December 14, 1864 As 1864 draws to a close, Abbott is back in Nashville, Tennessee. This was an important time for the city, as the Battle of Nashville took place from December 15-16, 1864. Abbott was definitely present for this, as the letter was written in Nashville and he alludes to the upcoming conflict. He tells his family that he is sure they have heard about the military operations that are occurring at Nashville and that it is evident that Confederate general Hood and his troops are making preparations “to take the city,” though Abbott emphasizes that the Union troops are there to defend it. The letter is dated before the battle, so what Abbott is describing are things leading up to it. He says that they arrived on December 1st and have since been building fortifications, doing guard duty, “laying around, freezing and fighting.” Indeed, this is consistent with reports that “From the 1st-14th, Thomas made preparations for the Battle of Nashville.” Clearly, everyone was expecting something big to erupt.. During the Battle of Nashville, the Union was led by George Thomas while the Confederates had John Bell Hood at the helm. The Union outnumbered the Confederates, with 55,000 soldiers vs. 30,000 soldiers respectively. Thomas set out with the intent of completely destroying Hood’s army while Hood’s mission revolved around “a last desperate attempt to force Major General William T. Sherman’s army of out Georgia” in which he would lead his Army of the Tennessee north towards Nashville. This really did end up becoming a very significant battle. With its defeat, the Confederate Army of the Tennessee pretty much became a nonissue. Thomas had carefully laid out plans for the battle and they were executed masterfully. Historian Thomas R. Hay has remarked, “The once powerful army of Tennessee was all but a mere memory.” The interesting thing about this is the fact that the Confederates had suffered two rather enormous defeats just two weeks earlier, at Spring Hill and Franklin. This third battle in that series seems to have been a crucial component to their eventual downfall. By the end of the battle, there were 2,140 Union casualties and 4,462 Confederate casualties. This battle did not benefit the Confederate cause. Following this defeat, Hood then resigned his command from the Confederate army. This battle is one of the more well-known ones that Abbott was actually present for. He has alluded to other major parts of the war but more often than not wasn’t personally involved. It’s really interesting reading his account of the pre-battle preparations and comparing it with information found on the Civil War Trust website. They line up almost perfectly, with both describing steps being taken to ready the Union troops for the battle. This letter is a perfect example of how personal narratives and accounts help to better understand historical events. Works Cited The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “The Battle of Nashville.” Accessed December 11, 2013. http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/nashville.html. Cooling, B. Franklin, The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “The Decisive Battle of Nashville.” Accessed December 11, 2013. http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/nashville/nashville-history-articles/nashvillecooling.html. Photo Credit: Son of the South. "Battle of Nashville Tennessee, Civil War Harper's Weekly, January 14, 1865." Accessed December 13, 2013. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/january/battle-nashville.htm.
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AuthorTessa Wakefield, student intern at the Concordia College Archives, assembled these blog entries in 2013-2014 for the Isaac Mark Abbott Civil War Letters Collection. The posts summarize the content of the letters, interpret Abbott's experiences and place them in the larger context of the Civil War. Archives
March 2014
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