Climax at Cheatham Hill
Confederate defenders here defeated the main Union assault.
On June 27, 1864, more than 8,000 Union infantrymen attacked an equal number of well-entrenched Confederates along this low-lying hill. One Tennessee veteran compared the assault to “ocean waves driven by a hurricane… sweeping on as if by a irresistible impulse.”
The Confederates repulsed the first federal charge. While attempting to rally his eight Union regiments, 27 year old Brig. Gen. Charles G. Harker was shot off his white horse. Although one Federal brigade reached the Confederate lines ¼ mile to your right, Union troops soon retreated in disarray.
About 1/4 mile to the left, two other Union brigades charged toward an angle in the Confederate defenses. This trail follows the Confederate earthworks in the area that both sides later named “The Dead Angle.”
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.