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230 Tennessee Confederate soldiers are recognized as buried at McGavock cemetery. They are contained in sections 51-66.
Quarles’ Brigade had 37 killed: 42nd, 46th, 49th, 53rd and 55th TN.
Gordon’s Brigade had 51 killed; 11th, 12th, 13th, 29th, 47th, 51st, 52nd and the 154th TN.
Strahl’s Brigade had 29 killed; 4th, 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33rd, 38th and 41st.
Carter’s Brigade had 42 killed; 1st, 4th, (prov), 6th, 8th, 9th, 16th, 27th, 28th and 50th TN.
Smith’s Brigade had 3 killed; 2nd, 10th, 15th, 20th, 30th, and 37th TN.
The Tennesse section and marker is at the far left end of the cemetery, just to the left of the entrance to the McGavock family cemetery, and across from the Texas section.
This marker is inscribed with the simple phrase, “gone but not forgotten”. When the almost 1,500 Confederate soldiers were originally interred in McGavock cemetery after the Battle of Franklin (December 1864), almost all of them were identified by temporary markers. Since then we only know the identity of 780 soldiers. Some 558 men are now officially unknown.
This blog is dedicated to all the Confederate soldiers who fell at Franklin in 1864. We are not interested in resurrecting the ‘Lost Cause’ and we don’t approach the Civil War as Neo-Confederates. Rather, by honoring and respecting the lives of the Confederate dead at McGavock, we are saying that our nation continues to heal from the breach that severed North and South almost 150 years ago.
We particularly want to do all we can to remember those soldiers who are identified and buried at McGavock. “Gone but not forgotten.”
James A. Hampton was a member of the 8th TN Infantry (USA), which fought at Franklin.
The 8th Tennessee Infantry fought in the 3rd division, 1st Brigade, led by Brig Gen James A Reilly, at Franklin (Nov 30, 1864).
The 1st Brigade was made up of the 12th and 16th KY, the 100th, 104th and 175th Ohio, and the 8th TN.
The other two brigades fighting with Reilly’s were Casement’s and Stiles.
See a larger map of the 8th’s position at Franklin
Reilly’s brigade was quite active at Franklin capturing eight color flags of the enemy.
“At the main line, Alvah and his Union comrades watched in horror as the men of Wagner’s 2nd & 3rd Brigades were overrun by the advancing Rebel onslaught. It wasn’t too long before Wagner’s men began pouring down the Columbia Pike and up and over the breastworks into the protection of the main Federal line. Strickland and Reilly’s Brigades of the 23rd Army Corps were soon overwhelmed with their comrades and Rebels coming through at almost the exact same time. The tidal wave of fleeing Federals and screaming Rebels caused the front Union regiments in the line to break apart in the confusion. Retreating commanders of Wagner’s brigades yell for their troops to “rally in the rear.” The men of Strickland and Reilly’s Brigades hear this and believe the order is for them too, and fall back also. The Confederates have now penetrated deep into the Union center and have begun to surround the Carter House. Disaster seems loom for the Federal troops.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Report of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, U.S. Army,
commanding Army of the Ohio. (on the battle of Franklin)
Brigadier-General Reilly, commanding (temporarily) the Third Division, Twenty-third Corps, maintained his lines with perfect firmness, and captured twenty battle-flags along his parapet.
The Third Division saw 48 killed, 185 wounded, 97 missing at Franklin. Those were the highest casualty numbers for any division in the 23rd Army Corp at Franklin.
According to Jacobsen, For Cause and Country (Ch.8):
“As Opdycke’s men stopped the confederate push west of Columbia Pike, the 12th Kentucky, 16th Kentucky, 175th Ohio, and 8th Tennessee regiments of Reilly’s reserve tried to do the same to the east. After the 1st Kentucky Battery and the front line had been overrun, the men of these four regiments moved forward, the Kentuckians in the lead. Several of Opdycke’s Illinois regiments also helped Reilly’s reserves. Some of the Kentucky companies had Colt Revolving Rifles, and the Confederates were exhausted from their long sprint to the Federal lines. To make matters worse, the Confederates had become disorganized and could not present a coherent line to face this new threat. These reserves managed to drive the Confederates out of the Federal main works east of the Columbia Pike. The Confederate breakthrough was growing smaller.”
