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Fort Granger has three bastions. The map shows the location of each one.
By definition a bastion is:
a projecting work in a fortification designed to permit fire to the flanks along the face of the wall.
When entering the fort from the parking lot one walks right up to the middle bastion. You will be standing facing the MIddle bastion, looking south.
Armament (i.e., artillery) was placed in the cul de sac of each bastion. There were 30 pounders in Granger.
Each bastion sits roughly 15 feet from the ditch on the outside.
This Google map shows the relative position of Fort Granger in the larger scope of the battlefield (Franklin). Notice the Harpeth River running in front of the fort and the railroad to the west side (running north/south).
The Eastern flank portion of the Franklin battlefield was in the direct spray of artillery from Granger. Thus, Loring’s Division, and more specifically, Featherston’s Brigade, took the worst of the Federal onslaught of artillery from Granger.
Here is a video showing the middle bastion just as you enter the fort.
To order my book on Fort Granger, or to learn more click on http://www.FortGranger.US
The Civil War Trust has announced its 16th Annual Park Day, a national effort to clean up and raise community awareness of Civil War related historic sites. The City of Franklin Parks Dept has joined with the CWT by encouraging volunteers to help clean up Fort Granger vegetation on Saturday March 31, 2012.
This project is in conjunction with the Franklin’s Battlefield Preservation Commission’s intent to prepare the Park for the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Battle of Franklin. It is our hope to improve and interpret Fort Granger in a way that encourages a more thoughtful and educational framework, and to bring more awareness to the significance of the Fort’s role in the Battle of Franklin.
To sign up please email parksinfo@franklintn.gov to request a simple registration/release form or go to City of Franklin : Parks to download a form. Please bring gloves and pruners and lots of enthusiasm. We will supply water and drinks. For more information please call Deanna at 794-2103.
I am lecturing on”Who built Fort Granger?” at the Williamson County Public Library June 8th at 6:30 p.m. Until recently is was basically unknown just who built the Fort that sits above Figuer’s Bluff on the north side of the Harpeth River near downtown Franklin.
However, I recently purchased an authentic letter from a soldier of the 98th Ohio Infantry which helped open Pandora’s Box when it comes to learning which Federal troops built it. We will also discuss details like when it was built, how long did it take, how was it built, why was it built, etc.
There will be a PowerPoint presentation and an opportunity for questions and answers too.
Save the Franklin Battlefield announces . . . .
You are invited to join us for a free tour of Fort Granger on Saturday April 16th as an activity of the City of Franklin’s Arbor/Earth Day. The tour will leave from Pinkerton Park at 11:00 to walk to the Federal fort on the bluff above the river. An encampment with reenactors will be on hand.
There will also be plenty of other activities and fun for the whole family at the city’s Arbor/Earth Day event which will run from 10:00 a.m.to 2:00 p.m.. There will be demonstrations, programs for children such as tree climing and bicycle rodeo, community and business booths, and tree saplings will be given away. Entertainment and food will also be available.
Pinkerton Park is located at 405 Murfreesboro Rd in Franklin. The STFB tour is free and open to the public and STFB members. For more information, please call the STFB office at (615) 500-6612.
Fort Granger’s ‘Sally port’
Near the main entrance was the ‘Sally Port’. The word ‘Sally Port’ is of French origin. Sally means to rush forth suddenly, and Port means a gateway.
Because the fortification was built on Figuer’s Bluff, a steep limestone cliff overlooking the Harpeth River, it was deemed inaccessible and safe from that point. Persons wishing to enter the fort thus had to cross Liberty Pike and ascend a gentle slope to the Sally Port, affording an extensive field of view to the soldiers inside. Figuer’s Bluff was chosen as the site for the fort also because it held command over the southern and northern approaches to Franklin and held military control over the Harpeth River bridge of the Tennessee & Alabama Railroad.
- The Sally Port, looking east
To see a photo gallery of Fort Granger visit this link.
To read archived blog posts about Fort Granger click here.
- This Franklin resident’s home was spared from destruction when Granger was built.
- This Franklin resident was not so lucky, losing their home to the Federals.
- Which Federal troops built Fort Granger? Read this soldier’s letter.
I recently wrote about the Royce family from Franklin, who returned home after the Civil War to find their home had been destroyed by the Federals in the spring of 1863. Moses S. Royce was a member of Forrest’s cavalry which I’m sure did not score him points with the Federals in terms of whether or not to destroy his home. Read more.
Another Franklin family faced a similar threat but had a more fortunate fate than the Royce’s.
Dr. J.S. Parks
Dr. J.S. Park and his wife called Franklin home as well during the Civil War. Just a few weeks after Mrs. Royce had to evacuate her home near the McNutt residence on Lewisburg Pike, the Park’s family was served with an order by Lieut. T.G. Beaham, on General Gordon Granger’s staff, on Sunday, May 10th, 1863.
