Union Maj. General George H. Thomas (left) and Confederate Lt. General John Bell Hood. (Library of Congress)
December 1864
By Phil Kohn
Phil Kohn can be reached at USCW160@yahoo.com
Maj. Gen. John Schofield’s Union troops, after the battle at Franklin, Tennessee, arrive at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 1, 1864, where they join the well-entrenched forces already there under the command of Maj. Gen. George Thomas. Thomas’s troops now number some 60,000 men. Brig. Gen. George Stoneman leads Union cavalry on a lengthy raid into southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee, targeting Confederate lead mines and salt works.
On December 2, some 25,000 Confederates under Gen. John Bell Hood, smarting from the debacle at Franklin two days earlier but still following Schofield’s Yankees, encamp to the southeast of Nashville. Both armies prepare for a fight.
In Georgia, the four Union corps of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman continue their march to the coast on December 3. Maj. Gen. Thomas, in Nashville, receives messages from Lt. Gen. Grant and other authorities in Washington, urging him to attack Hood’s Confederates as soon as possible.
A heated cavalry fight takes place on December 4 between Maj. Gen. Joe Wheeler’s Confederates and Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s Federals at Waynesborough, Georgia. Ultimately, Wheeler’s men are forced to retreat before Sherman’s relentless “March to the Sea.” Around Nashville, Tennessee, Confederate cavalry strikes at Union outposts at White’s Station and Bell’s Mills.
On December 5, Gen. Hood sends Bedford Forrest’s cavalry and a division of infantry towards Murfreesboro, Tennessee, about 35 miles to the southeast. On the same day, Confederate Brig. Gen. Hylan Lyon leads 800 cavalrymen out of Hood’s bivouac on a raid heading west. The hope is that his movement will draw some of Thomas’s Union troops out of Nashville. Lyon crosses the Cumberland River and captures Cumberland City, Tennessee, around 50 miles to the northwest of Nashville, the next day.
Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who has been urging Maj. Gen. Thomas to attack Hood and his Confederates since they arrived at Nashville, loses patience and issues a direct order to Thomas on December 6: “Attack Hood at once.” Thomas, however, continues to delay attacking, as many of his cavalrymen are without mounts. He has been holding off an offensive against Hood while he has troops scouring the countryside for horses for the several thousand of his cavalrymen who need them. Thomas replies to Grant, warning that an attack without cavalry would be risky. In Washington, D.C., former Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase is named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to succeed the late Roger B. Taney, who died in October. In his annual message to Congress, President Lincoln urged reconsideration of the Thirteenth Amendment, which would abolish slavery.
Union troops attack Stony Creek, Virginia, on December 7 and proceed along the Weldon Railroad, destroying track along the way. The same day, in Tennessee, Maj. Gen. Forrest’s 6,500 Confederates engage Union defenders in front of Murfreesboro. The Federals, led by Maj. Gen. Robert Milroy, drive Forrest’s men from the field, capturing 200 soldiers and 14 guns. Most of Forrest’s force, however, withdraws in an orderly manner and that evening sets up camps ringing Murfreesboro, effectively bottling up the 9,000 Federals in the city. Irate over Maj. Gen. Thomas’s failure to move at Nashville, Lt. Gen. Grant tells Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that if Thomas doesn’t attack promptly, he should be removed from command. Stanton replies that such a move would be Grant’s decision.
On December 8, south of Petersburg, Virginia, the Union Army sends out several scouting expeditions. Skirmishing occurs in the vicinity of Hatcher’s Run. In Georgia, Sherman’s Army, still heading toward Savannah in two columns, engages with Confederates in skirmishes near Ebenezer Creek, about 25 miles northwest of Savannah, and Bryan Court House, around 35 miles west of the city. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler takes 6,500 Federal soldiers of his Army of the James via the James River from Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, to Ft. Monroe, in Hampton, Virginia. There, they will join a naval expedition aimed at destroying Fort Fisher in North Carolina, and closing the port of Wilmington, the last Confederate port open to blockade runners. Grant once again wires Thomas, urging him to attack. Grant is worried that Hood will somehow move north and cross the Ohio River. Thomas replies that his cavalry will not be ready until December 11.