Wiley Sword (from pages 223-224):
“About forty yards from Reilly’s works, and nearly in front of the salient at the cotton gin, an ounce of lead, little more than a half inch in diameter and traveling about 1,000 feet per second, found its mark. It was the work of but an instant; a great chasm in Southern history frozen in microseconds. In one shocking moment Pat Cleburne collapsed to the ground, carrying with him perhaps the best hopes of a dying Confederacy’s western army. A lone minie ball had struck just below and to the left of his heart, shredding veins and arteries like tissue paper as it ripped through his body. In a few moments he breathed his last. Pat Cleburne lay dead, his battle saber still grasped firmly in his hand, and his lifeblood soaking the white linen shirt and gray uniform vest with a slowly expanding blotch of crimson. After all the glory and the anguish, it had come to this. Perhaps the South’s most brilliant major general, the “Stonewall Jackson of the West,” his ideas scorned by his president and his competence punished by his commanding general, had been required to lead a suicidal frontal attack like some captain of infantry. Was it God’s decreed fate, or simply man’s stupidity?
More Confederate soldiers from Mississippi lie at McGavock than any other State represented. These boys assume sections 22-50. The number of Mississippi boys reflect the brutal cost paid by Featherston’s and Scott’s brigades as they absorbed Union artillery shelling on the far left Union flank.
The 31st MS regiment has the highest known number of men buried at McGavock, twenty-one. The 31st MS was part of Featherston’s Brigade, BG Winfield S. Featherston, fighting also with the 3rd, 22nd, 31st, 33rd, 40th Miss., 1st Miss., Battalion.
Click here to see a large map of the Battle of Franklin, with an enlarged map of the Eastern flank.
Regarding the action the Mississippi boys saw . . .
Stiles’ and Casement’s men found a thick hedge of osage about fifteen yards south of their position, an almost perfect natural abatis. They went to work cutting some of it down and using the refuse to extend its reach farther west until most of their front was covered by the prickly limbs. Along the line the boys topped the earthen walls with head logs for added protection. . . . Only a fool would attack such a position of strength.
- Patrick Brennan, The Battle of Franklin, North & South magazine, January 2005, Vol. 8., No.1: page 32.
Near the Harpeth River, Major General William Loring’s troops could begin to see the looming Federal line protecting Reilly’s division. Buford’s dismounted troopers and Brigadier General Winfield Featherston’s Mississippians advanced between the river and the Lewisburg Pike, their line bisected by the Central Alabama Railroad. To their left, the Alabamians of Brigadier General Thomas Scott’s brigade had fallen behind as they guided on the pike, the enemy artillery in Fort Granger contesting their advance. Suddenly, at a range of two hundred yards, the Federal artillery upporting Reilly’s line exploded, followed quickly by riflery from Israel Stiles‘ and James Casement’s brigades, six regiments of battle-tested Indianans. In a blinding flash, the Confederate battle line shivered as Federal iron tore trough the rebel front. Of the carnage, one Confederate survivor remembered, “Our troops were killed by whole platoons; our front line of battle seemed to have been cut down by the first discharge, for in many places they were lying in their faces in almost as good order as if they had lain down on purpose.”
Featherston’s boys recoiled from the impact then pressed forwar, but fifty feet from the Yankee line they ran into the impenetrable hedge of osage. Grown to a stinging thickness by the locals to control cattle, the hedge line now provided a perfect barrier against the rebel assault, too high to surmount and too dense to winnow. The Mississippians came to a halt, searching frantically for a way through the natural abatis. As they did, they became little more than sitting ducks for the Indianans across the way. Only near the opening at the pike were the Yankees slightly tested. A pitifully small set of survivors planted two Mississippi flags on the earthworks, but they were almost immediately killed or captured. One survivor described it as “a tremendous deluge of shot and shell . . . seconded by a murderous sheet of fire and lead from the infantry behind the works, and also another battery of six guns directly in our front.” It was, he said, a “scene of carnage and destruction fearful to behold.”
