It was a beautiful day today – April 17th 2010 – for the opening day ceremony for the newly reclaimed and preserved battlefield property that was originally part of the Carter family garden. As Eric Jacobson has stated:
“The significance of the western edge of the Carter garden cannot be overstated. Around 4:30 p.m. on November 30, 1864, elements of Gen. John Brown’s Confederate Division ripped through the main Federal line of defense west of Columbia Pike. Among the units forced to withdraw was the 72nd Illinois Infantry, which held the section of the line which cuts through the garden property. The Illinois troops fell back to a reserve line held by the 44th Missouri Infantry. Only a firm stand by the Missourians prevented Brown’s troops from collapsing more of the Federal defensive position. The garden property was enveloped by a hail of relentless fire for hours and three separate charges made by Federal troops to retake the main line were unsuccessful. The Confederates held the outside of the main line until they started to withdraw around 9 p.m.”
The ceremony today was filled with many sights and sounds, including dignataries, out of town guests, reenactors (both soldiers and civilians, children, residents; fans-all of the Battle of Franklin.
The Franklin (TN) Civil War preservation community continues to have much to celebrate when it comes to reclaiming hallowed ground, land that played a crucial role during the American Civil War (1861-1865) . In 2007, in partnership with the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), a small portion (i.e., one-half acre) of the original Carter family garden was purchased for future posterity and remembrance of the horrific action that took place just 50 feet south of the present Carter House grounds. The half acre of land cost $210,000.00. The Battle of Franklin Trust, which stewards the Carter House grounds property, is hosting a dedication ceremony this Saturday at the site.
Carter garden section of the Battle of Franklin
Preservationist and author Robert Hicks said, “With the creation of the Battle of Franklin Trust and all of it’s plans for the future and with the ongoing work of Franklin’s Charge, as it moves forward to reclaim the battlefield around the cotton gin, reconstruct the gin and the historic trench line, Franklin may prove itself the national model for battlefield preservation it’s often touted to be.”
The Federal or Union defensive line (in discussion here) lay basically across an East-West diagonal line on the western side of Columbia Pike, just 50-60 feet in front of the present day Carter grounds. That line was an entrenchment that was dug by Union soldiers probably in the early morning hours of November 30th, 1864. The Carter family had a small family vegetable garden that is believed to have originally been a two acre parcel of land, about 50 feet south west of where the slave cabin is presently located.
Location of Carter garden in green box
Many Union soldiers’ letters and diaries record men having spent several hours the morning of the 30th hastily and hurriedly digging trench works along this line. This defensive line, also known as earthworks, or breastworks, was a significant reason why the Union side at Franklin saw modest casualties-killed (about 150), while the Confederates suffered a staggering amount, (around 1,700), according to Fred Prouty. Historian Eric Jacobson says those numbers are probably even too low. He believes there were probably 300 Federal killed at Franklin.
During the excavation on the original Carter family garden site, the team also unearthed partial human remains, probably from a Civil War soldier, and other related military items. Archaeologist Larry McKee has been working on the project and is expected to release his report in a few weeks. Robert Hicks of Franklin’s Charge said, “The fact that human remains were found there simply reminds all of us how hallowed the battlefield — all the battlefield at Franklin — is.”
Carter house grounds, garden was left (west) of the man standing
An army that fought behind defensive earthworks had a distinct advantage against assaulting troops, especially if the defending army also had artillery support. The Union armies at the Battle of Franklin had the advantage of both. Thus, as Jacobson says (p. 374 below), the ” . . . cards were stacked against them [the Rebels] almost from the start”.
I own a letter from a Union soldier who fought at Franklin for the 63rd Indiana (on the far eastern Union flank) named Addison Lee Ewing. His first letter after Franklin states the following:
“There is no quicker way of suffering this war than by having Rebs charge our works when they invariably get whipped.”
Ewing said it well, the Confederates at Franklin “got whipped”, and the biggest reason was because of the defensive earthworks.
Casting the larger significance of the Carter garden section of the battlefield, historian Eric Jacobson captures it best:
“The significance of the western edge of the Carter garden cannot be overstated. Around 4:30 p.m. on November 30, 1864, elements of Gen. John Brown’s Confederate Division ripped through the main Federal line of defense west of Columbia Pike. Among the units forced to withdraw was the 72nd Illinois Infantry, which held the section of the line which cuts through the garden property. The Illinois troops fell back to a reserve line held by the 44th Missouri Infantry. Only a firm stand by the Missourians prevented Brown’s troops from collapsing more of the Federal defensive position. The garden property was enveloped by a hail of relentless fire for hours and three separate charges made by Federal troops to retake the main line were unsuccessful. The Confederates held the outside of the main line until they started to withdraw around 9 p.m.”
