Battle of Nashville The Battle of Nashville was a two - day battle in the Franklin - Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large - scale fighting in the Western Theater of the American Civil War . It was fought at Nashville , Tennessee , on December 15 – 16 , 1864 , between the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Lt . Gen . John Bell Hood and Federal forces under Maj . Gen . George H . Thomas . In one of the largest victories achieved by the Union Army during the war , Thomas attacked and routed Hood ' s army , largely destroying it as an effective fighting force . Background . Hood followed up his defeat in the Atlanta Campaign by moving northwest to disrupt the supply lines of Maj . Gen . William T . Sherman from Chattanooga , hoping to challenge Sherman into a battle that could be fought to Hood ' s advantage . After a brief period of pursuit , Sherman decided to disengage and to conduct instead his March to the Sea , leaving the matter of Hood ' s army and the defense of Tennessee to Thomas . Hood devised a plan to march into Tennessee and defeat Thomas ' s force while it was geographically divided . He pursued Maj . Gen . John M . Schofield ' s army from Pulaski to Columbia and then attempted to intercept and destroy it at Spring Hill . Because of a series of Confederate command miscommunications in the Battle of Spring Hill ( November 29 , 1864 ) , Schofield was able to withdraw from Columbia and slip past Hood ' s army at Spring Hill relatively unscathed . Furious at his failure at Spring Hill , Hood pursued Schofield to the north and encountered the Federals at Franklin behind strong fortifications . In the Battle of Franklin on November 30 , Hood ordered almost 20 , 000 of his men to assault the Federal works before Schofield could withdraw across the Harpeth River and escape to Nashville . The Union soldiers repulsed multiple assaults and inflicted over 6 , 000 casualties on the Confederates , which included a large number of key Confederate generals , doing heavy damage to the leadership of the Army of Tennessee . Opposing forces . Union . Schofield withdrew from Franklin during the night and marched into the defensive works of Nashville on December 1 , there coming under the command of Thomas , who now had a combined force of approximately 55 , 000 men . By and large , his troops were veterans , the IV Corps under Brig . Gen . Thomas J . Wood and Schofield ' s XXIII Corps having fought in the Atlanta campaign and Maj . Gen . Andrew J . Smith ' s " Detachment of the Army of the Tennessee " ( the XVI Corps was redesignated with this unusual name on December 6 ) having fought at Vicksburg , in the Red River Campaign , at the Tupelo against Forrest ( one of the very few times that Forrest was defeated ) , and in Missouri against Sterling Price . While Wilson ' s cavalry had combat experience , most of it had been of the wrong kind at the hands of Nathan Bedford Forrest , John Hunt Morgan , or Joe Wheeler . Only Maj . Gen . James B . Steedman ' s Division lacked experience . It was composed of garrison troops and railroad guards from Tennessee and Georgia and included eight regiments of United States Colored Troops . Union forces had been constructing defensive works around Nashville since the time the city was occupied in 1862 . By 1864 a 7 - mile - long semicircular Union defensive line on the south and west sides of the city protected Nashville from attacks from those directions . This line was studded with forts , the largest of which was Fort Negley . The trench line was extended to the west after December 1 . The Cumberland River formed a natural defensive barrier on the north and east sides of the city . Smith ' s troops had arrived by river on November 30 and their transports had been escorted by a powerful fleet of tinclad and ironclad gunboats ; thus , the river barrier was well - defended . From east to west the defensive line was manned by the Steedman ' s division , the XXIII Corps , the IV Corps , and Smith ' s XVI Corps Detachment . Given the fact that the Federal Army was composed of troops from the Army of the Cumberland , the Army of the Ohio , the Army of the Tennessee , the District of Etowah , and the Post of Nashville , the force in Nashville had no official name . Confederate . Hood ' s army arrived south of the city on December 2 and took up positions facing the Union forces within the city . Not nearly strong enough to assault the Federal fortifications , Hood opted for the defensive . Rather than repeating his fruitless frontal attack at Franklin , he entrenched and waited , hoping that Thomas would attack him . Then , after Thomas smashed his army against the Confederate entrenchments , Hood could counterattack and take Nashville . The Confederate line of about 4 miles of fortifications faced the southerly facing portion of the Union line ( the part occupied by Steedman and Schofield ) . From right to left were the corps of Maj . Gen . Benjamin F . Cheatham , Lt . Gen . Stephen D . Lee , and Lt . Gen . Alexander P . Stewart . Cavalry commanded by Brig . Gen . James R . Chalmers was off to the southwest of the city . The Confederate left flank was secured by five small detached redoubt s , each having two to four guns with garrisons of about 150 men each . Hood made a serious strategic error before the battle . On December 2 , he sent the three brigades of William B . Bate ' s Division of Cheatham ' s Corps to attack the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad between Nashville and Murfreesboro as well as the Federal garrison in the latter city . Three days later he sent an additional two brigades of infantry and two divisions of cavalry , all under Forrest ' s command , to reinforce Bate . Hood believed that this diversion would draw Thomas out of the Nashville fortifications , allowing Hood to either defeat Thomas in detail or to seize Nashville by a coup de main once its garrison was depleted . While the railroad between Nashville and Murfreesboro was broken in a number of places , the Murfreesboro garrison drove off the Confederates in the Third Battle of Murfreesboro ( also called the Battle of the Cedars ) on December 7 . Thomas was not fooled by this diversion , and remained in his fortifications until he was ready to attack on his own terms . Though Bate ' s Division and one of the two attached infantry brigades returned to Nashville , Hood had further diminished his already weaker force , and also deprived his army of its strongest and most mobile unit , Forrest and his cavalry . Thomas prepares to attack . Although Thomas ' s forces were stronger , he could not ignore Hood ' s army . Despite the severe beating it had suffered at Franklin , Hood ' s Army of Tennessee presented a threat by its mere presence and ability to maneuver . Thomas knew he had to attack , but he prepared cautiously . His Cavalry Corps , commanded by the energetic young Brig . Gen . James H . Wilson was poorly armed and mounted , and he did not want to proceed to a decisive battle without an effective cavalry corps to protect his flanks . This was particularly important since Wilson would be facing the incomparable Forrest . Refitting the cavalry took time . In the meantime , Washington fumed at the seeming procrastination . When Sherman proposed his March to the Sea , Ulysses S . Grant and Henry Halleck had objected to it on the basis that Hood would use the opportunity to invade Tennessee . In response , Sherman airily indicated that this was exactly what he wanted and that if Hood " continues to march North , all the way to Ohio , I will supply him with rations . " However , when the ever - confident Sherman disappeared into the heart of Georgia , Grant once again became concerned about an invasion of Kentucky or Ohio . Grant later said of the situation , " If I had been Hood , I would have gone to Louisville and on north until I came to Chicago . " His concern doubtless reflected Abraham Lincoln ' s concern ; Lincoln had little patience for slow generals and remarked of the situation , " This seems like the McClellan and Rosecrans strategy of do nothing and let the rebels raid the country . " Unbeknownst to Thomas his subordinate Schofield was apparently feeding Grant a steady stream of negative reports , probably in the hope that he would be named to succeed Thomas . While pressure from Washington continued , a bitter ice storm struck Nashville on December 8 which precluded any offensive action . Sub - freezing weather continued through December 12 . This was explained to Grant , but when Thomas had still not moved by December 13 , Grant directed that Maj . Gen . John A . Logan proceed to Nashville and assume command if , upon his arrival , Thomas had not yet initiated operations . Logan made it as far as Louisville by December 15 , but on that day the Battle of Nashville had finally begun . Grant himself left Petersburg on December 14 to take personal command and had only gotten as far as Washington when the battle began . He proceeded no further . Battle . Naval actions . The Confederates set up batteries at Bell ' s Bend on the Cumberland River below Nashville on December 2 , 1864 . They met with immediate success , capturing that day two Federal transports carrying horses , mules and fodder . The Federal naval squadron at Nashville responded on the night of December 3 – 4 . While the bulk of the squadron engaged the upper battery , two ships , the ironclad " Carondelet " and the tinclad " Fairplay " , proceeded to the lower battery where they recaptured and brought off the two transports . The Federal squadron commander , Lt . Cmdr . LeRoy Fitch was directed to break the river blockade . On December 7 he took his two heaviest ships , the ironclad " USS Carondelet " and the river monitor " Neosho " downstream to engage the batteries . The action was inconclusive , though the " Neosho " sustained considerable superficial damage . Two " Neosho " sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for going out onto the shell swept deck and raising the ship ' s flag that had been knocked down . The Confederate batteries effectively closed the river below Nashville to supply traffic until they were driven off by Federal cavalry on December 15 . December 15 . Actions on the Confederate right . Thomas ' s plan was to launch a diversionary attack on the Confederate right that would distract them from the main attack on their left and perhaps cause them to divert troops from their left to their right . The attacking force consisted of two brigades drawn from Steedman ' s Provisional Division : the First Colored Brigade consisting of three regiments of United States Colored Troops ( who had previously served as garrison troops or railroad guards ) and a brigade composed of rear echelon white troops described by their commander as " new conscripts , convalescents , and bounty jumpers . " ) . The Confederate right was anchored on the west side of a deep cut on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad . A weak skirmish line was posted east of the tracks , and on December 14 this was supplemented by a stout four gun lunette manned by Granbury ' s ( Houghton ' s after Granbury ' s death at Franklin ) Texas Brigade . Granbury ' s Lunette was well masked by trees and brush . The two brigades advanced and overran the skirmish line . They came under heavy artillery fire from a Confederate battery on the west side of the railroad . When the brigades passed Granbury ' s Lunette they were struck by very heavy close range enfilading fire . Both brigades retreated in some disorder but were reformed and continued for the rest of the day to fire on the Confederate works from the former skirmish line . This attack failed in its purpose — the Confederates were not distracted and in fact sent brigades from both Lee ' s and Cheatham ' s Corps to bolster the threatened left flank . Actions on the Confederate left . Thomas planned a huge wheeling movement that would ultimately come down on the Confederates ' exposed left flank . Wilson ' s Cavalry Corps moved west on Charlotte Pike once an early morning fog dissipated , driving off the Confederate cavalry patrolling the area between the Confederate left and the Cumberland River . Smith ' s XVI Corps detachment followed , turning south after a mile or so towards the Confederate flank . The cavalrymen formed on Smith ' s right flank . Schofield ' s XXIII followed in reserve , and as the assault moved south a gap opened between Smith and Wilson which Schofield was directed to fill . At about 2 : 30 pm the Federals attacked the five redoubts guarding the Confederate left . Four brigades , two of cavalry and two of infantry , overran Redoubt No . 4 and Redoubt No . 5 , notwithstanding the spirited resistance of the defenders of Redoubt No . 4 . Another of Smith ' s brigades captured Redoubt No . 3 ; however , its commander Colonel Sylvester G . Hill was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter firing from Redoubt No . 2 . He was the highest ranking Federal officer killed at the Battle of Nashville . Smith ' s troops proceeded to Redoubt No . 2 , which was quickly captured . In the meantime , the IV Corps had been tasked with making a frontal assault from Granny White and Hillsboro Pikes on the left end of the Confederate line . The assault was to begin once Smith ' s troops began their assault on the left flank redoubts . The Confederate line was supposed to lie on Montgomery Hill on the north side of Brown ' s Creek . While the Confederates had originally established their line there , they had withdrawn to equally strong positions on the south side of Brown ' s Creek as the original positions were exposed to artillery fire from the Nashville forts . The IV Corps proceeded deliberately up Montgomery Hill , only to find that it was defended by a thin skirmish line . They stopped to reorganize , and at about the same time that that Smith ' s Detachment was rolling up the Confederate redoubts they advanced on the main Confederate line . Thus it was that Redoubt No . 1 , the last bastion on the Confederate left flank , was captured by troops coming from the north , south , and west . Stewart ' s corps had been wrecked by the day ' s fighting and retreated to a new line of defense a mile or two to the south . Rear guard actions by reinforcements from Lee ' s Corps kept the retreat from becoming a rout . With the collapse of the Confederate left , Cheatham ' s and Lee ' s Corps followed to the new line . December 16 . December 16 The Confederates ' new line was much stronger and more compact than the first day ' s line . It was anchored on the east on Peach Orchard Hill . The western flank ran along a line of hills leading south from Compton ' s Hill , which after the day ' s battle would be called Shy ' s Hill after Col . William M . Shy , the Confederate officer commanding the 20th Tennessee Infantry , who died defending it . The center followed a series of sturdy dry stack stone walls enhanced by entrenching . Hood put Lee ' s Corps on the right flank . With the exception of two brigades , this corps had seen no action on the previous day , and indeed had seen very little action at the bloodletting at Franklin two weeks before . Lee ' s line ran from the hill well into the Confederate center . Stewart ' s Corps , decimated by heavy casualties at Franklin and in the December 15 actions , occupied the Confederate center . Cheatham ' s Corps , badly hurt at Franklin , was on the Confederate left flank , which included Shy ' s Hill and the line of hills to its south . Rucker ' s cavalry brigade patrolled to the south of Cheatham ' s Corps . The Confederate line defenses atop Shy ' s Hill appeared to be quite strong , as the steep hill dominated all of the surrounding terrain . However , appearances were deceiving . First , the defenses at the crest were a salient , and were exposed to Federal artillery fire from all directions except the southeast . Second , the fortifications had been built overnight by tired troops and consisted of shallow trenches with no head logs or abatis . Third , and most fateful , the trenches were constructed on the geographical crest of the hill and not on the military crest commanding the slopes , such that attacking troops could