Franklin

• Saved in 2013: Wagner's Forward Line

  

  In 2013, the Civil War Trust and its allies preserved this portion of the forward line held by Gen. George Day Wagner's Union division, the first preservation efforts focused on this important tactical position on the Franklin Battlefield.

  Rob Shenk, Civil War Trust

• Saved in 2013: Cleburne's Attack

  

  View of second of three tracts that we preserved in 2013. This tract fronts the historic Cotton Gin site - one of the bloodiest sections of this bloody battle.

  Rob Shenk, Civil War Trust

• Saved in 2013: Breakthrough Site

  

  In 2013, the Civil War Trust is worked to reclaim this bloody section of the Franklin battlefield, where hundreds fell, including Brig. Gen. Hiram Granbury.

  Rob Shenk, Civil War Trust

• Franklin Breakthrough: Building on Success

  

  View of land saved by the Trust in 2013 from the scene of a preservation victory in 2005 - the removal of a Pizza Hut near the breakthrough site at Franklin.

  Rob Shenk, Civil War Trust

• Greek Food with your Battlefield?

  

  View of the marker designating the location of the Union main line next to Columbia Pike. The Trust worked to preserve the land just beyond this marker in 2013

  Rob Shenk, Civil War Trust

• 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.

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

  

  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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Columbia Pike at the Breakthrough

  

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

  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

• 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

• Eastern Flank Property Saved

  

  The Civil War Trust worked 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

• 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

• Columbia Pike From Winstead Hill

  

  From here, Confederate commander John Bell Hood watched the battle of Franklin unfold. Today, this view is more a testament to the constant development that threatens the Franklin Battlefield.

  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

• Carnton Plantation in Summer

  

  View of the Carnton Plantation in the bloom of summer.

  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

• View from Fort Granger

  

  Located on the north side of the Harpeth, Fort Granger was host to Union artillery who poured shot and shell into the Confederate ranks as they assailed the eastern flank.

  Rob Shenk, Civil War Trust