History
Carnton
was built in 1826 by former Nashville mayor Randal McGavock (1768-1843).
Throughout the nineteenth century it was frequently visited by
those shaping Tennessee and American history, including President
Andrew Jackson. Carnton grew to become one of the premier farms
in Williamson County, Tennessee. Randal McGavock’s son John
(1815-1893) inherited the farm upon his father’s death.
John McGavock married Carrie Elizabeth Winder (1829-1905) in December
1848 and they had five children during the subsequent years, three
of whom died at young ages - Martha (1849-1862); Mary Elizabeth
(1851-1858); and John Randal (1854). The surviving children, Winder
(1857-1907) and Hattie (1855-1932), are pictured (left) circa
1865.
Beginning
at 4 p.m. on November 30, 1864, Carnton was witness to one of
the bloodiest battles of the entire Civil War. Everything the
McGavock family ever knew was forever changed. The Confederate
Army of Tennessee furiously assaulted the Federal army entrenched
along the southern edge of Franklin. The resulting battle, believed
to be the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War, involved a massive
frontal assault larger than Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. The
majority of the combat occurred in the dark and at close quarters.
The Battle of Franklin lasted barely five hours and led to some
9,500 soldiers being killed, wounded, captured, or counted as
missing. Nearly 7,000 of that number were Confederate troops.
Carnton served as the largest field hospital in the area for hundreds
of wounded and dying Confederate soldiers
A staff officer
later wrote that "the wounded, in hundreds, were brought
to [the house] during the battle, and all the night after. And
when the noble old house could hold no more, the yard was appropriated
until the wounded and dead filled that...."
On the morning
of December 1, 1864 the bodies of four Confederate generals killed
during the fighting, Patrick R. Cleburne, Hiram B. Granbury, John
Adams, and Otho F. Strahl, lay on Carnton’s back porch.
The floors of the restored home are still stained with the blood
of the men who were treated here.
In early
1866, John and Carrie McGavock designated two acres of land adjacent
to their family cemetery as a final burial place for nearly 1,500
Confederate soldiers killed during the Battle of Franklin. The
McGavocks maintained the cemetery until their respective deaths.
Today, the
McGavock Confederate Cemetery is a lasting memorial honoring those
fallen soldiers and the Battle of Franklin. It is the largest
privately owned military cemetery in the nation.
The McGavock
family owned Carnton until 1911 when Susie Lee McGavock, widow
of Winder McGavock, sold it. In 1973 Carnton was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places and in 1977 the house and
ten acres were donated to the Carnton Association, Inc. by Dr.
W. D. Sugg. By that time the house had suffered from years of
neglect and disrepair and since then the Association has been
vital in restoring and maintaining the plantation through tours,
gift shop sales, membership, special events, and generous donations.
