Civil War History - The South & Western TheatersCheck this forum for all South and Western Theater Questions. Included are the Western, Pacific, Trans-Mississippi, & Lower Seaboard and Gulf Approach Theaters.
Aside from the fact that Hood's army in Tennessee was in very friendly territory, there was no foraging to be had. A couple of inches of ice and frozen mud in mid December. December 12, known as cold Sunday, 13 below. That was three days before battle at Nashville. Dumb time to be fighting. Could have watched a lot of football to better results.
No fun Larry ! I was just waiting for some unsuspecting reader to ask why I called it Hood's Winter Campaign.
Of course, your data on the freezing weather in Nashville is one of the more secret facts of the Civil War, that "historians" tend to ignore, as to not make the Confederates look bad, I suppose.
I suspect the Nashville Chamber of Commerce doesn't publicize that fact broadly, either.
Why exactly was Lee manning the Lines at Petersberg, at that very same time? The letters he was writing Davis, during this time were nothing less than veiled recommendations to surrender.
IF Lee was to survive, Hood had to win at Nashville, not for him the option of retreating into the hinter lands for another day. The time for that, was long past (If it was EVER a real option) Hood was doing what needed to be done, as, apparently Lee was doing in Va. Lee was overmatched in his attempt at victory, but, no more so than Hood; with the same results, both lost their army.
The point is, there was no more time for a better time and place to fight Armageddon, in the West. Decisions by Lee, Davis, Bragg, Johnston, Beauregard Lincoln, Thomas, Sherman, Grant, all precluded any opportunity of Hood fighting a campaign in the summer with plenty of rations and sufficient manpower to survive
I don't know any genuine "historian" who ignores the facts about the atrocious weather in the days before Franklin. Nor do they ignore the ugly weather in the first half of November which prevented the Rebels from getting across the Tennessee River and driving north. Behind the Federals troops themselves the weather was Hood's biggest enemy in late 1864, in my opinion.
With horrendous sacrifice of body and equipment, the men of the Army of Tennessee, with considerable assist of infantry under E.C. Walthall and N.B. Forrest, many of them men who had not been engaged at Franklin or Nashville, were able to beat the weather or at least fight it to a draw. The heavily manned, equipped and mostly warm US Army was another matter. Lost opportunity at Springhill on the trek north and a stalemate at Murfreesboro on Dec 7, sealed the fate of the AOT. The battle for Nashville in my humble opinion would have been far more populated and bloodier, but with similar results, had Franklin not occurred.
No fun Larry ! I was just waiting for some unsuspecting reader to ask why I called it Hood's Winter Campaign.
Of course, your data on the freezing weather in Nashville is one of the more secret facts of the Civil War, that "historians" tend to ignore, as to not make the Confederates look bad, I suppose.
I suspect the Nashville Chamber of Commerce doesn't publicize that fact broadly, either.
The weather was the reason Thomas was holed up in Nashville for a week before finally attacking. It was also the subject of several letters between he and Grant. From my observations, it seemed common knowledge.
Weather and women are both sometimes fun to discuss. The great thing about weather is that it falls on all within it's impact zone. It was just as wet and cold for Thomas as it was for Hood. The difference was that Thomas had blankets and slickers, a warm stove and some fresh men. Not much of a contest, even had it been 72 and rising. Hood was 'lost' in the wilderness of Williamson county.
Hood was lost, because he had an impossible mission. But Tn. was where he needed to be, IF he was to have A chance of affecting the war in the West. The fact that his chances of doing so were almost nil, does not change the fact that, fighting the Union Army was his mission.
If saving Confederate lives for after the war was his mission then, Davis and/or Beauregard should have informed him of that fact.
Seems to me some of the Confederates should have been focusing on Sherman? Sherman was the killer blow to the western theatre at Bentonville. That fight should have happened prior to the occupany of Charleston? Maybe that was a financial, political and physical impossibility. Seems to have been much the case. As many have written, the war was essentially over after Jonesboro and lost for sure in the west at Springhill and Franklin.
Who would lead the pursuit of Sherman? Johnston, Beauregard, Hood etc.,?
How far behind the AoT would be Thomas' army? How far ahead would be Sherman's army?
It would seem that the AoT would be between Sherman and Thomas, that does not seem to be a winning combination....for the south, anyway. Sherman could finish off the AoT, before continuing his march to the sea.
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