The new Franklin City Park completed with ADA accessible paved access path. There is no street parking, but easily accessible form the Carter House or Carter’s Court.
A virtual tour of the Carter Cotton Gin site and the Patrick Cleburne Monument from the American Civil War Battle of Franklin. The tour also includes the “Loring’s Advance” property on Meadowlawn Drive and Collin’s Farm on the Lewisburg Pike. The Loring’s Advance video features Eric Jacobson on the 6th tour stop (the video may take a moment to load). For a full screen view, click on the icon in the lower left of the screen. Links to the Carter House, Carnton, Fort Granger and Winstead Hill virtual tours.
Note: get the virtual tour full screen experience by clicking the icon in the lower left of the video frame. A zoom option is available also for reading the historical signage. Some markers are embedded in the floating icons.
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Suggested Reading:
If Franklin can reclaim battlefield property, so can Nashville. Please sign the petition below to support reclaiming the park property at historic Fort Negley.
Revised: 30 November 2016 – New reclaimed battlefield on the north and south side of the house.
Take a virtual tour of the historic American Civil War sites in Franklin, Tennessee. Shot on location at The Carter House, Cotton Gin, Fort Granger, Winstead Hill and Carnton Plantation. There are links to more in-depth tours. More sites to be added soon.
Note: get the full screen mode by clicking the icon in the lower left of the video frame. A zoom option is available also for reading the historical signage. Some markers are embedded in the floating icons.
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John B. Hood’s 100 mile running rear guard, led for the most part by Lt. General Bedford Forrest*, is one of the most amazing feats of the war. Although it is some of the most daring fighting of the Army of Tennessee, it may never be fully appreciated as real estate worthy of preservation. It is that fear, that led me into Virtual Reality photography for battlefield preservation.
Given the fact that the actions at the West Harpeth River are so close to the relatively new I-840 corridor, this land will more than likely be lost in the next decade. As of June, 2017 core battlefield property is for sale.
To categorize these heroic clashes as delaying actions, is a disservice to the men that fought on both sides.
From ‘In the Lions Mouth’:
“In the gathering darkness, the Confederates at first were unsure if the approaching horsemen were friend or foe since so many Southern cavalrymen, like the rest of Hood’s army, wore captured Union clothing. ‘This was a critical moment, and I felt great anxiety as to its effect upon the men, who, fewer in numbers, had just had the shameful example of the cavalry added to the terrible trial of the day before, Stevenson [Major General Carter Stevenson] noted.”
“… the gray cavalry was immersed in some of the toughest combat in this phase of the retreat, with their generals just as – or more – involved in actual fighting than their infantry counterparts. Abraham Buford was assailed by a Union trooper, who twice slashed at him over the shoulder with a saber. General Chalmers quickly came to Buford’s aid, killing the Federal with two revolver shots. Chalmers also captured another Union soldier amid the engagement. Apparently in the same encounter, another bluecoat swung his saber at Buford, but the blade was diverted by a Confederate trooper using the barrel of his empty carbine. Buford, a big man, weighing about 300 pounds, then grabbed his assailant and yanked him from his horse. Squeezing him so tightly that the Federal later said it, was like being ‘hugged by a bear,’ Buford spurred to safety, with his prisoner.”
From the Official Record:
“HDQRS. CAVALRY CORPS, MIL. DIV. OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Three Miles North of Thompson’s Station, on West Harpeth, December 17, 1864-6 p. m.
Brigadier General W. D. WHIPPLE,
Chief of Staff:
GENERAL: We have “bust up” Stevenson’s division of infantry, a brigade of cavalry, and taken three guns. The Fourth Cavalry and Hatch’s division, supported by Knipe, made several beautiful charges, breaking the rebel infantry in all directions. There has been a great deal of night firing, volleys and cannonading from our guns – the rebels have none. It is very dark, and our men are considerably scattered, but I’ll collect them on this bank of the stream – West Harpeth. Hatch is a brick!
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. H. WILSON,
Brevet Major-General, Commanding.”
Tennessee 3D 17 – Hood’s Retreat – December 17, 1864
Columbia Pike
“Moving rapidly south through Franklin, Stephen D. Lee’s Corps with Chalmers’ Cavalry Division attached, took up a delaying position in this area about 1:00 PM They beat off attacks by Wood’s IV Corps & Wilson’s Cavalry. Here, Gen. Lee was wounded; command passed to Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. The Army of Tennessee bivouacked that night around Spring Hill.”
