Oct. 26, 1864

The Battle of Decatur started as Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee tried to cross the Tennessee River to retake Nashville. Brig. Gen. Robert S. Granger’s Union garrison in Decatur blocked Hood’s efforts. The Confederates faced an impressive array of Union fortifications, including earthworks, trenches and artillery emplacements. Union defenses included the 14th United States Colored Troops, a regiment of ex-slaves who distinguished themselves during the battle. After suffering 450 casualties in three days, Hood moved his army westward and crossed at Tuscumbia. However, the delay contributed to his failure to retake Nashville.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The Landscapes of the Battlefield of Franklin, Tennessee, 2013. (Created by Jordan Boan, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Memorial print for the Confederacy, 1895. Portraits, clockwise from top center, of “Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, Lt. Gen. T.J. (Stonewall) Jackson, Gen. S. Price, Lt. Gen. Polk, Lt. Gen. Hardee, Gen J.E.B. Stuart, Gen. J.E. Johnston, Lt. Gen. Kirby Smith, John H. Morgan, Lt. Gen. R.S. Ewell, Gen. Wade Hampton, Gen. S. Cooper, Lt. Gen. Longstreet, Gen. Benjamin (i.e., Braxton) Bragg, Gen. Hood, Gen. A.P. Hill and Gen. G.F. (i.e., G.T.) Beauregard. (G.H. Buek & Co., Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.