Battle of Franklin
The Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, in Franklin, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin–Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. It was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederate States Army. Confederate Lieutenant General (LTG) John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee conducted numerous frontal assaults against fortified positions occupied by the Union forces under Major General (MGEN) John Schofield and was unable to prevent Schofield from executing a planned, orderly withdrawal to Nashville.
This article is about the battle in 1864. For the minor battle the previous year, see Battle of Franklin (1863). For other uses, see Battle of Franklin (disambiguation).
The Confederate assault of six infantry divisions containing eighteen brigades with 100 regiments numbering almost 20,000 men, sometimes called the "Pickett's Charge of the West", resulted in devastating losses to the men and the leadership of the Army of Tennessee—fourteen Confederate generals (six killed, seven wounded, and one captured) and 55 regimental commanders were casualties. After its defeat against MGEN George H. Thomas in the subsequent Battle of Nashville, the Army of Tennessee retreated with barely half the men with which it had begun the short offensive, and was effectively destroyed as a fighting force for the remainder of the war.
The 1864 Battle of Franklin was the second military action in the vicinity; a battle in 1863 was a minor action associated with a reconnaissance in force by Confederate cavalry leader MGEN Earl Van Dorn on April 10.
In popular culture[edit]
In the book Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, the character Rhett Butler mentions that he fought at Franklin. In the film of the same name, Mrs Mead remarks to Mrs Meriwether that Rhett Butler was decorated by the Confederate Congress for his services at the Battle of Franklin.