Fort Granger

Fort Granger’s original entrance and exit was the sally port, a narrow passageway used to move men, supplies, and equipment into the fort. After the fort was completed in the spring of 1863, Union soldiers had enough artillery to protect this entrance from Confederate cavalry attack, with cannons on either side creating deadly crossfire. Surrounding trench lines and earthworks were lined with abatis, felled trees with sharpened branches projecting from the earthen wall, which functioned much like modern barbed wire and were difficult to penetrate. Though effective and widely used during the war, making abatis stripped many trees and quickly left towns such as Franklin barren. The sally port also provided a route from the fort to the railroad and the Federal camp to the north, but secure passage to town was not achieved until Federal troops built a pontoon bridge a few hundred yards north of the fort. Private Charles S. Falkler of the 92nd Illinois Infantry wrote on March 19 and April 13, 1863, that a strong fort was being built there, that two large siege guns had arrived by rail and been mounted, and that his camp stood on one side of the Big Harpeth while Franklin lay across the river, reached by a pontoon bridge.

Franklin, Tennessee · United States