Franklin Tennessee

Mom and I went to Franklin Tennessee today. We both had read the book "Widow Of The South" and was curious about the cemetery. I paid, what I thought was an outrageous, price to tour the house. It was money well spent. I learned more about the Plantation that was turned into a field hospital during the Civil War. One of the bloodiest battles happened in the town of Franklin right in front, back and side of Carnton Plantation. When you step on the front porch of the home, you will look out and see an open field. Soldiers lined up, marching two miles long engaged in battle starting at 4 p.m. and ending at 9 p.m. The South suffered a devastating loss. Wounded Confederate soldiers were brought to the Carnton Plantation. Soon every room in the house, with the exception of one was filled beyond capacity. The rest were put on the porches and the yard surrounding the house. At the time of the battle the home was carpeted throughout and as you walk through it today you can see the bloodstained hardwood floors. It is beyond my comprehension. The Union left the cleanup of the battlefield to the remaining Southern Army. The Confederate soldiers were buried in shallow graves, with a wooden marker. The Union soldiers were buried in trenches and were later exhumed and moved to the National Cemetery. In 1866, John and Carrie McGavock, concerned about the burial conditions of the Confederate dead designated nearly two acres of land near their family cemetery for the re-interment of close to 1,500 Confederates. The job to exhume the fallen soldiers and moved them went to the highest bidder. It cost the McGavocks $5 for each person, and the McGavocks provided a simple wooden coffin. They did a fantastic job of identifying the soldiers and recorded their names in a book that is on display at the Carnton Plantation. Their are many stories of families coming to see the final resting place of their loved one but the one that stood out in my memory was of a Georgia family. They came to exhume the body of a loved one and when they saw the cemetery they changed their minds. They returned the next year with a wagon full of Georgia soil and put the dirt on the grave on their soldier so he would be buried in Georgia soil.