Hood & Schofield, November 30, 1864

From Winstead Hill, two miles south of Franklin, Hood decided to attack. Two of his generals urged him to avoid a frontal assault, and he ordered it anyway. About 23,000 Confederates advanced on some 15,000 Union troops behind earthworks, in as many as eighteen charges, some by torchlight, until ten at night. The Confederates lost around 7,000 men, among them six generals killed and sixty-three of a hundred regimental commanders killed or wounded. Union losses were about 2,500. Two weeks later, at Nashville, the army that remained could not hold its ground.

What the plaque says

Hood & Schofield November 30, 1864 Schofield, slipping his army past Hood's at Spring Hill, entrenched in the southern edge of Franklin, 2 mi. N. Here Hood attacked him frontally about 4 p.m., sustaining heavy losses. Schofield withdrew to Nashville, Hood followed. Hood's command post during the battle was on the slope 50 yds., west.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Carnton — 1.5 mi
  The McGavock farm in Franklin, worked by 44 enslaved people in 1860, that became the largest field hospital of the Battle of Franklin.
• Fort Negley — 19 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.
• National Museum of African American Music — 20 mi
  A downtown Nashville museum, opened in 2021, tracing gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and hip-hop through Black history from 1619 to 2016.
• Ryman Auditorium — 20 mi
  The 1892 brick tabernacle in downtown Nashville that was the Grand Ole Opry's home from 1943 to 1974, now a National Historic Landmark and working concert hall.

More markers nearby

• The Harrison House — 0.5 mi
• Battle Ground Academy — 1.7 mi
• Carter House — 2.0 mi
• Lotz House — 2.0 mi