Civil War Franklin

In 1860, African-Americans, both enslaved and free, made up more than half of Franklin's residents and half of Williamson County's population. When the Federal army arrived late in 1862, many slaves freed themselves by escaping to Union lines, where they established their own businesses, churches, and schools. By the end of 1863, many freedmen had joined the United States Colored Troops. Local slave James Moore escaped and joined the 111th USCT as a private in 1864; after being captured at the Battle of Athens, Alabama, he was sent to a Confederate prison in Selma, survived the war, and settled near Thompson's Station. A.N.C. Williams, born a slave in 1844, did not join the army, but in 1863 he and William Perkins established Franklin's first black-owned business, a shoe repair and manufacturing shop, which was destroyed in 1864 during the Battle of Franklin. Williams then opened a general store downtown and for sixty years served both black and white patrons despite Jim Crow laws and racial segregation. After the war, former slave Harvey McLemore built a house in the Hard Bargain neighborhood among a skilled labor force of carpenters, rock masons, blacksmiths, mill workers, and domestic servants; the dwelling remained in his family for 117 years and now houses the McLemore House Museum. Mariah Reddick, who had been given to Carrie McGavock as a wedding gift and lived at Carnton Plantation, was sent south with other slaves to prevent escape as Union troops approached, then returned as a free woman, remained a Franklin resident, and died in 1922.

Franklin, Tennessee · United States