The Bitter End of the Army of Tennessee

The Battle of Nashville (15-16 December 1864) was the last major battle in the western theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). After suffering a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Franklin (30 November), Lieutenant General John Bell Hood led the once-proud Confederate Army of Tennessee onward in a desperate attempt to capture Nashville, a major supply and manufacturing center. He clashed with a 55,000-man Union army under Major General George H. Thomas a few miles south of the city, and, after a brutal two-day battle, the rebel lines crumbled. At Nashville, the Army of Tennessee was neutralized as an effective fighting force, bringing an end to the war in the West.