The Carter Farm

Just before sundown on November 30, 1864, three thousand Confederate soldiers of Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne’s Division charged forward and struck the main Federal line fewer than 200 feet away after driving back Union Col. Joseph Conrad’s brigade from an advanced position at Franklin. Cleburne’s Division, regarded as the most battle-hardened unit of the Army of Tennessee, had fought in most major battles in the Western Theater beginning with Shiloh in 1862, and its brigade commanders, Gens. Hiram G. Granbury, Mark P. Lowrey, and Daniel C. Govan, were disciplined combat leaders. Seeing the pursuit as the best chance to break the main line, Cleburne rode forward with his men; one horse was shot beneath him, a second was also killed, and he continued on foot with his sword raised, urging his soldiers on under heavy Union fire until a bullet struck his chest and killed him near this spot almost instantly. His men briefly broke through the Federal position, but the success did not last. After the battle, Cleburne was buried south of Columbia, Tennessee, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, and in 1869 his body was reinterred at his pre-war residence in Helena, Arkansas.

Franklin, Tennessee · United States