Peach Orchard Hill was one of the bloodiest sites duruing the
Battle of Nashville. You are ironicaly walking on hollowed
ground.
Close to several houses so stealth is required. Small four lock
container with log book, pen and some goodies.
On Fri., Dec. 16, 1864, Union forces under Gen. George Thomas
attacked Confederate forces under Gen. John Bell Hood behind
fortifications on Peach Orchard Hill, also known as Overton Hill.
The 300-foot-high hill was located on the Judge John Overton
property, not far from his residence at Travellers Rest. Today the
hill is cut by Harding Place between Interstate 65 and Franklin
Road. It can be easily located by the huge U.S. flag flying at
nearby Franklin Road Academy.
Some of the heaviest and costliest fighting of the entire battle
occurred at Peach Orchard Hill on Dec. 16th even though the attack
was planned as not much more than a feint. At 9 a.m., 28 pieces of
Union field artillery opened fire on Confederate positions atop the
hill and continued unabated for the next two hours. The guns were
located approximately where the Father Ryan High School campus is
today. The Confederates responded with the eight guns of the
Stanford and Eufaula batteries. Attacking the hill were troops
under Gen. Thomas Wood and Gen. James Steedman. Wood was looking
for redemption due to his poor performance at the Battle of
Chickamauga.
In that same battle, Steedman was hailed as a hero for
responding to the plight of beleaugered Union forces under Gen.
Thomas. Defending the hill was the corps of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, in
particular Clayton’s Division, consisting of the brigades of Gens.
Gibson, Holtzclaw, and Stovall. The attack began at 2:45 p.m. and
lasted about 30 minutes. Twelve thousand Federal troops (9,000
under Wood; 3,000 under Steedman) moved southward against the hill,
with U.S. Colored Troops in the vanguard. Twelve hundred Federals
were killed or wounded during the unsuccessful assault. Cartwright
noted that the 13th USCT Regiment was the only unit to reach the
Confederate fortifications and suffered 229 casualties out of a
total of 556 men, including five color bearers.
The Battle of Nashville may have produced the most USCT
casualties of any battle in the Civil War. Although the
Confederates held their ground at Overton Hill, Gen. Hood sent
reinforcements from the western flank (Shy’s Hill area), where they
were desperately needed. On Dec. 16th, the retreat of Hood’s army
began when troops at Shy’s Hill broke and ran. Once the retreat
began, Gen. Lee ordered Gen. Clayton to fall back one mile on the
Franklin Pike and Gen. Gibson to retreat half a mile. A desperate
rearguard action was fought on the pike near the present-day
location of Tyne Boulevard. Gen. Lee would be wounded the next day
south of Franklin during the ongoing rearguard action. The
attacking USCT troops marched past brick slave quarters on the
Overton plantation, near where the CSX Railroad parking lot is now
located. Recent research has shown that five men in the 13th USCT
Regiment were named Overton, and may have been former plantation
slaves. The Overton family hid in the cellar during the fighting.
They were glad to see Union troops under Gen. Washington Elliott, a
friend of the family before the war. The general posted guards
around the house and spent the night there. For two weeks prior to
the battle, Travellers Rest had served as headquarters for Gen.
Hood and his staff. One of the museum’s most prized possessions is
the guestbook signed by eight Confederate generals, including Hood,
Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Alexander P. Stewart, and James
Chalmers. Ironically, at the time of the battle Peach Orchard Hill
probably did not include an orchard, or many trees at all.