{"id":99936822,"date":"2025-01-21T12:51:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T18:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/?p=99936822"},"modified":"2026-06-09T14:27:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T19:27:32","slug":"learn-how-franklin-saved-its-battlefields-and-preserved-a-pivotal-moment-in-american-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/blog\/learn-how-franklin-saved-its-battlefields-and-preserved-a-pivotal-moment-in-american-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn How Franklin Saved Its Battlefields and Preserved a Pivotal Moment in American History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On November 30, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood waged a frontal assault on Union troops retreating from Spring Hill, resulting in one of the bloodiest battles in American history. It became known as the Battle of Franklin, and it all took place right outside many of the town\u2019s historic homes, as families cowered inside. \u201cIt\u2019s like the last scenes of an epic movie or chapter of a book,\u201d says Eric Jacobson, Chief Operating Officer for the <\/a>Battle of Franklin Trust<\/a>, \u201cwhen you can\u2019t believe what you\u2019re seeing, you can\u2019t believe what you\u2019re reading, you can\u2019t believe that this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A full day of fighting resulted in nearly 10,000 casualties, including six Confederate generals, and by the time it ended, the Confederate Army of Tennessee was almost entirely destroyed. The Battle of Franklin ended up paving the way for a Union victory in Nashville and marked a major turning point in the Civil War, essentially creating a ripple effect that can still be seen today. Its outcome helped ensure the United States would remain intact and slavery would be abolished, and Jacobson says every soldier who fought that day was well aware of the significance of their actions. \u201cEveryone knew what was at stake on November 30, 1864,\u201d he says. “The soldiers on each side knew full well the world they lived in. And they were perfectly willing to kill one another in droves to get to a final conclusion.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, visitors to Franklin can truly immerse themselves in the events of that fateful day and learn about its aftereffects, with guided tours of battlefields and historic homes like <\/a>Carter House<\/a>, as well as a visit to the city\u2019s new <\/a>Moore-Morris History and Culture Center<\/a>. But it wasn\u2019t so long ago that the Battle of Franklin\u2019s legacy was in danger of being erased by encroaching development. By 2005, a golf course sat on one major battlefield and a Pizza Hut marked the spot where the most intense fighting had taken place, while chain stores and strip malls had overtaken other sites of significance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tide turned when a group of preservationists raised funds to buy the golf course and donate it to the city, which transformed the property into <\/a>Eastern Flank Battlefield Park<\/a>. This gave the community momentum to continue what has become the largest battlefield reclamation effort in the nation, as both private and government funds were secured that enabled preservationists to buy back a significant amount of historic battlefield and raze the commercial buildings that covered them. \u201cIt\u2019s a modern miracle,\u201d says Jacobs. \u201cOver the course of 20 years just in Franklin, we\u2019ve probably saved north of 175 acres.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The purchase of this land has been enhanced by a renewed commitment to tell the complete story of the Battle of Franklin, including how it affected the town’s enslaved population. Today, visitors can learn what\u2019s become known as <\/a>The Fuller Story<\/a> by reading newly installed interpretive historical markers and touring historic sites like <\/a>Carnton<\/a> and the <\/a>McLemore House<\/a>. In just two decades, Franklin has become one of the best places in the nation to get a truly comprehensive look at a crucial moment in Civil War history. \u201cIf you allow it, you can feel the past talk to you,\u201d says Jacobs, \u201cand that\u2019s been wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Efforts to tell Franklin’s Civil War story continue to this day, as local preservationists work to purchase even more important Civil War sites in the area, including battlefield property that\u2019s currently for sale adjacent to the <\/a>Rippa Villa<\/a> battlefield site in nearby Spring Hill. More than ever, the people of Franklin are acknowledging that, in the words of philosopher George Santayana, \u201cThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.\u201d They are committed to making sure the Battle of Franklin’s legacy is remembered for many years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On November 30, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood waged a frontal assault on Union troops retreating from Spring Hill, resulting in one of the bloodiest battles in American history. It became known as the Battle of Franklin, and it all took place right outside many of the town\u2019s historic homes, as families cowered inside. \u201cIt\u2019s like the last scenes of an epic movie or chapter of a book,\u201d says Eric Jacobson, Chief Operating Officer for the\u00a0Battle of Franklin Trust, \u201cwhen you can\u2019t believe what you\u2019re seeing, you can\u2019t believe what you\u2019re reading, you can\u2019t believe that this is happening.\u201d [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":99936837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[390,239,234],"tags":[166,167,171],"class_list":["post-99936822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-things-to-do","category-tours","tag-franklin","tag-historic-downtown-franklin","tag-spring-hill"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99936822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99936822"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99936822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99958384,"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99936822\/revisions\/99958384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99936837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99936822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99936822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visitfranklin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99936822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}