Timeline for the Battle of Franklin (under construction)

Timeline of the Battle of Franklin (November 30, 1864) , Kraig McNutt | BattleofFranklin.net

Timeline for the Battle of Franklin

and important events preceding it

Last updated June 2011 (under construction)

Major events related to the summer of 1864 Atlanta Campaign

July 17, 1864 – General John Bell Hood takes over command of the Army of

Tennessee, CSA

July 20th Peachtree Creek – Union victory,

Hood loses 4,800 men.

July 22nd Atlanta – Union victory, Hood loses

8,500 men.

July 28th Ezra Church – Union victory, Hood

loses 3,000 men.

August 5th – 7th Utoy Creek – inconclusive,

Hood loses 300 men.

August 14th – 15th Dalton – Union victory, unknown casualties

August 20th Lovejoy’s Station – CSA victory, Hood loses 240 men.

August 31st to Sept 1st Jonesborough - – Union victory, Hood loses

3,000 men

In Hood’s first six weeks as Commander of the Army of

Tennessee, he loses about 20,000 men, 70% of those in the first

week!

September 2nd – Atlanta surrenders


Hood’s Middle Tennessee Campaign

October 1864

Oct 16th – Nov 16th Forrest raids West Tennessee

Oct 26th – 29th Hood enters Decatur, AL

November 1864

Nov 15th – Sherman beings his march to

the Sea (which will end on Dec 21 in

Savannah.)

Nov 21st Hood moves into Florence,

Alabama.

Nov 23rd Action near Mount Pleasant.

Nov 24th – 29th Hood is in Columbia, TN.

Small CSA victory. Hood’s Army is 5,000 men, Schofield’s (U.S.) at

28,000.

Nov 29th Hood is in Spring Hill. Union victory, Hood loses 500 men.

Nov 29th Affair at Thompsons Station.

Nov 30th Battle of Franklin. Union victory.

Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee attacks Schofield’s

entrenched troops near downtown Franklin resulting in a

lopsided Union victory. There are nearly 10,000 total

casualties. Hood loses 1,750 killed, 3,800 wounded, and at

least 700 missing or captured.


1864 Battle of Franklin Timeline

November 29th

Around midnight, Union army escapes from Spring Hill and marches to

Franklin. Hood is unaware that the “bird has flown the coup”.

November 30th

1:00 a.m. Thomas telegraphs Schofield, ordered to protect his wagon train

and to get to Franklin.

4:30 a.m. Union Division Commander

Jacob D. Cox’s men start erecting

defensive breastworks around town.

Schofield arrives in Franklin between

4:00 and 5:00 a.m. Cox tells Carter family

he believes that a fight is not likely today.

5:30 a.m. Schofield wires Thomas he is

trying to get some of his men across the

Harpeth. Some Union troops cross over the Big Harpeth and install

themselves at Fort Granger. Schofield discovers the two main bridges are

out, starts to rebuild them so his army can keep heading toward Nashville.

6:30 a.m. Ruger’s Federal troops arrive on the scene around downtown.

7:00 a.m. The big guns of the 23rd Corps (Federal) arrive and are moved

north of the river.

8:00 a.m. Confederate Cavalrymen engage the rear elements of Union

wagon train (Opdycke’s men) in a full-blown skirmish.

Est 8:30 a.m. An angry Hood meets with his senior leadership at Rippavilla

and discloses his plans to chase Schofield into Franklin.


9:50 a.m. Schofield telegraphs Thomas that Hood cannot be held at

Franklin. Schofield’s headquarters is in Dr. Daniel Cliffe’s home.

10:25 a.m. Without receiving Schofield’s 9:50 a.m. wire yet, Thomas wires

Schofield with instructions to hold Hood if possible but not to risk too

much.

Est. 10:30 a.m. Federal 4th Corps artillery begins to arrive in Franklin.

11:00 a.m. As CSA cavalry continue to harass Federal rear elements,

Wagner’s forward Federal troops “began cresting the pike as it passed

between Winstead and Breezy Hills.” Whitaker’s men from Kimball’s

Division spar with Rebels for about an hour in Winstead Hill vicinity.

12:00 noon. Schofield telegraphs Thomas, responding to wire of 10:25,

fearful he is getting in a tight place with Hood at Franklin.

Federal defensive line is largely completed. Many of the Federals sit down

to eat. Temperature is approaching 50 degrees, an unusually warm Fall

day.

Three brigades of Wagner’s Division begin to pull away from Breezy Hill. An

11:30 a.m. telegraph, delivered a little after noon, from Stanley to Wagner

orders Wagner to hold the heights.

1 p.m. Hood arrives at Winstead Hill with Genls. Cheatham and Cleburne,

two miles from downtown Franklin, and reconnoiters the Federal position

near downtown Franklin. Federal troops abandon Winstead Hill just

moments before Hood arrives.


Opdycke and his men are the first to see two Rebel corps approaching

Winstead Hill.

Rebel army passes William Harrison house, just south of Winstead and

Breezy Hills.

1:30 p.m. Wagner and his men begin to make their way toward the line at

Franklin. [This is a confusing fact to me that EJ makes.]

About 1:30 p.m. Hood decides “we will make the fight.”

2:00 p.m. First of Cheatham’s CSA troops arrive at Breezy and Winstead

Hills.

