The Carter Farm

At the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, the 1st Kentucky Light Artillery Battery (US), organized in September 1861 under Capt. David Stone with four three-inch rifled guns and by late 1864 commanded by Capt. Theodore S. Thomasson, held this position in the main Federal line. About noon Thomasson placed two guns here, and the other two joined them two hours later. Facing southwest to sweep the Confederate approaches, the battery was supported by three 100th Ohio Infantry companies. Soon after 4 P.M., as the Confederates advanced, the guns opened fire at about 1,700 yards, but ceased when two Union brigades on the advanced line retreated toward them. Two Confederate divisions then broke through the main Federal line and briefly overran the battery, driving its men from their posts, before a Federal counterassault pushed the Confederates back in hand-to-hand fighting. The gunners regrouped and fired steady canister and shell into the attacking troops for two hours, then at a reduced rate for more than two hours. During the battle, the battery fired 107 rounds and suffered fifteen casualties. It fought at the Battle of Nashville two weeks later, ended its service in Texas in the summer of 1865, and the men were discharged.

Franklin, Tennessee · United States