Battle of Columbia
Description:Conflict near Columbia, during Hood’s 1864 Tennessee invasion, constituted a Confederate diversion as part of a maneuver designed to cross the Duck River upstream and interdict the Union army’s line of communications with Nashville.
As Gen. John Bell Hood’s army advanced northeastward from Florence, Alabama, Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield’s force quickly withdrew from Pulaski to Columbia, arriving on November 24, just ahead of Forrest’s Rebel cavalry. The Federals built two lines of earthworks south of the town while skirmishing with enemy cavalry on November 24 and 25. Hood advanced his infantry on the following day but did not assault. He made demonstrations along the front while marching two corps of his army to Davis Ford, some five miles eastward on the Duck River. Schofield correctly interpreted Hood’s moves, but foul weather prevented him from crossing to the north bank before November 28, leaving Columbia to the Confederates. The next day, both armies marched north for Spring Hill. Schofield had slowed Hood’s movement but had not stopped him.
The Battle of Columbia was fought November 24–29, 1864, in Maury County, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War.
The battle constituted a Confederate diversion as part of a maneuver designed to cross the Duck River upstream and interdict the Union's line of communications with Nashville. As Gen. John Bell Hood's army advanced northeastward from Florence, Alabama, Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield's force (Maj. Gen. David S. Stanley's IV Corps and Schofield's own XXIII Corps) quickly withdrew from Pulaski to Columbia, arriving on November 24, just ahead of Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate cavalry.
The Federals built two lines of earthworks south of the town while skirmishing with enemy cavalry on November 24 and November 25. Hood advanced his infantry on the following day but did not assault. He made demonstrations along the front while marching two corps of his army to Davis Ford, some five miles (8 km) eastward on the Duck River. Schofield correctly interpreted Hood's moves, but foul weather prevented him from crossing to the north bank before November 28, leaving Columbia to the Confederates. The next day, both armies marched north for Spring Hill. Schofield had slowed Hood's movement but had not stopped him.
