30 November 1864: The Five-Hour Battle Of Franklin
Overview The winter of 1864 marked a pivotal moment in the American Civil War. As General William T. Sherman carved his destructive path through Georgia toward the sea, another drama unfolded in Tennessee that would effectively end Confederate hopes in the Western Theater. The Franklin–Nashville Campaign, led by Confederate General John Bell Hood, represents one of the war's most tragic and consequential military disasters—a desperate gamble that would shatter the Army of Tennessee and seal the Confederacy's fate. By late 1864, the Confederacy faced mounting pressure on multiple fronts. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign had captured the vital rail hub, and his subsequent March to the Sea threatened to bisect the remaining Confederate territory. In this desperate context, General John Bell Hood conceived an audacious strategy that would prove to be his army's undoing. Right: Battle of Franklin, by Kurz and Allison (1891). The original was a chromolithograph. Library of Congress Prints and…
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