Featherston’s right-most regiments crawled along the ground trying to find another way through the obstructions, but when they curled into the railroad cut marking Stiles’ left, the 120th Indiana palstered their van with musketry. Farther north, Battery M, 4th U.S. Artillery, began to spray the cut with canister, while Cockerill’s gunners in Fort Granger added their own plunging fire. Even a battery east across the Harpeth weighed in. Caught in the maelstrom were Buford’s troopers, belly down on the banks of the Harpeth trying to escape the murderous sweep.
- Patrick Brennan, The Battle of Franklin, North & South magazine, January 2005, Vol. 8., No.1: pages 39-40.
Kingston NC
December 5 1864
My Dear Lizzie,
[In part.....]
I receive a letter last week from Joab dated 25th November; he was well and in comfortable winter quarters. He still desires a transfer to our Co. and I have today fixt up some transfer papers and sent them up to him. He will forward them up through the proper channel, but I have but little hope they will be approved. I don’t know indeed whether Joab will want to come here when he finds that Will intends leaving the Regt. Will says he going to tender his resignation l… as he is returned to duty and I think it highly probable that I will have to ask to be retired or resigned one of the two. I am pronounced unable for active service in the field by our Surgeons and I suppose I will have no difficulty in getting out, but I will try it a while longer, and I do not improve I will seek and easier birth.
We will try to get Joab here however and in case Will and I both leave we will try to get him out too, if he desires it. Will is having a good time. Nothing to do and no responsibility. He is engaged today in making a pot of soap and a barrel of …..beer. I can’t tell hoe he will su… but I guess Very Well. Dr Lyle came down Saturday last and stayed with us until this morning when he returned to Raleigh. The Boys were glad to see hem and I think much pleasured with his visit. He told us of the affair at Franklin before I received your letter. I was a bold affair that those fellows ought to have been killed, guess they will re… and try it again. I fear trouble has just Commenced in that locality. I look for more trouble in …, has yet been…Sherman’s grand march thorough Georgia will develop more disloyalty in the mountain district than exists before.
But I hope to the present gloom will soon be dispelled by Sherman’s defeat. We have nothing reliable from Sherman. Can’t tell what they are doing in Georgia but my opinion is Sherman will plant himself in Savannah before Christmas and in that even what will be the result is a question of time. I will not venture any prediction as to what will be the end of our troubles.
My kindest regards to all,
God Bless you,
goodbye
John
Written by JB Cunningham (from Macon NC) a commissioned officer with the 6th & 7th (65th regiment) North Carolina Calvary.
Joab Moore (from Macon NC) a Srgt with the North Carolina 16th infantry
Source: eBay, June 2007
TENNESSEE.
______
A Severe Battle at Franklin, Tenn.
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HOOD DEFEATED BY THOMAS.
________
The Rebels Desperately Assault Our Works.
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They are Repulsed with Fearful Carnage.
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Six Thousand Rebels Killed and Wounded.
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TWELVE HUNDRED PRISONERS CAPTURED
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Our Loss Less Than One Thousand.
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MAGNIFICENT BEHAVIOR OF OUR TROOPS
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Full and Graphic Account from Our Special Correspondent.
__________
OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.
__________
Washington, Thursday, Dec.1.
The following official dispatch concerning the report of the victory in Tennessee, has been received at headquarters:
FRANKLIN, Tenn., Wednesday, Nov.30.
Major-Gen. Thomas:
The enemy made a heavy and persistent attack with two corps, commencing at 4 P.M., and lasting till after dark. He was repulsed at all points with heavy loss — probably of five or six thousand men. Our loss is probably not more than one-fourth of that number. We have captured about one thousand prisoners, including one Brigadier-General.
