(Well, my exams are over, I'm home for the holidays, and so I guess I'll continue this as best I can. I expect to get more thorough books on the Frankiln-Nashville Campaign for Christmas; until then, I'm going to be using what I have: Symonds' biography of Cleburne, which ends at exactly his death; Winston Groom's coffee table reader
Shrouds of Glory, certainly not the most thoroughly researched work on the subject, but its the best I got; Sam Foster's diary and Norman Brown's notes; and
Sigh Wikipedia for pretty much everything involving the Carolina Campaign)
Part 6: From Georgia to Franklin
After Jonesboro, Cleburne's division, with the rest of Hardee's Corps, fell back to Lovejoy Station, where the men finally got respite from the months of constant fighting with Union troops, either in direct combat or skirmishing. They soon returned to Jonesboro, as Sherman had moved his men to occupy Atlanta; it was at Jonesboro that the army reunited. In this time, Govan and his 600 captured men were exchanged and returned to the division, bringing up the strength of the division to 3620 effective men, as of September 20th. [1]
After a day of prayer and fasting on September 15th, in which Mark Lowrey served as the division's minister, the army broke camp and marched to Palmetto, where, on the 20th, they were visited by Jefferson Davis, on a morale raising mission. It worked somewhat, though there is an incident in which Govan's Brigade mistook Davis' and Hood's riding parties for the return of Joe Johnston, and shouted his name; they were informed later to refrain from such behavior, as it had upset Hood. In addition, Hardee gave an ultimatum to Davis to remove Hood or he'd resign; Davis let Hardee resign. Cleburne apparently wanted to resign to join Hardee; only his loyalty to his men kept him from doing such an action. Benjamin Cheatham, a Tennessee militiaman with a mixed reputation for indulging in alcohol prior to battle (most infamously at Murfreesboro), took command of the Corps. [2]
On October 3rd, the army began marching north to launch a campaign against the Atlantic & Western Railroad. Along the way, men of Govan's brigade were caught stealing from an apple orchard. Cleburne had the men pile up the apples stolen, had them given to Granbury's brigade as they marched up, and had the apple pickers perform his customary punishment of carrying a fence post for a mile before rejoining the division. The men then reached just south of Dalton, where they went to work tearing up the railroad tracks. [3]
The Division then moved onto Dalton, which was held by 750 men under Colonel Lewis Johnson. Hood himself sent a flag of truce to induce the post to surrender. However, Johnson was concerned his 600 black troops from the 44th USCT would be mistreated and replaced in chains rather than be treated as proper prisoners of war. He asked for assurances of fair treatment, which did not come. Eventually, he realized he could not negotiate much longer, and eventually surrendered his garrison. His fears of mistreatment were well founded; Granbury's Texans and Tennesseans were itching for a fight with the black troops. When the Union troops had surrendered and began stacking arms, the Texans began robbing them of their equipment, including shoes; some threatened to kill the black troops, who began grovelling for their life, which amused the Texans. According to Symonds, Cleburne did nothing to stop this harrassment, but eventually turned the captured me over to the engineers to work on tearing up tracks towards Tunnel Hill. Winston Groom notes the irony of the situation: at the start of the year, General Cleburne had proposed to arm the South's slave for "the cause" in exchange for emancipation; now, he was holding his division back from slaughtering captured USCT and forcing them to work as slave labor. [4]
The army marched through the gaps of Rocky Face Ridge towards Lafayette, then to the town of Alpine on the Alabama border, then to Sand Mountain, Alabama, before engaging the federal garrison at Decatur the 28th. Hood decided to bypass the garrison and moved to Tuscumbia on the 31st of October. Here, Hood began construction of a pontoon bridge across the Tennessee, which Cleburne's men crossed November 13th, encamping in Florence. On the 20th of November, leaving behind J. A. Smith's Brigade (that formerly commanded by Olmstead at Jonesboro) to guard the river crossing, Cleburne's division marched north into Tennessee. According to the November 6th Returns, Cleburne's division numbered some 3962 effectives; subtracting J. A. Smith's Brigade left behind, this gave Cleburne around 3100 men for his last campaign. [5]
