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The Carter House Buys Historic Garden Where Brutal Battle Took Place

The Story of Tod Carter

Civil War Capt. Tod Carter makes it home, only to meet his heroic death.

Many historians consider The Carter House garden to be the bloodiest 2-acre site of the entire Civil War. It was in that garden on Nov. 30‚ 1864‚ that Confederate and Federal soldiers began fighting the epic Battle of Franklin.

“One respected historian – Dave Hines – referred to the garden as the vortex of hell‚ where men became demons as they brutally fought each other at an insanely close range‚” says Thomas Cartwright‚ executive director of The Carter House.

“The Carter House Association has acquired a valuable half-acre of that 2-acre garden area‚ and we will add it to our historic memorial here in Franklin‚” he adds. “We don’t glorify war here – we honor those who bravely fought – and acquiring part of the Carter garden is exciting for us who love history.”

The garden is located south of the existing Carter House and butts up to the property along Strahl Street. The half-acre that The Carter House Association has secured was owned by Chris Waller‚ who has been using the property for mobile homes and accessory buildings.

“The mobile homes will be moved away by November 2007‚ at which time it will become part of The Carter House historic site that is open for public tours throughout the year‚” Cartwright says. “The remaining 1.5 acres is private property and is not for sale‚ but we got the half-acre that makes the most sense for adding to The Carter House story.”

Cartwright says the half-acre is an expensive piece of ground because it is zoned as commercial land in Williamson County.

“We are receiving no city‚ county or state funds to pay for it‚” he says. “We will raise all the money ourselves within The Carter House Association.”

Cartwright says the Battle of Franklin took place in November 1864 from 4 to 9 p.m.‚ making it one of the few battles in U.S. history to be fought almost entirely in the dark.

“There were lines of men on both sides who blindly attacked and counterattacked‚ then the next lines attacked and counterattacked‚” he says. “The close range of gunfire found body parts flying all over creation‚ and streams of blood coursed through the dead bodies that were stacked six and seven deep. One historian noted that you could walk over the field of bodies in the Carter garden without ever touching the ground.”

In fact‚ more men in the Confederate Army of Tennessee were killed in those five hours than in the entire two-day Battle of Shiloh and the three-day Battle of Stones River. More than 1‚750 men were killed‚ 3‚800 were seriously wounded and 702 were captured in the Battle of Franklin.

Cartwright says once November 2007 arrives and The Carter House takes ownership of the half-acre‚ entrenchments will be dug and earthen breastworks will be formed to make the garden look like it did in November 1864.

“It’s been said that everyone who fought in the Carter garden and the Battle of Franklin was a casualty‚ whether you lived through it or not‚” he says. “Our acquisition of this land adds another chapter to the Battle of Franklin story that we relive here each day.”

Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Brian McCord

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