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, then moved north into Tennessee rather than contest Sherman's March to the Sea. Gen. John M. Schofield, detached from Sherman's army, delayed Hood at Columbia and Spring Hill before falling back to Franklin, where the bloodbath on November 30 crippled the Confederates, though 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. The Army of Tennessee's last military action in its namesake state came a mile northeast of here on Sugar Creek on December 26, 1864, as the retreating army waited for pontoon boats so it could cross the Tennessee River to safety after Hood's defeat in Nashville. After fighting at Anthony Hill the previous day in neighboring Giles County, Forrest's troops camped along Sugar Creek and prepared for a Federal attack, including Confederate cavalrymen from Col. George H. Nixon's Lawrence County command. Forrest told his subordinates that the Yankees were coming, that there would be a fight, and that when the infantry broke their lines he would throw Ross's Cavalry on them, and the battle unfolded that way. Just before 8 A.M. on a cold winter morning, U.S. Gen. James H. Wilson's cavalry corps advanced slowly through a thick fog. Forrest had placed two brigades under Gen. Edward C. Walthall about 200 yards south of the creek's main ford behind rock-and-log breastworks, with additional infantrymen downstream and cavalrymen guarding the flanks, concealed until the Federals came within 50 yards. After firing a volley, the Confederates charged, and the surprised Union troopers hastily fell back, losing at least 150 casualties and prisoners as well as many horses. Federal forces made no further attacks, and the Army of Tennessee crossed the river during the next two days.