On the 22nd of November, Cleburne's division reached Waynesboro, containing the homes of the Polk family. Here, Cleburne and his men would have reunited with Lucius Polk, retired from service due to his leg wound. Following this, the army marched to Columbia, where they faced General Schofield's scratch Army of the Cumberland across the Duck River. Hood decided to leave S. D. Lee's Corps and most of the artillery in front of Schofield to hold him in place, while he sent Forrest's Cavalry and Cheatham's and Stewart's Corps across the river to flank Schofield and cut him off from Nashville along the Columbia Pike. Cleburne's division would take the lead of this advance. [6]
Cleburne's men were aroused in the early morning of November 29th, and marched towards Davis Ford. Lowrey's Brigade crossed the river at 7am, followed by Govan's and Granbury's Brigades. General Hood and Tennesse Governor Isham Harris were apparently with Cleburne's division, and urged aggresiveness. The men encountered Chalmer's division of Forrest's cavalry having engaged Federals at Spring Hill. Here, Cleburne formed his division for attack. Hood ordered him to deploy his brigade in echelon, with Lowrey's brigade on the far right somewhat advanced. At 4pm, after forming his division and conferring with Forrest for support, Cleburne ordered "Forward echelon!", starting his attack. [7]
Cleburne's men faced Luther Bradley's Illinios Brigade of George Wagner's Division. These 2000 men made much noise, causing concern from Lowrey, who expected them to charge; he was reassured by Cleburne that they would not. Cleburne ordered Govan's brigade to swing to the right, to link up with Lowrey's brigade. Thus, when the division struck Wagner's line, his men were struck on their flank and routed; Bradley was wounded in this engagement. Cleburne pushed him men to pursue, with the men ending up in a creekbed where the federals poured in a hard crossfire of artillery. Two napoleon guns, exposed on the Pike, were charged by Granbury's brigade, which had not engaged Bradley; the two guns were limbered and pulled away before Granbury's men could reach them. Cleburne, however, had to withdraw his men behind the creekbed, to escape the enemy's fire. Another union brigade under John Q. Lane soon came into the fray. Cleburne was ordered Granbury's brigade to move behind a rail fence to face the new brigade.[8].
At around 5 o'clock, Cleburne went to confer with John C. Brown, commanding Cheatham's old division, to coordinate an attack. Around this time, Cheatham came to them and ordered that they would connect their divisions, then Brown would launch a renewed assault on the town of Spring Hill. The 2 men proceeded to carry out this order. However, Brown never launched his assault, for reasons not fully understood. No further action would be taken by the Confederate here, despite Hood's insistence on aggressive action. Thus, during the night, the Federal army marched north along the Pike, just across from Confederate encampments, and escaped unopposed by the Confederates. It was one of the worst blunders of the war for the Confederacy. Hood was appoplectic; he accused the army of cowardice and timidity. Thus, on the 30th of November, the Army would get on the Pike and march to chase the Army of the Cumberland to Franklin. [9]
The Army of Tennessee marched up the Columbia Pike, reaching the town of Franklin, where Schofield had entrenched his men. Hood, surveying the field, saw that Wagner had deployed his division in advance of the mainline, exposed to being flanked and providing him an oppurtunity to break through the Federal line. Hood thus decided to attack, here and now, with 2 of his Corps on the field. Cleburne's division would be in the center of the assault, and he and Brown's men would strike Wagner's division. Cleburne formed his division facing north; Lowrey formed on the right, Govan the Center, and Granbury the Left. Having gotten in position, at 4pm, Cleburne would lead his division for the last time. [10]
The signal for the assault was a flag signal from Winstead Hill, delieved at 4pm. Cleburne ordered "Forward!" and, on his horse, trotted at pace with his men. The brigade bands began to play as they marched across the field. It was the first time the brigade bands would play in combat...and it would be the only time. 20,000 men, with a hundred battle flags waving, marched across a mile and a half long field towards the federal entrenchments. It dwarved the more famous Pickett's Charge in terms of scale. And the result would be the same as that disasterous day. [11]
