Confederate Cemetery at Franklin

In the spring of 1866 the Confederate dead were reinterred on the McGavock family estate. Their house, Carnton, had been a field hospital during the battle and as discussed in a previous post is now open for paid tours. The cemetery is also open to the public. The dead have been grouped by state and there are individual headstones with as much information as possible for each man.

Each state also has a marker with the number of dead from that state. The state historical society marker lists the internments at 1496 but if you tally the totals from each state marker the total is 1481.

Here are some shots of the cemetery. Its a rather simple design, one big central walkway with burials in lines on either side.

Once I was there and flags for each state were out. I like the look of that too.

On the south side of the Confederate cemetery is the McGavock family cemetery.

Additionally General Johnson Kelly Duncan is buried here. Duncan was born in 1827 in Pennsylvania and graduated 5th in the West Point class of 1849. He resigned in 1855 and did some engineering work in Louisiana. When the war began he became colonel of the 1st Louisiana Regular Artillery but in January 1862 was promoted to brigadier general and put in charge of the lower Mississippi River defenses (Forts Jackson and St. Philip). He was captured when the forts fell and after his exchange became Bragg's chief of staff. He died of malaria in Knoxville on December 18, 1862 and was later buried here.

And now the state markers.

Alabama

Arkansas

Florida

Georgia

Kentucky

Louisiana

Mississippi

Missouri

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee

Texas

The Unknowns

Franklin - Fort Granger

Fort Granger was built by the Union to control the town of Franklin, and primarily the bridge over the river. It is on a high hill north of the town.


This marker shows a war-time image and helps you figure out where things are today. Its a bit hard because there are a lot more trees today than when the image was created, plus there are modern buildings that obscure the view, but overall there is a good view from here.

On the far right of the picture is Winstead Hill, subject of a post last week. Here is a detail of the war-time image.

And a similar view today (the angle doesn't appear to be 100% the same but its close). You can definitely see the Columbia Pike in the gap between the two hills. The light green area on Winstead Hill would be roughly where the parking lot is to see the markers and monuments on Winstead Hill, most of them are just inside the tree line.

And now a few pictures inside of Fort Granger. Many earthen forts of the time look like this now. You can make out some gun placements but by and large there is not a tremendous amount of information to be gleaned here. The high ground and the walls would have made this a tough fort to take but if an army had really been interested in capturing this fort it would have fallen. Its not strong enough that it would have been impossible to capture.

Franklin - Carnton

The Carnton plantation was used as a field hospital for the Confederates during the battle. It has been preserved and is well worth visiting. Blood stains can be seen on the floors, I can only imagine how much cleaning was tried before the effort was given up. But this is not just a field hospital, on the day after the battle the bodies of four of the Confederate generals killed during the fighting were laid on Carnton's back porch. The generals were Patrick R. Cleburne, Hiram B. Granbury, John Adams, and Otho F. Strahl.



The back porch.

The front entrance.

Another view of the front, I find the building interesting as architecture alone.

The white building is the summer kitchen.

There are a few other out buildings preserved.

Carnton's garden which is interesting to go through also.

One very big tree, I believe the sign said it was an Osage orange.

Franklin - Collins' Farm

The far Union left was protected by a natural Osage Orange abatis. Confederate troops belonging to the brigades of Thomas Scott, John Adams and Winfield Featherston attacked here. These brigades belonged to William Loring's division. After being repulsed they fell back to the Collins' Farm where a ravine offered some protection. Again, not much is preserved at Franklin but there is a nice double sided marker here and this small open field gives some sense of what the land here might have looked like as there is a small ravine here. I have no idea if this is the ravine referred to on the marker, it would make sense but I would not be surprised if this was not the ravine either. At least there is not a movie theater on the ground.

Franklin - Cotton Gin

Some of the heaviest fighting at Franklin occurred where the Columbia Pike intersected the Union entrenchments. The landmark to the west of the road was the Carter House and to the east it was the Cotton Gin. Cleburne's Division mostly made its attacks against the Cotton Gin position. Of course the cotton gin doesn't exist anymore, the battle practically destroyed it and even if it had survived intact it would have likely been town down anyway once its usefulness was over. But the ground has been built on since, because hardly anything on the battlefield resembles 1863. The house in the picture below is roughly where the cotton gin was.

Cleburne's division lost heavily in men and officers. Cleburne and Granbury, a brigade commander, were killed. In all 14 regimental and brigade commanders were casualties. The cream of the Confederate army had been destroyed.