Visited The Carter House At Franklin

james99

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Jul 21, 2014
Had a chance to visit the Franklin battlefield and it was a wonderful experience. Not an ordinary "battlefield" as such but a nice place to visit. The Carter family house was at the center of the battle and still survives today. The park gives very informative tours of the house where the Confederate attack made a brief breakthrough only to be repelled by Union reserves. the family was in the house at the time of the attack and hid in the basement and you can get a sense of the hell on earth it must have been with a savage battle raging outside and upstairs. Though there is development all around you can see how it all developed and driving down the road (Route31?) up to Nashville you can follow the two armies up towards the city. The information center at the Carter house has a nice film that sets the stage for the battle in a military, personal and strategic sense. How the Union troops slipped away at Spring Hill--which you can travel down and visit--to the questioning of the wisdom of the attack. But just an excellent all around Civil War experience. The tour guides were great!
 
The second floor is still off limits, but the first floor, basement and the grounds more than make up for it.
 
I've seen the Carter House years ago. I don't recall if you could tour the inside of the house. Did you?
After reading "Widow of the South", I became very interested the Battle of Franklin. I hadn't heard of it before and have read quite a bit about it since. I would like to go and visit Tennessee some day, if I can only find some one who will go with me. My usual ACW traveling partner prefers to stay in Gettysburg, Virginia, and Maryland!
 
After reading "Widow of the South", I became very interested the Battle of Franklin. I hadn't heard of it before and have read quite a bit about it since. I would like to go and visit Tennessee some day, if I can only find some one who will go with me. My usual ACW traveling partner prefers to stay in Gettysburg, Virginia, and Maryland!
I've been reading about Civil War since about 1988 when I was stationed at Langley AFB in Virginia. That was rich Civil War territory and then living in Western New York I manly studied and thought about the Eastern Theatre. Now my mother lives in Tennessee and that's open a whole world of new Civil War discovery for me. So nice to visit there.
 
The second floor is still off limits, but the first floor, basement and the grounds more than make up for it.
What a huge basement! They were lucky they had it. They told us the story of how the family ran down there and stayed throughout the battle that litterally took place above them. Must have been terrifying. One of the little girls was lost as she ran upstairs to get her doll. Wow!
 
I've toured the Carter house twice. Second time, I took a non-ACW friend there. He was really moved by the accounts of the battle. It's stunning to see the bullet holes in the buildings, and to think of how small a space the men were fighting in. The tour guides we had were passionate and knowledgeable too.
 
Carter House

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Tennessee State Historic Marker

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Carter House Rear Porch (site of hand to hand combat)

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Carter House Office (Riddled with Bullet Holes)

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Carter House Cellar

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* Photos courtesy of William Bechmann (2012)
 
Had a chance to visit the Franklin battlefield and it was a wonderful experience. Not an ordinary "battlefield" as such but a nice place to visit. The Carter family house was at the center of the battle and still survives today. The park gives very informative tours of the house where the Confederate attack made a brief breakthrough only to be repelled by Union reserves. the family was in the house at the time of the attack and hid in the basement and you can get a sense of the hell on earth it must have been with a savage battle raging outside and upstairs. Though there is development all around you can see how it all developed and driving down the road (Route31?) up to Nashville you can follow the two armies up towards the city. The information center at the Carter house has a nice film that sets the stage for the battle in a military, personal and strategic sense. How the Union troops slipped away at Spring Hill--which you can travel down and visit--to the questioning of the wisdom of the attack. But just an excellent all around Civil War experience. The tour guides were great!

When were you there?

I will be at Carnton on Friday. I don't know if we will get over to the Carter house, as we have an agenda for touring, but the Franklin battlefield is a fascinating, moving place. The sense of loss is palpable there, and is definitely so inside the Carter House.
 
Louie & Kirk @ The Carter House Outbuilding-Franklin[1].jpg

Myself and some pards stopped at Franklin on the way to the 150th of Resaca this past May. I never get tired of going there and try and stop whenever I can.

The staff at the Carter House were very gracious to us and gave us the red carpet treatment. Especially since some visiting school kids showed up and we answered a lot of questions and posed for pictures for them.

That's what its all about!
 
After reading "Widow of the South", I became very interested the Battle of Franklin. I hadn't heard of it before and have read quite a bit about it since. I would like to go and visit Tennessee some day, if I can only find some one who will go with me. My usual ACW traveling partner prefers to stay in Gettysburg, Virginia, and Maryland!

If you want to try another book on Franklin, check out this one.

Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War (1995)
by Winson Gloom
ISBN 0871135914 OCLC 31376792

Winston Gloom wrote the book "Forrest Gump"(1986) and several non-fictions.
 
When were you there?

I will be at Carnton on Friday. I don't know if we will get over to the Carter house, as we have an agenda for touring, but the Franklin battlefield is a fascinating, moving place. The sense of loss is palpable there, and is definitely so inside the Carter House.
I was there on Saturday
 
When were you there?

I will be at Carnton on Friday. I don't know if we will get over to the Carter house, as we have an agenda for touring, but the Franklin battlefield is a fascinating, moving place. The sense of loss is palpable there, and is definitely so inside the Carter House.
Lots of history at Carnton, but do try really hard to visit the Carter House. That's where Opdyke came boiling out of town and stopped most every thing.
 
If you want to try another book on Franklin, check out this one.

Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War (1995)
by Winson Gloom
ISBN 0871135914 OCLC 31376792

Winston Gloom wrote the book "Forrest Gump"(1986) and several non-fictions.
I hope it's not written in dialect like"Forrest Gump". Reading that book nearly drove me crazy, when I wasn't laughing hysterically.

Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Lots of history at Carnton, but do try really hard to visit the Carter House. That's where Opdyke came boiling out of town and stopped most every thing.
That was another interesting story they told us. The Union troops could not fire because a unit (Webster?) had stayed out in front and were retreating wildly and it gave Confederates a chance to get close and finally break into around the house. Opdyke had been out in front but was called back and were cooking a hot meal when they rushed to save the Union center
 
Here is a link to the carter house.it has two videos, photos, maps and links to carton and other stops in Franklin.
battleoffranklin.wordpress.com/tour-stops/tour-stop-3-the-carter-house
 
Lots of history at Carnton, but do try really hard to visit the Carter House. That's where Opdyke came boiling out of town and stopped most every thing.

I've been there before. Franklin itself is not the focus of my visit tomorrow. Eric Jacobson is taking me out to give me a tour of sites associated with the retreat from Nashville because that's pertinent to one of my book projects. Eric's office is at Carnton, and that's where he asked us to meet him.
 
Nice pics! I'm going there this November . I read a book (Battle of Franklin...I believe it was called) on the battle that really got to me. It talked about the Carter family and their neighbors hiding in the basement as the carnage was going on outside. The kids said even when they screamed they couldn't be heard above the roar of battle. At one point during it all a few Union troops trying to escape the carnage entered the basement and despite Mr Carter efforts to get them to leave....they stayed for a while. I think one of Carter's sons in the CSA was severely wounded in the family garden and died later in the house. I can't imagine the cleaning up that had to be done in the days or weeks following it all.
 
Is there anything left of the Union positions on the far left flank of the line along the railroad and Harpeth River? My gr gr uncle of the 120th Indiana was wounded there and I'm just curious if anything is left or if it has been paved over.
 
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