At 4 p.m. on November 30, 1864, the last major Confederate assault of the Civil War unfolded at Franklin as nearly 20,000 Confederate troops advanced across the fields toward an equally large Union army positioned around the town’s southern edge. Soon after passing this point, the Southern assault came within range of Federal artillery, and just west of here an advanced line of 3,000 Union troops began to fall back, with the Confederates pursuing them into the main Union line. In moments the battle became a mass of confusion. On the western and eastern flanks, Confederate soldiers fell in ghastly numbers under rapid rifle and cannon fire, yet in the center, as the Union advanced line withdrew, their comrades briefly held fire, allowing the charging Confederates to break through. A massive hole opened in the Federal center, and for nearly thirty minutes fighting on both sides of Columbia Pike and around the Carter House turned exceptionally violent. Only through the efforts of a number of Federal recruits and several veteran regiments was the Confederate assault halted. From that point onward, the battle degenerated into hand-to-hand fighting that shocked even hardened soldiers. After three fierce hours, the battle slowly died away, and by 9 p.m. it was over, with nearly 10,000 men dead, wounded, missing, or captured. Of these, nearly 7,500 were Confederates, making Franklin one of their most lopsided defeats of the war. For their actions in the battle, eleven Union soldiers later received the Medal of Honor, among them Major Arthur MacArthur, father of Douglas MacArthur, who would later gain fame in World War Two and Korea.