Location: North Side of the West Harpeth River:
4443-4479 Columbia Pike
Franklin, TN 37064
Highly Recommended Reading:
*Forrest was in route to join up with Hood’s Army when the Battle at the West Harpeth River occurred. Coming from Murfreesboro, he would catch up at the Duck River, in Columbia a few days later. Major General Carter Stevenson, was in command of Lee’s Corp here after Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Lee was wounded. Lee was hit in the foot by shell fragments here December 17.
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“What followed over the next twelve days would be one of the most spellbinding and tragic episodes in American military history, as hunters and hunted left bloody footprints on the bayonet-sharp ice for more than 100 miles. Grizzled Confederates who survived claimed, it was worse than the patriots’ sufferings at Valley Forge. One general wrote ‘that it was a most painful march, characterized by more suffering than had ever before, been my misfortune to witness.’ ”
Sugar Creek was the last battle for the Confederate Army of Tennessee. It was fought on the Giles and Lawrence county line, near the Tennessee, Alabama border in late 1864. For ten bitter December days, and over one hundred miles, Lt. General Forrest defended Hood’s vanquished army, in a sequence of valiant rear-guard delaying actions, following the crushing rout at Nashville. From Brentwood, to Sugar Creek, Tennessee, these final desperate maneuvers, enabled the war-weary Confederates to break out, over the Tennessee River into Alabama. But the game would soon be up. The South would capitulate a few months later, ending the long bloody war between the States.
Recommended Reading:
“Just before 8 A.M. on a cold winter morning, U.S. Gen. James H. Wilson’s cavalry corps advanced slowly through a thick fog. Forrest had stationed two brigades under Gen. Edward C. Walthall about 200 yards south of the creek’s main ford behind rock-and-log breastworks”… read more
The core battlefield of this last stand, is about 3 miles northwest of the Highway 11 bridge crossing at Sugar Creek. The battlefield is on private property, but can be viewed from several street views. The closest public perspective is on Puncheon Branch Road. PLEASE RESPECT PRIVATE PROPERTY HERE. This is not a public park.
This virtual tour is the final leg of that 100 mile battle. Tour points include the following historical Civil War sites in southern Giles & Lawrence County, Tennessee:
“Thomas H. Noblit (1812-1899), who served the community as justice of the peace, doctor, merchant, and farmer, built this log dogtrot farmhouse in the 1840s. The Civil War battle at Sugar Creek occurred nearby in December 1864. In the 1890s, his son-in-law, William Franklin “Will” Lytle (1858-1942), renovated the house in the Queen Anne style. Will’s daughter, Mary Will Lytle (1897-1990), was among Tennessee’s first women dentists.”
NOTE: The historical marker for this site disappeared around 2014, as well as the Sugar Creek marker a few miles away.
Take a 360 degree virtual tour of the battlefield land below:
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Battle Map Courtesy of Bob Boyd
The Big Red Store
440 Appleton Road, Five Points, TN 38457
The Big Red Store in Appleton, Tennessee is said to be the largest historic rural General Store in the country. It host’s several events during the year, including one on the 4th of July, and the anniversary of the Battle of Sugar Creek, each December 26th.
The event center is open by appointment only, and on special occasions. Contact Linda Boyd for details at (931) 556-2023. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated to help with restoration and upkeep of the building.
360º Virtual Tour starting point: Kelley’s Point: 7002 Charlotte Pike, Nashville, TN 37209
From Kelley’s Point, to Granbury’s Lunette, the Nashville American Civil War battlefield is one of the largest in the United States. It’s over nine miles as the crow flies. This virtual tour starts with Kelley’s Point on the Cumberland River on the west side of Nashville, and goes to the Belle Meade Plantation, Redoubt #1, Redoubt #, Travelers Rest, Granbury’s Lunette, Sunnyside, Shy’s Hill, Peach Orchard Hill and the Peace Monument Park. There are interconnecting tours to the Nashville National Cemetery, Fort Negley, Belmont Mansion, Love Circle and the Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Note: get the full screen experience by clicking the icon in the lower left of the video frame. A zoom option is available also for reading the historical signage. Some markers are embedded in the floating icons.
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#battleofnashville #virtualtour
Tour Stop locations:
Kelley’s Point: 7002 Charlotte Pike, Nashville, TN 37209
Belle Meade Plantation: 5025 Harding Pike, Nashville, TN 37205
“Loring’s Advance” property on Meadowlawn Drive and Collin’s Farm on the Lewisburg Pike. The Loring’s Advance video features Eric Jacobson on the 6th tour stop (the video may take a moment to load). For a full screen view, click on the icon in the lower left of the screen. Links to the Carter House, Carnton, Fort Granger and Winstead Hill virtual tours.
flies. This virtual tour starts with Kelley’s Point on the Cumberland River on the west side of Nashville, and goes to the 