(Signed,) JOHN SCHOFIELD
Major-General.
__________
OUR SPECIAL ACCOUNT.
__________
Special Dispatch to the New-York Times.
FOUR MILES SOUTH OF NASHVILLE.
Thursday, Dec.1.
Gen. SCHOFIELD yesterday fought one of the prettiest fights of the war, resulting most disastrously to the rebels, with little loss to ourselves. After three days’ skirmishing, the rebels crowded our first line of works yesterday afternoon, and at 4 P.M. made a most desperate attack on our right and centre, forcing our lines to our breastworks, which were thrown up from river to river in an open field on the Cumberland Pike, which ran through the centre of the field.
At least half the rebel force engaged endeavored to pierce our centre, and come down vicuously on WAGNER’S Division, which, after desperate fighting, fell back, and MANY’S rebel division, of FRANK CHEATAM’S corps, got inside our works and captured two guns. Our centre was not broken, however, and, better still, Gen. WAGNER successfully rallied our troops, wgho charged on the enemy, recaptured the two guns, and drove the division over the breastworks, capturing one entire brigade and its commander.
At 4:30 o’clock the battle was waged with unabating vigor, the enemy having made during a half hour several attempts to break our centre.
The Federal position was a magnificent one, and the result of these four days’ work were magnificently grand.
All this while the rebels had appeared in front of our right. The plan was to pierce our centre and crush our right wing before dark. A portion of our infantry were engaged three-quarters of an hour firing on the rebel columns who stood their ground like madmen. During the every charge made on our right and centre, volleys of grape and cannister were hurled into their lines, and only darkness prevented their sacrifice being more awful. It is said that no canister shot was used by the rebels during the day, but fired shot and shell.
After the first break of WAGNER’S division and its recovery, our line never budged a step. All was quiet after 10 P.M. It was not only one of the prettiest but cleanest battles of the war. The excessive slaughter of the enemy was owing to our wholesale use of cannister and grape, and our selection of ground. The battle was fought in an open field, with no trees or undergrowth, or other interruption. The enemy’s loss in killed and wounded approximates 7,000, and we have over 1,200 prisoners, and one general officer and several field officers. The Colonel of the Fifteenth Mississippi, a Northern man, of Illinois, was wounded and taken prisoner. Four-fifths of his regiment were killed, wounded or captured. Our loss does not reach a thousand, hors du cambat. Gen. Bradley, of Illinois, while gallantly leading his troops, was severly wounded in the shoulder. Our loss in field officers is very small. Our troops behaved handsomely. SCHOFIELD commanded on the field, STANLEY on the right, and Cox on the left. Gen. Stanley was wounded slightly in the neck, but remained on the field and is all right to-day.
I have told you all along the programme of Gen. Thomas would electrify you, and this is but the epilogue of the battle to come off.
After our dead, wounded and prisoners were cared for, our army fell back to this point, and are in line of battle while I write. Up to this time, 3 P.M., the enemy has not made his appearance. The Third Corps of Veterans are in readiness, and a battle is expected before daylight to-morrow. All Government work is suspended, and all are under arms, from Gen. DONALDSON down to the unscientific laborers.
The falling back of our troops was accomplished at 8 o’clock this morning, and bridges burned across Harpeth River to retard the transportation of rebel supplies. The calvary was handled prettilt by Gen. WILSON, between Spring Hill and Triune.
A.J. SMITH’s corps is in line of battle, and the situation is particularly grand. Forts Negley, Morton, Cairo and Houston are alive, and the infantry movement perfectly satisfacoty. Something must immediately transpire, as Gen. THOMAS is ready to strike no matter how the rebels move.
BENJ. C. TRUMAN
The 39th MS fought at Franklin; French’s Division, Sears brigade. The 39th MS also fought with the 4th, 35th, 36th, 39th, 46th Mississippi; and the 7th Mississippi Battalion.
