Some of Croxton's men were armed with seven-shot Spencer carbines, which had a devastating effect on the Confederate line. On the eve of the Battle of Franklin, a friend described Carter as in a perfect ecstasy of joy to be seeing his family the next day. A memorial to the Army of Tennessee stands on the hill today. He was a member of the House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Zweibrcken, a branch of the House of Wittelsbach. States Rights Gist and John Carter. Johnson's men lost their unit alignments in the dark and had significant difficulties attacking the works just to the west of the Carter House. On Nov. 30, 1864, Confederate General Hood stood here to observe the Union troops two miles away. First contact with the enemy came around the Everbright Mansion, the home of Rebecca Bostick, and the Confederates pushed aside Union sharpshooters and swept past the house. Winstead Hill Park is located south of downtown Franklin on Columbia Highway and consists of 61 acres with a walking trail, parking area, Civil War monument, and restroom . [2], It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[1]. 4023 Columbia Pike After first colliding with the mass of Union fugitives hurtling northward, Opdyckes men crowded and bayoneted their way into the Carter yard, pressing for the retrenched line west of the pike. On the north side of the retrenched line, the men of Opdyckes, Conrads, Lanes, and Stricklands brigades fought from behind the low rail barricade and garden fence, while across the Carter garden to the south the Confederates returned fire from the captured main works. It was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederate States Army. Baldwin, had been cut in the works near the cotton gin, supported by the 65th Indiana on Baldwins left and the 104th Ohio on his right. Stay up-to-date on the American Battlefield Trust's battlefield preservation efforts, travel tips, upcoming events, history content and more. More importantly, the military leadership in the West was decimated, including the loss of perhaps the best division commander of either side, Patrick Cleburne, who was killed in action. Adjacent to the 48 acres (19ha) surrounding Carnton is another 110 acres (45ha) of battlefield, formerly the Franklin Country Club golf course, which is currently being converted to a city park.[65]. As a result, the last half-mile of the Confederate advance was largely uncontested, allowing the charge to hit the main line with full force. James Lanning of the 25th Alabama Infantry wrote in his diary, victory is ours but very dearly bought. Confederate artilleryman William Ritter believed, the charge was a brilliant one and was successful, as part of the enemys line was captured. Joseph Boyce of the 1st Missouri Infantry acknowledged that many men considered Franklin a victory for the Confederate army since it held the battlefield at the end of the fighting. Hearing shouts of Rally in the rear! among Wagners retreating officers, many of the men in the frontline brigades of Colonel Silas Strickland and Brig. Schofield was criticized by the Lost Cause myth for moving slowly in reaction to Hood and being only lucky to escape, but his subordinates defended his reaction as a careful balance between the safety of his army and his mission to delay Hood from striking Nashville before Thomas had amassed all his forces. They also had significant difficulty pushing through the strong osage-orange abatis. Despite three defeats, Hood managed to extend his lines far enough to prevent Sherman from cutting rail lines into Atlanta, thus thwarting the Union general for five more weeks. As Opdyckes troops struggled to drive the enemy back across the retrenchment, the rattle of musketry swelled, great sheets of flame leaping from thousands of muzzles in a continuous roar. His men had been on arduous rearguard duty since before dawn, he complained, and hadnt eaten or had coffee all day. Hoods Confederates engaged the Federal Troops under the command of General John M. Schofield. Confederate Memorial Park at Winstead Hill. [12], On November 28, Thomas directed Schofield to begin preparations for a withdrawal north to Franklin. Thus, total casualties were somewhat comparable, although the loss in senior officers at Franklin was far worsemore so than Horn's 1941 description states. As Confederate losses mounted, a stalemate was reached around the gap in the works and the Carter house. A memorial. The ground in front of the Union parapets was soon covered with dead and wounded from both sides as Cheathams attackers poured through the gap at the Columbia Pike on the heels of Wagners men, into and over the adjacent breastworks. He immediately ordered a full pursuit toward Franklin. Schofield's men at Franklin had carefully constructed works, with trench and parapet. Gravely wounded, MacArthur was nearly trampled before his men dragged him to safety. Sign up for our quarterly email series highlighting the environmental benefits of battlefield preservation. Today, well over a hundred acres of battlefield land have been reclaimed and preserved, often one acre at a time over a span of many years. It would never fight again as a cohesive force. [14][note 3] Through decisive leadership and good luck, both the Union infantry and supply train managed to pass Spring Hill unscathed by dawn on November 29, and soon occupied the town of Franklin 12 miles (19km) to the north. Despite suffering losses from MGEN Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry along the way, the Federals were able to reach Columbia and erect fortifications just hours before the Confederates arrived on November 24. The bridges had been left behind in his retreat from Columbia because they lacked wagons to transport them, and pontoons requested from Thomas in Nashville had not arrived. Wagner then returned to the safety of the Carter house where he began drinking heavily. There was a gap in the line where the Columbia Pike (present day U.S. Route 31) entered the outskirts of the town, left open to allow passage of the wagons. In 2008 the property behind this location and where the Federal line crossed Columbia Ave. was purchased and in May 2010 the property east of the Gin location and where part of the Gin may have stood was also purchased. