Franklin’s Charge Celebrates Buying One Of The Battle’s Bloodiest Acres
By Gregory L. Wade
(August 2008)

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — One of the bloodiest acres in Franklin was recently purchased for $950,000 by Franklin’s Charge, a coalition of preservation groups in this growing, scenic town south of Nashville.

The tract is directly east, across the busy Columbia Pike, from the Carter House where Union and Confederate troops met in the desperate battle of Nov. 30, 1864. The postwar two-story home on the site will be moved, according to Franklin’s Charge President Ernie Bacon.

Author Eric Jacobson told the officials and preservationists celebrating the purchase, “We would be hard pressed to find more important ground in Franklin.”

It is part of the land where the Confederate Army of Tennessee broke the Union lines only to be repulsed by Federal reinforcements. “The sheer brute force of the Confederate assault centered on this ground,” said Jacobson.

Franklin’s Charge made one of the largest acquisitions of private land for battlefield preservation in 2005 when it purchased a country club of 110 acres, now called the Eastern Flank. That property would have eventually been developed into housing for the rapidly growing area. Instead, a battlefield park is being developed for the Eastern Flank site.

Former Franklin’s Charge president and current board member Robert Hicks noted there are hopes for other potential purchases of significant battle land if the opportunity arises. “Most people doubted we would do anything past what we did saving the largest part of the battlefield,” he said.

The local Heritage Foundation already owns the property where the Carter cotton gin stood during the battle. Planks from the building were used in the Union defenses.

The new purchase is just north of that site and will enable Franklin’s Charge to rebuild the gin and restore the area to its wartime appearance. “We hope to get that done by the 150th anniversary of the war,” said Hicks.

Directly south from the newly purchased acre, and about a block away, the City of Franklin in 2005 bought what was known as the Pizza Hut property, believed by many to be the spot where Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne was killed.

The restaurant building was torn down and the location now serves as a battlefield interpretative site.

These sites taken together are the evolution of a significant core battlefield that is taking shape, noted local battlefield activist Mike Walker. “It is amazing the positive changes in the last few years.”