Spotlight: Battle of Decatur — Morgan Co, AL

The Battle of Decatur, Oct. 26-29, 1864, was the result of Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood's effort to move his army across the Tennessee River and into central Tennessee in an attempt to reclaim Nashville. The engagement occurred as part of the larger Franklin-Nashville Campaign. The Union garrison at Decatur, commanded by U.S. Brig. Gen. Robert S. Granger, prevented Hood from crossing and forced him to move his army westward and eventually cross the river at Tuscumbia some 40 miles away. Ultimately the engagement here would delay Hood's crossing of the Tennessee River and contribute to his failure in December to retake Nashville for the Confederacy. A lack of provisions for his starving army and stiff resistance put forth by Granger's garrison, combined with the arrival of two Union gunboats, convinced Hood and his superior, Confederate Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, who had arrived on the scene the night of Oct. 27, that further action against Decatur would be foolhardy. During the engagement, the South suffered approx. 450 casualties, whereas the Union lost 155 men.