Dr. Park’s set his pen to paper on Monday, May 11th and inscribed a letter to Major General Gordon Granger to plead for a rescinding of the order based on the argument that he – Dr. Parks – had taken the oath of allegiance on August 20th, 1862. His plea in his letter is interesting:
“I offer that at no time during the occupation of this place by the Federal forces, have I performed any act inconsistent with the duty of the noncombatant; and that my native citizen rights of protection been forfeited by any act . . . I was induced to take the oath of allegiance to the United States under the protection of its authorities, that I should become entitled to and receive the full protection of an American citizen under the Constitution. I have ever kept it in as good faith as those who have ever styled themselves and been considered good Union men.”
After appealing to a statement from Union General Henry Halleck regarding the treatment of noncombatants in war, Parks – who says he owned four slaves – continued his argument in his letter to Gen Granger:
” . . if notwithstanding this protest I shall be driven into exile by the acts of the United States authorities, I shall hold the United States and its officers by whom I am exiled, responsible for any and all damages that may accrue by reason thereof, to person, profession, family, and property.”
Several factors must have worked in Dr. Park’s favor regarding his petition compared with the fate of Mrs Royce, who was forced to leave, and lost her home.
First, Dr. Park’s was able to make the plea personally, in his stead for his then sickly wife. In the Royce situation, Mr Royce (Moses) was serving in the Confederate army under Forrest. Dr. Park’s did have a son in the Confederate Army but the Federals may not have known of such. Secondly, Dr. Park’s made a bold case for having taken the oath of allegiance. Mrs Royce did not take the oath, though Moses says his wife was not asked to. Third, the Park-evacuation order came one month after Van Dorn’s attack in Franklin and in the late stages of Fort Granger being completed. There was not such an urgent need for materials for the fort in mid May as early April.
Timing is everything.
The Park’s family escaped the fate of losing their home to the Federals, but Dr. Park’s lost his wife in death several months later on August 21, 1863.
Sources for story:
Rick Warwick, The Williamson County Historical Society, personal email
The Civil War Years Revealed Through Letters, Diaries, and Memoirs. Rick Warwick. 2006: 301.
Image of Dr. Parks courtesy, The Williamson County Historical Society.
James Dickinson Park, 11th TN Cav, Co B
June 4th. Triune,Tenn.
From James L. Rogers, Co.F 98th. O.V.I. to friend going to school in Ohio.
Respected Friend,
- – I received your long looked for letter Some time ago,but owing to the inconvience of camp life I have neglected to respond until the present. – - – - – ,
Well, Since I have been in the service I have been blessed with good health and like soldiering as well or far better than I expected too,before I Started. It is true the soldiers life is a hard life,but he sees enough and learns enough to amply reward him for all the hard ships he has to under go. For my part I have never regretted that I enlisted in the cause for I believe it is just & right & right must prevail. Well, I must tell you something about our whereabouts. For the last 2 months and over we have been camped in, near Franklin,Tenn.. While our stay there, our time was principally occupied in working on the fortifications and scouting occasionaly. And on the 2nd. day of June General Grainger’s commenced including the 125th.O., 124th.,O, 113th.,O., 121st.O., 98th.O., 40th.O., 115th.ILL., 96th.,ILL., 12ILL., & 84th.,Ind.,and 2 or 3 regts of cavalry & 3 battries left Franklin at 6 – - & after marching 14 miles through rain & mud heavy loaded with our bedding, clothing & shanties ( we carry our tents ) we arrived at this place ( Triune ) at 1PM and pitched our tents in a beautiful grove and camp for the night expecting to take up our march again in the morning. But morning came there was no stir toward a movement So we were disappointed but to our satisfaction for we were all tired and pretty stiff after the march.I have no idea we will remain here any length. It is generaly thought that old Rose is going to make a forward movement in a few days. The troops are gathering in here every day there are about 30,000 here now as soon as he gets his forces concentrated we may expect to take up our beds and walk. We are now camped on the ground where the Battle of Stone River commenced. We are 16 miles from murfreesboro & 30 miles from Shelbyville were Gen. Braggs head quarters are. We are 7 miles from the rebel lines. You may expect to hear of a big fight in Tenn. before long. Well something else,The Boys of our co. that are with us are tolerably well and in fine spirit. I have been soldering long enough to find out there is nothing like keeping the spirit up & being cheerful It is better than medicine.P.H.Ross,H.L.Haverfield & Smith Hines are well.Capt. Lacey was not able to come with us when we left Franklin. his health is very poor. I don’t expect he will be able to be with us much if we have marching to do. – - – - ,etc,etc. From your friend and well wisher J.L.Rogers address Co. F. 98th.ovi. via Nashville, Tenn.
Source: The Center for the Study of the American Civil War, copyright 2011.