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Franklin, TN 37064 John Bell Hood, pursuing Federal forces into Franklin, gained the top of Winstead Hill. In the Battle of Spring Hill that afternoon and night, Hood had a golden opportunity to intercept and destroy the Union troops and their supply wagons, as his forces had already reached the turnpike separating the Union forces by nightfall. After hiding most of his food stores, Carter escorted more than a dozen family members, a group of neighbors, and three of his long-freed slaves down to his large basement, where they remained when the Battle of Franklin erupted above and around them at 4 pm. Just east of the pike was the Carter cotton gin building, around which a minor salient occurred in the Union earthworks. Baldwin later recalled that he could hear two sounds above the roar of battle: the detonation of the charges and the crunching of bones in front of their muzzles. The battle of Franklin was responsible for as many as 9500 men killed, wounded, missing or captured. Gen. Thomas Benton Smith, joined the fray. Hood marched his wrecked army to Nashville as well, where he established fortified lines south of the city on December 2, appealing in vain to Confederate authorities for reinforcements and supplies and waiting for Thomas to attack. Finally, to avoid encirclement, Hood abandoned the city on September 1. Civil War | Historic Site Eastern Flank Battlefield Park The slaughter around the cotton gin salient raged on as four reserve brigades of Stewarts corps, their ranks mostly intact, approached the flaming works. At about 19:00, he deployed the only division of Stephen D. Lee's corps that had arrived, commanded by MGEN Edward "Allegheny" Johnson, to assist Cheatham's effort. Most of the formerly clear land between the hill and the town proper has been almost completely filled with housing developments, strip malls, and all the other assorted "necessities" of modern life. Perhaps its only rival for macabre distinction would be Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. Gen. Jacob Cox and his staff had roused the Carter family before dawn, taken possession of the house, and turned the parlor into their field headquarters. General Hood's troops formed on Winstead Hill before the Battle of Franklin. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, At this time, Emerson Opdycke's brigade was in reserve, positioned in columns of regiments facing north in a meadow about 200 yards north of the Carter House. Carter had come into contact with blue-clad troops before, but never an entire army. At Franklin, now leading the 24th Wisconsin of Opdyckes brigade in the middle of the reserve line, MacArthur and his men, with a shout of Up, Wisconsin! plunged into the melee at the Carter House after the initial Confederate charge splintered the Union defenses. The annals of war may long be searched for a parallel to the desperate valor of the charge of the Army of Tennessee at Franklin, a charge which has been called "the greatest drama in American history." Stiles was located on the far left near the river and railroad cut, Casement in the center just east of the cotton gin; and Reilly between the gin and the Columbia Pike. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. Only 18,000 Confederates crossed the river on December 25. A memorial to the Army of Tennessee stands on the hill today. His two divisions on Stewart's right (BGENs Abraham Buford II and William H. Jackson) engaged some Federal cavalry pickets and pushed them back. Hood, meanwhile, had been studying the enemys dispositions through field glasses. "[9][10] Hood had recovered from but was affected by a couple of serious physical battle wounds to a leg and arm, which caused him pain and limited his mobility. When Shelleys men were just feet from the Union line, Baldwins gunners opened up with double charges of canister into their massed ranks. [7], Rather than trying to chase Sherman in Georgia, Hood decided that he would attempt a major offensive northward, even though his invading force of 39,000 would be outnumbered by the 60,000 Union troops in Tennessee. MGEN John M. Schofield, commander of the Army of the Ohio, led a force of about 27,000 consisting of: LTG John Bell Hood's[37] [note 9] Army of Tennessee, at 39,000 men, constituted the second-largest remaining army of the Confederacy, ranking in strength only after Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. These casualties include the bloody battle of Franklin, Tenn., fought, November 30, 1864.". Johnsons troops suffered 587 casualties in less than an hour. Fourteen Confederate generals (six killed, seven wounded, and one captured) and 55 regimental commanders were casualties. Bleeding from the shoulder, he drew his saber and began cutting his way through the melee towards a ragged Southern flag waving above the fray, under which MacArthur came face-to-face with a Confederate officer. A sixth general, John C. Carter, was mortally wounded and died later on December 10. About a half mile from Coxs main line, Wagner halted his leading brigade, Conrads, and ordered that