Music City and More

I'd love to have this shirt!

Everyone goes to Nashville for the country music, right? Everyone except Civil War geeks like us. Although we didn't see a lot of the music sights in Nashville I made sure I got to the Country Music Hall of Fame. I don't consider myself to be a hardcore country fan so I was surprised by how many songs  and performers were some of my favorites. And the costumes on display were great fun to view: Hank Williams' dapper suit with musical notes appliquéd on the jacket, performers' suits and dresses dripping with rhinestones. My favorite didn't have rhinestones but it was covered with crazy farmer embroidery. In the middle of all that glitz  Russ' favorite country singer, George Strait, stood out for what I call real country style: crisp western shirt, Wrangler jeans, and classic cowboy hat and boots.

Country Cool George Strait

Despite all the country music attractions our main reason for coming to the Nashville area was to continue visiting Civil War sites. Franklin, Tennessee was one of those places but it was very different than the other spots we'd visited. Franklin is a charming town with a quaint central area filled with upscale shops. It reminded me of Fredericksburg without the Texas vibe. Franklin's marketing slogan says "Even the biscuits in Franklin have a story" so I was disappointed when  I was told that there really wasn't a story about the biscuits--it was just a marketing tagline. 

The Battle of Franklin was a race to Nashville to control supply lines. After series a of cat and mouse moves north, the Union Army--six miles of men, wagons, and artillery pieces!-- slipped by Confederates during the night, passing by so close that they could see Confederate campfires and Confederates, who were under orders not to engage,  were kept awake by the noise. As our tour guide pointed out, the residents of Franklin and the surrounding area woke up the next morning to a completely changed world as the battle began.

Unlike other battle sites we've visited, there is no national or state park at Franklin or any vast "battlefield" set aside. Instead there is a private trust that has preserved a few key sites connected to the battle. In some ways, that brings the battle to a more personal level, taking it from thousands of men across many acres to a particular house and a particular family.

Luckily the Carter House and its history have been preserved

The epicenter of the Battle of Franklin was the Carter House and the fields around it. The battle was literally fought in the yard of the house while the family huddled in the cellar. We saw bullet and shell holes that remain in  the walls of the house and the outbuildings to this day. The nearby cotton gin where much of the fighting took place is  now a Domino's Pizza but after many years of effort, the trust has purchased the land plan to rebuild the gin. It was a jolt to hear that at one point the Carter House was scheduled to be torn down for the construction of a gas station. Luckily the trust was able to purchase the land and save the house.

Bullet holes from the battle still scar the walls

We've heard a lot of grim stories and statistics during our Civil War trek but the Carter House is the site of  one of the most tragic. The Carter family had three sons, all of whom were soldiers in the Confederate Army. The oldest, Moscow, had been captured and paroled on the condition that he wouldn't fight against the Union again. He was at the Carter House during the battle and honored his word even when his former unit was engaged in the battle raging just outside his door. Meanwhile, the youngest Carter son, Tod, was in the Confederate troops in the battle. After telling his troops to follow him and he would lead them home, Tod was mortally wounded within 200 yards of his family home. The third Carter son survived the war but left Tennessee and lived in California for the remainder of his life. One family, three sons, all their lives changed forever by the war.

 

Standing on the porch at Carnton Plantation

A few miles away stands Carnton Plantation, another of the sites protected by the trust. It's a beautiful house built in the 1820s that served as field hospital for the Confederates during the Battle of Franklin. When the battle began, the Carnton family was told that their house was needed as a hospital but before they even had time to prepare, casualties began to pour in. 

Porch at Carnton where generals were laid

The battle had a terribly high human cost--at one time the bodies of four Confederate generals were lying on the porch at Carnton. Life didn't return to normal even after the battle--some soldiers were there as long as seven months later. There was no cemetery for the Confederate soldiers after the battle so the Carnton family donated land adjoining their family cemetery for a Confederate cemetery which is still there today. Unlike almost any other cemetery of the time, the Carnton family cemetery includes the gravesites of their slaves. Although the house is beautifully restored today, over the years it was in disrepair and even had chickens inside it at one point. 

The Confederate Cemetery was created and maintained by the Carnton family. It  adjoins their family plots.

Confederates here had to get past  Union artillery in the tree line 

Our next stop was Murfreesboro and the Stones River Battlefield. Part of the reason for the Stones River Battle was the control of Nashville and the need for a Union Victory to offset defeats in other areas. Out of a 4,000 acre battlefield only a small area is part of the Military Park; the vast majority of what was the battlefield is developed. 

