On the morning of November 30, 1864, General John Bell Hood awakened to a report that the Federal army under the command of Major General John Schofield was marching into the town of Franklin, Tennessee miles beyond the trap that he had thought was set when he went to bed the evening before.  The Federal escape was indeed fortuitous and by all accounts inexplicable.  The Confederates had been there in advance of the Federals and had fought ferociously on the 29^th.  Hood had every right to expect them to be there and yet they were not.  He was understandably “wrathy as a rattlesnake.”

BGES welcomes you to a critical and detailed study of the battle of Franklin.  This second part of the BGES’ exclusive series on Hood’s 1864 Tennessee Campaign will continue once again on December 2^nd and will run until December 5^th as we do the most extensive study of the battle and its consequences ever before attempted.  Based in Franklin, cohort members will enjoy unprecedented access to important sites not open to the general public on a routine basis.

Led by campaign historian, Eric Jacobson and accompanied by Brigadier General Parker Hills, you will enjoy a constant dialogue as you move through not only the battle itself but the various options that have been discussed endlessly since the end of the war.  In exchange you will ask and answer for yourself if the ordered attack was senseless and ill conceived or if it was tragic but last chance opportunity to achieve the campaign’s objectives.  Could Forrest have gone around Schofield and crossed the Harpeth River before the Federals escaped to Nashville?  Was a frontal assault indeed hopeless?

This program is being conduct using the BGES’ acclaimed staff ride process by which participants are expected to prepare for the program before arriving and to become fully engaged in the dialogue throughout the program.  Indeed the event is scheduled as close to the actual time of the year as possible to take advantage of possible weather similarities.  Feel the chill air and walk the fields after dark when the attack took place.  Be at Carnton at 4:30 PM at the precise time the attack stepped off into the setting sun and walk multiple attack routes as we follow the Confederates on that awful November day.

This program will briefly recap the events at Spring Hill before opening the program in the very parlor at Oaklawn where Hood and his subordinate commanders met on November 30^th.  Jacobson is the nation’s premier historian for this battle—indeed he is the historian in residence at Carnton Plantation—home of the McGavock family.  Then end it in John Bell Hood’s head as he contemplates continuing the attack on the morning of December 1^st.  Our 2010 program will continue onto the siege and battle of Nashville.

In addition to Jacobson and Hills, we expect General Hood’s collateral descendent, Sam Hood, President of the John Bell Hood Historical Society to once again join us.  Hood is a well read and articulate advocate for giving Hood an open minded look in this campaign.

The first part of this program led to the conclusion that the Confederates had a well conceived and executed plan to envelop the Federals which culminated at Spring Hill.  For a participant’s insight to that opening program visit his web site at http://posix.com/CW08/index.html or google Hal Jespersen’s Travel Log 2008 and scroll down to the Spring Hill program.

This is a program that real Civil War buffs will love.  Once you have done a BGES staff ride you will be back for another.

Click here to go to the detailed itinerary and registration forms.