Elm Springs

Elm Springs. End of the Burn Line. 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 then 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. , Union Gen. John M. Schofield's army prepared its temporary defense here on November 26, 1864, as Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee approached Columbia. The town, located on the Duck River and the direct route to Nashville, was Hood's first objective in his plan to recapture Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Schofield won the race to Columbia and created a "burn line” south of the town (present-day Campbell Blvd.) to clear fields of fire by destroying all structures and large trees there. Elm Springs anchored the eastern end of the burn line., With Confederate troops approaching rapidly, Union soldiers broke into the house and seized small combustibles, placing them in the closet under the stairs. Lighting a broom from the fireplace, they shoved it beneath the stairs and fled through the front door as Confederate Gen. Frank C. Armstrong's cavalrymen rode into the back yard. Alerted to the growing fire, some of his men quickly extinguished the flames while others rounded the house and discovered the Federals fleeing across the front lawn. A few well-placed shots brought them down and stopped the burning on this end of the field., Hood pressed on toward Nashville and suffered devastating casualties at the Battle of Franklin on November 30. Afterward, this house sheltered convalescing Confederate officers, including Gen. John C. Brown, who later served as governor of Tennessee. , Confederate Maj. Abram M. Looney, 1st Tennessee Infantry, owned Elm Springs (built ca. 1837) during the war.