Nashville is probably most often associated with music, but it is also rich in history. We've visited several Civil War battlefields, but in many ways, the battles of Nashville/Franklin were some of the more pivotal.
Our first day in the area, we went to the small town of Franklin, south of Nashville. We had understood, that regardless of its history, it was a cool town, and we wanted to walk its streets. Unfortunately, a festival was underway there, and even finding a place to park would have been difficult, so we simply drove through and went directly to where fighting opened.
The Carnton plantation, shown here, was at the far eastern flank of the Union Line. While most of the fighting in this area took place at night, the McGavock family, the occupants at the time, could easily see the explosions of the cannons and muskets from their front porch. This house became a hospital caring for around 300 casualties. Before the evening was over, four Confederate generals lay dead on the back porch.
One of the Union's artillery emplacements was situated here. It had an excellent field of fire. It's easy to see why this battle is often called the Pickett's Charge of the West. Perhaps one of the pivotal moments of this campaign occurred when General John M. Schofield, after inflicting devastating casualties on the attacking Confederates, was able to slip away and rejoin General George H. Thomas force in better fortified Nashville.
It's hard to imagine trying to cross this creek under withering Union Fire. The steps in the foreground indicate that this side of the creek was as steep at the far side.
General John Bell Hood, leader of the Confederate forces, could never have been faulted for his courage and audacity. Unfortunately, his strategic and tactical abilities were questionable, at best. His blunders were many and crucial during this campaign. This is Shy's Hill, site of one of the largest blunders. Today, as then, it commands a fabulous view of Nashville.
Confederate forces established a position at the peak of the hill. Unfortunately for them, they chose to entrench at the physical peak rather than the military peak. This meant that the Confederate forces could not, from this position. see, let alone fire down hill, Union forces were able to scale the hill with little resistance and overrun the position, thus, effectively, putting an end to the battle and to Confederate hopes for a negotiated peace. Hood came here with twenty thousand troops and left with eight thousand.
The sad end of the Nashville campaign may well reside here, steps away from the McGavock mansion at Carnton plantation where it all began. This graveyard contains over one thousand Confederate Troops. At the conclusion of fighting, many of the confederate dead were buried in hastily prepared and poorly marked graves. Colonel John McGavock had them exhumed and re-buried near the family cemetery in better prepared and better marked graves. He and his wife cared for this cemetery until their deaths in the late 1800s, hosting many families seeking to find the last resting place of their loved one.
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