History Lesson

The Civil War wasn't something I knew anything about before we moved to Tennessee. If we learned about it in school, I don't remember. I couldn't tell you the difference between Confederate or Union and I didn't know who was being referred to when I'd hear someone say, "That dang Yankee!"

Living here now, I'm surrounded by history and you can't help but learn more and more as you immerse yourself in the historical surroundings. There are parks and museums all across this county we now call home, and old cemeteries and monuments. Lots of informational, historical markers are placed along the sides of the roads and you can pull over and get a mini history lesson reading them. You can see old homesteads that once were thriving plantations with their little log and stone slave cabins, some preserved and still standing. Stacked stone fences line the properties and weave through treelines. They call them "slave fences" because the majority of them were built by the slaves, and they are works of art in themselves to realize the many hours it took to stack all those heavy stones so perfectly straight and sturdily that they still stand today. In fact, I've been told it's now against the law to disrupt one of the fences or even to remove a stone from one without having to pay a minimum $5,000 fine!

Franklin itself was founded in 1799 and named for Benjamin Franklin. The Civil War brought many changes to the tiny town. In the mid 1800's, the area had been under Federal (Union/Yankee) occupation for four years with troops stationed at Fort Granger, just across the Harpeth River. In 1862, over 40,000 Federal soldiers passed through Franklin on their way to the Fort.

The Battle of Franklin, one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, was fought right here in November of 1864. More than 6,000 Confederate soldiers and over 2,000 Union troops were killed during that battle, which lasted less than five hours. The Carnton Plantation, owned by one of the more prominent families in town at the time - The McGavocks - had been taken over by Federal troops prior to the battle, and afterward served as a hospital for the wounded. Five slain generals were laid out on the covered porch and a Confederate Cemetery was established on the farm to give the southern soldiers a final resting place. It's amazing to think that the big, beautiful mansions I pass on the way into work every day once served as hospitals for the wounded troops because there was nowhere else for them to go. Beautiful homes taken over for such terrible pain and suffering.

One Halloween I went on a ghost tour sponsored by the local historical society and we got to tour the Carnton Plantation house and grounds. We were given a history lesson of the events that took place that fateful day and got to walk across the porch where the generals had been laid out. Inside the house, we were led to a bedroom upstairs that had been temporarily converted into a surgery center for the wounded soldiers and the guide showed us the bloodstains that still remain on the wooden floorboards. He told us how the amputated limbs were thrown out the window until they piled so high they nearly reached the second story of the home. After the home tour, we went back outside to tour the grounds and cemetery by lantern light. It was an eerie feeling being surrounded by 200 year old oak trees and the headstones of thousands of soldiers, some mere boys and teens, who'd lost their lives too early in life. It's no wonder there are so many ghost sightings and hauntings documented in this area.

So, as I'm still learning about the history of Franklin, I can drive down a street that I now know was named for one of those generals that led in the battle. I can go to the park on the hill overlooking the actual battlefield and look down toward the cemetery where the soldiers now lay. The same hill they walked down from on their way to the battle. It makes you so much more prideful of this tiny town and respectful of all it's endured.