Hoosier Lee Ewing paints the picture in vivid language that only a first-hand participant could have described that day:
“Colonels and Generals rode right up to our faces bringing their men in fine style but “blue coats” wouldn’t budge back one inch and there fell victims to their own mad actions. A person could walk over acres of dead . . . stepping on one dead body to another. It was a terrible slaughter. ”
– Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana, December 5th, 1864 letter
The Tennessee Wars Commission provided the grant to Franklin’s Charge for the excavation of the Carter garden area. An archaeological team led by Larry McKee – with TRC Garrow Associates Inc. – found material evidence of that awful day, unearthed just several inches below the surface in the present-day Carter garden. Jacobson says that the team “excavated about 2/3rds of the Federal line that runs diagonally across the property”. They dug down roughly 20 inches and discovered the material evidence including: lots of bullets (Spencers), some fired and some dropped; ram rods, a bayonet, evidence of a fire pot, and human remains.
Among the human remains was “a piece of a skull, a finger, part of an ankle, and portion of femur-leg bone”, according to Fred Prouty. It would be impossible to know for sure if the human remains were Confederate or Union. However, we do know that it would have been Federal soldiers who would have dug the earthworks and originally manned them.
They dug down from the surface about 18-24 inches and then piled the dirt up in front of the trench, on the south side of the trench. Soldiers would have then placed head logs, branches, and anything they else they could have found around them (including portions of Carter outbuildings, barns, etc,) on the top of the piled dirt in front. In all, the earthworks would have been roughly five to six feet high, thus giving the Federals a tremendous advantage of protection against the assaulting Confederate troops.
View probably just 20 feet northeast of the original Carter garden location.
The Federals also had the advantage of artillery placed on the line as well as about 50 yards behind the line. As the approaching Rebels came upon the earthworks they faced a terrible blaze of fire from the Federals in this section, some of whom apparently even had Spencer rifles. A Spencer was a ‘repeating rifle’, capable of firing seven .52 cartridges in less than 10 seconds, compared to the standard Enfield rifle that could yield up to three discharges in one minute.
The discovery of the Spencer bullets is interesting as historian Eric Jacobson pointed out. The Illinois troops in that position did not have Spencer rifles. So where did they likely come from? Jacobson thinks they came from the 28th Kentucky Infantry (U.S.) who was posted a mile out front in Wagner’s brigade (U.S.), before the assault started. Wagner’s entire line made for a hasty retreat immediately upon the start of Hood’s charge and skeedaddled back behind the Union line. As the retreating Union soldiers came flying up and over the entrenchments on the Carter garden they no doubt dropped some Spencer bullets, and many also joined the Illinoisians on the line, discharging their rifles against the coming Rebel onslaught.
Spencer bullets
Three weeks after the battle of Franklin, Lee Ewing (63rd Indiana Infantry U.S.) came back through Franklin on the 20th of December, chasing after Hood’s defeated Army of Tennessee retreating to Alabama from Nashville. Ewing may have been standing right near the Carter gardens when he wrote this:
“. . . we was at Franklin where there are hundreds of new made graves filled by the Enemy. I went into the old breastworks where we lay and all over the front of our Brigade which is pretty well dotted over with rebble graves . . . There are dead horses laying around. Some of them almost up over our old works.”
– Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana, December 22nd, 1864 letter
The Battle of Franklin Trust will host a ceremony and dedication this Saturday, April 17th, to formally open the recaptured tract of land that served as the garden for the Carter family. The public is invited to attend this free event which will be held from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
The Franklin community’s preservation efforts are led and championed by many people, many behind the scenes, and from all over the nation. Robert Hicks said:
Truth is, this hallowed ground — the battlefield at Franklin, like the history of the battle, itself, is our nation’s patrimony. The reclamation of the back portion of the Carter Garden Plot could never have been possible without the passionate work of Thomas Cartwright, the CWPT and a host of individual donors, nation-wide. While it was supported by the many individual preservation organizations in Franklin that make up Franklin’s Charge, along with the collective support from Franklin’s Charge, itself, as we dedicate the garden plot, we are remind, once again that this was a national campaign and its success rests firmly on the shoulders of men and women across the nation.
The excavated Federal line is covered with sand.
Sources:
Eric Jacobson, Battle of Franklin Trust historian and Director of Operations
Phone interview 4/13/10; email correspondence; and personal conversations.
Also see Jacobson’s For Cause and For Country, 2006 (Hb): pp. 373-74.
Fred Prouty, Director of Programs for the TN Wars Commission.
4/12/10 FCWRT, and phone interview 4/13/10
Robert Hicks, Franklin’s Charge, email interview 4/13/10
Kraig McNutt Civil War Collection, letter(s) from A. Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana.
If you enjoy learning about battles by studying maps then you’re going to really like the new Battle of Franklin animated map created by the CWPT.
The map is developed using Flash technology and is divided into four major sections: (1) Hood invades Tennessee, (2) the Affair at Spring Hill, (3) the Battle of Franklin, and (4) Preservation of the Battlefield.
The Franklin animated map is the sixth map the CWPT has created, including ones on Fredericksburg, Saving Bentonville, First Day at Chancelorsville, Chantilly and Cedar Creek.