About 2:00 p.m., Hood calls a conference with his commanders at the

Harrison House. Attending are Hood,

Cheatham, Forrest, and Cleburne. These

commanders are not in agreement for the

assault. Forrest wants permission to

outflank the Federals but he is denied.

Hood’s decision is to drive the Federals

“into the river at all hazards.”

2:15 p.m. (est.) Wagner arrives at Carter house to report to Gen. Cox.

2:30 p.m. Wagner leaves the Carter house and learns his men are about to

be swallowed up by Rebel forces.

Est 2:45 p.m. Rebel infantry and elements of Forrest’s cavalry troops begin

to cross Hughes’ Ford 2 ½ miles SE of Franklin.

3:00 p.m. Schofield telegraphs Thomas, Hood has a large force aggregating

at Winstead Hill. Tells Thomas that he cannot hold Hood for an additional

three days.

Wagner arrives on scene in Federal forward advance line and meets with

Conrad.


Lee’s Corps (CSA) are still on the way to Franklin en route from Spring Hill.

They will not reach Franklin in time to be engaged in the action.

Rebel forces take nearly a full hour to deploy.

3:05 p.m. Schofield notifies Wilson that a 4th Corps brigade will be sent to

assist the repulse of the Rebels at Hughes’ Ford.

3:30 p.m. Wagner heads back to main Federal line.

4 p.m. Just prior to the assault, Cleburne reflects to a concerned colleague,

“Well Govan, if we are to die, let us die like men.”

Assault begins!!

Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee begins their mass assault across

nearly two miles of open fields, heading north toward the main Federal

line. Rebel bands are playing. Entire Rebel army [27,000 effectives]

stretches out east-west about two miles in front of Franklin.

4:15 p.m. (Estimated) Hood’s CSA forces clash with the southern-most

advanced Federal line made up of the Union Divisions of Conrad and Lane,

quickly driving the Federals back north toward the main line.


First Federal troops to be engaged are Lane and Conrad’s men. The Rebels

fire at them after clearing Privet Knob area. 1st Ohio Light Battery opens up

on Rebs as CSA sharpshooters take aim on the Federals. Ohio gunners fire

but quickly retreat to Franklin, leaving Federal infantry bewildered.

CSA troops closest to Columbia Pike reach vicinity of Privet Knob. Troops

march pass Merrill House nearby.

Hood moves off of Winstead Hill and makes headquarters at Widow Neely’s

home, near present-day Chic-Fil-A on Columbia Pike.

4:34 p.m. Sunset.

With Hood’s Confederates in chase, chaos ensues as the retreating Federals

(Lane and Conrad) race back to the main Federal line, causing their own

men on the main line in front of the Carter grounds to withhold fire on the

Rebels for fear of friendly-fire casualties.

Estimated. Stewart’s Corps

(CSA) marches past Carnton

Plantation, soon coming in

range of the guns of Granger.

His Corps is badly mangled

and squeezed by terrain and

a poorly executed

deployment plan. Many men

become confused. Hundreds

will die. Many of Stewart’s

men will cross what today is known as the Eastern Flank portion of the

battlefield.

4:30 – 5:00 p.m. Clashes between the Federal and Rebel armies begin to

unfold on every major part of the battlefield. Multiple desperate charges

are made by the Rebels on three main sections of the field, (1) near and in

front of the Carter House, (2) centered around the Cotton Gin just east of


the pike, and (3) on the far left Union flank, involving Stiles’ brigade, near

the railroad tracks.

Likely between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m., - just after sunset - the Union center

was pierced and nearly fully compromised by the Rebels.

5:00 – 9:00 p.m.

The worst fighting at Franklin probably took place in the dark

between 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. The devil took full possession of the

earth. The Rebels made 12-16 charges altogether and lost

over 20 stands of colors. Confederates nearly broke through

the line around the Carter House but reserves from Opdycke’s

Tigers plugged the gap.

The fighting was fierce and perhaps most-intense around the

Carter House grounds

and the Cotton Gin.

Both sides were

reduced to hand-to-

hand fighting using

pick axes, the butt of

their guns, knives,

biting, clawing,

surrendering their

actions to the most

primal instincts of human aggression.

In the few hours during the hottest fighting, the dead are piled

up in large numbers as the Rebels make charge after charge

against protected Yankee breastworks. They lay dead in piles

of 4-5 deep in some areas. Most of the dead are Confederates.


The Confederates lost thirteen field generals as casualties, five

were killed outright. Fifty-five regimental commanders were

casualties. Sixty-eight field officers became casualties too.

About 5:30 p.m. (estimate)

Confederate General Patrick R. Cleburne is killed in action near the Cotton

Gin. A small park today

commemorates the

approximate place where he

fell.

Captain Tod Carter (CSA),

was shot numerous times,

and mortally wounded,

probably no more than 150

yards southwest of his own

home. His body was discovered the next morning and his body was carried

to his home where he was placed in his own bed. He died there on

December 2nd.

7:10 p.m. Schofield telegraphs Thomas telling of a heavy and persistent

attack by the enemy (Hood), stating remarkably close casualty estimates for

Hood already in the 5,000 – 6,000 range.

7:30 p.m. (estimated). Thomas telegraphs Schofield: “Your telegram

is just received. It is glorious news, and I congratulate you and the

brave men of your command. But you must look out that the enemy

does not still persist. “

11 p.m. Schofield’s Union troops begin evacuating Franklin, heading north

toward Nashville via the Columbia Pike.

Documents

Timeline for the Battle of Franklin (under construction)