Description:

Schofield John

John M. Schofield TLS re: Battle of Franklin

 



2pp TLS signed by Union Civil War commander John M. Schofield (1831-1906) as “J.M. Schofield” at center of second page. Also includes several typographical corrections in Schofield's hand. Letter written in St. Augustine, Florida on December 2, 1903. The watermarked cream 8.5" x 11" sheets are in very good condition, with overall even toning, expected paper folds, and paper clip ghost impressions in the upper left corners.



Schofield wrote this letter to old friend Professor Jacob Fraise Richard (1844-1919) about the November 30, 1864 Battle of Franklin. Both correspondents had participated in that battle; Schofield as the commander of the Union Army of the Ohio, and Richard as a member of the 111th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and Schofield's onetime chief clerk. At issue was the exact nature of battle field commands given by Schofield to Major General Jacob Doulson Cox (1828-1900). Apparently, a writer had recently advanced an alternate, and, in Schofield's opinion, patently incorrect version of the events. It was important for the aging Civil War commander to correct the historical record.



"I am very glad to find from your letter…that Dr. Cliffe…completely contradicts the allegations of a recent writer, who for manifestly unworthy motives has been attempting to pervert some of the facts relating to details of affairs at Franklin. The Doctor…verifies very closely the facts already established by the records,"
 Schofield wrote Richard.



Schofield then referred to Cox's account, The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864: A Monograph, published in 1897 in New York City by Scribner's, for a transcript of Schofield's exact command. Cox recorded it as: "'General,' he [Schofield said, 'the pontoons are not here, the county bridge is gone, and the ford is hardly passible. You must take command of the Twenty-third Corps, and put it in position here to hold Hood back at all hazards till we can get the trains over, and fight with the river in front of us…'"



Schofield continued to Richard, "Even General Cox does not seem to have grasped the full meaning of those instructions, and so far as I know, all other writers have failed to do so. In other words, the general disposition after a battle is to forget all about things which did not actually occur, but an historian, who would give the very truth of history, must know at least what was in the minds of the commanding Generals when they made their plans…" At Franklin, Schofield expected Cox to thwart Hood with the resources of a single corps, an unimaginable feat that the record later showed was possible.



The Battle of Franklin, sometimes called the "Picket's Charge of the West" was a disastrous Confederate defeat. Major General Schofield fought back multiple frontal assaults by Lt. General John Bell Hood (1831-1879) and his Army of the Tennessee. Hood was unable to break the Union lines, and Schofield's army was able to make an organized retreat. Confederates lost 14 generals to death, injury, or capture in the battle alone.



John M. Schofield was a career soldier, and the 28th U.S. Secretary of War under the Grant and Johnson administrations. Although he was initially dismissed from West Point, Schofield had a solid military record during the Civil War, first combatting Confederate guerillas in Missouri, and then during Sherman's March to the Sea. Schofield's 1895 promotion acknowledged his lifetime contribution to the U.S. Army.



J. Fraise Richard served as chief clerk to Scofield, Sherman, Palmer, Foster, and Cox. The school teacher, principal, and superintendent later wrote Civil War and local Pennsylvania histories.

 



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