Hood's Maneuver

Hood's gamble was to split his army and hope the Union side would not notice. On November 29, 1864, he sent two corps north across Duck River at Davis's Ford, riding near the head of one column himself, while two divisions of Lee's corps and most of the artillery stayed south of the river to bombard Columbia and look like the main attack. The aim was to put the army between Schofield and Nashville. A wide cavalry screen kept the Union horse away. The plan nearly worked, and it came apart at Spring Hill.

What the plaque says

Hood's Maneuver November 24, 1864 Sending Lee's Corps and the bulk of his army's artillery toward Columbia to engaged and hold Scholfield in check, Hood moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee east along this road to Davis's Ford of Duck River. Here he crossed, to place himself across the Federal line of retreat to Nashville.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• James K. Polk Home and Museum — 4.1 mi
  The 1816 brick house in Columbia where Polk practiced law and campaigned for the legislature, now a museum that also tells of the people the Polk family enslaved.
• The Mink Slide and East 8th Street — 4.3 mi
  Columbia's Black business and church district south of the courthouse square, where on the night of February 25, 1946 a white mob gathered and Black veterans stood guard.
• Gordon House and Ferry Site — 13 mi
  A brick house of 1818 beside the Duck River at milepost 407.7 of the Natchez Trace Parkway, where a Chickasaw partner and a Tennessee captain ran a ferry and an inn.
• Meriwether Lewis Site — 21 mi
  The place on the Natchez Trace Parkway where Meriwether Lewis died in October 1809, with his 1848 monument, a pioneer cemetery, a walk on the Old Trace and a free campground.

More markers nearby

• St. John's — 2.3 mi
• Hood & Schofield, November 24, 1864 — 2.3 mi
• Zion — 2.9 mi
• Columbia Military Academy — 3.3 mi