The American Civil War December 16, 1864: The Battle of Nashville - Day Two On this day 150 years ago, the Union army at Nashville moved forward to finish off the Confederate Army of Tennessee near Nashville, Tennessee. From Repelling Hoods Invasion of Tennessee by Brevet Colonel Henry Stone, a member of Major General George H. Thomass staff. At early dawn the divisions of the Fourth Corps moved forward, driving out the opposing skirmishers. The men entered upon the work with such ardor that the advance soon quickened into a run, and the run almost into a charge. They took up their positions in front of the enemys new line, at one point coming within 250 yards of the salient at Overtons Hill. Here they were halted, and threw up works, while the Artillery on both sides kept up a steady and accurate fire. Steedman also moved forward and about noon joined his right to Woods left, thus completing the alignment. On his way to the front General Thomas heard the cannonading, and, as was his custom, rode straight for the spot where the action seemed heaviest. As he was passing a large, old-fashioned house, his attention was attracted by the noise of a window closing with a slam. Tur cause, he was greeted by a look from a young lady whose expression at the moment was the reverse of angelic. With an amused smile, the general rode on, and soon forgot the incident in the excitement of battle. But this trifling event had a sequel. The young lady, in process of time, became the wife of an officer then serving in General Thomass army,-though he did not happen to be a witness of this episode. The ground between the two armies for the greater part of the way from the Franklin to the Granny White Pike is low, open, and crossed by frequent streams running in ever y direction, and most of the fields were either newly plowed or old corn-fields, and were heavy, wet, and muddy from the recent storms. Over tons Hill, Hoods right, is a well-rounded slope, the top of which was amply fortified, while hills held by the left of his line just west of the Granny White Pike are so steep that it is difficult to climb them, and their summits were crowned with formidable barricades, in front of which were abatis and masses of fallen trees. Between these extremities the works in many places consisted of stone walls covered with earth, with head-logs on the top. To their rear were ample woods, sufficiently open to enable troops to move through them, but thick enough to afford good shelter. Artillery was also posted at every available spot, and good use was made of it. The morning was consumed in moving to new positions. Wilsons cavalry, by a wide detour, had passed beyond the extreme Confederate left, and secured a lodgment on the Granny White Pike. But one avenue of escape was now open for Hood-the Franklin Pike. General Thomas hoped that a vigorous assault by Schofields corps against Hoods left would break the line there, and thus enable the cavalry, relieved from the necessity of operating against the rebel flank, to gallop down the Granny White Pike to its junction with the Franklin, some six or eight miles below, square across the only remaining line of retreat. If this scheme could be carried out, nothing but capture or surrender awaited Hoods whole army. Meantime, on the National left, Colonel Post, who had so gallantly carried Montgomery Hill the morning before, had made a careful reconnaissance of Overtons Hill, the strong position on Hoods right. As the result of his observation, he reported to General Wood, his corps commander, that an assault would cost dear, but he believed it could be made successfully; at any rate he was ready to try it. The order was accordingly given, and everything prepared. The brigade was to be supported on either side by fresh troops to be held in readiness to rush for the works the moment Post should gain the parapet. The bugles had not finished sounding the charge, when Posts brigade, preceded by a strong line of skirmishers, moved forward, in perfect silence, with orders to halt for nothing, but to gain the works at a run. The men dashed on, Post leading, with all speed through a shower of shot and shell. A few of the skirmishers reached the parapet ; the main line came within twenty steps of the works, when, by a concentrated fire of musketry and Artillery from every available point of the enemys line, the advance was momentarily checked, and, in another instant, Post was brought down by a wound, at first reported as mortal. This slight hesitation and the disabling of Post were fatal to the success of the assault. The leader and animating spirit gone, the line slowly drifted back to its original position, losing in those few minutes nearly 300 men ; while the supporting brigade on its left lost 250. Steedman had promised to cooperate in this assault, and accordingly Thompsons brigade of colored troops was ordered to make a demonstration at the moment Posts advance began. These troops had never before been in action and were now to test their mettle. There had been no time for a reconnaissance, when this order was given, else it is likely a way would have been found to turn the enemys extreme right flank. The colored brigade moved forward against the works east of the Franklin Pike and nearly parallel to it. As they advanced, they became excited, and what was intended merely as a demonstration was unintentionally converted into an actual assault. Thompson, finding his men rushing forward at the double-quick, gallantly led them to the very slope of the intrenchments. But, in their advance across the open field, the continuity of his line was broken by a large fallen tree. As the men separated to pass it, the enemy opened an enfilading fire on the exposed flanks of the gap thus created, with telling effect. In consequence, at the very moment when a firm and compact order was most needed, the line came up ragged and broken. Meantime Posts assault was repulsed, and the fire which had been concentrated on him was turned against Thompson. Nothing was left, therefore, but to withdraw as soon as possible to the original position. This was