Rogers was promoted to Sergeant on May 1st, 1863. The 98th Ohio saw action at Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, the Atlanta campaign, and the North Carolina campaign. Rogers survived the war and mustered out June 1, 1865 in Washington, D.C.
I wrote previously about the Royce home being confiscated by the Federal troops in Franklin in the spring of 1863. It was then destroyed and the materials used to construct Fort Granger.
Here’s a VERY important fact I just learned about the whole story of the Royce home being destroyed.
Betsy Royce
Betsy Royce, daughter, says that the family left the house on April 16th, 1863, after only being given four days’ notice. That means they were given notice on the 12th of April to evacuate by the 16th. What happened just two days before the Royce family was told to leave? The first Battle of Franklin (April 10, 1863) with Van Dorn’s raid into Franklin was fought. The backdrop for the Royce evacuation was that engagement.
Add this, from researching the construction of Fort Granger . . . the fort had been worked on since just mid March. Barely four weeks into its construction, Van Dorn attacks. That event added a sense of “haste” to the construction process because I also learned that Gen Granger formally announced after April 10th that the work details would now be 24×7 or around the clock.
“After the 10th of April work on the fort was pushed with greater energy . . . all of the available men not actually on duty elsewhere must be marched to the fort . . . that order held until May 18th . . .” – Col. Emerson Opdycke, 125th Ohio Infantry
Where is all this going? It seems quite obvious to me that Van Dorn’s attack in Franklin in early-mid April caused Gen Granger to significantly speed up the fort’s construction. To that end, Gen Granger looked around Franklin and clearly identified at least one home – the Royce home – that was deemed aiding the Confederate efforts. The Royce home would be a natural choice based on Moses Royce – the owner – who was an escort on Starne’s staff under Forrest. Needing good materials with which to construct the fort, Granger targeted the Royce home. I wonder if other homes were targeted too.
Interestingly, I know for a fact that Col Emerson Opdycke (125th Ohio) sought subsistence and lodging from widow Neeley during this time. The Federals left her home alone even though she was a Confederate. All very interesting detail of the ins and outs of Civil War Franklin in the spring of 1863.
Source: Williamson County and the Civil War: As Seen Through the Female Experience. Rick Warwick. 2008
Franklin resident, and Confederate escort to Nathan Bedford Forrest – Moses S. Royce (1825-1873) – also served as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Royce was captured during a guerilla detail near Nashville and served some time in the state prison. He escaped February 29, 1864.
After the war, Royce returned home with his family only to learn that his home on Lewisburg Pike, near the railroad crossing, was utterly demolished by the Federal troops. The Federals used the materials apparently to help construct Fort Granger in the spring of 1863.
After the war, Royce sought compensation from the government through a a local Franklin lawyer named David Campbell.
Franklin (TN)
August 28, 1865
David Campbell Esquire
Dear Sir,
Moses S. Royce (1825-1873)
I neglected to speak to you yesterday in regard to prosecuting a claim for damages for my wife’s property which was destroyed by the Federal army under General Granger. I will therefore make a brief statement of the facts in the case and would like to be advised what steps are necessary to be taken in the matter. The house where we formerly lived was deeded by me and W. S. McLemore (the former trustee for my wife) to myself as trustee for my wife and children some two years before the war – The deed was drawn by John Marshall and I had a perfect night to make the deed as I had sufficient property outside of that to meet all my debts and have a surplus. At the time my wife was ordered out of the lines she informed the authorities that the house was her property and she delieverd the key to General Granger’s Adjutant notifying him that she should hold him responsible for its safe keeping. She had never been required to take the oath of allegiance and of course had never refused [end page one] to take it. She had never been charged with doing any act prejudicial to the U.S. Army and as a matter of fact had done no such act. She had not been off her lot for three months previous to her being sent away, except twice, and no one was with her in the house except my two little girls, one eight and the other six years old. You are aware how the house was destroyed after she left, being hauled away by government wagons to the fort for the purpose of making barracks for soldiers. I estimate the damage to the property at five thousand dollars ($5,000) as I am satisfied it could not be restored for anything less than that amount. If there us any reasonable prospect of obtaining damages I wish to have steps taken immediately to prosecute the claim, and would like to be furnished with papers in proper form if it is necssary for me to certify to any such. All the facts satted here can be proven by witnesses now in Franklin.
I am yours very truly,
M.S. Royce
After occupying Nashville in February 1862, Union forces moved into surrounding areas such as Franklin, when they built this stockade fort before August 1862, in order to protect the railroad bridge over the Harpeth River. In 1863 a larger structure, Fort Granger, was built nearby on a larger bluff. Source: Civil War Drawings: from The Tennessee State Museum. p. 15, 1989.
For more posts on Fort Granger click here
This map shows the six key Civil War sites being interpreted in the Franklin area. They are all withiun just minutes of each other by a short drive.
