Friday, January 11, 2002
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Friday, January 11, 2002 |
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Oakley speaks on battle of Franklin, Tenn. By CAROLYN
CARY
Troy Oakley, Newnan, recently spoke to the Sharpsburg Sharpshooters, Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1729, on the War Between the States Battle of Franklin, Tenn. He was reared there and is the descendant of seven ancestors who served in the Army of Tennessee. In mid-November 1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman was preparing to head toward Georgia's east coast with four corps totaling 60,000 infantry, plus about 5,500 artillery. Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood began moving his Army of Tennessee from Alabama to Tennessee. His object was to get between the Federals at Pulaski and Nashville, Tenn., and possibly draw Sherman north out of Atlanta. The Confederates numbered some 30,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry. The cavalry of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest headed to Tennessee from Corinth, Tenn. to join Hood in a drive toward Nashville. Tuesday, Nov. 29, a skirmish took place at Spring Hill, Tenn., and while Hood was told that Federal forces were heading north from Spring Hill toward Franklin, nothing came of it except some ineffectual skirmishing, and the entire Federal force arrived in Franklin the next day. Forming a defensive line south of town on the Harpeth River, the Federal forces, under the leadership of Union Army Maj. Gen. John M. Scholfield, held off the Confederate forces, with the fight lasting through most of the night. But the Confederates finally broke through and by dawn the next day, the battle had nearly devastated the two armies in the town. Five Confederate generals were felled at the battle: Patrick Cleburne, States Rights Gist, H.B. Granbury, John Adams, O. F. Strahl, all killed outright, and John C. Carter was mortally wounded. While Hood proceeded to Nashville, he had failed to break the Union lines and suffered consequences he could not afford, costing the South 6,261 casualties. With two thirds of Hood's Army of Tennessee destroyed, the battle is remembered as the death of the Army of Tennesand was its last major battle. Hood is not remembered fondly for his actions. Oakley, along with his wife, Kim, and two children, live in the Bedford Forest community halfway between Newnan and Sharpsburg. He is a mechanical contractor, moving to the area about four years ago.
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