CWPT’s Rob Shenk is the creative hand behind these superb web-based resources. Steve Stanley is the cartographer and flash animator. Carnton historian Eric Jacobson consulted with Shenk on the Franklin map.
The Battle of Franklin animated map incorporates these features:
a. Once the play button is clicked, the map auto-forwards through the slide show.
b. Period-authentic and contemporary photos are used.
c. Text-narration (not audio) is provided throughout.
d. Troop movements are simulated through use of forward and retreating lines and markers for brigades.
e. As troop movements are simulated one can also see the time-line advance (at the top). The user can click on a specific time-stamp on the time-line and the map will advance to the point in time of battle.
f. Regiment markers are keyed to the respective name of the Brigade it belongs to.
g. Artillery-piece markers are keyed to the number of pieces in that unit-placement.
h. If land has been preserved by private orgs or the CWPT, lines are drawn to illustrate land saved.
i. Each map is part of a larger section with an abundance of info about that battle (see: Franklin)
I interviewed Rob Shenk ay CWPT about their animated maps.
1. How do you select what battlefield to animate?
CWPT’s Directors and I regularly meet to discuss which animated map projects make the most sense going forward. We typically choose map projects based on the following criteria:
A. Is there much natural interest in the battle or subject?
Not only is it important that we put our scarce resources against the larger battles which changed the course of the American Civil War, but those battles also tend to have a larger, pre-existing base of interested fans. We hope that our animated maps not only educate the viewer, but also acquaint a larger audience with who the Civil War Preservation Trust is and what we do.
B. Is there a relevant or interesting preservation angle to the subject?
Most of our animated maps feature battlefields where CWPT or other preservation organizations have saved significant sections of the battlefield. By showing how the fighting coursed over and through these battlefields we can help to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of the land that we seek to save.
C. Do we have access to accurate time-phased maps of the battle?
Creating an accurate animated map requires that you have detailed time-phased information on how the various units fought and moved at the battle. Therefore it’s critical that we locate pre-existing time-phased maps and/or work with battlefield experts who have that knowledge. Unfortunately, not every battle that we would like to tackle has this level of information.
D. Does the battle have an interesting tactical flow to it?
As you might imagine, animated maps tend to be much more exciting when there is much more movement and action. Grand, sweeping tactical movements are much more captivating than static sieges as a for-instance.
2. How long did it take to make the Franklin map(s)?
Longer than we would have hoped! Our Franklin Animated Map project took us roughly 4 months to produce. Sometimes scripting the complex unit movements takes the longest amount of time. In other projects the basic historical research can be the long pole in the tent. Fortunately for this Franklin Animated Map project, Eric Jacobson played an integral role in providing us with detailed troop movements and other historical information. I’m not sure how we could have done this Franklin map without him.
3. How much assistance do you rely on outside of your own resources to create a map?
Outside assistance is almost always a necessity. CWPT, despite being the largest Civil War battlefield preservation organization in the United States , is still very modestly staffed. First and foremost, we rely upon the talents of Steve Stanley, who is our crack CWPT cartographer and battlefield animator. Secondly, we usually require the input and guidance of historians who have a detailed knowledge of the subject battlefield. Throw in some proof reading, web page production, and photo editing and…. Voila!
4. What are 2-3 features of these animated maps that users seem to like the most?
What we tend to hear most from viewers is that they greatly appreciate seeing the precise tactical actions of the various units – to see all the units in action at one time can be very illuminating. Many viewers will tell us that despite having an in-depth book-level understanding of the subject, that their understanding of the battle was greatly improved by watching the animation.
What we are finding is that many of us are truly “visual learners” and when we can see how the battle ebbed and flowed we are more likely to have an improved understanding of that battle. In the past, animation like this was available via the celebrated electric maps, such as the one that inhabited the Gettysburg Visitor Center for many years. Our animated maps strive to be the 21st century version of those great lighted offerings. But unlike those visitor center electric maps, our animated maps can be viewed from anyplace in the world where you have an internet connection. We do know that schools, the military, and various round tables have used our maps as a teaching aid. That kind of news really excites us.
One other feature that I love is the ability to toggle between the topographical map and a modern satellite overhead view. Having a chance to see the battlefield landscape as it exists today can produce a powerful reaction with the preservation-minded viewer. You can see this dichotomy – between the historic battlefield and its modern incarnation – most clearly in our Battle of Chantilly map. After watching the Union attack through the farms and fields of Chantilly , you can then watch that same tactical action as the attacks pour over modern townhouses, parking lots, and highways. In some of our map offerings you can also toggle to an early aerial overhead – an in-between view of the battlefield. Unfortunately we do not have this “Now and Then” type toggle for our Franklin Animated Map, but we intend to add that in soon.
5. How many more maps are slated for launch in 2010 and on what battles?
We are right now discussing a number of potential animated map projects. We would definitely like to do an animated map offering focused on the Seven Days Campaign outside of Richmond , Virginia . We are also looking at other Western Theater battlefields of interest and will likely develop an animation offering focused on some segment of the Gettysburg battlefield in the not too distant future.
The Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864 