Visited The Carter House At Franklin

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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* Photos courtesy of William Bechmann (2012)
 
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.



Yes. Captain Todd Carter of the 20th Tennessee Infantry was mortally wounded in the assault...some 400 yards from his parent's front door. He died in their living room on December 2, 1864. The Carter House visitor center has the Williams Cleaner bullet that was removed from Captain Carter's forehead on display now. It is said of all his wounds this was the one that did him in.


Captain Todd Carter-20th Tennessee Infantry-Mortally Wounded at Battle of Franklin.jpg
 
General Cleburne's body was removed from the battlefield and placed on the rear porch of the Carnton House.


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I have a funny story about this porch!

I was visiting Franklin with my wife and four kids at the Carnton House and the kids were enjoying themselves sitting there and rocking in the chairs. So of course I had to explain the battle and aftermath with the Carnton House's role as a hospital of course. When I got to the part of the generals' bodies on the very porch they were relaxing on all four of them start looking around and than bolt off that porch like they were racing for money!
 
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.
Coincidentally, Larry Cockerham took me on a similar tour back in 2006. The emphasis then was on Forrest.
 
Here are a couple post war images of the Carter House and Carter Smokehouse, first facing north and second northwest.
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And this is supposedly a photo looking in the opposite direction, to the south from the western side of the Columbia Pike, probably just a few feet south of the Carter House.
2990775416_528996181e_o.jpg
 
Here are a couple post war images of the Carter House and Carter Smokehouse, first facing north and second northwest.
2907830958_e29de8207a_o.jpg


2905687731_a4b495d903_o.jpg


And this is supposedly a photo looking in the opposite direction, to the south from the western side of the Columbia Pike, probably just a few feet south of the Carter House.
2990775416_528996181e_o.jpg
It is hard for me to imagine Carter House like this. I drive by it every day and it is very close to the road and the traffic is awful.
 
Here are a couple post war images of the Carter House and Carter Smokehouse, first facing north and second northwest.
2907830958_e29de8207a_o.jpg


2905687731_a4b495d903_o.jpg


And this is supposedly a photo looking in the opposite direction, to the south from the western side of the Columbia Pike, probably just a few feet south of the Carter House.
2990775416_528996181e_o.jpg
In the top picture are we facing the same direction as the Confederate advance? Any idea which way Updike would have charged?
 
In the top picture are we facing the same direction as the Confederate advance? Any idea which way Updike would have charged?
Opendyke would have been advancing directly at you as the picture lies as they came around the house and yes, this was the view that the advancing Confederates would have had of the property.
 
Must confess I have never been there (or in Nashville for that matter) despite the fact that it's not even a full day drive. Having seen this, it's definitely "on the list".
 
In the top picture are we facing the same direction as the Confederate advance? Any idea which way Updike would have charged?
Yes, the main Federal line was positioned just around where the photos were taken, Confederates attacking north, Federals facing south. The Confederates charged over that line and up to the Carter House. Opdycke's men counter-charged and drove them back, the Confederates then positioning themselves in the main Federal line, while Opdycke's men took position around the Carter buildings, both sides just a few feet apart.

Isn't that about where that fortification is that provided the artillery support during the attack?
I think you might be thinking of Fort Granger, which was about a mile northeast of Franklin, east of the Harpeth River. Fort Granger was able to shell Loring's and Walthall's divisions on the far Confederate right flank, but there were also artillery batteries positioned across the length of the main Federal line, which probably did even more damage. The above photo posted by Buckeye Bill was taken near the Carter House; the cannons represent a couple batteries that were positioned there.
 
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