Brig. Gen. Hylan Lyon’s Confederate cavalry on December 9 conducts raids in the vicinity of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, around 35 miles northeast of Cumberland City, Tennessee. In Virginia, Federal troops working on cutting the Weldon Railroad near Stony Creek are stopped and turned back by local militia troops. Finally losing all patience with the lack of movement from the Union Army at Nashville, Lt. Gen. U. S. Grant issues an order relieving Maj. Gen. George Thomas from command, replacing him with Maj. Gen. John Schofield. At the last minute, Grant suspends the order when he receives word from Thomas that he had intended to attack Hood’s Confederates on December 10, but that a severe storm of freezing rain has occurred, and that the hazardous ice-covered ground has forced him to change his plans.
In Georgia, Sherman’s 60,000 troops on December 10 arrive south of Savannah, which is defended by 18,000 well-entrenched Confederates under command of Lt. Gen. William Hardee. The Southerners have flooded rice fields around the city, leaving only five narrow strips of land over which the Federals could make an assault. Sherman decides not to attack, but to besiege the city. Now, however, Sherman must deal with supply problems. Although his soldiers have adequate food, forage for horses and other animals is quickly becoming very scarce because the Union army is no longer moving, and livestock must be moved farther and farther afield to find adequate grazing. Extremely bad weather continues at Nashville, making any movements hazardous.
December 11 sees multiple messages from Grant to Thomas, urging him to attack Hood. Thomas replies: “As soon as the weather permits.” In Georgia, Maj. Gen. William Sherman is preparing his troops to assault Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee River, about 13 miles south of Savannah, as the crow flies. Sherman’s plan is that by taking Fort McAllister, it would allow the U.S. Navy to sail in and provide supplies by water to his now stationary army.
From Nashville, Tennessee, Maj. Gen. George Thomas on December 12 sends a message to Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck, chief of staff of the Army, in Washington, that he intends to attack Hood as soon as the ice on the ground melts sufficiently to permit troop movements. Thomas explains that movement is almost impossible on the frozen, ice-covered ground.
On December 13, a U.S. fleet of over 60 ironclads and ships under Rear Adm. David Porter sets sail from Hampton Roads, Virginia, headed south. Embarked aboard transport ships are 6.500 troops of the Army of the James, commanded by Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler. The target: Fort Fisher, which protects Wilmington, North Carolina, the last Confederate port still open to blockade runners. On the same day, farther south, Sherman’s forces assault and capture Ft. McAllister, on the coast south of Savannah. Elimination of the fort allows Sherman to link up with the U.S. Navy, restoring a line of supply and reestablishing communications with the North, which had been cut off when the army left Atlanta.
Maj. Gen. George Thomas, at Nashville, Tennessee, notifies Washington on December 14 that the ice on the ground has melted and that he will be attacking the Confederates of Gen. John Bell Hood the next day.
After days of delays, slow preparations and paralyzing ice storms, 50,000 of Maj. Gen. George Thomas’s Federals swarm from Nashville on December 15 and slam into John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee. The Confederate lines are pushed back to the south, with the Union troops gaining considerable ground. Hood has also been fighting without Forrest’s considerable cavalry force, which is still around Murfreesboro, Tennessee, some 35 miles to the southeast. Considering the outcome of the fighting, Maj. Gen. Thomas believes that Hood’s army will withdraw; it doesn’t. It remains intact and drawn up just southeast of Nashville.
The next day, December 16, at Nashville, the events of the previous day are repeated in rain and snow, with a more-devastating result: The Confederate lines are shattered and, this time, forced back in disorganized retreat. Casualties are relatively light for such a pitched battle (U.S.: 3,061; C.S.: around 1,500), but almost 4,500 Confederates are captured. The 18,000 surviving soldiers of Hood’s command straggle southward. The Confederate Army of Tennessee is effectively finished as an effective fighting force.
With his link-up with the U.S. Navy complete, and his men and animals now fed, fully equipped and supplied, Maj. Gen. Sherman sends Lt. Gen. Hardee a message on December 17 demanding the surrender of the Confederates in Savannah. The same day, Hardee receives word from Jefferson Davis that reinforcements that Hardee requested from Gen. Lee in Virginia cannot be sent. In Tennessee, Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson pursues the retreating Confederates of Gen. Hood, engaging their rear guard in several skirmishes.
Brig. Gen. Lyon’s Confederate raiders, still raiding in Kentucky, destroy a Federal supply depot at Elizabethtown, on December 18. Hearing of Hood’s defeat at Nashville, Lyon heads his men south to rejoin Maj. Gen. Forrest’s main body of cavalry, who remain near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. From Savannah, Georgia, Lt. Gen. William Hardee notifies Union Maj. Gen. Sherman that he will not surrender, as requested. In Washington, President Lincoln and Radical Republicans in Congress continue to spar over the details concerning reconstruction of seceded states that return to the Union. The rift between Lincoln, who favors a lenient approach and the Radicals, who favor a punitive one, seems to widen.