escape fire until they were almost at the crest . Thomas repeated his tactics of the previous day . An attack would be made on the Confederate right to draw Confederate troops from the left . Then Schofield ' s XXIII Corps would deliver a hammer blow on the left flank . The attacks on Peach Orchard Hill were made in much greater strength than those December 15 . Two brigades from Beatty ' s division of Wood ' s IV Corps and two brigades from Steedman ' s Provisional Division made the attack at about 3 p . m . Concentrated musket and artillery fire from the entrenched Confederates quickly broke up the attack . The trailing regiment in the 2nd Colored Brigade of Steedman ' s Division , the 13th United States Colored Troops , went in essentially on its own and gained the Confederate parapet , losing one of its flags and 220 officers and men in the process , about 40 % of the regiment ' s strength . The attack on Peach Orchard Hill had the desired effect ; Hood sent two of Cheatham ' s brigades to reinforce Lee . The thin Confederate line on Shy ' s Hill and the surrounding heights got thinner . During this time Wilson ' s cavalry was very active on the Confederate left and rear , reaching almost all of the way to Granny White Pike . In response , Cheatham stretched his corps further and further to the south . Thomas , who was with Schofield , directed Schofield to make an attack on the western face of Shy ' s Hill . Schofield , imagining that he was outnumbered and in danger of an attack on his southern flank , demurred , requested that Smith send him additional divisions . Thomas directed Smith to comply with this request . Smith sent a division , and still Schofield did nothing . Sunset was rapidly approaching , and if no attack was made before then Hood would be in a position to either strengthen his position overnight or safely retreat south . Brig . Gen . John McArthur , one of Smith ' s division commanders , was aware of this . He also saw that the Confederate lines were being badly battered by Federal artillery which was firing on them from nearly every direction . At about 3 : 30 p . m . he sent a message to Smith and Thomas that unless he were given orders to the contrary in the next five minutes his division was going to attack Shy ' s Hill and the Confederate line immediately to its east . The three brigade attack began on McArthur ' s timetable . One brigade went up and over Shy ' s Hill . Because of the misplacement of the Confederate trenches , only the regiment on the east sustained significant casualties from Confederates , who were firing from the plain to its left . McArthur ' s second brigade hit these Confederates while they were so distracted . The third brigade , attacking to the east of Granny White Pike caught a large body of Confederate skirmishers outside of their lines and went into the Confederate lines with them . The Confederate left flank suddenly disintegrated . The Confederate line was rolled up west to east with the Confederates retreating to the south via Granny White Pike and Franklin Pike . A part of Lee ' s Corps maintained good order and covered the retreat on Franklin Pike . Rucker ' s Confederate cavalry brigade performed the same service in a nighttime melee in the rain on Granny White Pike . Hood ' s retreat . On the night of December 16 , what was left of Hood ' s army headed south towards Franklin on two roads , Franklin Pike and Granny White Pike . Rucker having blunted for the time being the Federal pursuit on Granny White Pike , the main pursuit was by Federal cavalry on Franklin Pike . Lee ' s rearguard held off these attacks . At this point , the pursuit slowed because Thomas had sent his pontoon bridge train towards Murfreesboro rather than Franklin and Columbia , and his artillery and trains could not cross the Harpeth River until such time as the train arrived . This did not stop Wilson ' s cavalry from aggressively pursuing the Confederates as they retreated to Columbia . Wilson badly hurt Carter L . Stevenson ' s rear guard division in actions on December 17 and 18 , but was forced to stop because of the lack of supplies . Wilson ' s problems were compounded when Forrest and his two cavalry divisions arrived from Murfreesboro on December 18 . On December 19 the Confederate infantry and artillery crossed the Duck River at Columbia , destroying the bridges behind them . Forrest took charge of the rear guard , attaching an ad hoc infantry division under Brig . Gen . Edward C . Walthall to his Cavalry Corps . Because of the misdirected pontoon train , Thomas was not able to cross the Duck River until December 23 . Wilson continued his vigorous pursuit , but was stymied by Forrest over the next three days in hard - fought rear guard actions at Richland Creek , Anthony ' s Hill , and Sugar Creek . Hood was able to get his army across the Tennessee River on a pontoon bridge near Bainbridge , Alabama by December 28 . Thomas had asked Rear Admiral S . P . Lee , commanding the Tennessee River naval squadron , to destroy the Confederate bridge . However , low water and Confederate artillery prevented Federal tinclad gunboats from interdicting the crossing . Steedman ' s Provisional Division was sent by rail from Nashville to Chattanooga and from there by river boat to Decatur , Alabama to cut off Hood ' s retreat . His force arrived too late to interfere with the crossing . However , Steedman ' s cavalry under the