Nashville The Battle of Nashville, Tennessee

Fort Casino from Fort Negley
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How did Gen. John Bell Hood perform during this battle?

The simple answer is that while his performance was personally brave, as a commander he did poorly. He tried to hold too much ground with too little, not having enough men to assault Nashville nor enough to prevent his lines from being turned. Hood exacerbated this problem by taking detachments of Cheatham's corps and Forrest's cavalry in a failed attempt to capture the Federal garrison at Murfreesboro, weakening his line even further. His first line was turned, and his second line was positioned badly on the natural crest of Shy's and Overton's Hills (a repeating pattern in the Army of Tennessee, unfortunately), which was further exacerbated by the placement of his worst division and commander, Bate's division, to defend the key part of the line here. Bate's men overshot the attacking the Federals, and were quickly broken, though brave men like Colonel Shy tried to stand their ground.

Hood's reasoning was that he could hold a line if attacked and that he would get reinforcements from Mobile and the Trans-Mississippi Department (Baker's brigade, Walker's division, etc.). Hood was mistaken, as Kirby Smith had been unable to provide infantry reinforcements even to his own offensive efforts (Price's Raid in Missouri) as he intended. Once Hood repulsed these attacks, he would follow with a counterattack into Nashville. This was flawed reasoning at best.

Hood managed to bring his army (minus a lot of prisoners and losses, including valuable artillery) off, but that was in large part due to men like S.D. Lee, Nathan B. Forrest, Edward C. Walthall, and the dog-tired but determined veterans like the remnants of Cheatham's and Loring's divisions who fought in the rear guard over the retreat.
 
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The simple answer is that while his performance was personally brave as a commander he did poorly. He tried to hold too much ground with too little, not having enough men to assault Nashville nor enough to prevent his lines from being turned. Hood exacerbated this problem by taking detachments of Cheatham's corps and Forrest's cavalry in an failed attempt to capture the Federal garrison at Murfreesboro, weakening his line even further. His first line was turned, and his second line was positioned badly on the natural crest of Shy's and Overton's Hills (a repeating pattern in the Army of Tennessee, unfortunately), which was further exacerbated by the placement of his worst division and commander, Bate's division, to defend the key part of the line here. Bate's men overshot the attacking the Federals, and were quickly broken, though brave men like Colonel Shy tried to stand their ground.

Hood's reasoning was that he could hold a line if attacked and that he would get reinforcements from Mobile and the Trans-Mississippi Department (Baker's brigade, Walker's division, etc.). This reasoning was flawed, as Kirby Smith had been unable to provide infantry reinforcements even to his own offensive efforts (Price's Raid in Missouri) as he intended. Once Hood repulsed these attacks, he would follow with a counterattack into Nashville. This was flawed reasoning at best.

Hood managed to bring his army (minus a lot prisoners and losses, including valuable artillery) off, but that was in large part due to men like S.D. Lee, Nathan B. Forrest, Edward C. Walthall, and the dog tired but determined veterans like the remnants of Cheatham's and Loring's divisions who fought in the rear guard over the retreat.
Thanks for the info.
 
I visited Shy's Hill in November 2016 while tracing the footsteps of the 104th Ohio, part of the 23rd Corps. The cannon and marker were damaged as noted in an earlier post. Thanks so much for the photos. You did the tour of the Nashville battlefields that I did not have time to take!
 
Great job (again). I did Corinth, Spring Hill, Franklin, Stone's River, and Nashville last month, and Buckeye Bill did an outstanding job with the pictures. Nashville is somewhat disappointing, in that the city has overgrown most of the battlefield. I would highly recommend the TN State Museum though. Great stuff on TN's participation in the ACW.
 
great thread again Bill, redoubt # 1 last year when we visited was a total overgrown mess sadly as well as shy's hill with the broken up cannon.
 
I toured the Hallowed Grounds of the Battle of Nashville in 2013. I always heard and read there is only crumbs scattered around this city but nothing much to see. I decided to do my own research, read some information on the interweb and plan my itinerary. My best resource was Mark Zimmerman's book entitled, "Guide to Civil War Nashville." I absolutely loved my tour of this Tennessee State Capitol. There is plenty to see related to this conflict. My favorite spot was climbing Shy's Hill (Compton Hill). A big thanks goes out to the Civil War Trust and the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society.

Bill


I have found in my research and travel's there are many, many things to see that relate to the War Between the States, some are small, some are big, all one has to do is look. Bill I always enjoy your posts !! Thank you for sharing with us all that you do.


Respectfully,
William
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I know just where that picture was taken from. The state capital has a very nice museum. During the war they had cannon dug in around the building, being that it was on top of a hill. I was educated in Nashville back in the late 70s. I walked a lot of the battlefield from day 1 to day 2. My great grandfather was in rebout #4. Hood choose some good ground to make his stand. To draw Thomas out of his fortifications and hope he made a mistake. Thomas would have none of that.
 
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