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.