The Carter House & Battle of Franklin

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Like the Lotz House, the Carter House survived the Civil War. ย It is located across the street (about 110 steps) from the Lotz House (according to their site) in Franklin, TN. ย Here’s the official link and here’s the Wikipedia link. ย These 2 homes are intricately linked: ย Lotz purchased the land to build his house from Carter; ย during the battle, both families hid in the Carter House cellar for about 20 hours. (Image above from Wikipedia link, by Hal Jespersen – Own work by Hal Jespersen, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9063788)

The front line of the Battle of Franklin occurred on the Carter property. ย The street separating the 2 houses would take a traveler to Nashville. ย The Union troops were attempting to keep the Confederate troops from reaching Nashville. ย Many of the surviving troops went on to fight in the Battle of Nashville just 2 weeks later.

The sad part of the story of the Carter family was that a son Tod Carter had joined the Confederate Army. ย He was marching toward Nashville when this battle started brewing. ย Imagine being in his shoes – your home is just a couple hundred yards ahead surrounded by the enemy and you haven’t been home for several years. ย I would have had a few conflicting thoughts – continue to fight or check on the family. ย After the battle, his father asked if Tod’s unit was present. ย It was. ย He and his daughters and daughter-in-laws started searching for him among the dead and wounded. ย He was eventually found, taken home, and passed a few days later, never regaining consciousness.

Here’s a video I found on YouTube.com about Tod Carter.

Coincidentally, both homes survived the battle. ย Here is a picture of a building about 20 yards from the home. ย This wall was facing the Confederate troops. ย Look at all these bullet holes!

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South facing wall of the kitchen. ย This building was on the Union side of the front-line facing the Confederate army.

 

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South facing side of an office building. ย It’s amazing that after 150+ years you can still see all the holes. ย It has obviously been painted but the holes endure.

 

 

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Battle grounds showing how close these 2 homes were to the front.ย  Map from Wikipedia

 

Here’s a video describing theย battle in the front of the Carter House ย I found on Youtube.com (pretty graphic)

 

This video describes the aftermath of the battle – how the city endures found on youtube.com

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  1. […] and the battleground to the Confederate forces]. ย See our posts about the battlefield here (Carter House) and here (Lotz […]

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