"On 21 November 1864, the Confederate Army of Tennessee wended its way north into the state that had given it its name. The men were tired and gaunt, an army of scarecrows whose threadbare uniforms, worn-out and faded, hung loosely on their battered bodies and did little to protect against the early winter chill. Many went barefoot, marching over dirt roads that had been churned to mud by the recent torrential rainstorms."
"Others had empty haversacks, sucking on sugarcane or hickory nuts to ward off the gnawing sense of hunger. But despite these hardships, the 39,000 men of the Army of Tennessee were determined. They were going home - home to a land ravaged by three years of brutal warfare, home to a state that had been occupied by the Yankee invader for nearly as long. Home to see their mothers, their friends, their sweethearts."
Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood invaded Tennessee in late November 1864 aiming to retake Nashville and push into Kentucky. His Army of Tennessee, about 39,000 men, endured hunger, fatigue, poor clothing, and muddy roads during the march north. Hood cornered Major General John M. Schofield's Union force at Franklin, where strong entrenchments awaited. Despite the defensive preparations, Hood ordered a massive frontal assault of roughly 20,000 men across two miles of open field with minimal artillery support. The attack produced approximately 6,200 Confederate casualties, including twelve generals, rendering Franklin one of the most devastating Southern defeats.
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