Federal artillery, with an open field of fire and no Confederate counterbattery to fear, tore holes in the advancing lines, though the Confederactes merely closed ranks and pressed forwards. Eventually, they got in range of Wagner's line, and Bradley's Brigade, now commanded by Col. Joseph Conrad, fired a volley into the division. Granbury's men, who recieved the brunt of the volley, proceeded the charge the enemy line. Wagner's division, exposed in the open to the Confederate advance, broke and ran for the town, through the main line. These men would cause hell for the defenders, who surely would not fire on the advancing Confederates for fear of shooting their own men. Brown, shouting over the din of battle, told his men, "We will go into the works with them!"; Cleburne, in response, gave probably his last order: "Go into the works with them!". Thus, Cleburne's and Brown's men managed to break through the Union center, near the Carter House, and nearly broke the Federal line. Victory seemed imminent for the desperate Confederates. [12]
However, it wasn't so easy. The Yankee defenders, antsy of being over run, gave fire through the retreating men. Cleburne, mounted on a horse, had his mount shot out from under him. He requested another horse from an aid, but that was shot with a cannon ball, covering the Irishman in blood. Cleburne then charged into the smoke of battle on foot, never to be seen alive again. He would be found after the battle, a bullet through his body just below his heart, in front of the enemy works, his body looted of shoes and saber. According to Govan, his body "was found within twenty yards of where I last saw him waving his cap". [13]
Granbury's and Govan's brigades had breached the line, and were in the process of turning cannons around when they were counterattacked by Emerson Opdycke's Brigade, which had been held in reserve behind the line. These men, nicknamed "Opdycke's Tigers" for their intensity, pushed the Confederates back to the foot of the fortifications. The Confederates would not get any further that day. The 2 sides would fight from their sides of the entrenchment, some foolhardy rebels trying to go over the top getting killed instantly. However, some of the Arkansans awaited the arrival of Cleburne to give them the command to go over all at once; however, as time passed, with no sign of their commander, they soon realized he would not be come back. It would not be until 10pm that both sides would fall back from one another. One federal wrote of the position Cleburne's men held that day, "I never saw men put in such a terrible position as Cleburne's division was for a few minutes. The wonder is that any of them escaped death or capture". [14]
Franklin was a collosal disaster for the Confederates. They had routed Wagner's division and nearly pushed through the Union center. But this was worthless in the face of the losses the Confederates had suffered. Some 7000 confederates became casualties on the field; 1750 were dead. They were irreplacable at this point in the war. Among the dead were 6 generals. Cockrell's Missouri Brigade was all but destroyed. Brown's Division had no generals by the end of the battle; Brown was wounded, 3 of his brigade commanders were killed, and the 4th was captured. Cleburne's division itself had gone through hell. Of about 3070 men who went into battle that day, only 1458 remained. Cleburne was dead, and so was Brigadier Granbury, killed in the fight with Opdycke. Granbury's Brigade was now commanded by Captain Edward Broughton, and numbered a mere 344 men. Govan's and Lowrey's Brigades had also suffered, having only 534 and 580 effectives remaining in their respective brigades. The division was devastated. But it would not be their last fight. [15]
Citations:
[1] Symonds, 242-243;
O.R., Series 1, Volume 39, Part 2, 850
[2] Symonds, 243-244
[3] Symonds, 245-246; Norman Brown, 137, 139-140
[4] Groom, Winston,
Shrouds of Glory, 88-93; Symonds, 246-247.
[5] Symonds, 247-248;
O.R., Series 1, Part 45, Part 1, 678
[6] Symonds, 248-249
[7] Symonds, 249-251
[8] Symonds, 250-252
[9] Symonds, 252-255
[10] Symonds, 255-256
[11] Symonds, 256-258
[12] Symonds, 258-259; Groom, 213-214
[13] Symonds, 259-260; Groom, 217-218, 242
[14] Symonds, 259-260; Groom, 218-223, 237
[15]
O.R., Series 1, Part 45, Part 1, 678, 680; Groom, 222, 239, 257