I lived in Franklin from 2012-2017. Neat area. The one battle line crossed just south of our neighborhood on old 96, so I ran along the battle lines every day.
I assume the tour includes the Carnton plantation and the cemetery? That sounds like what you would enjoy.
Also the Lotz house.
Otherwise , it's just a neat downtown and a lot going on. I hope you enjoy the trip.

Kinda unrelated, but reminded me of the fact that Franklin was also a semi renegade independent state for four years. In the 18th century, which is weird.

Live in Nashville for a couple of years recently and took a visit to the battle site. We did not do a guided tour but I am sure that that would be neat.

Did atour there about 15 years sgo

Reported as the highest casualty rate (by time) of any CW battle.

Went through the home that served as a hospital. They said the pile of amputated limbs outside came up to the window sills... About 7' above the ground and when viewed under blacklight there was not a squate inch of the "operating room" walls that did not show blood spatter.

One Confedrate soldier wounded was the son of the homeowner. He died several days later in the same bed he was born in.

Brutal in so many ways.

cavscout96 said:

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Did atour there about 15 years sgo

Reported as the highest casualty rate (by time) of any CW battle.

Went through the home that served as a hospital. They said the pile of amputated limbs outside came up to the window sills... About 7' above the ground and when viewed under blacklight there was not a squate inch of the "operating room" walls that did not show blood spatter.

One Confedrate soldier wounded was the son of the homeowner. He died several days later in the same bed he was born in.

Brutal in so many ways.

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The only reason my g-g-grandfather survived Franklin was a stroke of luck. His unit, the 34th Alabama, marched the furthest from Columbia TN to Spring Hill TN. They needed to be rested, so they were thrown into the battle last, after the sun went down. fewer casualties in the dark. 2 weeks later Dec. 15, 1864 he was captured at Nashville Tn.

Stones River Battlefield is worth a visit as well. Not too far from Franklin.

Captain Todd Carter, mortally wounded in the vicinity of his boyhood home and eventually died on it

"As the resolute men of Walthall's brigades advanced closer to the Union main line they would have next encountered the powerful blasts of 12-pounder Napoleon smoothbore cannon situated in embrasures near the Cotton Gin and the Lewisburg Pike. The flat, open terrain in front of the Federal line provided Walthall's men little cover from the screaming rounds being fired by Lt. Aaron Baldwin's 6th Ohio Light Battery.
At under 400 yards, most of the Union guns switched over to deadly canister shells real short range killers. Canister shells for 12-pdr Napoleon guns contained 27 balls (each about 1 1/12" in diameter) that would spray out from the muzzle at more than 1,200 feet per second. Like a large shotgun, these smoothbores could do devastating work against closely packed attackers.
During the frantic assault on the Union left flank, Baldwin's guns reportedly fired "triple canister" three canister shells stacked on top of one another. There were even accounts of Lt. Baldwin asking men to load musket balls into socks that would then be loaded into the hot cannon tubes.
Doing the terrible math, each veteran gun crew, firing triple canister, firing three times a minute, would therefore have unleashed 243 deadly canister balls every minute. At Franklin, this veritable blizzard of iron balls extracted a terrible toll from Walthall's exposed men."


The 12th Kentucky and the 65th Illinois were two units that met the Confederates as the stormed down the Columbia Pike. They were armed with Henry repeating rifles. I distinctly remember how they sounded as I rushed through the Columbia Pike opening in the Federal works during the 120th Reenactment in 1984. It was heart wrenching as the survivors of the assault on the works were mowed down by the rapid fire weapons. I know, mellow dramatic. That had to be the most surreal reenactment that I ever took part. You never saw the spectators.

The American Battlefield Trust has a great set of videos currently out about Franklin. They even feature Trace Adkins whose GGF or some other direct relation was in an Alabama regiment during the charge and were directly opposed by Federals armed with Henry's. A lot of good info about site preservation and about buying land to reclaim from the urban sprawl. There is a good living history going this weekend as well with a couple hundred dudes and civilians recreating events there (no battle reenactment just living history and demonstrations). For what it was, it's almost criminal places like Franklin and Chickamauga are overlooked because they were in the east.