Battle of Franklin: the 1864 battle and the sites you can visit in Franklin today

Battle of Franklin at a glance

Battle of Franklin sites to see first, in order

Franklin's battlefield is inside the city: the fighting crossed farms that later became streets, shops and subdivisions, and since 1996 the American Battlefield Trust and its partners have preserved more than 180 acres of it piece by piece. That means the sites are scattered through the city, and the order you see them in decides whether the battle makes sense.

The pick: start where the Union line broke, then follow the wounded, then walk the ground the attack crossed. Allow a morning for the first two stops and an hour for the third. The $28 online combination ticket covers the two houses, and the park is free. The catch is timing: the last guided tour starts at 4 p.m.

Carter House: the Union center

The Carter House, at 125 West Fowlkes Street, stood at the center of the Union line, and the hardest fighting reached its gardens. Union Brigadier General Jacob Cox took over the parlor as his headquarters before dawn on the day of the battle, while the Carter family, neighbors and several enslaved people sheltered in the basement. Begin here; the guide puts every later stop in context.

Carnton and the McGavock Confederate Cemetery

Carnton, at 1345 Eastern Flank Circle, became the largest field hospital in the area after the battle. On the morning of December 1, 1864, the bodies of four Confederate generals lay on its back porch. In early 1866 John and Carrie McGavock set aside two acres beside their family cemetery, and nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers are buried there.

Eastern Flank Battlefield Park in Franklin

About 110 acres of the former Franklin Country Club golf course, beside Carnton's 48 acres, are now a city battlefield park. Walk it after the house tours. It's the one place in Franklin where you can still see the open ground the Confederate right crossed, and it costs nothing.

Fort Granger, northeast of downtown Franklin

Union troops built Fort Granger in 1863 as an artillery position above the Harpeth River. Schofield spent most of the battle there, and its guns fired across the river on General A.P. Stewart's attacking troops. Visit it last, when you know what its batteries were aiming at.

What happened at the Battle of Franklin

The battle was one evening's fighting at the end of a long campaign. After Atlanta fell on September 1, 1864, Hood took the Confederate Army of Tennessee north to threaten the Union supply base at Nashville. Schofield's job was to delay him until his force could join Major General George Thomas's troops in Nashville.

Forces at the Battle of Franklin

The American Battlefield Trust's forces-engaged estimate is 63,000: about 30,000 Union and 33,000 Confederate. Its narrative puts the Confederate strength committed at Franklin lower, so treat the totals as estimates. What matters for the outcome is position: the Union side fought from dug-in works with artillery behind them, and the Confederates had to cross open ground to reach them.

Spring Hill on November 29, 1864

The day before, at Spring Hill to the south, Hood had a chance to cut Schofield off and missed it. Schofield's army slipped past during the night with few losses and dug in on the southern edge of Franklin. Hood, angry at the lost chance, ordered a pursuit and an attack.

The 4 p.m. Confederate assault on Franklin

Around 4 p.m. on November 30, the Confederate line stepped off across about two miles of open ground toward Schofield's entrenchments. Union artillery tore into it. The attackers overran Brigadier General George Wagner's advanced division and pushed into the Union center around the Carter House, where the fighting was close and hand to hand.

Opdycke's counterattack at the Carter House

Colonel Emerson Opdycke had disobeyed Wagner's order to deploy his brigade on the exposed front and had stopped about 200 yards behind the Carter House instead. When the center broke, his brigade counterattacked into the gap and helped close it. The fighting there was still in its third hour at sunset.

Forrest and Stewart on the Franklin flanks

On the Union left, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest crossed the Harpeth River at Hughes's Ford, and Brigadier General James Wilson's cavalry, armed with seven-shot Spencer rifles, drove him back. On the west side, Stewart's troops attacked an Osage-orange abatis again and again and were repulsed. Major General Benjamin Cheatham's corps attacked by torchlight later that night and got within about 50 yards of the Union works before pulling back. Schofield withdrew to Nashville overnight.

Battle of Franklin casualties and the six generals

The American Battlefield Trust estimates 8,578 casualties. The Confederate share, 6,252, is more than two and a half times the Union's 2,326, which is what an assault across open ground into prepared works costs.

Carnton became the area's largest field hospital because thousands of wounded Confederates came off the field in one night, and the cemetery beside it holds nearly 1,500 of the dead.

