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29 November 2008 - Spring Hill & Franklin

Meetings › 29 November 2008 - Spring Hill & Franklin

Speaker: Rees Taylor

Mystery, Romance, Grandeur, Tragedy, Lies, Recrimination, Misunderstanding and above all Bravery are all adjectives that apply to the events surrounding Spring Hill and Franklin but to whom and to what? In his memoirs, posthumously published, John Bell Hood commander of the Army of Tennessee wrote of Spring Hill “The best move in my career as a soldier, I was thus destined to behold came to nought. The discovery that the Army, after a forward march of one hundred and eighty miles, was still, seemingly unwilling to accept battle unless under the protection of breastworks, caused me to experience grave concern”.

Was Hood right? How is this statement reconciled with the savage Confederate attacks at Franklin? Was Hood’s perceived opportunity at Spring Hill one in reality? Why indeed was the Army of Tennessee there, instead of fighting Sherman’s advance through Georgia? Did Hood deliberately discipline his army by throwing it to its death at Franklin? To what extent was the campaign futile in the first place? Did Hood seriously believe that his army would capture Nashville or even have a chance of doing so? Many of the questions surround Confederate actions at Spring Hill and Franklin, but intriguingly there are inexplicable errors by the Union Army, which may have resulted in a crushing defeat at Franklin. Would it have mattered if they had been defeated?

All these questions and more will be looked at in the presentation.

Rees Taylor has been interested in military history and the American Civil War in particular from childhood, having assiduously collected the famous series of bubblegum cards at school. Regretfully his full collection was used in his CSE History project, together with photographs cut from a book of Matthew Brady’s work. After leaving school he had a variety of jobs before returning to full time education. He has a B.A. [Hons] in History from St David’s College, University of Wales. His specialised subject was British Rearmament and Foreign Policy 1932-1940 and the Combined Bomber Offensive against Germany. He is an avid reader of crime fiction and collector of books on military history especially the Civil War; he supports Notts County F.C. and is an active wargamer. Currently he is a higher officer in H.M. Revenue and Customs having been a VAT officer for some years. Visiting the U.S. he has been to most of the eastern major battlefields and hopes to visit more in the coming year. He has been a member of the UKRT for 5 or 6? years and is your meetings secretary.

The Venue

The Civil Service Club is situated in Great Scotland Yard, near Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross railway station, Charing Cross Underground Station (Northern and Bakerloo lines), Embankment Underground Station (Circle and District, Northern and Bakerloo lines). The Club is within easy walking distance from Government Offices on Whitehall and a short journey by bus or underground from the Government Offices along Victoria Street, Lambeth Bridge and near to Victoria Station.

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