Spring Hill: The Prelude to Franklin

[@fchristiny]

FYI, this video was filmed on the land saved by the Civil War Preservation Trust atop Rally Hill off Kedron Road in Spring Hill, TN. ( Kedron Road was the old Rally Hill Pike.) Kedron Road is what you see right at the end of the film. I was fortunate enough to visit these sites just a few months ago. I even met with the great Eric Jacobson at Rippavilla!

[@jeffersonmanchild9271]

Most interesting campaign of the war in my opinion. Amazing and full of what if scenarios.

[@cyndiebill6631]

Congratulations on saving these battlefields. Thank you. Saving history for future generations is worth every bit of it. ♥️😊👍

[@dwightcrapson6223]

Amen.

[@tilmanlastname376]

What a great video and fantastic explanations. I particularly liked the emphasis on how the decisions on both sides affected the outcome in subtle ways, sometimes. No one fights a battle alone; you always have an opponent forcing your mistakes and foiling your great plans. 30 miles in 15 hours... at night. Wow!!

[@mattpiepenburg8769]

Each of you fellows are just fantastic. Another superbly done presentation.

[@TheHistoryUnderground]

Been looking forward to this part of the trip 👍🏻

[@GuyPipili]

Wow JD, you're here too! You're definitely a history junkie!😄

[@dwightcrapson6223]

I am pleased that information about what happened at Spring Hill is finally becoming available. What didn't happen at Spring Hill is a very important part of this campaign, and in previous years I have not found much info about what happened, and why. Thank you for what you are doing here.

[@stephenburns3678]

Thank you

[@trevordurrigan4935]

Find this so cool I actually live a mile or 2 away from this site between Franklin and Spring Hill and where they are standing I pass on the daily

[@footballfan7771]

Viking pizza is at the foot of the hill!

[@torceridaho]

/great job, fellows. Thanks so much

[@Nathan-yx7jz]

Always enjoy watching Eric Jacobson's authoritative and interesting presentations.

[@danielfaflik4545]

Love these string of videos your putting out with multiple speakers and with energy! This really gives me hope that our past will live on. Also on a side note anyone know of any Civil War board games that play sorta like Axis and Allies?

[@jimwind7589]

Avalon Hill in the 70s use to make board games of slot of these battles. Wished I would have bought some.

[@dwightcrapson6223]

Axis and Allies is a great game, I have spent countless hours playing against a friend who is an excellent commander in this game. I will watch with interest for a response to your question.

[@robj7386]

keep up the good work

[@davegoodridge8352]

‘For cause and Country’ is a great book! Tell Mr Jacobson thank you

[@andrewmcneil6668]

Pardon me if this is a stupid statement or question because I am no expert on this but wouldn't the South have been better served if Hood would have used his army to do something about Sherman instead of going to Franklin? I am under the impression that Sherman was delighted for Hood to go to 'up there' instead of possibly giving Sherman trouble on his destructive march. On the surface anyway, Hood's moves seem like a bit of a mistake in hindsight.

[@emintey]

Not stupid at all, but Hood had tried against Sherman but he was always repulsed, Hood tried leading Sherman out of Georgia but Sherman ignored him knowing that the union had enough resources to do both, invade Georgia and stop hood if he went north. Hood made some very serious mistakes, both in attacking Sherman around Atlanta and at Franklin and especially at Nashville in besieging the city with fewer fewer men than thomas had and lost his army for it. Then again Hoods options were limited. IMO Hood was a reckless army commander.

[@sharkastic4594]

Plus Sherman had three times the manpower as Hood.

[@watchesinthewild6264]

The civil war's most intriguing campaign

[@mykofreder1682]

This is almost December and it started around noon, by 4 you should not be shooting because of darkness and are probably as likely to shoot your own people. I think they saw they could do something before it got dark and did it, they probably were stopped in their tracks as darkness fell to avoid unfortunate night time incidents that probably every general had experienced directly or word of mouth the past years. There is fog of war and at night blindness of war.

[@debramartin7029]

This is for Garry.... "huge tracks of land"..... "There will be no singing in this movie"... that's some trivia for you because I think I know what movie you were referring to!

[@AmericanBattlefieldTrust]

I was! 😀

[@fchristiny]

Huge fan of MP

[@LAT-qk3vj]

Will there ever be another Battle of Franklin reenactment?

[@Paul-wi8ci]

The only thing I ask for you to add to your videos is some sound music or whatever at the beginning, the silence makes me thing I turned the sound down or something went wrong while playing the video. One time I actually stopped playing the video because I thought something was wrong.

[@kenstradling5398]

Gary’s comment of “HUGE tracts of land,” is a dead giveaway that he’s a Monty Python fan…

[@bullrider58]

George H. Thomas, still the most underserved Union general. Never fled a fight. Consistently on the front lines fighting in crucial spots. Never surprised by an enemy. Never played politics. Yet, destroyed 2 Confederate field armies, saved the Army of the Ohio and Cumberland multiple times. Greenlit Wilson’s raid. An advocate of the USCT after commanding them at Nashville and Chickamuha/Chattanooga. Yet, because Grant was jealous, he never got what he was due.