command of Colonel William Jackson Palmer captured the Confederate pontoon train on December 30 along with a large number of supply wagons . This marked the end of the Federal pursuit . Aftermath . Federal casualties in the battle were 387 killed , 2 , 562 wounded , and 112 missing . As only a few of the Confederate units submitted reports on the battle , Confederate casualties are difficult to ascertain . Thomas reported capturing 4 , 561 prisoners in the battle itself , with an unknown number captured during the retreat . One historian made an educated guess that 2 , 500 Confederates were killed and wounded at Nashville . The Army of Tennessee had gone into Middle Tennessee campaign with approximately 38 , 000 men , exclusive of Forrest ' s cavalry . The Army had sustained severe casualties at Spring Hill , Franklin , and Nashville , and suffered at least 2 , 000 desertions during the campaign . On January 20 Hood reported an effective strength of 18 , 742 , again exclusive of Forrest ' s cavalry . Gen . P . G . T . Beauregard , Hood ' s nominal superior , advised the Confederate President on January 13 that the Army of Tennessee had fewer than 15 , 000 men . The Battle of Nashville marked the effective end of the Army of Tennessee . Historian David Eicher remarked , " If Hood mortally wounded his army at Franklin , he would kill it two weeks later at Nashville . " Although Hood blamed the entire debacle on his subordinates and the soldiers themselves , his career was over . He retreated with his army to Tupelo , Mississippi , resigned his command on January 13 , 1865 , and was not given another field command . But the drama of the battle continued into the next century . On Christmas Eve 1977 a headless body was found next to a newly opened grave in Williamson County , Tennessee . The head was found nearby . The body was clothed in what appeared to be a tuxedo . The matter was referred to the state medical examiner who determined that this was a homicide , that the victim was a white male , 5 ' 11 " tall , weighing 173 lbs . , and approximately 26 years of age . The medical examiner further determined that the cause of death was a large caliber bullet wound to the head , and that the man had been dead for 6 to 12 months . Everything but the time of death was correct ; the body was that of Colonel William M . Shy , who had died atop the hill bearing his name 113 years before . The newly opened grave was his , and he had apparently been exhumed by grave robbers in search of Civil War collectibles . The remarkable state of preservation was due to the fact that Colonel Shy had been buried in a sealed cast iron coffin ( also found nearby ) and had been embalmed with a fluid heavily laced with arsenic . Colonel Shy was reinterred with appropriate military honors . The cast iron coffin is on display at the Carter House in Franklin . Battlefield preservation . The Nashville battlefield is huge by Civil War standards , encompassing almost all of south and west Nashville . Nashvillians who live in the Green Hills , Forest Hills , Oak Hill , Lipscomb , or Brentwood neighborhoods are living on top of a battlefield . In the earlier part of the twentieth century there was some talk of creating a National Battlefield Park in Nashville . This movement failed , due to lack of support from Nashville ' s civic leaders , who as Southerners were not particularly interested in commemorating a battle that was such a profound Confederate defeat . As a result , much like Atlanta , most of the Nashville battlefield has been lost to development . However , the battle is memorialized and small parts of it have been preserved . Battlefield memorials . A Battle of Nashville monument was created in 1927 by Giuseppe Moretti , who was commissioned by the Ladies Battlefield Association . Erected in the years immediately following World War I , the monument honors the soldiers of both sides and celebrated a united nation . The monument was severely damaged by a tornado in 1974 , and during the 1980s interstate highway construction left the monument landlocked on a small plot of ground overlooking the massive highway interchange of I - 65 and I - 440 . In 1999 the monument was relocated to the Nashville Battlefield Park at the intersection of Granny White Pike and Clifton Avenue , just north the Confederate line on the first day of the battle . Minnesota Monument . In 1920 the State of Minnesota erected a large monument in the Nashville National Cemetery honoring its soldiers who were buried there . Minnesota lost more men at the Battle of Nashville than in any other Civil War battle . United States Colored Troops Monument . In 2006 a group of private citizens erected a monument in the Nashville National Cemetery honoring soldiers of the United States Colored Troops buried there , many of whom fought in the Battle of Nashville . Shy ' s Hill Memorial . Erected by the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society , this honors the troops of both sides who fought on and around Shy ' s Hill . The memorial consists of three flags , an American flag , a Confederate national flag , and a Minnesota state flag ( honoring the four regiments of Minnesotans who were instrumental in capturing the hill ) . Driving tour . The Battle of Nashville Preservation Society has published a downloadable self - guided driving tour . Members of the Society provide guided battlefield tours for a fee .