In a last, desperate attempt to force Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's army
out of Georgia, Gen. John Bell Hood led the Army of Tennessee north toward
Nashville in November 1864. Although he suffered a terrible loss at Franklin,
he continued toward Nashville. In operating against Nashville, he decided that
destruction of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad and disruption of the
Union army supply depot at Murfreesboro would help his cause. He sent Maj.
Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, on December 4, with an expedition, composed of
two cavalry divisions and Maj. Gen. William B. Bate's infantry division, to
Murfreesboro. On December 2, Hood had ordered Bate to destroy the railroad and
blockhouses between Murfreesboro and Nashville and join Forrest for further
operations; on December 4, Bate's division attacked Blockhouse No. 7
protecting the railroad crossing at Overall Creek, but Union forces fought it
off. On the morning of the 5th, Forrest headed out toward Murfreesboro,
splitting his force, one column to attack the fort on the hill and the other
to take Blockhouse No. 4, both at La Vergne. Upon his demand for surrender at
both locations, the Union garrisons did so. Outside La Vergne, Forrest hooked
up with Bate's division and the command advanced on to Murfreesboro along two
roads, driving the Yankees into their Fortress Rosencrans fortifications, and
encamped in the city outskirts for the night. The next morning, on the 6th,
Forrest ordered Bate's division to "move upon the enemy's works." Fighting
flared for a couple of hours, but the Yankees ceased firing and both sides
glared at each other for the rest of the day. Brig. Gen. Claudius Sears's and
Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmer's infantry brigades joined Forrest's command in
the evening, further swelling his numbers. On the morning of the 7th, Maj.
Gen. Lovell Rousseau, commanding all of the forces at Murfreesboro, sent two
brigades out under Brig. Gen. Robert Milroy on the Salem Pike to feel out the
enemy. These troops engaged the Confederates and fighting continued. At one
point some of Forrest's troops broke and ran causing disorder in the Rebel
ranks; even entreaties from Forrest and Bate did not stem the rout of these
units. The rest of Forrest's command conducted an orderly retreat from the
field and encamped for the night outside Murfreesboro. Forrest had destroyed
railroad track, blockhouses, and some homes and generally disrupted Union
operations in the area, but he did not accomplish much else. The raid on
Murfreesboro was a minor irritation.