Scenario # 3, Spring Hill TN – 29 November 1864
Historical Summary & Scenario Situation.
John Bell Hood was known as a fighter and aggressive commander. After
his loss of Atlanta and surrender of the initiative of the course of the
war in the Confederate heartland to the Union, he sought an aggressive
solution. He invaded Tennessee to cut Sherman’s lines of supply and
force him to seek battle at places of Hood’s time and choosing. To make
his strategem work, Hood had to gain a victory and he moved decisively
to do so against Schofield’s IV and XXIII Corps. During the
autumn of 1864, Hood and Schofield parried one another’s efforts as the
Union commander sought a juncture with George Thomas at Nashville.
At Columbia TN, Hood effectively duped Schofield by a demonstration at the crossing of the Duck River. Seizing the operational pause, Hood side-stepped Schofield with his cavalry corps under the able leadership of Bedford Forrest followed by Hardee’s old corps now under B.F. Cheatham and A.P. Stewart’s corps. On November 29, Hood’s advance guard, consisting Forrest’s cavalry and his best infantry division under Patrick Cleburne, the finest tactical commander in the west, stopped Wagner’s division at Spring Hill TN. Faced by Forrest on the north and encumbered by the Union army’s supply train, the Union commander, George Wagner, set up defensive positions and waited. John Bell Hood had achieved his objective – the Union IV and XXIII Corps were cut off.
This scenario starts with the hasty deployment of Cleburne’s division for the attack. It is 4 PM and George Wagner has requested reinforcements. The Union only has to last the night. The two teams in this scenario play the forces of Generals William Jackson (Forrest’s division cavalry commander), Patrick Cleburne, John C. Brown, and George Wagner. The Union also has the army’s supply train as well as the 4th Corps artillery. The game lasts 6 turns representing the amount of time remaining until dark.
Scenario Victory Conditions.
Victory is determined by possession of the Junction Hex on the Franklin
Road in Spring Hill or the destruction of the Union army supply train.
The determination of the scenario winner is done at the end of T6.
Historical Results.
In late afternoon, the Federals repulsed a piecemeal infantry attack
by two of Cleburne’s brigades. Cleburne re-aligned his division and was
ordered to halt before he renewed the assault to wait for a supporting
attack by Brown on his right. Due to failures at the corps and army levels
of command, the reinforcing attack never materialized and Cleburne’s division
slept in their staging areas waiting for the guns to signal the attack.
During the night, the rest of Schofield’s command passed from Columbia
through Spring Hill to Franklin. The passage of the Union force was said
to be so close to the Confederate lines that Union soldiers in the column
could light their tobacco from Confederate camp fires. This was Hood’s
only chance to isolate and defeat the Union army.
Infuriated by the missed opportunity, Hood ordered a hasty attack from
the march at Franklin TN the next day. It was conducted without artillery
preparation by the troops of Cheatham’s and Stewart’s corps on line across
two miles of open farmland against the Union IV and XXII Corps in prepared
breastworks. The Confederate Army of Tennessee lost 7000 men to include
13 general officers out of 18,000 men engaged. The army, after the Battle
at Franklin, was a mere shell.
Special Instructions.
No strategic movement allowed by forces initially deployed at Spring
Hill. The arriving division of John C. Brown is free to deploy along the
southern edge of the tactical map.
Any unit that moves from its initial position is not allowed to go into breastworks (form: bw command) for the remainder of the scenario.
Reference URLs:
http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/tn035.htm
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=16&n=3955329&e=506719&s=50&loc=Spring+Hill