A Look Back at the Battle of Franklin

One hundred and sixty years ago this morning, Confederates left in possession of the field at Franklin, Tennessee, were trying to sift through the ruins of the battlefield and wrap their minds around the scope of the carnage. They didn’t quite know it yet, but the once-proud Army of Tennessee lay in ruins—a fact they wouldn’t fully appreciate until they clustered around the outskirts of Nashville on December 2. By then, they knew full well how diminished their ranks had become: as many as 6,200 men from John Bell Hood’s 30,000-man army had fallen as casualties.

ECW has a ton of great content about Franklin on our YouTube page:

Start with a discussion of the battle by ECW co-founders Kris White and Chris Mackowski as they stand on the famed porch at Carnton Plantation.

Joe Ricci, historian with the Battle of Franklin Trust, is been a rock star on the battle, and he’s been gracious to spend a lot of time with ECW discussing the campaign. He sets the stage for the battle of Franklin by first discussing one of the great missed opportunities of the war, the “affair at Spring Hill.” (Also available as a podcast.) Joe also breaks down that “what-if” scenario in a shorter video here.

More recently, Joe and Lee White, author of the ECW Series book Let Us Die Like Men: The Battle of Franklin, spent time with Chris armchair-generalling the battle. (Also available as a podcast.)

Greg Wade, president of the Franklin Civil War Round Table, joined ECW a couple years ago to offer his perspectives of and insights into the battle. (Also available as a podcast.) Greg also gave us a nice tour of the battlefield in a series of videos from four years ago.

Eric Jacobson, CEO of the Battle of Franklin Trust, one of the great scholars of the battle, recently shared some of his perspectives as he recounted the incredible preservation success story of Franklin. (Also available as a podcast.)

If you want to know more about the Federal commander at Franklin, John Schofield, Joe Ricci and Sean Chick bat the pros and cons back and forth in a great discussion. (Also available as a podcast.)

And finally, if you want to look ahead to the battle of Nashville, Sean Chick provides a preview as he talks about his ECW Series book, They Came Only to Die: The Battle of Nashville. (Also available as a podcast.)

Oh, and one more thing: If you like Chris Heisey‘s image from Franklin, above, read his post, “Shadows and Light at Franklin,” from last year.