Battle of Nashville

Battle of Nashville

Map of Battle

Date: December 15-16 1864

Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Result:Union Victory

Leaders

Strenght: 55,000

Killed: 387

Strenght: 30,000

Killed: Unknown

Leaders

Hood reached Nashville on December 2 and staked out a position south of the city, hoping to draw the Union forces into a costly attack. Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln urged ranking general George Thomas to attack but he delayed for nearly two weeks, citing freezing weather and limited cavalry support. On December 15th, Thomas finally moved forward. The Union plan called for a demonstration on the Confederate right while the main assault struck a cluster of earthen redoubts on the Confederate left. The diversionary attack broke against artillery posted along present-day Battery Lane. To the west, fierce close-range combat erupted as Thomas’s men swept over the redoubts. That night, Hood retreated two miles further south. Thomas renewed the attack the next afternoon. After several hours of fighting, Brig. Gen. John McArthur broke through the Confederate left at Shy’s Hill. Hood ordered a hasty retreat south, and only a skillful rearguard action allowed his army to escape.

Aftermath

The Battle

The Union victory at Nashville shattered the Army of Tennessee and effectively ended the war in Tennessee..

Weapon: 12-Pound Napoleon Field Gun-It was a smoothbore cannon and effective at long rangeMedical: Chloroform-Used on soliders as anesthetic before surgery