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Rare (and possibly unrecorded) map of the Battles fought south of Nashville in December 1864, between the Union and Confederate Armies.
The map shows the positions of troops and identified the generals and their positions, along with those of the rebel forces and the location of batteries. A neatly drawn scale indicates that one inch equals one mile.
It is probable that this is the printed version of a map referenced by Zealous Tower Bates, in a letter to William Fessenden, dated dated December 25, 1864:
The map accompanied a letter, which is part of the Gilder-Lehrman collection and is summarized as follows:
General Tower, chief engineer of Union defenses at Nashville, describes the Battle of Nashville to Fessenden, Secretary of the Treasury. Relates the strategies of Union Generals George Henry Thomas, Andrew Jackson Smith, James Harrison Wilson, and John McAllister Schofield, among several others. Reports on the actions of Confederate forces commanded by General John Bell Hood. States "Probably at this date we have 8,000 prisoners. Hood's Army must be sadly demoralized & broken up. His force was counted at 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. If he escapes with half that number he will be exceedingly lucky. Gen. Thomas is pushing him vigorously.- The Army have great confidence in General Thomas. He is cool, thoughtful, self-reliant, an able commander."
The full letter appears here: www.gilderlehrman.org/mweb/search?needle=GLC00849*&fields=_t301001010
This map follows very closely the detaile describing the Gilder Lerhman map, including the scale and other details. We have found no reference to the map in any standard bibliography and no examples in public collections.
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