Confederate generals killed at the Battle of Franklin

Fourteen Confederate commanders became casualties, and six generals were lost. Patrick Cleburne, Hiram Granbury, States Rights Gist, Otho Strahl and John Adams were killed in the battle, and John C. Carter was mortally wounded and died on December 10. Four of them, Cleburne, Granbury, Adams and Strahl, lay on Carnton's back porch the next morning.

What was the bloodiest battle in Tennessee?

Shiloh, by total casualties. The American Battlefield Trust estimates 23,746 at Shiloh, in Hardin County, over two days in April 1862, nearly three times Franklin's figure. Franklin's toll came in a single afternoon and evening, starting at 4 p.m., and the frontal assault across open ground is sometimes called the Pickett's Charge of the West.

Why was the Battle of Franklin significant?

Franklin was a Union victory that left the Confederate Army of Tennessee badly weakened. Hood's 6,252 casualties were about a fifth of the 33,000 forces-engaged estimate, and he lost six generals in one evening, yet he still followed Schofield north.

Battle of Franklin timeline, 1864 to today

The Battle of Nashville, December 15-16, 1864

Two weeks later, Thomas attacked Hood's weakened army outside Nashville. The Union won again, with estimated casualties of 9,061 (3,061 Union, 6,000 Confederate). The losses at Franklin set up that result.

Slavery on the Battle of Franklin farms

Both houses at the center of the battle were working farms that depended on enslaved labor, and the Battle of Franklin Trust tells that history at its sites. By 1860 Fountain Branch Carter enslaved 28 people on a farm he'd grown from 19 acres to 288. The same year, John and Carrie McGavock enslaved 44 people at Carnton, on roughly 700 acres.

Slavery and the Enslaved tours at Carnton and the Carter House

The Trust runs Slavery and the Enslaved tours at Carnton, the Carter House and Rippa Villa, with offerings that vary by day. Book one alongside a battle tour: it covers the people enslaved on the same ground.

How the Battle of Franklin battlefield was reclaimed

As Franklin grew, homes, shops and a golf course covered much of the battlefield. Getting it back has happened lot by lot, and some of the parks you'll walk past were a restaurant lot and golf fairways not long ago.

Cleburne Park on Franklin's old Pizza Hut site

The spot where General Cleburne fell was covered by a Pizza Hut until late 2005. The building came down, and the site is now Cleburne Park.

The Carter cotton gin and garden in Franklin

Preservation groups bought the property of the Carter cotton gin, at the center of the fighting, in 2005, with plans to reconstruct the gin and part of the Union earthworks. In 2006 they added half an acre of what had been the Carters' 2-acre garden. The Carter House site now covers about 15 acres.

From Franklin Country Club golf course to battlefield park

The largest piece was the former Franklin Country Club golf course next to Carnton. About 110 acres of it became the city battlefield park.

Living near the Battle of Franklin sites

Because the battle was fought where the town grew, you can buy a home within a short walk of Carnton or the Carter House. Zillow's Carnton area, one of its broad city areas rather than a single subdivision, had a typical value of $807,718 in September 2026, about $105,559 below Franklin's citywide $913,277. Zillow's Central Franklin area, around downtown, was $692,812, about $115,000 less than the Carnton area. The Carter House and Carnton both have 37064 addresses.

Living close to the sites has practical effects. The Trust runs evening anniversary tours at both houses on November 30, and its sites open seven days a week, so expect visitor parking on nearby streets. If you'd rather avoid that, look a few blocks farther out.

What to check on a home near Franklin's historic sites

Older homes near downtown can fall under Franklin's historic district rules, which affect exterior changes. Check the parcel record for city limits and the school district, and ask the city about any overlay before you plan work. The downtown Franklin homes guide explains the historic district for buyers, and the ZIP 37064 values page compares the rest of the city. Bill can tour homes near the battlefield parks with you by video.

Visiting the Battle of Franklin Trust sites: tickets and hours

The Battle of Franklin Trust runs the Carter House, Carnton and Rippa Villa in Spring Hill. All three open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last guided tour at 4 p.m.

Tickets are non-refundable. The sites close on New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Battle of Franklin anniversary tours

For the 162nd anniversary in 2026, the Trust runs evening tours at the Carter House and Carnton on November 30 at 7 and 8 p.m., and at Rippa Villa on November 29. Groups are capped at 20, tickets must be bought online in advance, and children under 6 aren't admitted. Choose one house: there isn't time to get between them.

For the rest of the year's events and the city's parks, see things to do in Franklin. To place the town, see where Franklin is in Williamson County; the other guides are on the relocating to Franklin home page.