Battle of Franklin

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).

Battle of Franklin
Part of the American Civil War

Battle of Franklin, by Kurz and Allison (1891)
DateNovember 30, 1864 (1864-11-30)
Location
Franklin, Tennessee
35°55′03″N 86°52′24″W / 35.9174°N 86.8733°W / 35.9174; -86.8733
Result Union victory[1]
Belligerents
 United States (Union)  Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
United States John Schofield
United States David S. Stanley		 Confederate States of America John Bell Hood
Units involved
Army of the Ohio Army of Tennessee
Strength
27,000[2] 27,000-31,000[2]
Casualties and losses
2,326 (total: 189 killed, 1,033 wounded, 1,104 missing/captured)[2]

Schofield's estimate: 6,252 (1,750 killed,
3,800 wounded,
702 missing/captured)[2][3]

Hood's report: 4,500[4][5]

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 John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee conducted numerous frontal assaults against fortified positions occupied by the Union forces under Major General John Schofield and was unable to prevent Schofield from executing a planned, orderly withdrawal to Nashville.

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 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 fought there on April 10, 1863, was a minor action associated with a reconnaissance in force by Confederate cavalry under Major General Earl Van Dorn.

  1. ^ "Battle Detail - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Eicher, McPherson & McPherson (2001), p. 774.
  3. ^ War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 45, part 1, p.344 [1]
  4. ^ "Our loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was 4,500." War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 45, part 1, p.654.
  5. ^ "During the month of November: Killed, 1089; wounded, 3131; total, 4220. These casualties include the bloody battle of Franklin, Tenn., fought, November 30, 1864." (Report of Surgeon A. J. Foard, Medical Director, Army of Tennessee), United Confederate Veterans. Minutes of the Third Annual Meeting and Reunion (1892), p.133 [2]