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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{for|the Civil War battle in Decatur, Georgia|Battle of Atlanta}}<br />
{{short description|1864 battle of the American Civil War}}<br />
{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}<br />
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}<br />
{{Infobox military conflict<br />
| conflict = Battle of Decatur<br />
| partof = the [[American Civil War]]<br />
| coordinates = {{coord|34.614|-86.986|region:US-AL_type:event|display=inline,title}}<br />
| date = {{Start and end date|1864|10|26|1864|10|29}}<br />
| place = [[Decatur, Alabama]]<br />
| result = [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] victory<br />
| combatant1 = {{flag|United States|1863}} ([[Union (American Civil War)|Union]])<br />
| combatant2 = {{flag|Confederate States|1863}}<br />
| commander1 = {{flagicon|United States|1863}} [[Robert S. Granger]]<br />
| commander2 = {{flagicon|CSA|army}} [[John Bell Hood|John B. Hood]]<br />
| strength1 = 3,000–5,000{{sfnmp|1a1=Kennedy|1y=1998|1p=392|2a1=Sword|2y=1993|2p=64}}{{NoteTag|Sword cites 3,000; Kennedy cites 5,000.}}<br />
| strength2 = 39,000{{sfnp|Eicher|McPherson|McPherson|2001|p=769}}<br />
| casualties1 = 155 (19 KIA, 114 WIA, 22 MIA/POW){{sfnp|Kennedy|1998|p=392}}<br />
| casualties2 = 450 (54 KIA, 210 WIA, 125 Captured)<br />
| map_type = Alabama<br />
| map_size = 280<br />
| map_label = Decatur<br />
| map_relief = Yes<br />
| map_caption = Location within Alabama<br />
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Franklin-Nashville Campaign}}<br />
}}<br />
<br />
The '''Battle of Decatur''' was a [[demonstration (military)|demonstration]] conducted from October 26 to October 29, 1864, as part of the [[Franklin-Nashville Campaign]] of the [[American Civil War]]. [[Union Army|Union]] forces of 3–5,000 men under Brigadier-General [[Robert S. Granger]] prevented the 39,000 men of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Army of Tennessee]] under General [[John Bell Hood|John B. Hood]] from crossing the [[Tennessee River]] at [[Decatur, Alabama]].<br />
<br />
==Background==<br />
General John B. Hood was marching through northern Alabama on his way to an invasion of Union-held Tennessee. His army had departed northwest from the vicinity of [[Atlanta, Georgia]], in late September 1864, hoping their destruction of Union supply lines would lure Major-General [[William T. Sherman]]'s Union army into battle.{{sfnp|NPS Decatur}} Sherman pursued Hood as far as [[Gaylesville, Alabama]], but decided to return his army to Atlanta and instead conduct a [[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]] through Georgia. He gave responsibility for the defense of Tennessee to Thomas at [[Nashville]].{{sfnp|Eicher|McPherson|McPherson|2001|p=770}}<br />
<br />
Hood departed from [[Gadsden, Alabama]], on October 22, en route to [[Guntersville, Alabama]], where he planned to cross the Tennessee River. However, he later learned from cavalry Brigadier-General [[Phillip Roddey]] that crossing place was strongly guarded, while Decatur, forty miles west, was said to be "lightly guarded". Concerned over the possibility of Federal gunboats destroying any pontoon bridge he might deploy, along with the absence of [[Nathan Bedford Forrest|Forrest]]'s horsemen to bring him intelligence, Hood changed his course to Decatur.{{sfnmp|1a1=Hood|1y=2013|1pp=92–93|2a1=Kennedy|2y=1998|2p=392|3a1=Sword|3y=1993|3p=64}}<br />
<br />
==Battle==<br />
[[File:Decatur_Battlefield_Alabama.jpg|305px|thumb|left|Map of Decatur Battlefield core and study areas by the [[American Battlefield Protection Program]].]]<br />
When Hood arrived at Decatur on October 26, he found a Federal infantry force of 3,000 to 5,000 men defending an entrenched line that included two forts and 1,600 yards of rifle pits; a much heavier force than Roddey had believed. Two Federal gunboats patrolled the river.{{sfnmp|1a1=Hood|1y=2013|1pp=92–93|2a1=Jacobson|2a2=Rupp|2y=2007|2p=43|3a1=Sword|3y=1993|3pp=64-65}} General George Thomas, in Nashville, sent supplies and reinforcements to Decatur along with orders to "defend Decatur to the last extremity."{{sfnp|Thrasher|2021|p=101}} On October 27, Hood arranged his army as it arrived to encircle Decatur.{{sfnmp|1a1=Hood|1y=2013|1pp=92–93|2a1=Jacobson|2a2=Rupp|2y=2007|2p=43|3a1=Sword|3y=1993|3pp=64-65}} Meanwhile, the Union continued to pour reinforcements into Decatur which arrived just in time to fill gaps in the wavering Union lines.{{sfnp|Thrasher|2021|p=101}} The next morning, he sent Confederate [[skirmisher]]s through a dense fog to a ravine within 800 yards of the main fortifications. At about noon, a Federal regiment drove the skirmishers out of the ravine, capturing 125 men. "With the soldiers hungry and supplies scarce", Hood knew he could not afford the casualties from a full-scale assault and decided to cross the Tennessee River elsewhere. He marched further the west and crossed near [[Tuscumbia, Alabama]], where [[Muscle Shoals, Alabama|Muscle Shoals]] prevented interference by the Federal gunboats.{{sfnmp|1a1=Hood|1y=2013|1pp=92–93|2a1=Jacobson|2a2=Rupp|2y=2007|2p=43|3a1=Sword|3y=1993|3pp=64-65}}<br />
