Franklin Could one say Hood won at Franklin?

The War was not "winding up" in late 1864, except for those gifted with hindsight. The Army of Northern Virginia had not been pinned, despite Grant's relentless and bloody Overland Campaign.

The study of history by necessity involves hindsight. Thus we know that in December of 1864 the war was winding up and the Federals were acting with energy and urgency. After Hood's defeat the rebellion effectively consisted of little more than the Carolinas and southern Virginia and the armies of Johnston and Lee, all of which was soon be gripped in a vice consisting of the armies of Meade and Ord directly under Grant (with Sheridan as a kampfgruppe commander) and the armies of Howard, Slocum and Schofield under Sherman.

And the Army of Northern Virginia had been pinned in Petersburg for months. And soon enough Grant would do to Lee what Thomas did to Hood; indeed Grant would destroy Lee's army where Thomas only routed Hood's.
 
The study of history by necessity involves hindsight

LOL. Ok, so everyone living in 1864 knew what you know. Ergo, everything that went wrong for Confederates was pre-determined by 21st Century hindsight. Equally, everything that went right for the Union Army was determined by 21-Century hindsight.

Gothcha
 
LOL. Ok, so everyone living in 1864 knew what you know. Ergo, everything that went wrong for Confederates was pre-determined by 21st Century hindsight. Equally, everything that went right for the Union Army was determined by 21-Century hindsight.

Gothcha

That's some real pretzel logic, claiming I think our knowing events happened caused them to happen. That's quite a stretch. Unable to argue with the fact that the rebellion was folding fast in December of 64 you divert from your error by attempting to put words in my mouth and then lampooning them, a grade school rhetorical trick. LOL indeed.
 
This raises a question; just what was Thomas's army at Nashville called, if anything? He had the 4th Corps which had been in the Army of the Cumberland but the other 2 corps of that army, the 14th and 20th, were now marching to the Sea and called the Army of Georgia. And Thomas had the 23rd Corps which had been called the Army of the Ohio. And he had AJ Smith's force of 3 divisions which was called Detachment Army of the Tennessee. And various garrison troops and Wilson's cavalry. All these forces were operating in the Department of the Cumberland and I assume Thomas kept the headquarters and staff of the Army of the Cumberland, so was his army in effect the Army of the Cumberland if not in name? I wonder.

I wonder also if anybody back then cared. The war was winding up fast and Federal troops were shuffled around and formed into armies and battle groups as needed. This was also seen in the Shenandoah, Mobile and Appomattox campaigns.
That is an interesting question, the order of battle at Nashville was:

Army of the Cumberland
MG George Thomas, Commanding

IV Corps
BG Thomas J. Wood

XXIII Corps
MG John M. Schofield

Detachment, Army of the Tennessee
MG Andrew J. Smith

Provisional Detachment (District of the Etowah)
MG James B. Steedman

Cavalry Corps
MG James H. Wilson

Mississippi River Squadron
10th District
Lt. Commander LeRoy Fitch
[Most people are unaware that Thomas had a fleet, so will list the vessels.]

River Monitor, U.S.S. Neosho; Ironclad, U.S.S. Carondelet; Tinclad, U.S.S. Silver Lake, Brillliant, Reindeer, Moose, Fairplay, & Springfield.

Note:

To clear up a question raised in this stream; when forces from a number of districts & armies arrived in Nashville they were under Thomas' command, thus in the Army of the Cumberland.
 
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Gaining the battlefield doesn't really matter when your opponent was planning to retreat anyway. Hood didn't know that, which must be factored in to appraising his decision to attack, but isn't relevant when considering whether the battle was a tactical or strategic victory.

Schofield won a tactic victory by inflicting greater losses on Hood.

Schofield won a clear strategic victory. His objective was to join Thomas and Hood's objective was to prevent this junction.
 
Hood is the poster boy for the Peter Principle.

He was a bit of a one-trick pony. He made his name with hard-hitting assaults and that instinct followed him from brigade up to army command.

That said, and in fairness to Hood, after the Spring Hill debacle, Franklin was going to be the last chance to impede Schofield from reaching Nashville and Hood threw a hail-mary. Unfortunately for his men, it turned into a bloody disaster.

Ryan
 
He was a bit of a one-trick pony. He made his name with hard-hitting assaults and that instinct followed him from brigade up to army command.

That said, and in fairness to Hood, after the Spring Hill debacle, Franklin was going to be the last chance to impede Schofield from reaching Nashville and Hood threw a hail-mary. Unfortunately for his men, it turned into a bloody disaster.

Ryan
But Spring Hill was his and his staff's fault
 
That is an interesting question, the order of battle at Nashville was:

Army of the Cumberland
MG George Thomas, Commanding

IV Corps
BG Thomas J. Wood

XXIII Corps
MG John M. Schofield

Detachment, Army of the Tennessee
MG Andrew J. Smith

Provisional Detachment (District of the Etowah)
MG James B. Steedman

Cavalry Corps
MG James H. Wilson

Mississippi River Squadron
10th District
Lt. Commander LeRoy Fitch
[Most people are unaware that Thomas had a fleet, so will list the vessels.]

River Monitor, U.S.S. Neosho; Ironclad, U.S.S. Carondelet; Tinclad, U.S.S. Silver Lake, Brillliant, Reindeer, Moose, Fairplay, & Springfield.
Schofield wasn't in the AoC. He was a department Commander, which was why he was in command of those units with him until he reached Nashville. It was Stanley whom I believe ranked him otherwise.
 
Absolutely. That's why there's a lot of, "I didn't retreat until all the units around me ran."

Ryan
Sometimes they didn't wait that long. Beauregard notified Richmond towards the end of the first day's fighting at Shiloh that the Army of Mississippi had scored a victory. Bragg did the same thing after the first day at Stones River. Of course, in their own way, the first day of fighting at both those battles did favor the Confederacy, but those commanders were obviously over eager to get credit, albeit prematurely.
 
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