The Battle of Nashville. Recollections of Confederate and Union Soldiers 12+

📒 The consequences of the Battle of Nashville, which took place December 15-16, 1864, are still being debated, but one thing is certain: the Union victory there marked a major turning point in the War of 1861. After losing three battles in a row, including Spring Hill (November 29) and Franklin (November 30), Confederate General John Bell Hood and his troops were forced to flee southward, leaving the all-important region of Middle Tennessee largely under Union control. Confederate power in the Western Theater had been vanquished, for as Yankees loudly and proudly proclaimed, they had “crushed the backbone of the rebellion,” a victory that helped lead to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox just a few months later. There are serious problems with this simplistic view, however. The Union win at Nashville was not “a remarkable display of Northern military skill,” nor was the Confederate defeat “an illustration of the inferiority of Southern generals,” as we have been taught. For one thing, the North had 82,000 soldiers at Nashville, the South a mere 20,000. In addition to a four-to-one numerical advantage, the North had unlimited funds, weaponry, ammunition, clothing, and food, while many of Hood’s men were starving, coatless, and barefoot. As for the so-called “Rebellion,” the Conservative South idolized the Union and therefore would not have “rebelled” against it. What she was actually rebelling against was the Liberal takeover of Washington, which began with the election of Left-wing ...