Battle of Franklin, 1864

On 30 November 1864, John Bell Hood ordered the Army of Tennessee to attack entrenched Union forces commanded by John Schofield at Franklin. Confederate infantry crossed open ground into concentrated rifle and artillery fire, and the fighting continued after darkness around the Union defensive line.

The assault caused catastrophic Confederate losses, including the deaths or mortal wounding of several generals. Union troops withdrew towards Nashville during the night, but Hood’s army had suffered damage from which it could not recover.

Carnton, the home of John and Carrie McGavock, became one of the largest field hospitals after the battle. This context supports fiction about the fighting, wartime medicine, civilian households and the creation of the McGavock Confederate Cemetery.