[@JohnReedy07163]

To be fair to Grant, he was rather fucked over by Halleck

[@emintey]

Do u think it was jealousy? I always thought it was very different styles. Thomas was slow and deliberate, wanted all his ducks lined up but a rock. Grant was very aggressive, as were the commanders he preferred like like Sheridan and Sherman. Warren was kind of treated the same way as thomas was. Grant was too harsh with Thomas, but it’s probably true that thomas was better on defense than he was on offense.

[@JohnReedy07163]

@@emintey Battles at Mill Springs, The Tullahoma Campaign and his taking of Missionary Ridge at Chattanooga show that George Thomas was a brilliant offensive commander. He's got his name in Defenses from Perryville, Stones River in 1862 to Chickamauga and Franklin/Nashville in 1864 but do not mistake Thomas, he was slow but when he went forward he always won. Dude should have been a Major General at Chickamauga, Sheridan ran and turned back, Rosecrans completely fled. Thomas is the reason Kentucky never really went to the Confederacy and he's 1 of 2 reasons why Tennessee fell so early on, the other being Grant

[@bullrider58]

@@emintey Grant never forgave Thomas for being put in command of his troops after Shiloh. Though it was Halleck who made the change and there was never any evidence that Thomas wanted the command. It was against his nature to take away from those who were rightfully in command. He would defer to Buell and Rosecrans on serrated occasions and only took higher commands when he was ordered to (Corinth and Chattanooga).

[@bullrider58]

@@JohnReedy07163 then would not his wrath been better served directed at Halleck? It’s a bit petty to argue against someone who didn’t get a choice

[@DKWalser]

Eric Jacobson was great. He displayed both knowledge and wit.

[@jayeme1483]

Is it appropriate to keep cattle on battlefield grass ?

[@ethanmorris298]

The fall of Fort Donelson lead to the fall of the CSA.

[@wesleysmith4097]

Guys, I don't know which general is Confederate or Union. Your maps, which I search, are not obvious as where I should be looking. I paused the recording and still cannot find locations you're discussing. Otherwise, this is awesome!

[@chasevossmeyer1982]

Confederate - Hood Federal - Schofield

[@earlyriser8998]

a 'battle' or escape I knew nothing about

[@crippledcrow2384]

Hood was determined to make a showing for Davis and his sweetheart, that didn't care for him, that he sacrificed his army, or Johnston's army that is.

[@jamesnorwood4084]

Hood most likely fatigued by his leg and arm, delegated from the rear area. Was In Richmond recouping from injuries when Davis allowed Hood to replace Johnston at Atlanta prior to the Battle of Peach Tree Creek. Big error in judgement. Hood on laudanum and still not fit for service. Bad arm_ unusable and cork leg after amputation. Even though Hood was a good soldier and game, he was often rash in his battlefield decisions. Perhaps Davis had no suitable choice other than Hood to replace Johnston, but ultimately Davis must share in the disaster leading up to and including that of Confederate forces defeat before Nashville. For all practical purposes the war of rebellion ended at Nashville. My great grandfather John M. Norwood 43rd Ms. Inf. was captured at Nashville and died _ dysentery_ at Camp Douglas Chicago 1865.

[@bjohnson515]

Cleburne was considered a great Brigade commander, but not so much a great division commander according to what I have read. Schofield was Hood's math tutor at West Point and they were in the same class at West Point.

[@emintey]

Cleburne is held in great regard in the south. He was out of step with his superiors because he proposed freeing the slaves and enlisting them in the confederate army and it is said that this limited his career in chances for further promotion. In any case he lost his life in suicide charges at Franklin ordered by Hood. Hood seems to have had a death wish in fighting battles he couldn't possibly win.

[@tinaphillips7239]

The story as to why General Hood was not with the army but instead at the his headquarters was that he was still in a lot of pain from the amputation of his right leg after his wounding at Chickamauga and he was on a lot of medication to ease the pain and therefore lying in bed.

[@rodeggleton1969]

Too generous to Hood. It was a catastrophi error.

[@detsportsfan18]

Wish they would have gone with Thomas Cartwright. Jacobson has turned into the model of woke history in TN. He's been going on slavery tantrums as of late at the places they manage, and beating people over the heads with the idea of "Slavery was bad". Yeah, no kidding, there's nobody disputing otherwise, but Civil War people like myself don't need it rammed down my throat at the same time as if that's the only point to take during that time. At a recent panel for the latest USCT statue, he pandered to a crowd and said that "people just need to admit their white privilege", which was a joke. What's odd, is that even though he always had a smugness about him, at least he stuck to Civil War history for the most part. He never was like that before until the last couple years, sadly.

[@detsportsfan18]

@@frankfrederico4342 I wasn't referring to anything in this video. While I will always support the American Battlefield Trust, I will never support anything the Battle of Franklin Trust is involved in, with people like him behind it all.

[@detsportsfan18]

@@frankfrederico4342 Did I really need to preface things by saying "On a sidenote"? Didn't think I'd have to be THAT literal for some...🙄

[@bobbyb.6644]

Sounds like Gettysburg ? EVERYTHING that could go wrong - DID ? Karma ? 🤨