Unmoored by Union General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea in Georgia, Confederate General John Bell Hood decided to move into Tennessee and attack Union General George Thomas in Nashville. The city had been held by the Union since February 1862, and seizing it could galvanize the South to fight on. Conversely, Thomas wanted the chance to destroy Hood’s Army of Tennessee and hasten the end of the war.
Victory Goes to the Union
The Battle of Nashville was the final major Civil War engagement fought in Tennessee and was a last-ditch attempt by Confederate General John Bell Hood to thwart Union plans by retaking the city of Nashville. Unfortunately for Hood, the city, which had been taken by the Union in February 1862, was well-defended by multiple forts. Despite highly motivated attempts to take the city, Hood was defeated by the Union defenders under General George H. Thomas in what is considered one of the most decisive battlefield victories of the war.
Despite entering Tennessee with a large army, Hood was criticized for detaching portions of this force before attacking the heavily defended city. Due to the size of Nashville and the scope of its defenses, Hood was forced to spread his lines thinly, dooming his chances of success. Additionally, Hood’s men suffered the effects of the freezing cold and an early winter ice storm. Because most of the nearby trees had been taken for Union defenses, Confederate soldiers were forced to camp on the frozen ground prior to battle, sapping their morale and strength.
Timeline of the Battle of Nashville
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Sign up to our Free Weekly NewsletterBy November 1864, the Confederate war effort was in tatters. In Georgia, Union General William T. Sherman was rampaging on his March to the Sea. As Sherman plowed toward the Atlantic, Confederate General John Bell Hood, in charge of the Army of Tennessee, thought an opportunity existed to retake the city of Nashville, Tennessee from its Union occupiers.
Unfortunately for his army, Hood was handed a defeat on November 30 in the Battle of Franklin, reducing his manpower.
Still, on December 2, Hood continued on and reached the outskirts of Nashville. He waited there, hoping to draw out Union defenders and then counterattack.
For almost two weeks, Hood waited as his troops were ravaged by an ice storm. Finally, on December 15, Union General George Thomas attacked with a two-pronged assault. Thomas successfully used smaller units on the Confederate right flank and then hit harder with the bulk of his forces on the left flank.
Hood retreated a few miles, only to face a renewed Union attack the next day. Thomas’ second attack was even more successful, and Hood called for a full retreat. His army was largely decimated by this point, ending its usefulness as an offensive force.
What Caused the Battle of Nashville?
Confederate General John Bell Hood wanted to draw Union General William T. Sherman out of Georgia, which was suffering through Sherman’s controversial scorched earth campaign. Despite losing the Battle of Franklin, Hood chose to continue moving toward Nashville to avoid disheartening his weakened army. However, in its weakened state, the Army of Tennessee could not assault the city directly. Thus, Hood chose to wait outside the city, construct defenses, and wait for the Union forces to attack.
It was a risky tactic and required major Union errors to allow enough openings for Hood’s eroded army to slip past them and into the city. However, at the late stage of the war, this was likely worth the risk: re-capturing Nashville would be a major morale boost for the war-weary South. Unfortunately for Hood, Union errors were not forthcoming, and he never had any real opportunity to take the city. Instead, he lost much of his already-weakened army.
Why Was the Battle of Nashville Significant?
The Battle of Nashville was significant because it essentially finished the Army of Tennessee as a fighting force. After this destruction, only the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee remained as a prominent Confederate army. The Army of Tennessee would fight on until April 1865 in North Carolina but without John Bell Hood as its commander. After Nashville, the general requested to be relieved and was not granted another post before the end of the war. Hood’s defeat was also yet another psychological blow for the South, as civilians in Tennessee had eagerly welcomed his army as liberators, only to see those hopes dashed.
Although the South’s defeat was largely sealed by December 1864, Hood’s defeat at Nashville was seen as the ultimate death knell. With the Union firmly in charge of Tennessee, Lee’s forces in Virginia were largely cut off from any hope of reinforcement or escape. There could be no strategic retreat from Richmond and re-establishment of the Confederate capital elsewhere. Once Lee was defeated, the war would essentially be over; Union control of Tennessee, Georgia, and the Mississippi River meant there was nowhere to regroup.
5 Facts About the Battle of Nashville
1. Casualties
Casualties during the Battle of Nashville totaled just over 9,000 men, with two-thirds of these from Hood’s Confederate troops and only one-third coming from Thomas’ Union defenders. At this late stage of the war, the South’s suffering of two-to-one casualties was catastrophic. Casualties were so severe for the Confederate Army of Tennessee that it basically ceased to be an offensive force.
2. Commanders
Union forces were led by General George H. Thomas, an 1840 graduate of West Point and veteran of the Mexican-American War. Thomas was an artillery officer and even taught the craft to cadets at West Point during the 1850s. As a Virginian, Thomas faced a crisis of conscience when the Civil War broke out, and ultimately chose to remain loyal to the Union. Thomas remained in the US Army after the Civil War and was eventually transferred to California after fighting the Ku Klux Klan in the South during Reconstruction.
Confederate forces were led by General John Bell Hood, who graduated from West Point in 1853. Despite being too young for the Mexican-American War, Hood did fight against Native Americans on the Texas frontier, which he came to claim as his home state after the beginning of the Civil War. Hood became a cavalry officer in the Confederacy and was wounded in the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863—losing his leg. After his defeat at Nashville, Hood finished the Civil War without a command and later moved to New Orleans as a businessman.
3. Number of Forces Involved
Under Thomas and Hood, a total of 85,000 men fought in the Battle of Nashville. A strong majority of these—55,000—were Union soldiers, while only 30,000 were Confederates. The smaller number of Confederate soldiers was too meager to effectively surround Nashville or control the battlefield, resulting in the thorough defeat of the Army of Tennessee. With 55,000 soldiers and only 3,000 casualties, Thomas’ forces remained in good shape after the battle.
4. Visiting Nashville Today
Today, visitors in Nashville, Tennessee can see memorials to the battle. Civil War buffs can seek out local guides to show them particular sites during the wide-ranging battle. Self-guided tours can be undertaken, with sites both inside the city itself and on the outskirts. As a historic city, there are plenty of non-Civil War sites to visit as well, with some going back to the colonial era. Tours also include the modern era, such as the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
5. Trivia: One of the Largest Battles by Battlefield Size
Instead of a concentrated assault on a weak spot in the city’s defenses, the weakened Army of Tennessee chose to put itself into a defensive position. The two defensive positions created a massive battlefield, with only 30,000 Confederate soldiers attempting to out-flank multiple Union forts. This makes much of the southern outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee part of the battlefield!
Aftermath of Nashville: Only Eastern Theater Remains
After Hood’s defeat at the Battle of Nashville, the remainder of the American Civil War would be focused on breaking Robert E. Lee’s defenses in Virginia. The Army of Northern Virginia was low on supplies at this point, though the entire Confederacy had faced supply and manpower woes for the duration of the conflict. In parts of the South, especially the border states, many civilians felt that the war would soon be over. There seemed to be no way that the Confederacy could stave off defeat.
Hood’s defeat in December 1864 helped steel Northern resolve to finish the war without an armistice. The South fought on, despite having no chance of combat victory, in hopes of wearying the Northern public enough to push the Lincoln administration to negotiate. This meant, even late in the war, that the Confederate States of America retained a chance, albeit slim, of becoming a recognized nation-state. Thomas’ victory at Nashville helped guarantee that this would not happen; Northerners knew the Confederacy’s unconditional surrender was near.
