Background
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham was born on October 20, 1820 at Nashville, Tennessee, United States, the son of Leonard Pope and Elizabeth (Robertson) Cheatham. His mother was a descendant of James Robertson, “the father of Tennessee. ”
Benjamin Franklin Cheatham was born on October 20, 1820 at Nashville, Tennessee, United States, the son of Leonard Pope and Elizabeth (Robertson) Cheatham. His mother was a descendant of James Robertson, “the father of Tennessee. ”
Cheatham served as captain of Tennessee volunteers at Monterey, and as colonel in the campaign against the City of Mexico. In the gold rush of 1849 he went to California but returned to Tennessee in 1853, engaged in farming, and became major-general of militia. After Tennessee passed the ordinance of secession he was appointed brigadier-general in the state forces, May 9, 1861, and then in the Confederate army, July 9, 1861. For three years he commanded a division, at first in Polk’s and later in Plardee’s corps.
In March 1862 he was appointed major-general. When Flood undertook his Tennessee campaign, late in 1864, Cheatham was assigned to the command of a corps. Sherman was on his march to the sea, and only the Army of the Ohio (Schofield) confronted Hood, though Thomas, at Nashville, was improvising an army with troops drawn from every available source. Hood hoped to overwhelm the forces in front of him before they should be prepared to fight, and then, by invading the North, to counteract the effect of Sherman’s campaign in Georgia. Schofield’s task was to delay Hood until Thomas should be ready to meet him, falling back as slowly as he could without risking the destruction of his army.
At Spring Hill, November 29, its withdrawal was deferred so long that Hood gained a position to cut it off. Why he did not do so remains a mystery. A controversy on the subject between Hood and Cheatham lasted the rest of their lives. Each gives a circumstantial and explicit account of events, and the two flatly contradict each other. Hood declares that he personally pointed out to Cheatham the enemy moving along the road and indicated the position his corps should take, that he repeatedly sent urgent orders to attack, which Cheatham disregarded until the golden opportunity was lost, and that Cheatham afterward “frankly confessed the great error of which he was guilty. ” Cheatham, on the other hand, says that at the time referred to “only a mirage would have made possible the vision” of the enemy on the road, that he disposed his troops exactly as directed, that to his astonishment Hood told him to postpone the attack until daybreak, that he made no such confession as alleged, and that Hood assured him, “I do not censure you for the failure at Spring Hill. I am satisfied you are not responsible for it. ”
Whatever the reason, Schofield made good his escape, and stood in position the next day at Franklin, where Hood delivered the furious and unsuccessful attack which broke the strength of his army. Cheatham fought here and at Nashville, and then joined Johnston’s army in North Carolina, where he surrendered, and resumed life as a farmer.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1872, was for four years superintendent of state prisons, and was appointed postmaster of Nashville a year before his death. As a soldier, he bore a reputation for boldness and hard fighting.
In 1866 Cheatham married Anna Bell, daughter of A. B. Robertson.
