Late in the autumn of 1864, Confederate General John bell Hood led the battle-hardened veterans of the Army of Tennessee on a fateful campaign into central Tennessee in a desperate attempt to regain control of the state from Federal forces. U.S> General John M. Schofield, commanding two corps of entrenched Federal infantry, forced the rebel onslaught in the village of Franklin. The battle that commenced was a bloody death struggle unparalleled in its ferocity.