They Came Only to Die: The Battle of Nashville, December 15-16, 1864 ( Sean Michael Chick-CWC)

by Sean Michael Chick The November 1864 battle of Franklin left the Army of Tennessee stunned. In only a few hours, the army lost 6,000 men and a dozen generals were casualties. Rather than pause, John Bell Hood marched his army north to Nashville. He had risked everything on a successful campaign and saw his offensive as the Confederacy’s last hope. There was no time to mourn. But there was no question of attacking Nashville. The city was well fortified and the Federals outnumbered Hood more than two to one. But Hood knew he could force them to attack him and, in doing so, he could win a defensive victory that might rescue the Confederacy from the chasm of collapse. Unfortunately for Hood, he faced George Thomas, one of the Union’s best leaders, who commanded men tested in the fires of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Franklin. But with battle imminent, the ground iced over, and Thomas had to wait. An impatient Ulysses S. Grant nearly sacked him, but on December 15–16, Thomas struck and