to the city for protection.

Tennessee — A Severe Battle

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. 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.

The Fierce Battle in Tennessee

The one-legged rebel HOOD has again put in practice the system of quick, furious, persistent and desperate assault by which he and Stonewall JACKSON have been distinguished on the rebel side; and he has met with the same bloody luck which befell him when he tried the same thing at Atlanta. The battle between HOOD and THOMAS, on Wednesday afternoon, at Franklin, Tenn., eighteen miles south of Nashville, regarding which we have both official and unofficial dispatches, was indecisive. Only two of the four corps of the enemy are reported as being engaged, and so far as their repulse is concerned, it is eminently satisfactory. There is no difficulty, after reading the vivid dispatches of our special correspondent, in crediting the statements as to the enormous and disproportionate losses of the rebels in this battle. The gallant and conservative SCHOFIELD, who commanded on the occasion, states the rebel loss at five or six thousand, and our correspondent puts it at a still higher figure, while our own casualties were under a thousand. This disparity is accounted for by the circumstance that our men fought behind breastworks established in an open field, and by our wholesale use of grape and canister upon the enemy. It is reported that the rebels made four successive charges in columns four lines deep; but their furious assaults resulted in failure to carry the position. They were permitted to dash themselves against our works, and HOOD threw them forward with a recklessness of life equal to anything he has ever displayed during the four months he has had command of the rebel army in the Southwest. In the course of the evening after the battle, Gen. THOMAS retired his army to the vicinity of Nashville. This we judge to be a strategic movement, very like what might have been expected from the imperturbable and far-seeing Gen. THOMAS, who looks to the final result and general summing up of a campaign more than to partial and brilliant victories. He knows HOOD of old, and understands his style thoroughly. He will effect two, and perhaps, three or four objects by planting himself behind the works of Nashville. He will combine his forces in a compact body, with the corps of Gen. A.J. SMITH, which has just arrived at Nashville. He will get into a position of far greater natural and artificial strength than Franklin — Nashville being one of the most elaborately fortified cities on the continent; and he may be able to draw HOOD up there and induce him to dash his army to pieces against our works. Thus we view the situation in Tennessee, after reviewing carefully all the facts that have thus far come to hand.

Richmond Dispatch reports on Hood’s movements in Alabama, late October 1864

 

Hood’s Retreat – December 17, 1864

On the night of December 16th, the Confederate rear guard under Lieutenant General Stephen D. Lee camped about seven miles north of Franklin. The soldiers were weary and poorly supplied as in their rush to retreat from Nashville, many had abandoned their equipment and muskets along the way. On the rainy morning of December 17th, the Confederates left around dawn. As they marched toward Franklin, Lee’s men had two encounters with Federal troops. The first took place around Hollow Tree Gap about five miles north of Franklin and consisted of a brief volley of fire at a portion of Union Major General James Wilson’s advanced cavalry. A more serious action occurred around 9:00 a.m. as two mounted Federal regiments attempted a frontal charge on the Confederate line. The Con- federate troops, however, were able to repulse the attack, which resulted in twenty-two Federal casualties and an additional sixty-three captured. As more Federal troops advanced, Lee’s rear guard withdrew around 10:00 a.m. to press on to the Harpeth River and into Franklin.

Two bridges spanned the Harpeth River offering quick passage into Franklin – a temporary pontoon bridge and a railroad trestle bridge near Fort Granger. By 10:30 a.m., the last of the Confederate wagons were crossing the bridges over the Harpeth River and troops had begun to disassemble the pontoon bridge when Wilson’s cavalry attacked. Brigadier General Randall Gibson’s Brigade of 500 Louisiana infantrymen was positioned near the river and the railroad overpass at Liberty Pike. Assisting Gibson was a portion of Brigadier General Abraham Buford’s cavalry and two field guns. The Confederate soldiers were no match, however, for the nearly 3,000 Federal cavalry. Buford’s cavalry was driven “in confusion into the river,” which was quickly rising due to the rainy weather. Surrounded, Gibson’s men fought back and sustained forty casualties before escaping. Panic and confusion reigned as men fled across the pontoon bridge.

