Day 2 - Spring Hill And Franklin, Tennessee
Wednesday morning we got underway with serious Civil War touring at Spring Hill and Rippavilla Plantation. Conditions were cool but the strong breeze made the morning quite chilly. Above from left to right, Yours Truly, Doug Garnett (
@1863surgeon), and his son Bradley.
Rippavilla Plantation House
We didn't take the tour of Rippavilla itself but instead visited a long time with Chuck, one of the volunteers there, who explained the battle for us. I did however get good photos of the mansion house above and below. Here at breakfast following the failure of Ben Cheatham's corps and Nathan B. Forrest's cavalry to cut the Franklin Pike and the subsequent Federal escape from the incipient trap Hood was said to be
"... as wrathy as a rattlesnake."
Federal Defense Lines at Spring Hill
We were only able to see a little of the actual battlefield at Spring Hill before heading north towards Franklin; these views are near the center of the Union defense line.
Winstead Hill Outside Franklin
Winstead Hill served as the command post for Confederate commander John Bell Hood; from here he watched the assault on the Federal lines late in the afternoon November 30, 1863. Note the redbud in full bloom.
Memorial stones for four Confederate brigadiers killed or mortally wounded in the battle; Pat Cleburne and Hiram Granbury have other individual markers (not pictured).
Carter House and Its Dependencies, Franklin
Photography isn't permitted in any of the historic houses on tour at Franklin so I was only able to get shots around the grounds. Here's the front of the main house above and Doug and Bradley listening to our guide on the back porch below.
The dependencies left to right above are a slave house (moved to this location after the battle and therefore showing no battle damage); the brick smokehouse; and the frame office. The Carter property stood at the center of the Union defense line and suffered considerable damage during the battle.
The southern-facing sides of both the smokehouse and office show extensive battle damage from musketry and rifle fire from the attacking Confederates. Until just in the last year these buildings could only be seen up close because of two non-period buildings which have now been removed.
The white frame office has been recently restored and the south-facing wall left purposely without interior facing to dramatically reveal the numerous bullet holes which have perforated it during the battle.
Below another recently restored vista of the Carter buildings viewed from the northwest side where postwar buildings have been removed. This is the area crossed by the Western Federal brigade commanded by Emerson Opdyke which sealed the breach here made by Pat Cleburne's and William Bate's assaulting Confederate divisions.