Troy Oakley,

Newnan, recently spoke to the Sharpsburg Sharpshooters, Sons of Confederate

Veterans Camp 1729, on the War Between the States Battle of Franklin,

Tenn.

He was reared

there and is the descendant of seven ancestors who served in the Army

of Tennessee.

In mid-November

1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman was preparing to head toward Georgia's

east coast with four corps totaling 60,000 infantry, plus about 5,500

artillery.

Confederate

Gen. John Bell Hood began moving his Army of Tennessee from Alabama to

Tennessee. His object was to get between the Federals at Pulaski and Nashville,

Tenn., and possibly draw Sherman north out of Atlanta. The Confederates

numbered some 30,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry.

The cavalry

of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest headed to Tennessee from Corinth, Tenn.

to join Hood in a drive toward Nashville. Tuesday, Nov. 29, a skirmish

took place at Spring Hill, Tenn., and while Hood was told that Federal

forces were heading north from Spring Hill toward Franklin, nothing came

of it except some ineffectual skirmishing, and the entire Federal force

arrived in Franklin the next day.

Forming a defensive

line south of town on the Harpeth River, the Federal forces, under the

leadership of Union Army Maj. Gen. John M. Scholfield, held off the Confederate

forces, with the fight lasting through most of the night. But the Confederates

finally broke through and by dawn the next day, the battle had nearly

devastated the two armies in the town.

Five Confederate

generals were felled at the battle: Patrick Cleburne, States Rights Gist,

H.B. Granbury, John Adams, O. F. Strahl, all killed outright, and John

C. Carter was mortally wounded.

While Hood

proceeded to Nashville, he had failed to break the Union lines and suffered

consequences he could not afford, costing the South 6,261 casualties.

With two thirds

of Hood's Army of Tennessee destroyed, the battle is remembered as the

death of the Army of Tennesand was its last major battle. Hood is not

remembered fondly for his actions.

Oakley, along

with his wife, Kim, and two children, live in the Bedford Forest community

halfway between Newnan and Sharpsburg. He is a mechanical contractor,

moving to the area about four years ago.