Useless Battles Cost Many Lives-Civil War

[Laurie Verge]

I was intrigued with Gene's answer about the Battle of Franklin being useless because one of my docents at Surratt House is very well-versed on the Battle of Franklin. I posed the question to him as to why/if that battle was useless. Here's his response:

Sorry for the delay, we had computer access problems beginning last evening and so I am late catching up. I would concur with the responder about the Battle of Franklin; there was no need for the battle as the Union forces were retreating to Nashville and Hood's army had arrived too late to intercept them and prevent their retreat. But, apparently infuriated that the day previous the same Union force had eluded a trap he thought he had laid for them at Spring Hill, TN, Hood convinced himself he had a real opportunity to destroy them in Franklin before they crossed the Harpeth River en route to the TN capital. To do so, however, required his small army to launch massive frontal assaults against the dug-in Union troops, and across ground that greatly favored the defender. The attacks ultimately failed, at tremendous cost to the Confederates, although they did actually break into Federal lines and engage in fierce combat before being forced back; afterward the Union troops abandoned their earthworks and retreated unmolested to Nashville, while Hood lost over 6,000 out of a 27,000-man army in about 5 hours; six Confederate generals were among the casualties. Hood then went on to try to besiege a larger army than his own in Nashville, where the Union forces enjoyed plentiful supplies and warm housing while Hood's men starved in the trenches outside the city in the December sleet and ice, until George Thomas came out of the city and routed Hood in one of the most complete victories of the war (made possible by the debacle at Franklin).

In a broader sense Hood's entire Tennessee campaign of November-December 1864 was a useless endeavor, as Hood lacked a proper logistical base for such an operation. His decision to chase a fantasy in Tennessee moreover abandoned Georgia to Sherman's unopposed March to the Sea at the same time.

I was first introduced to the Battle of Franklin by reading that wonderful book, The Widow of the South, about the Carnton Plantation. I was too busy weeping through parts of it to learn much about what the battle was all about. My docent, Tim, filled in the blanks for me.