Fort Granger

Williamson County, strongly pro-Confederate in the spring of 1861, raised several large regiments, but after the fall of Nashville in February 1862 Federal regiments quickly occupied the region, suppressed hostile Confederate sympathizers, and seized buildings for hospitals, barracks, and supply depots. A local Confederate supporter, Mary Pearre, wrote that a Federal force was at Franklin, cavalry were scouting widely, stealing money and clothes, foraging, pressing horses, and capturing Confederate soldiers. Troops sometimes commandeered enslaved people to help build fortifications, including Fort Granger. By February 12, 1863, the first Federal regiment arrived to construct Fort Granger, and under Col. Emerson Opdycke the 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry soon found support among Williamson County’s quiet Unionist population, including Franklin native Dr. Daniel B. Cliffe and his wife. Encouraged by Federal protection, local Unionists held a rally for Union and Restoration at the courthouse in Franklin, with speakers including William Parsons Brownlow, Governor Andrew Johnson, Judge John S. Brien, and U.S. Col. L.G. Houck. Visitors were then taken to Fort Granger, where Maj. Fitzgibbon of the 14th Michigan hosted them, General Granger escorted a large delegation to view what was called one of the strongest and finest fortifications in the Department of the Cumberland, and Granger demonstrated his gunnery by firing two shots from a Parrott gun at a target more than a mile away.

Franklin, Tennessee · United States