About The Battle of Franklin Trust

The mission of The Battle of Franklin Trust is to preserve, understand, and interpret the story of a people forever impacted by the American Civil War.

As the 501(c) (3) corporation that manages three historic sites in middle Tennessee, Carter House, Carnton, and Rippa Villa, interpretation begins with the founders of America and their audacious experiment in liberty.

It examines challenges to that experiment in the nineteenth century that propelled us toward war, and the three constitutional amendments which followed. Finally, it traces the evolution of liberty into the twenty-first century and confronts the challenges still facing us today. Tours and exhibitions continually evolve to reflect recent research, tackling crucial topics such as slavery and the enslaved, Reconstruction, and life in post-war America.

The Battle of Franklin

Fate and circumstance placed Franklin in the path of two great armies in late November 1864. Federal troops arrived in Franklin around dawn on November 30, 1864. Federal Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox set up his headquarters at the Carter House after waking the family around dawn. The Confederate troops, commanded by Gen. John Bell Hood, began to arrive on the southern edge of Franklin around 1 pm.

The battle began at 4 pm with roughly 20,000 Confederate soldiers moving forward toward a similar number of Federal troops. The two armies came into close contact shortly before 4:30 pm and the fighting soon became brutal and fiendishly savage. The sun set soon after the battle reached its apex and it was completely dark, except for the flashing of the guns, only a few minutes after 5 pm. Around midnight the Federal army withdrew from the battlefield. Left behind was a small town and a battered Confederate army.

Altogether, some 10,000 American soldiers became casualties at Franklin and about three-fourths of that number were Confederates. About 2,300 men died, some 7,000 were wounded, and roughly 1,000 were taken prisoner. When recollecting the battle years later one man said simply, “It was as if the devil had full possession of the earth.”

Carter House

Carter House was built in 1830 by Fountain Branch Carter. The home and family witnessed one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War on November 30, 1864. The modest brick home was commandeered and used as a Federal command post while the Carter family, their slaves, and a neighboring family sought refuge in the basement during the fighting which erupted on their property. The site has been open to the public since 1953.

Rippa Villa

Rippa Villa and the Cheairs family have been part of the Spring Hill and Maury County story since the early 1800s. The Greek Revival-style home that stands today was built in the early 1850s by Nat Cheairs, who served as a major in the 3rd Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War. He and his wife, Susan, were one of the wealthiest families in the region, along with families like the Thompsons and the Polks. Large numbers of enslaved people and substantial agricultural production were the bedrock of farms like Rippa Villa. During the war, the Battle of Spring Hill unfolded across the property on November 29, 1864. The site has been open to the public since the late 1990s.