BATTLE SUMMARY
In a last, desperate attempt to force Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s Union army out of Georgia, Gen. John B. Hood led the Army of Tennessee north toward Nashville in November 1864. Although he suffered a terrible loss at Franklin, he continued toward Nashville. In operating against Nashville, he decided that destruction of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad and disruption of the Union army supply depot at Murfreesboro would help his cause. He sent Maj. Gen. Nathan B. Forrest, on December 4, with an expedition, composed of 2 cavalry divisions and Maj. Gen. William B. Bate’s infantry division, to Murfreesboro.