McGavock records show a Moscow Pitts (probably Moscow T. Pitts) from the 39th MS, Company E, Sears brigade as buried at McGavock [Section 41 Mississippi].
Another Moscow Pitts with the 4th TN, Company K, is listed as buried at McGavock [Section 60 TN]; Strahl’s brigade.
The 4th TN fought with the 5th, 19th, 24th, 31st, 33d, 38th, 41st Tennessee regiments.
How strange is it that two men, both with the same name die at Franklin in 1864; one in a Mississippi regiment and another in a Tennessee?
The 46th TN fought with Quarles’ brigade, Walthall’s division, AOT at Franklin. The 46th TN fought alongside the 1st Alabama; 42d, 48th, 49th, 53d, 55th Tennessee at Franklin.
McGavock records show:
Lt. William L. Hope (# 14) buried in section 52 TN. He is listed as a LT., in the 46th TN, Company D., Quarles’ brigade. (Marker right)
also
Captain Pleasant M. Hope (#33) with the 46th TN, Company D, Quarles brigade. Marker below.
These are the only two Hope’s listed in the 46th by CWD.
According to Eric A. Jacobson, For Cause and Country (2006); p. 315-16; William and Pleasant were brothers. Jacobson also includes a touching letter from Pleasant wrote to his infant daughter, whom he never saw.
April 25, 1864
It is with pleasure and delight that I write you a few lines, which will be the first letter you ever received, and one too which I hope you will preserve until you can read it.
By the misfortunes of war, I have been separated from your Momma, but by the blessings of God, I hope to soon return to you, never more to leave you, until death shall separate us. My dear and only child, be a good girl, ever love and obey your affectionate Momma, and don’t forget your first letter writer, who has not nor never will forget you, who daily prays to God, in his infinite mercy, to spare, bless and protect you amid the troubles of this world, and should you live to be old, may God bless you and prepare your soul in this life to go to that happy world after death.
Your father,
P.M. Hope
Source: The Carter House Archives
The 7th MS battalion served with French’s Division, Sears’ Brigade alongside the 4th, 35th, 39th and 46th Mississippi regiments.
McGavock has a soldier named Pvt. William Lott (#267) as buried in section #39 MS. He served in the 7th MS battalion with Company B.
Also buried at McGavock is . . .
Pvt. William M. Lott, (age 16 or 19 at death), Co. E. 15th Mississippi Regiment buried in Ms. Section 41, Grave 300, of the McGavock CSA Cemetery.
Were Lott #267 and Lott #300 related?
Tim Burgess says, “I do believe they were “distantly related” as were all of the Lott family in Carroll and North Mississippi having been descended from Aaron Lott of South Carolina. But I do not believe they were Father and Son.”
William M. Lott (#300) of the 15th was the son of Toliver Lott, Co. K. 30th Mississippi and brother of (Andrew) Jackson Lott of the same regiment.
Other “William Lott” men serving for Mississippi according to CWD include:
- William Lott, 17th MS P. Rangers Cavalry [Not in existence in 1864]
- William Lott, 42nd MS Infantry [ANV in Nov 1864]
- William Lott, 28th MS Cavalry [Forrest's Cavalry, Army of Tennessee]
- William A. Lott, 27th MS Infantry, Company F [Cheatham's Division, Wathal's Brigade, AOT at the time]
- William A. Lott, Corporal, 24th MS Infantry, Co G [the 24th did fight at Franklin; Brantley's brigade, Johnson's div]
- William J. Lott, 2nd Lt, was in the 27th MS Infantry, Co F [the 27th fought at Franklin; Brantley's brigade, Johnson's div]
- William R. Lott, Pvt, was in the 27th MS Infantry, Co G [the 27th fought at Franklin; Brantley's brigade, Johnson's div]
The 8th MS was part of Cleburne’s Division, Lowrey’s Brigade, 1st Brigade, Army of Tennessee.
The 8th MS fought with the 16th, 33rd, 45th Alabama; and the 5th, 32nd MS; and the 3rd MS battalion.
