Thompson's Station

Thompson's Station. Prelude to Franklin. (preface) , In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman’s supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” Hood moved north into Tennessee. Gen. John M. Schofield, detached from Sherman’s army, delayed Hood at Columbia and Spring Hill before falling back to Franklin. The bloodbath there on November 30 crippled the Confederates, but they followed Schofield to the outskirts of Nashville and Union Gen. George H. Thomas’s strong defenses. Hood’s campaign ended when Thomas crushed his army on December 15-16., (main text) , On November 29, 1864, just one day before the Battle of Franklin, an action occurred here at Thompson’s Station that alarmed Union Gen. John M. Schofield’s army as it marched north toward Nashville from Spring Hill. For a time, Lt. Col. Daniel W. McCoy and the 175th Ohio Infantry had occupied ground near the railroad depot. Soon, however, Confederate Gen. Lawrence S. Rose’s cavalry brigade from Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command drove off the Ohio regiment, burned the bridge and depot, and attacked a train arriving from the south. The engineer backed hastily toward Spring Hill and spread the word, which raised concerns that the Federal escape route to Nashville had been blocked. By that afternoon, Ross’s men also had possession of the Columbia Pike, but about sundown they withdrew toward Spring Hill to obtain further orders. After midnight, however, they returned to the station and attacked the head of the Federal wagon train. Union infantry arrived to drive Ross off near dawn, and the remainder of Schofield’s army slipped past Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood’s army, marched through Thompson’s Station, and escaped to Franklin., (sidebar) , Another action was fought here on March 5, 1863, when Union Col. John Coburn’s infantry and cavalry engaged Confederate Gen. Earl Van Dorn’s cavalry. Some of the fighting swirled around the nearby Thompson House now called Homestead Manor. Forrest’s cavalrymen galloped in from the east, got behind some of the Union infantrymen on the other side of the road and cut off their retreat. Coburn’s attack suddenly collapsed, and more than 1,000 Union soldiers surrendered. Just two months later, local physician George Peters murdered Van Dorn at Spring Hill, having discovered the general was having an affair with Peter’s young wife., (captions) , (lower left) Gen. Lawrence S. Ross Courtesy Texas Ranger Hall of Fame , (upper center) Postwar photograph of rebuilt Thompson’s Station - Courtesy Rick Warwick Collection , (lower left) Gen. Earl Van Dorn Library of Congress ,