[exmarine]

as wild as it seems when you consider the odds, Hood had a fine chance to destroy the Union forces at Spring Hill.

This is a stretch. Almost all historians are unanimous that Hood was a good division commander but a terrible army commander. He was reckless and rash. Storming those defenses in Tennessee was stupid and it got Cleburne killed! Notice that Forrest was not stupid enough to charge them. Didn't this guy learn anything about frontal assaults in all of his experience?

[Cleburne]

Well, that was my point! Hood had the golden chance to wipe out Schofield-who may have been a worse commander than Hood-but Hood squandered it. The only reason Hood had the opportunity was Schofield's own stupidity. In fact, Cleburne's Division broke through Schofields' lines at Franklin, and the Union line was only held because a fiery little fellow name Opdyke (sp?) disregarded orders and moved in to support the flailing Union line, thus stopping Cleburne's men and effectively finishing the Army of Tennessee as a fighting force. And Forrest's attack was unable to break through for an excellent reason-his men had no ammuntion left! He repeatedly asked for more ammunition but was denied by Hood. Had it not been for Forrest's desperate rear-guard action after Nashville, the whole Army of Tennessee would have ceased to exist in one blow. Wilson, commanding the Federal calvary, was good, but was not quite equal to Forrest.