At the time of the Civil War, Franklin Plantation in a prosperous section of Louisiana was owned by Dr. Allen T. Bowie. Although other planters owned more property and produced more bales of cotton, Dr. Bowie's mansion was the grandest, and the Lake St. Joseph country was regarded by one Confederate from Missouri as unsurpassed in beauty and richness. Officers of the XIII and XVII Corps kept strict control over their troops, and the stately mansions were left unharmed as they marched southward. But when Gen. W.T. Sherman's XV Corps pushed ahead to join Gen. U.S. Grant in the invasion of Mississippi, some of the soldiers became unruly, and on May 6, 1863, men from Gen. J.M. Tuttle's division burned most of the mansions facing Lake St. Joseph, including Dr. Bowie's.