Carter's Cotton Gin

After Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta in September 1864, Hood moved north into Tennessee while Gen. John M. Schofield delayed him at Columbia and Spring Hill before falling back to Franklin. Early on the morning of November 30, 1864, the 104th Ohio Infantry and other Federal units entrenched near Fountain B. Carter's cotton gin, and at 4:00 that afternoon about 19,000 Confederate soldiers advanced across the open fields against this crucial salient in the Federal line near the Columbia Turnpike. Confederate Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne's division, including veterans from Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas, repeatedly attacked the position. Cleburne, his brigade commander Gen. Hiram B. Granbury, and Gen. John Adams were killed near here. The Federal defense was ferocious, and seven Union soldiers later received the Medal of Honor for acts of courage here: Capt. John H. Brown of the 12th Kentucky Infantry, and Corp. Joseph Davis, Pvt. John Gaunt, Pvt. Abraham Greenawalt, Pvt. Newton H. Hall, Capt. George Van Stavoren Kelley, and Pvt. John H. Ricksecker of the 104th Ohio Infantry. Hood's campaign continued to the outskirts of Nashville but ended when Union Gen. George H. Thomas crushed his army on December 15-16.

Franklin, Tennessee · United States