It is possible that the two Myers listed buried at McGavock were related. The muster roll for the 8th MS also lists two more soldiers by the same last name.
Jacobson (p. 84) lists the following boys in Mississippi Section 31 at McGavock.
#143 James M. Myers | 8th MS | Co. B | Lowrey | Confirmed in CWD
#144 George W. Myers | 8th MS | Co. B | Lowrey | Confirmed in CWD
CWD also lists:
John H. Myers, Co. B
T.J. Myers, Co. B.
Question: are they brothers or related?
“To preserve the graves, John McGavock designated two acres of land adjoining his family cemetery to which the remains could be removed for a more secluded and protected resting place. He, as well as other concerned Franklin citizens, raised the necessary money to have the bodies disinterred and reburied in order by state in the spring of 1866. The inscriptions on the grave markers, which had remained in place on the battlefield, were carefully preserved by Carrie McGavock in the Cemetery Record Book. The numbers on the present markers correspond to numbers in the book. John and Carrie McGavock cared for the McGavock Confederate Cemetery for the rest of their lives.
Winder McGavock lived at Carnton with his family until his death in 1907. His widow sold the house out of the family in 1911. The McGavock Confederate Cemetery has been maintained since then by the Franklin Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Carnton passed through several owners from the time it left the McGavock family until September 1978, when the Carnton Association acquired the house and ten acres and opened it as a historic site. Today, Carnton is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark for its role in the battle of Franklin.”
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture excerpt
Their web site states:
“Our goal is to create a public/private Civil War battlefield park commemorating the 1864 Battle of Franklin. This park, located on what was the eastern flank of the Franklin battlefield, will not only provide a historical perspective of this major Civil War battle, but will also be a preserved green space for all to enjoy.”
What is Franklin’s Charge?
Franklin’s Charge is not a separate preservation organization, nor does it replace current preservation groups. Franklin’s Charge is made up of representatives from all of the existing preservation and conservation organizations in Williamson County. It also relies on the support and input of national preservation associations who share our vision for a battlefield park in Franklin.
Franklin’s Charge, A Vision and Campaign for the Preservation of Historic Open Space, has reached far beyond the original coalition group to include men and women from every walk of life in the Franklin, Williamson County and Middle Tennessee communities. Franklin’s Charge has cut across and through all the lines that seem to normally separate us as it seeks to preserve and memorialize our collective history – whether our history be north or south, black or white, or we’re recent arrivals to this nation. In the end, what happened at Franklin during those five tragic hours affected all of us, as it helped forge us into one nation.
Visit author Robert Hick’s official web site.
Robert Hicks, author of Widow of the South
“For the past two years, I’ve headed up Franklin’s Charge: A Vision and Campaign for the Preservation of Historic Open Space [www.franklinscharge.com] in the fight to secure and preserve both battlefield and other historic open space in Williamson County. Franklin’s Charge has taken on the massive mission of saving what remains of the eastern flank of the battlefield at Franklin – the largest remaining undeveloped fragment of the battlefield – and turning it into public battlefield park which will, in my dreams, eventually run from the Lotz and Carter Houses [www.carter-house.org] on Columbia Avenue to Ft. Granger and Carnton Plantation, with significant holdings around Breezy and Winstead Hills.[www.civilwarinteractive.com]“
FROM NASHVILLE
———————
The Position of the Opposing Armies.
———————
NO FIGHTING SINCE WEDNESDAY
———————
Hood Demonstrating Toward Murfreesboro
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Further Details of the Battle of Franklin
———————
THE REBEL GENERAL CLEBURNE KILLED
———————
The Rebel Loss Fully Six Thousand — Our Loss One Thousand
———————
GEN. THOMAS MASTER OF THE SITUATION
———————
Nashville, Friday, Dec. 2
I have received full accounts of the late battle at Franklin, and its antecedents, which was one of the the most brilliant in its general results of the war. For three days sharp skirmishing was kept up during the retirement of our army from Duck River to Franklin, during which time a multiplicity of exploits and successes resulted to the Federal arms.