On December 19, in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan launches two cavalry raids. He sends 5,500 troopers towards Gordonsville and 2,500 towards Staunton. Neither force reaches its destination, both being turned back en route by Confederate defenders. The same day, after storms and bad weather, Rear Adm. Porter’s fleet arrives off Fort Fisher, North Carolina, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River near Wilmington. In Washington, D.C., President Lincoln calls for 300,000 additional troops for the Union Army. At Savannah, Georgia, Maj. Gen. Sherman begins having his troops encircle the city to cut off escape routes for Lt. Gen. Hardee and his Confederate defenders.
Outnumbered and with no assistance coming, Maj. Gen. Hardee on December 20 is able to pull his roughly 10,000 troops out of Savannah and moves them northward across the Savannah River into South Carolina. His hope is to be reinforced there by state troops. The Confederate Navy is ordered to destroy its Savannah Squadron of vessels and ancillary facilities to keep them from falling into Union hands.
On December 21, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Grierson leads 3,300 Federal cavalrymen out of Memphis, Tennessee, for a raid on railroads in northern Mississippi. In Georgia, Maj. Gen. Sherman’s men, against no opposition, begin moving into Savannah.
Occupying the city intact, Maj. Gen. Sherman on December 22 wires President Lincoln his famous message: “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.”
Hood’s Confederates continue withdrawing southward on December 23, being relentlessly pursued by Federal cavalry. Skirmishing takes place at Columbia, Tennessee, around 40 miles south of Nashville. At Fort Fisher, off Wilmington, North Carolina, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, in command of the Union landing force, has his men pack some 215 tons of gunpowder in an old hulk and then detonates it near Fort Fisher, with the idea that the blast will severely damage, if not destroy, the structure. The plan fails, as the explosion does little or no damage to the fort.
Christmas Eve, December 24, sees Rear Adm. Porter’s fleet begin a furious bombardment of Fort Fisher that has little effect, as the fort’s thick walls are made of wood and sand, which easily absorb the impact of the artillery explosions.
The next day, December 25, Maj. Gen. Butler offloads 2,300 of his troops for a land assault on the fort, which is beaten back by the 500 defenders in the fort. Butler, learning that reinforcements rushed by Gen. Lee from Virginia are nearing the fort and are only a few miles away, calls off the assault and orders his troops back onto their ships. Blaming the failure to take Fort Fisher on Rear Adm. Porter and his own subordinate officers, and ignoring orders from Lt. Gen. Grant to besiege the fort, Butler has the entire armada withdraw to Beaufort, North Carolina, 100 miles to the northeast, and then return to Fort Monroe, in Hampton, Virginia. Unfortunately for Butler, Rear Adm. David Porter, in charge of the naval portion of the operation, sends word to Lt. Gen. Grant that Fort Fisher could have been taken easily if anyone competent had been in charge.
The remains of Gen. John Bell Hood’s defeated Army of Tennessee reaches the Tennessee River near Decatur, Alabama, on December 26 and begins crossing over to the south side.
The Army of Tennessee completes crossing the Tennessee River on December 27 and begins marching westward towards Tupelo, Mississippi, some 110 miles to the westsouthwest.
On December 28, Brig. Gen. Grierson’s Union cavalry captures the Confederate garrison at Egypt Station, Mississippi, and turns back a 1,200-man relief force arriving by train. In Washington, D.C., President Lincoln, disappointed with the way the Fort Fisher expedition turned out, asks Lt. Gen. Grant his thoughts on the operation. Grant, who has long considered Benjamin Butler incompetent and a military liability and has been calling for his dismissal since the summer, has no problem pinpointing who he feels is responsible for “the gross and culpable failure.”
Francis P. Blair, a powerful and influential Maryland politician, on December 30 writes a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis requesting a meeting in Richmond. Blair hints that he has an interest in exploring possible peace between the U.S. and the Confederacy. At a Cabinet meeting in Washington, President Lincoln suggests that Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler be removed from command of the Army of the James. Until now, Lincoln has been hesitant to remove the politically powerful and influential general, but the Fort Fisher affair has been a major embarrassment.
