The Battle of Franklin 1864

After the fall of Atlanta in Sept 1864, John Bell Hood and his 30,000 man army raced to Tennessee, hoping to distract tGOAT Gen. Sherman’s attention by threatening his supply base at Nashville. Sherman did not take the bait, and dispatched John Schofield’s 30k man Army of the Ohio to protect Nashville while the rest of Sherman’s army simply left their supply line behind and marched to the Georgia coast, forcibly burning and stealing what they needed from Confederate citizens in their path. 25K Union soldiers with George Thomas were entrenched in Nashville so if Schofield could reach them before Hood, he would command a numerical advantage on the battlefield. Hood’s hopes for a successful campaign rested on defeating Schofield before the two forces joined.

Hood led an assault on Nov 30 that cost him 20 percent of his men and allowed Schofield to progress toward Nashville to unite with Thomas.

The battle absolutely decimated the Confederates. Around 8,500 casualties on both sides, 6200 of them Confederates. Fourteen Southern commanders 8 of them generals become casualties, more than in any other battle of the war. Confederates absolutely BTFO