- The Town Square
- Fort Granger
- The Carter House/farm
- The Eastern Flank, Battlefield Park
- Carnton
- Winstead Hill
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The Federal army, under Schofield, had the huge advantage of Ft. Granger, which sat just south of the Harpeth River, and east of Columbia Pike.
The picture below (click on to enlarge) shows the view from Granger. From the yellow pin designating Ft. Granger one can see Carnton at 12 o’clock (about a mile away), the Carter House at 2 o’clock (about a half mile away), and Winstead Hill at 1 o’clock (about 2 1/2 miles away.
Granger had several large guns in position during the Battle of Franklin. Loring’s and Wathall’s Divisions came from the southwest, crossing Carnton plantation. These Granger guns decimated these divisions from nearly a mile away.
The next map (click to enlarge) shows the Confederate Army of Tennessee as it approached the Federal lines at Franklin. Notice how the Federal position leveraged several geographic features. (1) Using the Harpeth River and the Nashville-Decatur Railroad as a natural barrier for their far left flank. (2) Position of Ft. Granger to protect that left flank. (3) The osage orange abatis also protected the far left flank, making it nearly impossible to penetrate.
Here’s a schematic of the design and layout of Fort Granger.
[The following letter was recently acquired by Franklin resident Kraig McNutt.]
Franklin (TN)
August 28, 1865
David Campbell Esquire
Dear Sir,
I neglected to speak to you yesterday in regard to prosecuting a claim for damages for my wife’s property which was destroyed by the Federal army under General Granger. I will therefore make a brief statement of the facts in the case and would like to be advised what steps are necessary to be taken in the matter. The house where we formerly lived was deeded by me and W. S. McLemore (the former trustee for my wife) to myself as trustee for my wife and children some two years before the war – The deed was drawn by John Marshall and I had a perfect night to make the deed as I had sufficient property outside of that to meet all my debts and have a surplus. At the time my wife was ordered out of the lines she informed the authorities that the house was her property and she delieverd the key to General Granger’s Adjutant notifying him that she should hold him responsible for its safe keeping. She had never been required to take the oath of allegiance and of course had never refused [end page one] to take it. She had never been charged with doing any act prejudicial to the U.S. Army and as a matter of fact had done no such act. She had not been off her lot for three months previous to her being sent away, except twice, and no one was with her in the house except my two little girls, one eight and the other six years old. You are aware how the house was destroyed after she left, being hauled away by government wagons to the fort for the purpose of making barracks for soldiers. I estimate the damage to the property at five thousand dollars ($5,000) as I am satisfied it could not be restored for anything less than that amount. If there us any reasonable prospect of obtaining damages I wish to have steps taken immediately to prosecute the claim, and would like to be furnished with papers in proper form if it is necssary for me to certify to any such. All the facts satted here can be proven by witnesses now in Franklin.
I am yours very truly,
M.S. Royce
David Campbell, Esquire
Judge Campbell lived on 3rd Ave. South in the Moran-Pope House. He was a law partner with John B. McEwen during and after the war. Photo courtesy: The Williamson County Historical Society.
Description of the Battle (Wikipedia, 12/3/06)
Hood’s attack initially enveloped Wagner’s forward brigades, which fled back to the main breastworks. Blue and Gray troops were intermingled, which made the Union soldiers defending the line reluctant to fire on the approaching masses. This caused a weak spot in the Union line at the Carter House as an inexperienced regiment, just arrived from Nashville, broke and fled with Wagner’s troops. The Confederate divisions of Maj. Gens. Patrick Cleburne, John C. Brown, and Samuel G. French converged on this spot. An heroic counterattack by the brigade of Emerson Opdycke and two of Cox’s regiments sealed the gap after thirty minutes of fierce hand-to-hand combat.
Over and over the Confederates smashed headlong and futilely into the Union line. Just before dark, the division of Maj. Gen. Edward “Allegheny” Johnson arrived and it had no more luck than its predecessors. By 9:00 p.m. the fighting subsided. The overall attack had been awesome, described by some as a tidal wave, and known as the “Pickett’s Charge of the West.” But it was actually much larger than the famous charge at Gettysburg. In the East, 12,500 Confederates crossed a mile of open ground in a single assault that lasted about 50 minutes. In Franklin, some 20,000 marched into the guns across two miles and conducted seventeen distinct assaults lasting over five hours.
Across the river to the east, Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest attempted to turn the Union left flank, but the Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson repulsed his advance.
Schofield, who spent the battle in Fort Granger (just across the Harpeth River, northeast of Franklin), ordered an overnight withdrawal to Nashville, starting at 11:00 p.m. Although there was a period in which the Union army was vulnerable, straddling the river, Hood was too stunned to take advantage of it. The Union army reached the breastworks at Nashville on December 1.
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