Following the bloody November 30, 1864, battle at Franklin, Union and Confederate forces met in Nashville in the last major engagement of the Civil War in the West. General John Bell Hood's 22,000-man Confederate Army of Tennessee entrenched south of town in an attempt to draw out the Federal garrison of 58,000 men under Major General George H. Thomas. After a two-week delay that included a bitter winter storm, the Union Army advanced on the foggy morning of December 15. Following a brief feint against the Confederate right, Thomas attacked the entrenched positions along Hillsboro Pike with a combination of infantry and dismounted cavalry, and by early afternoon Federal troops overwhelmed the Confederate left flank, forcing Hood's army to retreat south two miles. On December 16, the extreme right Confederate flank at Peach Orchard Hill, located 600 yards west of Travellers Rest, was defended by two brigades and two artillery batteries from Clayton's Division of Lieutenant General Stephen D. Lee's Corps. A Union soldier judged the earthworks truly formidable and very difficult to carry. The hill was attacked numerous times that afternoon, and the 13th United States Colored Infantry lost over 200 men in the assault, including five color bearers. Peach Orchard Hill was the only Confederate position to hold on the second day.
