Franklin.

This is coolbert:

The most recent issue of the National Geographic magazine, the April 2005 issue, has an article on Civil War battlefields. How these battlefields have disappeared and are disappearing due to the modern onslaught of sub-division, paved roads, parking lots, shopping malls. Areas that until a few years ago were rural and have been for the one hundred and forty years since the end of the Civil War, are no longer rural. It is felt that action must be taken to either preserve or restore what in the eyes of many is "hallowed ground".

Several of the major battlefields of the American Civil War have been protected for some time. Antietam is in almost pristine condition. When you visit the Antietam Battlefield, it is almost exactly as it was in 1862. A lot of thought and care has been placed into the preservation of this Maryland site. And Gettysburg is pretty much preserved in entirety. Even some restoration is being done to this day by purchasing land at Gettysburg that was the scene of fighting. Gettysburg does have a lot of grandiose monuments that in my opinion detract from the overall setting. But those monuments were erected a long time ago and probably will be always a part of the battlefield at Gettysburg.

Some American Civil War battlefields have been obliterated by development and just plain neglect. Such a battlefield is Franklin. I have blogged on Franklin before. An unheralded battle that actually had great consequences. It was because of Franklin that modified lyrics were composed for the song, "The Yellow Rose of Texas".

"And now I'm going southward, for my heart is full of woe . . . you may talk about your Beauregard and sing of General Lee, but the gallant Hood of Texas played hell in Tennessee."

These lyrics of course refer to the disastrous defeat of the southern army of John Bell Hood at Franklin. Hood's army suffered 7000 casualties in that one day at Franklin. [the Yankee army of Schofield suffered about 2000 casualties]. Franklin was the only instance in the entire Civil War when the southern forces left the battlefield in disarray and rout!!

The site of the battlefield today is referred in the Geographic article as a "landscape of auto-muffler shops, fast-food restaurants, and low-rise shopping centers." "Were 1,700 rebels were killed is now the site of a pizzeria [Pizza Hut]!" Some effort is now being made to buy land and restore the battlefield. But in all likelihood, the damage to the important battlefield of Franklin is done. Recovery is just probably not possible, or is next to impossible!

Some interesting excerpts from the Geographic article on Franklin:

"Of all the Civil War's major engagements, the Battle of Franklin is the most unjustly forgotten. it was a struggle at once magnificent and hideous. Both armies went in as thought they knew it would be their last leap at glory. Some witnesses later recalled the battle flags waving along their lines, the bands playing jaunty airs in the heat of battle, the splendor of the Confederacy's full frontal attack. Others were haunted by grim visions of what followed: bodies stacked like cordwood, blood flowing ankle-deep. Nearly 9,000 men were killed, wounded, or captured in the space of just a few hours including no fewer than 15 Confederate generals. It was perhaps the most concentrated slaughter of the entire war."




As late as 1915, French regiments on the Western Front of World War One still went into battle with regimental colors flying and the regimental band playing!! Concentrated German machinegun fire put an end to those practices!!

"The battle was viewed by many as an embarrassment" . . .. "People thought of it as a huge Confederate debacle."

"Because of the south's loss at Franklin, all of use won." . . . "This is where the Old South died, and we were reborn as a nation."

"The savage Battle of Franklin raged into the night, leaving six Confederate generals dead, eight wounded, and one a prisoner."

After Franklin, the war in the deep south was more or less over. Confederate armies just lost all ability to oppose the Yankee armies in an effective manner in the southern theatre of war. And from the modified lyrics of the "yellow rose of Texas", one can surmise that the Confederate rank and file DID realize this at the time and and lost hope. Such was Franklin!!

coolbert.