<br />
==Footnotes==<br />
{{NoteFoot|30em}}<br />
<br />
==Citations==<br />
{{Reflist|30em}}<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}<br />
* {{cite book |last1=Eicher |first1=David J. |author1-link=David J. Eicher |last2=McPherson |first2=James M. |author2-link=James M. McPherson |last3=McPherson |first3=James Alan |author3-link=James Alan McPherson |title=The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |edition=1st |date=2001 |location=New York, NY |pages=990 |language=en |url=https://archive.org/details/longestnightmili00eich |access-date=6 July 2020 |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-7432-1846-7 |oclc=231931020 |lccn=2001034153 |format=PDF }}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Hood |first=Stephen M. |date=2013 |title=John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General |publisher=Savas Beatie |location=El Dorado Hills, CA |pages=335 |isbn=978-1-61121-140-5 |oclc=818954790 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FSy-NAEACAAJ}}<br />
* {{cite book |last1=Jacobson |first1=Eric A. |last2=Rupp |first2=Richard A. |title=For Cause & for Country: A Study of the Affair at Spring Hill & the Battle of Franklin |publisher=O'More Publishing |location=Franklin, TN |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-9717444-4-8 |oclc=428436180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lha-PAAACAAJ }}<br />
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Kennedy |editor1-first=Frances H. |title=The Civil War Battlefield Guide |date=1998 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co. |location=Boston, MA |isbn=0-395-74012-6 |edition=2nd |url=https://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Battlefield-Guide-ebook/dp/B006WQL38Y/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=The+Civil+War+Battlefield+Guide&qid=1606345040&s=digital-text&sr=1-3 |access-date=June 24, 2020 |format=Kindle}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Sword |first=Wiley |title=The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville |publisher=University Press of Kansas |location=Lawrence, KS |date=1993 |isbn=9780700606504 |oclc=1285470936 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y4oOAAAACAAJ}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Thrasher |first=C.D. |title=Suffering in the Army of Tennessee: A Social History of the Confederate Army of the Heartland from the Battles for Atlanta to the Retreat from Nashville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |location=Knoxville, TN |series=Voices of the Civil War series |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-62190-641-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30RvzgEACAAJ |access-date=2023-05-26}}<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121108182931/http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/CWSII/CWSACReportAlabamaUpdate.pdf Update to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields – State of Alabama]<br />
* [http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2580 "Battle of Decatur"], Encyclopedia of Alabama.<br />
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/al004.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030090046/http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/al004.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 30, 2014 |title=Decatur |website=nps.gov |date=January 19, 2004 |publisher=[[U.S. National Park Service]] |access-date=September 14, 2017 |ref={{sfnref|NPS Decatur}} }}{{PD-notice}}<br />
{{Div col end}}<br />
<br />
==Further reading==<br />
* Carpenter, Noel. ''[[A Slight Demonstration]]: Decatur, October 1864, Clumsy Beginning of Gen. John B. Hood's Tennessee Campaign''. Austin, TX: Legacy Books and Letters, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-615-14866-3}}.<br />
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{{Alabama in the Civil War|state=collapsed}}<br />
{{Portal bar|Alabama|American Civil War}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Decatur, Battle Of}}<br />
[[Category:1864 in Alabama]]<br />
[[Category:Franklin–Nashville Campaign|Decatur 1864]]<br />
[[Category:Battles of the American Civil War in Alabama|Decatur 1864]]<br />
[[Category:Battles of the Western Theater of the American Civil War|Decatur]]<br />
[[Category:Conflicts in 1864|Decatur]]<br />
[[Category:Decatur, Alabama]]<br />
[[Category:October 1864]]<br />
[[Category:Union victories of the American Civil War|Decatur 1864]]</div>imported>GreenC bot