commander to take position along a gentle rise of ground east of the pike in a cleared cotton field. This meant that the Confederates occupying the ditch in Stricklands front, just west of the pike, were advanced beyond the line of the cotton gin, which Coxs men still held, and were thus exposed to severe enfilading fire from that direction. City officials and historic-preservation groups have recently placed a new emphasis on saving what remains of the land over which the battle raged. This Hill presents a view of the Franklin Battlefield terrain. To cover the small gap in the line that allowed wagons and the rest of the army to enter the village, a Missouri unit erected a second, fallback line of works on the west side of the Columbia Pike 70 yards behind the main line. But Schofield had been fooledthe grey mass opposite Columbia was a diversion. Much of the rest of the Franklin battlefield has been lost to commercial development. The Majority of our funds go directly to Preservation and Education. Starting here, many regiments consisting of 19,000 soldiers formed a line two miles wide to drive the union back. Fact#10: Preservation of the Franklin battlefield is one of the Civil War Trusts greatest success stories, but much work remains to be done. They moved north on the west side of the Columbia Turnpike and passed around Privet Knob, Cheatham's headquarters, but were unfamiliar with the terrain in the dark and Cheatham told Lee he had no staff officer left who could guide them. His supply train parked in the side streets to keep the main pike open, while wagons continued to cross the river, first via a ford next to the burned-out pike bridge, and later in the afternoon by the two makeshift bridges. The Union defenders stampeded back towards the main line after firing a single volley, the charging Southerners hot on their heels. Attacking infantry would be confronted by a ditch about four feet wide and two to three feet deep, then a wall of earth and wooden fence rails four feet above normal ground level, and finally a trench three to four feet deep in which the defenders stood, aiming their weapons through narrow "head gaps" formed by logs. Winstead Hill Park: The Battle of Franklin Confederate Position - See 96 traveler reviews, 78 candid photos, and great deals for Franklin, TN, at Tripadvisor. Restrooms too! Ordered to support Bates advance, Chalmers had waited along the extreme western flank all day for the infantrys arrival. Stricklands men had formed on Opdyckes right and helped repulse the first attack of Browns Confederates. By 5 pm, when a short lull in the fighting took place, the Union lines had been reestablished across the 19 acres taken up by the Carter property. Opdycke quickly repositioned his veterans into line of battle, straddling the road, and they were confronted by masses of fleeing Union soldiers, pursued by Confederates. Miraculously, the young colonel survived his wounds and the war. This land was part of 2 acres (0.81ha) that made up the Carter Family Garden, which during the battle saw tremendous fighting and was part of a brief Confederate breakthrough. Hood staged his prior to the Battle of Franklin. When Opdycke arrived, Wagner ordered him to deploy his brigade on the west side of the pike, adjacent to Conrad, to present a two-brigade front. Battle of Franklin . As Wagner exhorted his men to stand fast, they let loose a single strong volley of rifle fire, and a two-gun section of Battery G, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, fired canister, but then many of the veteran soldiers of the two brigades stampeded back on the Columbia Pike to the main breastworks, while some untried replacements were reluctant to move under fire and were captured. [46] Opdycke riding his horse emptied his pistol at the Rebels and then dismounted to use it as club until it broke; grabbing a musket, he began clubbing the enemy with that. As an assistant quartermaster, Carter wasnt obligated to fight, but the sight of Union soldiers in his home and breastworks covering his fathers yard were more than enough motivation. Winstead Hill Overlook is National Landmark that was Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's command post during the Battle of Franklin. In the book Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, the character Rhett Butler mentions that he fought at Franklin. After its defeat against MGEN George H. Thomas in the subsequent Battle of Nashville, the Army of Tennessee retreated with barely half the men with which it had begun the short offensive, and was effectively destroyed as a fighting force for the remainder of the war. The hard-luck Army of Tennessee, what remained of it, fought and straggled its way back across the Tennessee River, hounded by Union cavalry and infantry. Winstead Hill is part of the Winstead-Breezy Hill range of high ridges formed along the southern border of the plain of Franklin. [27], Hood's army began to arrive on Winstead Hill, two miles (3km) south of Franklin, around 13:00 Hood ordered a frontal assault in the dwindling afternoon lightsunset would be at 16:34 that dayagainst the Union force, a decision that caused dismay among his top generals. Hood continued to pursue, although his army had been devastated at Franklin and stood no chance of defeating a united Federal force. Opdycke threw his men into the fray. This not only delayed the advance, but provided only a single line to attack the Union fortifications, leaving no reserve. Our district is a large area consisting of 562 square miles. John Brown, Francis Cockrell, Zachariah Deas, Arthur Manigault, Thomas Scott, and Jacob Sharp were also wounded and George Gordon was captured at