General Granbury’s Last Words
General Granbury was one of six Confederate Generals killed at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864. Although not as well-known as Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg, Granbury’s brigade was at the very center of the biggest and deadliest advance in the Civil War. General John Bell Hood, for whom Hood Country is named, planned to attack the heavily fortified center of the Union line with his entire infantry, more than 22,000 soldiers (Pickett had only 7,000 men). Granbury knew the maneuver was suicidal, but he followed his orders anyway.
Granbury bravely led his troops, flags flying and drums beating, walking the mile and a half across open fields toward the Union earthworks bristling with porcupine-like tree limbs carved into spears. Andrea Sutton, in her book, Lone Star General: Hiram B. Granbury, cites Granbury’s final words, as reported by a Lieutenant Mangum, who was near Granbury in the assault. ”Forward men, ” Granbury shouted. ”Never let it be said that Texans lag in a fight!” As he spoke these words, a mini ball shattered his skull. Mangum remembered Granbury throwing both hands to his face as he sunk to his knees and remained in that position until the evening when his body was finally removed from the field of battle and laid in a mass grave.
Dr. David K. Barnett
Granbury History