A Confederate battery positioned along Front Street in Franklin began to fire upon Wilson’s cavalry causing them to temporarily draw back. Lee’s men rushed to destroy the pontoon and railroad bridges to prevent the Federal troops from crossing. Given this brief respite, Lee ordered the immediate evacuation of Franklin. No longer having the bridges available, Wilson’s men hastened to the nearest fords to beat the rising water. Meanwhile, additional Federal troops entered Franklin from the west. Around 1:00 p.m., the Confederate rear guard under the command of Lieutenant General Stephen D. Lee began to withdraw toward Winstead Hill south of Franklin. As some of Wilson’s cavalrymen fired volleys towards them, a shell tore into Lee’s boot breaking several bones in his foot. Despite his injury, Lee remained in command as the Confederates withdrew south down Columbia Pike. Wilson regrouped his forces and sent troops down Carter’s Creek, Lewisburg and Columbia Pikes in pursuit of the Confederates. Federal troops traveling down Columbia Pike quickly gained on the Rebels who maintained a line of battle as they headed toward Spring Hill. Around 4:00 p.m. the Confederate rear guard formed a line about one mile north of the West Harpeth River.

Wilson ordered a frontal attack on the Confederate line and sent brigades to swing around the line’s flank. Around 200 cavalrymen swiftly advanced south down Columbia Pike toward the center of the Confederate line in a column of fours, sabers drawn. With the flanking brigades, the Federal line stretched nearly one and half miles long. Some 700 Confederate infantrymen were posted along the road under the command of Major General Carter L. Stevenson. As the Federals attacked the fighting was brief but fierce. “They swooped down on us with pistols, carbines, and sabers, hewing, whacking, and shooting,” one Confederate officer later recalled. Stevenson’s men repelled this charge and formed three ragged lines of a hollow square as they withdrew with their bayonets drawn.

The Federal cavalrymen continued to strike against Stevenson’s troops as they made their way across the West Harpeth River. As the Confederates stopped to reorganize, Wilson’s men struck again. By this time darkness had fallen and both sides were confused. The Federal cavalry were nearly on top of the Rebel infantry when the firing began. The ensuing melee was brutal as most took the form of hand-to-hand combat with clubbed muskets and side arms. The darkness and the fact that many Confederates wore captured Federal overcoats added to the confusion. When additional units joined the Federals the Confederates were forced to retreat down Columbia Pike and abandoned three 12-pounder guns along the way. They soon encountered Major General Henry Clayton’s Brigade, who, after hearing the gunfire, had formed a line to assist their fellow Confederates. As Stevenson’s men joined them, the Rebels were attacked from the west by additional Federal cavalrymen. A quick round of fire from Clayton’s men soon repulsed the Federals, and the Confederates continued to withdraw. Exhausted, the Confederates withdrew to Thompson’s Station where they camped with the remainder of Lee’s troops.

A series of skirmishes were fought from the West Harpeth River south to the Tennessee River, as Wilson’s cavalry and the remainder of Thomas’ army pursued Hood’s army. The retreat would finally end on January 1, 1865 when Hood’s army crossed the Tennessee River. What was left of the Army of Tennessee was eventually sent to the Carolinas to contest Sherman’s advance.

Text credit: Franklin Battlefield Preservation Plan (n.d.): pp. 9-10

John Bell Hood’s Division makes assault on Federal left flank at 4:30pm on July 2nd, 1863

Gen. John Bell Hood’s Confederate division, made up mostly of Texans, Arkansans, and Alabamians, made their assault upon the far left Federal flank at Gettysburg on July 2nd, 1863. Gen. Sickles’ men
occupied the area around Devil’s Den but were pushed out by the Confederate’s coming from the northwest. Hood’s division then made their way across Plum Run Creek and headed up towards Little Round Top. Hood was struck by shell fragments at Gettysburg, severely wounding his left arm.