On Sunday, December 14th at 3 P.M., the Franklin Civil War Round Table will host historian and author Jamie Gillam, who will present a discussion on the Battle of Spring Hill and the controversial events that led up to the Battle of Franklin one day later.

Having marched into Tennessee under General John Bell Hood, the Army of Tennessee managed, through a series of flanking moves, to cut off a large Federal force under John Schofield from their safe haven in Nashville at Spring Hill. Schofield’s command was trapped and would certainly be destroyed the next day giving the Confederates a major victory and an open path to Franklin and beyond. Instead, through a series of blunders, misunderstood or not followed orders, fatigue or the general fog of war, this didn’t happen. In a move that has been studied and debated ever since, the Federals marched right past the Confederate Army and to the relative safety of the earthworks at Franklin, setting up the tragic battle there the very next day.

Gillum is a native Tennessean and author of Twenty-Five Hours to Tragedy: The Battle of Spring Hill and Operations on November 29, 1864: Precursor to the Battle of Franklin. He has studied events leading up to the Battle of Spring Hill extensively and is considered one of the premier experts on the controversial events.

Gillum served fourteen years in the United State Marine Corps and studied at Middle Tennessee State University with an emphasis in military history. He has served as assistant military historian at the Carter House in Franklin and has written extensively on Tennesseans in the Civil War as well as the 1864 Tennessee Campaign.