done without panic or confusion, after a loss of 467 men from the three regiments composing the brigade. When it was seen that a heavy assault on his right, at Overtons Hill, was threatened, Hood ordered Cleburnes old division to be sent over to the exposed point, from the extreme left, in front of Schofield. About the same time General Couch, commanding one of the divisions of the Twenty-third Corps, told General Schofield that he believed he could carry the hill in his front, but doubted if he could hold it without assistance. The ground in front of General Cox, on Couchs right,and opportunities for a successful assault. Meantime the cavalry, on Coxs right, had made its way beyond the extreme left flank of the enemy, and was moving northward over the wooded hills direct to the rear of the extreme rebel left. General Thomas, who had been making a reconnaissance, had no sooner reached Schofields front than General McArthur who commanded one of Smiths divisions, impatient at the long waiting, and not wanting to spend the second night on the rocky hill he was occupying, told Smith that he could carry the high hill in front of Couch,-the same that Couch himself had told Schofield he could carry,-and would undertake it unless forbidden. Smith silently acquiesced, and McArthur set to work. Withdrawing McMillens (his right) brigade from the trenches, he marched it by the flank in front of General Couchs position, and with orders to the men to fix bayonets, not to fire a shot and neither to halt nor to cheer until they had gained the enemys works, the charge was sounded. The gallant brigade, which had served and fought in every part of the South-west, moved swiftly down the slope, across the narrow valley, and began scrambling up the steep hillside, on the top of which was the redoubt, held by Bates division and mounted also with Whitworth guns. The bravest onlookers held their breath as these gallant men steadily and silently approached the summit amid the crash of musketry and the boom of the Artillery. In almost the time it has taken to tell the story they gained the works, their flags were wildly waving from the parapet, and the unmistakable cheer the voice of the American people, as , General Thomas called it, rent the air. It was an exultant moment ; but this was only a part of the heroic work of that afternoon. While McMillens brigade was preparing for this wonderful charge, Hatchs division of cavalry, dismounted, had also pushed its way through the woods, and had gained the tops of two hills that commanded the rear of the enemys work credible labor, they had dragged, by hand, two pieces of Artillery, and, just as McMillen began his charge, these opened on the hill where Bate was, up the opposite slope of which the infantry were scrambling. At the same time Coons brigade of Hatchs division with resounding cheers charged upon the enemy and poured such volleys of musketry from their repeating-rifles as I have never heard equaled. Thus beset on both sides, Bates people broke out of the works, and ran down the hill toward their right and rear as fast as their legs could carry them. It was more like a scene in a spectacular drama than a real incident in war. The hillside in front, still green, dotted with the boys in blue swarming up the slope ; the dark background of high hills beyond; the lowering clouds; the waving flags; the smoke slowly rising through the leafless tree-tops and drifting across the valleys ; the wonderful outburst of musketry; the ecstatic cheers; the multitude racing for life down into the valley below,- so exciting was it all, that the lookers-on instinctively clapped their hands, as at a brilliant and successful transformation scene, as indeed it was. For, in those few minutes, an army was changed into a mob, and the whole structure of the rebellion in the South-west, with all its possibilities, was utterly overthrown. As soon as the other divisions farther to the left saw and hear d the doings on their right, they did not wait for orders. Everywhere, by a common impulse, they charged the works in front, and carried them in a twinkling. General Edward Johnson and nearly all his division and his Artillery were captured. Over the very ground where, but a little while before, Posts assault had been repulsed, the same troops now charged with resistless force, capturing fourteen guns and one thousand prisoners. Foremost among the rejoicing victors was General Steedman, under whose command were the colored troops. Steedman had been a life-long Democrat and was one of the delegates, in 1860, to the Charleston convention, at which ultimately Breckinridge was nominated for President. As he rode over the field, immediately after the rout of the enemy, he asked, with a grim smile, as he pointed to the fleeing hosts, I wonder what my Democratic friends over there would think of me if they knew I was fighting them with nigger troops ? I have not space to tell the story of the pursuit, which only ended, ten days later, at the Tennessee River. About a month before, General Hood had triumphantly begun his northward movement. Now, in his disastrous retreat, he was leaving behind him, as prisoners or deserters, a larger number of men than General Thomas had been able to place at Pulaski to hinder his advance - to say nothing of his terrific losses in killed at Franklin. The loss to the Union army, in all its fighting,- from the Tennessee River to Nashville and back again,- was less than six thousand killed, wounded, and missing. At so small a cost, counting the chances of war, the whole Northwest was saved from an invasion that, if Hood had succeeded, would have more than neutralized all Shermans successes in Georgia and the Carolinas ; saved by the steadfast labors, the untiring energy, the rapid combinations, the skillful evolutions, the heroic courage and the tremendous force of one man, whose name will yet rank among the great captains of all time. civilwar-online/2014/12/december-16-1864-battle-of-nashville.html
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 20:15:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015