Franklin. However, this list may include men who had fought at Franklin and died in captivity or in the, Western Theater of the American Civil War, Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of costliest American Civil War land battles, Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1864, "The Destruction of the Army of Tennessee's Officer Corps at the Battle of Franklin", "Report of Surgeon A. J. Foard, Medical Director, Army of Tennessee", "Killing at Franklin: Anatomy of Slaughter", "Book: Baptism of Fire, An Interview with Eric Jacobson", "Carter Cotton Gin foundation unearthed during excavation", "Small Strip Mall, Domino's Pizza to give way to new battlefield park", "Letter, Alonzo Wolverton to his sister Roseltha olverton Goble, December 4, 1864", A blog-database for descendants of the Battle of Franklin, Animated history of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, John Bell Hood Society's defense of Hood's 1864 Tennessee campaign, On this date in Civil War history Battle of Franklin November 30, 1864, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Franklin_(1864)&oldid=1165244683, This page was last edited on 13 July 2023, at 22:55. "[2], The Carter House, which stands today and is open to visitors, was located at the center of the Union position. Named after 12th president Zachary Taylor, the U. S. Dating back to the 1700s, Wright's Chance is a Colonial period plantation house. Gen. James Reilly joined the mad rush for the rear. Fact#1: John Bell Hood sought to defeat John Schofields Union force at Franklin before they could unite with fresh troops around Nashville. [43], At the same time as Opdycke's counterattack west of the pike, the reserve elements of Reilly's division (the 12th Kentucky Infantry, 16th Kentucky Infantry, and 175th Ohio Infantry Regiment[note 10]) had stood their ground and served as a rally line for survivors of Strickland's and Wagner's divisions. He sent half of his army twelve miles north to Spring Hill while the other half remained to cover the river crossing. BGEN John Adams attempted to rally his brigade by galloping his horse directly onto the earthworks. Winstead Hill Park is located south of downtown Franklin on Columbia Highway and consists of 61 acres with a walking trail, parking area, Civil War monument, and restroom facilities. Winstead Hill Park is located at 4023 Columbia Avenue. Confederate soldiers of Stewart's Corps swept past Carnton toward the left wing of the Union army and the house and outbuildings were converted into the largest field hospital present after the battle. George D. Wagner's division[note 4] had been the last to arrive from Spring Hill, and after briefly stopping at Winstead Hill before Hood arrived, he ordered his brigades under COLs Emerson Opdycke, John Q. Hood had rashly split his cavalry command into segments, and the much-dreaded Wizard of the Saddle, defeated as much by the dispersal of his division as by Union cavalry, was relegated to a minor role in the days fighting. A few days after his ill-considered position was overrun in the Confederate advance, Wagner was relieved of command at his own request. Pickett's charge was made after a volcanic artillery preparation of two hours had battered the defending line. Amenities 61 acre Historic Battle Site Both Bate and Cheatham warned Lee not to fire indiscriminately against the Federal works because Confederates were pinned down there on the outside. It is possible that the number of casualties was under-reported by Schofield because of the confusion during his army's hasty nighttime evacuation of Franklin. After a brief period in which he pursued Hood, Sherman decided instead to cut his main army off from these lines and "live off the land" in his famed March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah. From the woods near the McGavock mansion close to the Lewisburg Pike, three brigades under Maj. Gen. William Loring now emerged from the trees and attacked the Union left. Having enlisted in the Confederate army three years earlier, Carter had returned to his hometown for the first time since then, only to be wounded in battle just a few hundred yards away from his own house. There, he and Conrad were to stay put, fight the enemy if he advanced, and retreat to the main works only if overpowered. The six Napoleon guns deployed earlier, now worked by Opdyckes men, added greatly to the carnage in the Carter yard; firing from behind the retrenched line, they poured shell and canister into the enemy-held parapet at a range of just 70 yards. With the cotton gin firmly in Federal hands and ranks of blue-uniformed soldiers firing obliquely westward, the attacking Confederates pressed against the parapets outer ditch were slaughtered like sheep. [52], Hood, who remained at his headquarters on Winstead Hill, was still convinced that he could pierce the Federal line. This Williamson County, Tennessee geographyrelated article is a stub. His brigade and those of Colonels John Casement and Israel Stiles defended the works in A.P. Breakthrough and repulse in the Federal center, Failures on the Confederate left and center, "Our loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was 4,500. As he attempted to seize the flag of the 65th Illinois, he and his horse were both shot and killed. Bate split his understrength division, sending one brigade west of the Carters Creek Pike and himself leading two brigades toward the locust grove. Their attack near the cotton gin was driven back from the breastworks and was then subjected to devastating cross fire from Reilly's brigade to their front and the brigade of COL John S. Casement, on Reilly's right.
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