Gen. Cox conducted the rear guard, and on the 29th ultimately achieved a splendid victory over the rebels at Spring Hill, while General Wilson’s cavalry gained a series of important successes over Forrest’s advance, under Roddy, on the pike between Turner’s and Spring Hill.
During the afternoon of the 30th ultimately the rebel army was sorely pressed under Hood, who had Cheatam’s and Stewart’s corps, and a portion of Dick Taylor’s command, numbering in all over 22,009 men. Owing to Cox’s gallant check at Spring Hill, and portion of the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps were enabled to gain Franklin early in the day, where they threw up a line of breastworks, extending from one end to the other of the curve in the river, behind which our entire infantry command took position.
At precisely four o’clock (afternoon) the entire rebel force made a charge, and succeeded in making a temporary break in our centre, commanded by Wagner. With characteristic impetuosity the soldiers composing Cheatham’s Corps dashed into the breastworks, and cooperating with the attacking party on their left, attempted to envelop and destroy our right. In the nick of time the troops of Wagner were rallied, and throwing their whole force on the rebel column, drove back the storming party in great disorder, capturing several hundred prisoner. Four hours after the rebels charged on these lines, but were repulsed as often with great slaughter.
The rebels numbered at least two to our one, as nearly half of the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps were in reserve. The rebels loss in killed is three times ours, while their wounded is at least six times as large as ours. The wounded of our men are mostly in the head, arms and body.
The artillery fire of the enemy was great precision, but their ammunition consisted chiefly of shot and shell, while for two hours immense quantities of more murderous missles were hurled with fearful fury into the rebel lines. All the attempt of the rebels to gain a permanent advantage were frustrated, and at dark the Federal position was uncharged, while the rebels retired, under cover of the woods, south of the Columbia pike.
The rebel loss, as before stated, is fully 6,000, including over 1,000 prisoners, an unsual number of whom were officers. Our loss reached a total of about 1,000.
An artillery duel was kept up till nearly midnight, when our troops commenced crossing Harpeth River, bringing all our trains and paraphernalia over in safety before daylight.
The army then retired to within four miles of this city, at which point our frontline confronts the enemy. The falling back of the army is in accordance with the programme, and the battle at Franklin, although of the most brilliant kind, was an impromptu affair, and brought about owing to the necessity of checking the rebel advance to secure a safe crossing of the river by our troops.
—————–
LATER
Nashville, Friday, Dec. 2
Additional reports received increase the magnitude of the late victory at Franklin. Thirty stands of colors were captured by our forces. The Forty-ninth Indiana captured five, the Eighty-eighth Illinois three, Reilly’s old brigade eight, and the Twenty-third Corps captured four.
Gen. Stanley, commanding the Fourth Corps, had a very narrow escape, having had a horse killed under him, and was shot in the right shoulder, the ball travelling the back and going out of the left shoulder. He is in the city, and though suffering considerably, is still attending to duty.
It is confirmed that Gen. Cleburne, of Tennessee, is killed.
Gen. Kimball, commanding the Second Division of General Stanley’s Corps, in the heat of the battle passed a rebel Major-General, who told him he was mortally wounded. His men succeeded in carrying off his body.
It is believed that Hood’s main army is threatening Murfreesboro. Forrest’s rebel cavalry is demonstrating on our front and right flank.
Commander Fitch is here with a fleet of boats and Iron-clads. Sufficient forces have arrived to insure not only the safety of Nashville, but another Union victory, is case of a battle, under any circumstances.
The military men all unite in the opinion that Gen. Stanley and Schofield conducted the retirement from Pulaski in the face of the enemy with admirable skill, and crowning all with a magnificent Union victory at Franklin.
The photograph above, was taken in the fall of 1866, shortly after the interment of the Confederate soldiers who died and had been buried on the battlefield. The cedar wood markers in this photograph were replaced with granite in 1890.
Photo courtesy of the Carnton Foundation
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