Franklin

• Eastern Flank Target Property

  

  The Civil War Trust is currently working to save this 5-acre portion of the Franklin battlefield. On November 30, 1864, Maj. Gen. Edward Walthall's Confederates suffered staggering losses as they assaulted the eastern flank of the Federal line.

  Eric Jacobson

• Collins Farm

  

  Located on the Eastern Flank, the Collins farm saw severe fighting on November 30, 1864 as Walthall's Confederates advanced along the Lewisburg Pike. The Trust's current 5-acre target property is located just behind the trees at right.

  Rob Shenk

• Eastern Flank Attack

  

  In one of the most fascinating incidents of the battle of Franklin, Union soldiers posted here, on the Eastern flank, fashioned abatis from Orange Osage trees and laid them in front of their fortifications. This site, like so many others at Franklin, was the scene of horrific carnage. The Trust's current target property is located just to the left of this image.

  Rob Shenk

• Walthall's Men

  

  These three soldiers of the 49th Tennessee took part in the deadly assault on the eastern flank.

  Courtesy of Kraig McNutt

• Trust Property Near the Cotton Gin Site

  

  The house and property seen here were acquired in a 2010 preservation effort at Franklin. Adjacent to the Cotton Gin property and contiguous to other Trust land, this a crucial part of the Franklin breakthrough region.

  Rob Shenk

• Trust Property from Cotton Gin Site

  

  View of the property acquired by the Civil War Trust in 2010 from the adjacent Cotton Gin site.

  Rob Shenk

• Cotton Gin Assault

  

  This marker denotes the site of the Carter Cotton Gin and the violent assault that took place in this vicinity.

  Rob Shenk

• Carter Cotton Gin

  

  This historic photo of the Carter Cotton Gin depicts the landscape near the Union fortifications as appeared at the time of the battle.

• Carter House Garden Celebration

  

  Confederate reenactors fire a volley in celebration of the Civil War Trust’s preservation of the Carter House gardens. This effort protected crucial land at the Franklin breakthrough site.

  Rob Shenk

• Breakthrough Pizza

  

  Adjacent to the Holt House property, this pizza franchise is located near the site of the Confederate Breakthrough, some of the bloodiest ground on the Franklin Battlefield.

  Rob Shenk

• Holt House Property

  

  In 2010 the Civil War Trust worked to save this portion of the Franklin Breakthrough site, located near the Carter House, Gardens and Cotton Gin. Piece-by-piece were are working to recover this once lost hallowed ground.

  Rob Shenk

• Holt House Marker

  

  This modest monument commemorates the intense struggle that occurred on the Holt House Property in 1864.

  Rob Shenk

• Franklin Pizza Hut Demolition

  

  In 2006, The Civil War Trust and its allies reclaimed a crucial part of the Franklin battlefield, purchasing and then destroying the site of Pizza Hut franchise. The demolition, seen here, marked a key victory in the battle to restore this hallowed ground.

  Civil War Trust

• Pizza Hut Park

  

  The Pizza Hut site as it appears today. The monument in this image commemorates the death of Patrick Cleburne, who was killed on this ground in 1864.

  Rob Shenk

• Carter House Outbuildings

  

  Stacked rifles sit on the grounds of the Carter House, the site of the Union’s main defensive. The outbuildings seen here are original structures present during the battle.

  Rob Shenk

• Bullet Holes - Carter Outbuilding

  

  The site of some of the battle’s fiercest fighting, the out-buildings of the Carter House still bear the scars of the 1864 battle.

  Rob Shenk

• Union Cannon at the Carter House

  

  Federal artillery bolstering the Union line at the Carter House contributed to the vicious slaughter near the Carter House outbuildings.

  Rob Shenk

• Carter House

  

  The Carter House was the epicenter of the confusing melee that followed the Confederate breakthrough. It was here that Union Col. Emerson Opdycke’s brigade—Opdycke’s Tigers—counterattacked the surging Southerners, blunting their assault.

  Rob Shenk

• Wagner's Forward Line

  

  Union division commander George D. Wagner posted two of his brigades here in a perilously exposed position several hundred yards in front of the main Federal works. Overwhelmed by the Confederate attack and Wagner’s retreating men served as a human shield for the advancing enemy, allowing the Southerners to breach the Union line.

  Rob Shenk

• Columbia Pike at the Breakthrough

  

  The Columbia Pike near the site of the Confederate breakthrough as viewed from the Union perspective.

  Rob Shenk

• Tod Carter's Grave

  

  By far one of the most tragic stories of the Battle of Franklin is that of Tod Carter, the Confederate soldier who fell in the fight at the breakthrough and died in his childhood home.

  Rob Shenk

• Carnton Plantation

  

  Home to the McGavock family, Carnton Plantation was used as a hospital for the scores of wounded from the battle of Franklin.

  Rob Shenk

• Where Generals Lay

  

  The battle of Franklin claimed the lives of six Confederate generals, some of whom were laid here, on the back porch of Carnton, where they breathed their last breaths.

  Rob Shenk

• Entrance to the McGavock Cemetery

  

  The weeks and months following the battle, Mrs. McGavock cared for the Confederate wounded left at her home—and interred the dead on her property. Today, the McGavock Cemetery is the largest privately owned Confederate Cemetery in the United States.

  Rob Shenk

• 230 Killed at Franklin

  

  This simple, evocative monument in the McGavock Cemetery is one of several such epitaphs to the Confederate dead of Franklin.

  Rob Shenk

• Graves in the McGavock Cemetery

  

  Small, simple headstones mark the final resting place for 230 Confederates killed at Franklin.

  Rob Shenk