BATTLE NEAR FRANKLIN, TENN.
March 5, 1863.
On the fourth of March, an expedition composed of the Thirty-third Indiana, Twenty-second Wisconsin, Nineteenth Michigan, Eighty-fifth Indiana, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio infantry, with detachments of the Second Michigan, Ninth Pennsylvania, and Fourth Kentucky cavalry, left Franklin, Tenn., under the command of Colonel John Coburn, to meet a force which General Rosecrans was to send from Murfreesboro’ at a point some twelve miles from Franklin. The column had proceeded about three miles when it encountered the enemy, and a slight artillery engagement ensued, in which he was defeated with the loss of ten killed, left on the field. Here the train, which consisted of about one hundred wagons, proving too cumbersome, was, with the exception of the baggage-wagons, sent back, and the army went into camp. The next morning information was brought by two negroes that the enemy under Colonel Forrest was reinforced by Major-General Van Dorn, and now numbered ten thousand men. The negroes were dispatched, under guard, to General Gilbert to whom Colonel Colburn had already sent a letter informing him of the probable number of the enemy and asking for reinforcements. “The Colonel must be scared,” observed the General, as he wrote this laconic order: “your force is sufficient, move forward.”
At eight o’clock A. M. the column resumed its march, throwing out skirmishers; and when it had advanced about four miles, fire was opened from a battery immediately in front. Colonel Colburn drew up his command in line of battle, placed three pieces on its right and two on the left, so that the battery might bear simultaneously on two points. Another of the enemy’s batteries immediately revealed itself on the right, but no force was visible. The Eighty-fifth and Thirty-third Indiana were ordered to take it. They started down the hill, and were received with a murderous volley from infantry behind a stone wall and around the depot, where they disclosed overwhelming numbers. At the same moment another rebel battery opened on the left. The two regiments were ordered to retire. The Eighteenth Ohio battery on the left failed to stand the scathing fire of the enemy’s guns, and being out of ammunition, had also without orders moved down to the pike. The enemy now advanced on the left in line of battle, and Colonel Colburn was leading the Thirty-third and the Eighty-fifth Indiana into the fiery snare laid for them. The Twenty-second Wisconsin and Nineteenth Michigan, on the summit of a hill, held their positions against overwhelming odds. The section of the battery on its right had also kept up a constant fire, but that on the pike was retreating in double quick time, and was only too soon followed by the other section, which had hitherto behaved so well. Lieutenant-Colonel Bloodgood of the Twenty-second Wisconsin, seeing the enemy closing round the hill to cut him off, gave the order to move the regiment in that direction by the flank: one hundred and fifty obeyed the command, and, with that number, he escaped. The cavalry had already retired half a mile from the scene of action. The Union brigade was now driven into a hollow, the enemy closing in upon it on every side, shell and round shot pouring upon it, thick and fast, and bullets raining so rapidly, that further resistance appeared like a useless immolation of hundreds of lives. Colonel Colburn therefore surrendered.
The Union loss in this disastrous engagement was one hundred killed, three hundred wounded, besides many prisoners, and a valuable train. The rebel loss in killed and wounded was much less than that sustained by the Federal forces.
On the tenth of March a detachment of Federal troops, comprising the Sixth and Seventh Illinois cavalry, commanded by Colonel Grierson, surprised Colonel Richardson’s guerrilla band, four hundred strong, near Covington, Tenn, killed twenty-five, captured a number of them, and dispersed the rest.
On the twelfth Major-General Gordon Granger with his division, supported by Colonel Minty, returned to Franklin from an expedition which had been attended with a success so brilliant as to efface in great measure the disgrace of the failure of Colonel Colburn’s expedition. General Van Dorn and his command, flushed with their recent victory over Colonel Colburn, were met by this expeditionary force, and “sent flying” over the Duck river.
On the eighteenth, fourteen hundred men, consisting of the One hundred and fifth Ohio, the Eightieth, and One Hundred and Twenty-third Illinois, an Indiana battery, and one company of Tennessee cavalry, under the command of Colonel A. S. Hall, left Murfreesboro’ and started in the direction of Liberty. On the next morning the enemy was encountered, but in numbers so overwhelming that Colonel Hall was compelled to return. He was attacked the next day at Milton by the rebel forces under General John Morgan. A fierce fight, lasting three hours and a half, ensued, but the enemy were finally repulsed with the loss of four captains and sixty men left on the field, dead or mortally wounded, besides nearly three hundred placed hors du combat. Colonel Hall had six killed, forty wounded, and seven missing.
From this time, a great many expeditions of the above description were sent out from time to time with more or less success. A force of rebels, under Major-General Van Dorn, on the 10th of April, attacked the National force under Major-General G. Granger, at Franklin. The rebel force was estimated at nine thousand cavalry, besides two regiments of infantry, and was greatly superior to the Union force, which consisted of only two regiments, under Generals Baird and Gilbert, numbering about sixteen hundred men, and sixteen guns; and two cavalry brigades under General Smith and Colonel Stanley, numbering about twenty-seven hundred men, and two guns. The only natural defence of the place was a fort, not yet completed, and which mounted two siege, and two three-inch rifled guns. This fort was elevated some forty feet above the surrounding country, and commanded most of the approaches to the town. General Granger’s camp was situated on the north side of the river, and about two-thirds of a mile from Franklin. General Baird received orders to check any force of the enemy attempting to cross the fords below, and General Gilbert was so placed as to meet any attack made upon the front, with orders to reinforce either flank if required. About four miles on the road to Murfreesboro’, Colonel Stanley was stationed, and General Smith’s cavalry was held in reserve to reinforce Colonel Stanley. The attack was opened by General Van Dorn on General Granger’s front, which was instantly repulsed. The attack was then renewed on Colonel Stanley, who was driven back before reinforcements could reach him. The enemy pressed close upon them; when they had advanced into an open field, they halted, and the Unionists suddenly faced about, and delivered such a hot fire into their ranks that they fell back in confusion. Speedily recovering, however, the enemy charged again, and were again repulsed with loss. They fell back again; and the Unionists not wishing to follow up the advantage they had gained, continued to retreat till they had neared the town, and there they were charged upon by the whole force of the enemy’s cavalry. The Unionists kept up a continuous firing upon the advancing rebels, but the enemy’s column came steadily onward. The National troops now executed a brilliant, and very skillful movement—each front company delivered its fire, and then retreated to the rear, leaving the next one behind in front, and so succeeding until the one in rear was again in front. In this way the retreating Unionists, still under a hot fire from the rebels, held them in check till the town was gained in safety. Once there, the National troops concealed themselves within the shelter of the houses, yard-fences, hedges, &c., and from this cover they poured into the enemy’s ranks a constant and murderous fire. The siege guns and batteries now opened upon them, also, and succeeded in driving them discomfited from the field. In this engagement, the National loss was very much less than that of the rebels, notwithstanding the latter had so far outnumbered the former.
On the 20th, a skirmish occurred between a Union force, part of Major-General Reynolds’s division, Colonel Wilder’s mounted brigade, and a cavalry force under Colonel Minty, and the enemy, who were stationed at a place called McMinnsville. The rebels formed a line, and charged upon the Unionists as the latter approached the city, where they had been sent from Murfreesboro’, to scatter any Confederate force which might be found at McMinnsville. The National troops encountered the rebel line, breaking through it at once, and drove the whole force, consisting of seven hundred men, from the town. Many men were taken prisoners by this Union force, and much destruction of rebel property accomplished. On the 29th, a small body of Union men, under Colonel Watkins, captured one of the enemy’s camps, taking prisoners one hundred and thirty-eight men.