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The Battle of Franklin and beginning of the end for the Army of Tennessee

The color image depicts an intense battle with the Union forces in blue on the left with cannon, calvary and armed soldiers in hand-to-hand combat with Confederate forces in grey on the right. The background shows defenses and earthworks lining the river.
Kurz & Allison lithograph of the Battle of Franklin.

Smithsonian Institute

Recipient: City of Franklin, TN

Amount: $1,980,050.00

Acres: 11.78

After the fall of Atlanta in 1864, Union armies began making their way towards the Carolinas, as Confederate General John Bell Hood regrouped and moved his army north into Tennessee. Attempting to draw Union forces away from some of the last coastal cities in southern hands, Hood was confronted by northern troops just south of Nashville, outside Franklin, Tennessee. Ordering a controversial frontal assault near dusk on November 30th, Hoods troops advanced across two miles of open fields towards the Union army’s strong defensive line of entrenchments, and straight into a deadly whirlwind of bullets and artillery shells. By the end of the battle, six Confederate generals were dead or mortally wounded, and the Army of Tennessee had lost over 20% of its men.

The property protected today by a Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant was the scene of intense combat during the Battle of Franklin, witnessing the Confederate ranks being swept by artillery fire as they advanced toward the Union line. Belonging to the farm of F.B. Carter, whose home became the headquarters for the Union 23rd Corps during the battle, this property was farmed by the Carter family following the Civil War, and now with a conservation easement in place, will be preserved in perpetuity.

Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants from the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program empower preservation partners nationwide to acquire and preserve threatened Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War battlefields. In addition, the program administers three other grant opportunities: Preservation Planning Grants, which are open to all sites of armed conflict on American soil, and the newly authorized Battlefield Restoration and Battlefield Interpretation Grants. This financial assistance generates community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.

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Last updated: September 20, 2023