Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.) THE BATTLE OF FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE THE BATTLE OF FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE November 30, 1864 A statement of the erroneous claims made by General Schofield, and an exposition of the blunder which opened the battle BY CAPTAIN JOHN K. SHELLENBERGER One hundred, twenty-five copies privately printed for the author by THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY CLEVELAND: 1916 PREFACE This monograph on the Battle of Franklin was read first at a meeting of the Minnesota Commandery of the Loyal Legion, December 9, 1902. Written after an exhaustive investigation begun many years before, the straightforward truth was told without fear or favor. The disgraceful and costly blunder with which the Battle of Franklin opened should have been investigated by a court of inquiry. The only action taken, however, was the deposing of General Wagner, the junior in rank and the weakest in influence among the generals implicated, from the command of his division, with the statement that the blunder was due to his disobedience of orders. With this action the matter was hushed up. I have no personal grudge against General Schofield, whose obstinate reliance on his ability to foresee what General Hood would do, was the prime cause of the blunder. My feeling towards him is the same that any honest student will experience when he becomes convinced that an undeserved promotion was secured by dishonest methods. I began my investigation with no thought of him but to secure evidence to disprove statements that I knew to be false, dishonoring the brigade to which I belonged. These had been made by General Cox in _The March to the Sea--Franklin and Nashville_, and by Captain Scofield, a member of Cox's staff, in a paper entitled "The Retreat from Pulaski to Nashville," published in the second volume of _Sketches of War History_, issued by the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion.