Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluesman
I'm not sure why I'm debating this with you, as you clearly don't know what you're talking about, but I'll take this opportunity to let others that may be reading this know that Hood did NOT assault the Federal positions, but was instead attacked and swept away himself.
As I said in my earlier posts.
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Well, you claim that Hood was destroyed at Franklin ('wiped off the order of battle' in your words). However, AFTER Franklin Hood ADVANCED to Nashville and detached Forrest to ATTACK Murfreesboro and took up positions outside of Nashville itself. Now, those actions may have been ill advised under the circumstances, but they were hardly the actions of an army that had been completely wiped out, 'leaving the entire theatre totally undefended' (again, your words). It was at Nashville that Hood's army was effectively 'wiped out', not Franklin. Franklin was simply an instance of Hood trying to 'catch' a portion of the Union forces and destroy them. Although he suffered heavy losses and the Union eventually 'escaped', it was not entirely a mistaken strategy as the Union position was 'vunerable', their immediate retreat route being retricted by a river at their back. The failure was in the execution. Clearly Hood failed in his objective at Franklin, and retrospectively his advance on Nashville and detachment of Forrest were serious mistakes. But the fact remains that Hood was not 'wiped out' at Franklin, so by your own logic it is Nashville that should be considered the 'decisive' battle. For my part I would rate Chattanooga as more 'decisive' than either, since it was that battle, and the aftermath, that left Hood in the desperate position he found himself in after Atlanta.