The Carter House State Historic Site is a historic house at 1140 Columbia Avenue in

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...

. In that house, the Carter family hid in the basement waiting for the

second Battle of Franklin The Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, in Franklin, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin–Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War. It was one of the worst disasters of the war for the Confederate States Army. Confederate ...

to end. It is a Tennessee Historical Commission State Historic Site, managed by the non-profit organization The Battle of Franklin Trust under an agreement with the

Tennessee Historical Commission The Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) is the State Historic Preservation Office for the U.S. state of Tennessee. Headquartered in Nashville, it is an independent state agency, administratively attached to the Department of Environment and C ...

. The house is a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

and centerpiece of the

Franklin Battlefield Franklin Battlefield was the site of the Second Battle of Franklin, which occurred late in the American Civil War. It is located in the southern part of Franklin, Tennessee, on U.S. 31. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960. and ...

, a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

historic district. Fountain Branch Carter completed construction of the house in 1830. The federal style brick farm house was accompanied by several other outbuildings such as the farm office, smokehouse, and kitchen. In the 1850s, Carter built a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

on his property that became a much-remembered landmark during the Second Battle of Franklin in 1864. Though the cotton gin no longer stands, the house and the other three buildings are still intact and illustrate the horror of the Civil War battle with over a thousand bullet holes still visible. The Carter House played a very important role in the Second Battle of Franklin. Prior to the fight, the house was taken over as the headquarters of the Twenty-Third Army Corps commanded by Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox. Federal breastworks were erected just south of the home extending to both the east and west of Columbia Pike. The Carter family took refuge in the basement of their home during the battle. The middle son of Fountain Branch Carter, Tod Carter, was mortally wounded in the battle. He was still alive the morning after the battle when he was found and brought to the house. There he lived for several more hours, surrounded by his distraught family. Tod Carter died of his wounds December 2, 1864, and was buried in Rest Haven Cemetery just north of town.Carter, Rosalie. The Carter House in Photographs, Poems, and Paragraphs. Blue and Gray Press, 30 Nov, 1972. He came home for the first time in over three years when he fought at the Battle of Franklin in the 20th Tennessee Infantry. The room where Tod Carter died is one of the highlights of the guided tour of the home today. Tours of the Carter House and grounds are available daily. The State of Tennessee has owned the house since it was purchased to save it from demolition in 1953. As one of the Tennessee Historical Commission's 18 State Historic Sites, the property is administered by the Battle of Franklin Trust, a non-profit organization that also oversees Carnton Plantation.

References

Carter House Official Website
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External links

State Owned Historic Sites: Carter HouseTod Carter: Civil War Ghost Story
Historic house museums in Tennessee Museums in Williamson County, Tennessee History museums in Tennessee Tennessee State Historic Sites American Civil War museums in Tennessee Houses in Franklin, Tennessee Historic district contributing properties in Tennessee Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Williamson County, Tennessee 1830 establishments in Tennessee Houses completed in 1830 Houses in Williamson County, Tennessee

See also

References

External links