Firing demonstration at Stones River

Through research, I found that three of my great-great-great grandfather's older brothers not only fought at Stones River but all three were wounded during the battle there. Russ and I were dismayed to learn that developers of battlefield land outside the park are not required to follow any special kind of excavation process to protect artifacts so whatever history might be there is simply destroyed. In fact, the hill where my ancestors were wounded and where one of the  deadliest battles took place is now part of a housing subdivision. Another field where they fought is on the site of a hospital parking lot. What a drastic contrast to the attitude of the National Park Service that the battlefields are hallowed and sacred ground.

Me with  World's Largest Cedar Bucket

After the intensity of the Stones River Battlefield, I was looking forward to one of my must-see items for the trip:  The World's Largest Cedar Bucket which happens to be in Murfreesboro. While driving across three states I've been anticipating having my photo taken with a gargantuan bucket similar to the gigantic boot at the LL Bean store in Freeport, Maine. Finally the day arrived. Somehow in all my anticipation I'd overlooked the fact that the bucket is just about exactly the same height as Russ (six feet) so standing by the bucket wouldn't be standing by something extraordinarily tall as I'd imagined. Needless to say, when I actually saw the bucket it was not the giant I had expected. I also hadn't expected that since it had been the victim of arson several years ago--who would expend the effort to burn a big bucket and why?--it's now behind a protective fence so I couldn't even really stand by it. But after so much buildup I couldn't resist having my photo taken with it anyway.

There was one more battlefield on our list before we left Tennessee--Chickamauga south of Chattanooga. Chickamauga was America's  first National Military Park and is its largest. Like most of the battles, it was fought for control of a strategic resource, in this case for control of Chattanooga's roads and railroads.

 

We managed to find this marker even in the woods

Our standard MO for visiting Civil War battlegrounds is intense. We spend hours exploring the battlefields--walking trails, locating markers, listening to ranger talks, trying to get a real sense of the strategy and unfolding of the battles. Usually we're right in sync on how we go about it but at Chickamauga  Russ had a mutiny on his hands. Like at earlier battlefields, one of the things we wanted to do was locate troop markers showing where my ancestors' units were during the battle. At some battlefields, that might be as simple as following the map to the side of a trail but Chickamauga is heavily wooded and doesn't have many open fields. The volunteer in the Visitors Center had urged me not to search for them since he thought the markers were deep in the woods but just like in a scary movie where people ignore the warning signs we plunged ahead anyway.

Russ searching for that final missing marker

Right off the bat we found several of the markers we were searching for next to the road that winds through  the park. I was satisfied with those but Russ is always up for a greater challenge so he wanted to find the final one. We ended up on a hardly-identifiable trail, moving farther and farther into the woods. I was hot. I was sweaty. I was getting a necklace of mosquito bites on my neck. Consequently, I got cranky. Russ reluctantly agreed to head back to the car. Five minutes later we were back in the air conditioned, mosquito-free visitors center looking at a detailed map that showed we had been within a few yards of that final marker  but by that time I was done so we missed that one thanks to me.

   

The same rugged terrain that stymied us had made it hard for officers to keep track of where the troops were and what was actually happening during the battle. As a result, Union generals in particular made serious mistakes in strategy that affected the outcome of the battle and resulted in a Confederate victory. As always, when I stand on the quiet fields where the battles took place it's almost impossible to imagine the chaos and destruction during the fight.

Russ by artillery on Lookout Mountain, site of the Battle Above the Clouds

We also visited the military park at nearby Lookout Mountain where the Confederate Army  placed their artillery after the battle. From that high ground they had an excellent overlook of all the roads and the river snaking through the lowland. Standing high above Chattanooga on the crest of the mountain it's easy to see why the battle where Union forces drove the Confederates off the mountain is called the "Battle Above the Clouds."  Today the road winding up to the top of Lookout Mountain is lined with homes and the rock outcroppings are surrounded by undergrowth but photos from that time period shows soldiers and tourists perched on ledges above sheer drop-offs.

Russ was happy he didn't have to eat this.

Eating-Our-Way-Through-The-South continued in Chattanooga. For a mixed couple--vegan and carnivore--eating out can be challenging. Sometimes we decide that instead of trying to find a compromise, we'll go to a restaurant that will only have food for one of us. In Chattanooga we chose a restaurant for me--Sluggo's North Vegetarian Cafe, which is a hardcore vegan spot. I was in heaven--so many choices!--but Russ was struggling. He finally settled on a (Tofu) BLT. After much deliberation I decided on breaded pecan-dusted seitan, collards, and mashed potatoes with vegan gravy. 

As much as I'm getting from learning about the Civil War I'm looking forward to a complete change of pace when we cross into Kentucky. No history for a few weeks--just cars, baseball, and whatever else pops up in front of us.

More Photos

Natural trenches formed by the rocks here at Stones River made escape difficult for the soldiers

It's hard to imagine the destruction at fields like these during the Civil War.