Devil's Dream - Madison Smartt Bell [153]
November 29: Thanks to miscommunication and some overconfident negligence on the part of General Hood, the Confederates fail to block the Columbia-Franklin Pike, and during the night Schofield slips his men away through Spring Hill toward Franklin.
November 30: Schofield entrenches a line of defense on the south side of Franklin (about twenty miles south of Nashville). Forrest offers to flank Schofield out of this hastily dug position, but Hood refuses, preferring a full-frontal assault across an open field, and orders Forrest to the far right of the line (essentially out of the action). Hood loses over 6,000 men in the ensuing catastrophe, along with twelve of his generals, including Patrick Cleburne.
December 1: Schofield continues his retreat to Nashville and Hood pursues, dispatching Forrest to Murfreesboro.
December 15–16: In the battle of Nashville, Hood’s Army of Tennessee is routed by a Union force about twice its number.
December 18–19: Forrest assists the remnants of Hood’s army in the crossing of the Duck River at Columbia and encourages Hood to move the men he has left further toward safety.
December 20: Hood continues his retreat, leaving Forrest to mount a rearguard action in Columbia.
December 21: As Union forces cross the Duck River, Forrest begins to retreat.
December 23: Five miles south of Columbia, Forrest’s men take advantage of terrain to temporarily halt the Union advance.
December 25: Forrest mounts another counterattack at Anthony’s Hill, southwest of Pulaski.
December 26: Forrest lays another ambush to buy time for Hood’s remnants to cross the Tennessee River.
December 27: Forrest retreats across the Tennessee and reports to Hood at Tuscumbia.
1865
January 13: With the Army of Tennessee for all intents and purposes destroyed, General Hood is relieved of command. His successor, General Richard Taylor, puts Forrest in command of all Confederate cavalry in Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana. At this stage of the war, the new command consists of no more than 10,000 men scattered across three states; Forrest is forced to resort to firing squads to maintain discipline and discourage desertion.
February 29: Forrest (who in happier times would join in the sport) arrests a party of his men, including his son, Willie, for horseracing past his tent (though he had bet on the races himself before they were concluded).
March 18: The Confederate Congress votes to permit enlistment of slaves in the Confederate Army—though not to free them for their service.
March 22: Union General James H. Wilson leads 14,000 cavalrymen across the Tennessee River into northwest Alabama.
March 29: Wilson reaches Elyton, Alabama (today’s Birmingham). Forrest, trying to concentrate his troops to defend the Confederate munitions center at Selma, has two alleged deserters shot and displayed to his men on the roadside (a pair of Kentuckians later found to be innocent of the charge).
March 31: After intercepting Forrest’s couriers, Wilson is able to outmaneuver him in the race to Selma—mowing down the outnumbered Confederates with Spencer repeating rifles. Forrest and his escort attack Wilson’s flank, temporarily separate and scatter his force, take prisoners and then ride hard to the front of his rapid advance, to camp sixteen miles south of Montevallo at 10 p.m.
April 1: Reinforcements fail to reach the Confederates at Ebenezer Church, north of Plantersville. They are routed by the Federals, Forrest fighting furiously hand-to-hand against six Federals slashing at him with sabers and receiving a saber cut on the arm. He is later heard to remark, “If that boy had known enough to give me the point instead of the edge I should not have been here to tell you about it.”
April 2: The blood-covered Forrest rides into Selma in time for General Taylor to evacuate by train, leaving Forrest in command in his place. With some 3,000 men Forrest tries unsuccessfully to hold a fort intended for defense by 10,000. Abandoning Selma, his men scatter; Forrest