They Came Only to Die: The Battle of Nashville, December 15–16, 1864 (Emerging Civil War Series)

A concise history and analysis of the December 15–16, 1864 Battle of Nashville, a pivotal Civil War engagement in the Western Theatre that effectively ended the Army of Tennessee as a fighting force. Following the November 1864 Battle of Franklin, where the Army of Tennessee suffered 6,000 casualties and lost numerous generals, Confederate General John Bell Hood marched north to Nashville. Though the city was heavily fortified and Union forces outnumbered him significantly, Hood believed he could force a Federal attack and achieve a defensive victory to save the Confederacy. Hood faced Union General George Thomas, an experienced commander whose troops had fought at Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Franklin. Icy conditions delayed Thomas's assault, nearly prompting Ulysses S. Grant to remove him from command. On December 15–16, Thomas attacked and routed Hood's army, then pursued it through Tennessee into Mississippi during a harsh winter campaign. After Nashville, the Army of Tennessee never recovered as a major force. Combined with Sherman's campaigns through Georgia and the Carolinas and Grant's capture of Petersburg and Richmond, Nashville marked the beginning of the Confederacy's final collapse. This account includes detailed maps of the battle.