8/6/2019 The April 2010 Carter Gardens Dedication Ceremony

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Location of Carter garden in green box

Many Union soldiers‘ letters and diaries record men having spent several hours the morning of the30th hastily and hurriedly digging trench works along this line. This defensive line, also known asearthworks, or breastworks, was a significant reason why the Union side at Franklin saw modest

casualties-killed (about 150), while the Confederates suffered a staggering amount, (around 1,700),according to Fred Prouty. Historian Eric Jacobson says those numbers are probably even too low. Hebelieves there were probably 300 Federal killed at Franklin.

During the excavation on the original Carter family garden site, the team also unearthed partialhuman remains, probably from a Civil War soldier, and other related military items. ArchaeologistLarry McKee has been working on the project and is expected to release his report in a few weeks.Robert Hicks of Franklin‘s Charge said, ―The fact that human remains were found there simply remindsall of us how hallowed the battlefield — all the battlefield at Franklin — is.‖  

Carter house grounds, garden was left (west) of the man standing

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An army that fought behind defensive earthworks had a distinct advantage against assaulting troops,especially if the defending army also had artillery support. The Union armies at the Battle of Franklinhad the advantage of both. Thus, as Jacobson says (p. 374 below), the ‖ . . . cards were stackedagainst them [the Rebels] almost from the start‖. 

I own a letter from a Union soldier who fought at Franklin for the 63rd Indiana (on the far easternUnion flank) named Addison Lee Ewing. His first letter after Franklin states the following:

 ―There is no quicker way of suffering this war than by having Rebs charge our works when theyinvariably get whipped.‖  

Ewing said it well, the Confederates at Franklin ―got whipped‖, and the biggest reason was because of the defensive earthworks.

Casting the larger significance of the Carter garden section of the battlefield, historian Eric Jacobsoncaptures it best:

 ―The significance of the western edge of the Carter garden cannot be overstated. Around 4:30 p.m. onNovember 30, 1864, elements of Gen. John Brown‘s Confederate Division ripped through the mainFederal line of defense west of Columbia Pike. Among the units forced to withdraw was the 72nd

Illinois Infantry, which held the section of the line which cuts through the garden property. The Illinoistroops fell back to a reserve line held by the 44th Missouri Infantry. Only a firm stand by the

Missourians prevented Brown‘s troops from collapsing more of the Federal defensive position. Thegarden property was enveloped by a hail of relentless fire for hours and three separate charges madeby Federal troops to retake the main line were unsuccessful. The Confederates held the outside of themain line until they started to withdraw around 9 p.m.‖  

Hoosier Lee Ewing paints the picture in vivid language that only a first-hand participant could havedescribed that day:

 ―Colonels and Generals rode right up to our faces bringing their men in fine style but ―blue coats‖ wouldn‘t budge back one inch and there fell victims to their own mad actions. A person could walkover acres of dead . . . stepping on one dead body to another. It was a terrible slaughter. ― - Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana, December 5th, 1864 letter

The Tennessee Wars Commission provided the grant to Franklin‘s Charge for the excavation of theCarter garden area. An archaeological team led by Larry McKee – with TRC Garrow Associates Inc. – found material evidence of that awful day, unearthed just several inches below the surface in thepresent-day Carter garden. Jacobson says that the team ―excavated about 2/3rds of the Federal linethat runs diagonally across the property‖. They dug down roughly 20 inches and discovered thematerial evidence including: lots of bullets (Spencers), some fired and some dropped; ram rods, abayonet, evidence of a fire pot, and human remains.

Among the human remains was ―a piece of a skull, a finger, part of an ankle, and portion of femur-legbone‖, according to Fred Prouty. It would be impossible to know for sure if the human remains wereConfederate or Union. However, we do know that it would have been Federal soldiers who would havedug the earthworks and originally manned them.

They dug down from the surface about 18-24 inches and then piled the dirt up in front of the trench,on the south side of the trench. Soldiers would have then placed head logs, branches, and anythingthey else they could have found around them (including portions of Carter outbuildings, barns, etc,)on the top of the piled dirt in front. In all, the earthworks would have been roughly five to six feethigh, thus giving the Federals a tremendous advantage of protection against the assaultingConfederate troops.

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View probably just 20 feet northeast of the original Carter garden location.

The Federals also had the advantage of artillery placed on the line as well as about 50 yards behindthe line. As the approaching Rebels came upon the earthworks they faced a terrible blaze of fire fromthe Federals in this section, some of whom apparently even had Spencer rifles. A Spencer was a ‗repeating rifle‘, capable of firing seven .52 cartridges in less than 10 seconds, compared to thestandard Enfield rifle that could yield up to three discharges in one minute.

The discovery of the Spencer bullets is interesting as historian Eric Jacobson pointed out. The Illinoistroops in that position did not have Spencer rifles. So where did they likely come from? Jacobsonthinks they came from the 28th Kentucky Infantry (U.S.) who was posted a mile out front in Wagner‘sbrigade (U.S.), before the assault started. Wagner‘s entire line made for a hasty retreat immediatelyupon the start of Hood‘s charge and skeedaddled back behind the Union line. As the retreating Unionsoldiers came flying up and over the entrenchments on the Carter garden they no doubt dropped

some Spencer bullets, and many also joined the Illinoisians on the line, discharging their rifles againstthe coming Rebel onslaught.

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Spencer bullets

Three weeks after the battle of Franklin, Lee Ewing (63rd Indiana Infantry U.S.) came back throughFranklin on the 20th of December, chasing after Hood‘s defeated Army of Tennessee retreating toAlabama from Nashville. Ewing may have been standing right near the Carter gardens when he wrotethis:

 ―. . . we was at Franklin where there are hundreds of new made graves filled by the Enemy. I wentinto the old breastworks where we lay and all over the front of our Brigade which is pretty well dotted

over with rebble graves . . . There are dead horses laying around. Some of them almost up over ourold works.‖  - Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana, December 22nd, 1864 letter

The Battle of Franklin Trust will host a ceremony and dedication this Saturday, April 17th, to formallyopen the recaptured tract of land that served as the garden for the Carter family. The public is invitedto attend this free event which will be held from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The Franklin community‘s preservation efforts are led and championed by many people, many behindthe scenes, and from all over the nation. Robert Hicks said:

Truth is, this hallowed ground — the battlefield at Franklin, like the history of the battle, itself, is ournation‘s patrimony. The reclamation of the back portion of the Carter Garden Plot could never have

been possible without the passionate work of Thomas Cartwright, the CWPT and a host of individualdonors, nation-wide. While it was supported by the many individual preservation organizations inFranklin that make up Franklin‘s Charge, along with the collective support from Franklin‘s Charge,itself, as we dedicate the garden plot, we are remind, once again that this was a national campaignand its success rests firmly on the shoulders of men and women across the nation.

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The excavated Federal line is covered with sand.

Sources: 

1.  Eric Jacobson, Battle of Franklin Trust historian and Director of OperationsPhone interview 4/13/10; email correspondence; and personal conversations.Also see Jacobson‘s For Cause and For Country, 2006 (Hb): pp. 373-74.

2.  Fred Prouty, Director of Programs for the TN Wars Commission. 4/12/10 FCWRT, and phone interview 4/13/10

3.  Robert Hicks, Franklin‘s Charge, email interview 4/13/10 

4.  Kraig McNutt Civil War Collection, letter(s) from A. Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana.

For more information: 

1.  Flickr photo gallery of the Carter garden section

2.  YouTube gallery of videos of the Carter garden section