The Breastworks at Franklin, Tennessee (The Battle of Franklin)
The Breastworks at Franklin, Tennessee (The Battle of Franklin)
The Breastworks at Franklin, Tennessee (The Battle of Franklin)
continued to the pike . . . . It consisted of sharpened fence rails placed in a deep ditch, at an angle of 45 degrees as close as they could stand. . . . They were about three feet high. MNeilly, CSA Chaplain They had attacked at a point where an osage orange hedge had been cut down, and its thorny branches formed and impenetrable abatis. W.C. Neese 3rd MO, CSA In our charge across the open field we were cut up so badly that when we reached the breastworks, we were not strong enough to take them . . . The battle raged fiercely right across the works. Thompson, 35th AL, CSA And we went until we got about 50 or 75 yards from them, when they rose as a blue wave and a wall of fire rose that swept our ranks like hail. Many fell then, but we went up to them, and when we got to their works we found that we could not get to them on account of an osage orange hedge in front of their works, so thick that we could not pull it away or cut it. Addison Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana Infantry There is no quicker way of suffering this war than by having Rebs charge our works when they invariably get whipped. - The Kraig McNutt Civil War Collection Merrill, an Indiana officer The Rebels made desperate efforts to penetrate the abatis and human nature couldnt stand the destructive fire that was rained upon them - Merrill, The Soldier of Indiana in the War for the Union, Vol. 2. P.759-760. As cited in Jacobson, For Cause & For Country (2006,pb): 318.
They had attacked at a point where an osage orange hedge had been cut down, and its thorny branches formed and impenetrable abatis. Capt William C. Thompson, 6th MS Scotts brigade (had) charged the Federal fortifications but failed to take the works.
point was the salient in the enemys line, and here had been erected a sort of bastion as though intended for artillery, and the moat or ditch, around the outer side of it, while not deep was wide. When . . . (I) reached the ditch . . . (I) found a few men already entering it. The men in the ditch . . . Roland Gooch 42nd TN, CSA A boy . . . mounted the breastworks in front of the gin-house . . . They [Yankees] pulled him over to their side of the works.
. . . to reach the breastworks, where their comrades were engaged in hand-to-hand fight. The first men of our front line reached the works, and fought their foes across them; others reaching the ditch in front scrambled across. . .
We charged up to the works . . . I jumped over the works and ran about one hundred feet and got the flag . . . Capt Hutchins, 16th KY, US . . . we got to the works and were holding them ,Confederates) . . . Roland Gooch 42nd TN, CSA A boy . . . mounted the breastworks in front of the gin-house . . . They [Yankees] pulled him over to their side of the works. Lt. Rennolds, 5th TN, CSA . . . to reach the breastworks, where their comrades were engaged in hand-to-hand fight. The first men of our front line reached the works, and fought their foes across them; others reaching the ditch in front scrambled across. . . Capt James S. Pressnall, 63rd Indiana . . . one of my boys jumped up on the works . . . W.C. Neese 3rd MO, CSA In our charge across the open field we were cut up so badly that when we reached the breastworks, we were not strong enough to take them . . . The battle raged fiercely right across the works. Thompson, 35th AL, CSA We were now about 200 yards from them and still they did not shoot except with their artillery. But we could hear them cheering behind their works, but could not see them. And we went until we got about 50 or 75 yards from them, when they rose as a blue wave and a wall of fire rose that swept our ranks like hail. Many fell then, but we went up to them, and when we got to their works we found that we could not get to them on account of an osage orange hedge in front of their works, so thick that we could not pull it away or cut it. Lt. Col. Baker, 65th Indiana As soon as the charge was repulsed our men sprang upon the works and lifted the horse . . . [speaking of Gen John Adams on horse+. Lt. Mintz, 5th AR, CSA
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Our boys emptied their . . . guns into the . . . fleeing troops and rushed to the . . . works to reform our line. . . . Cleburne, with hat in hand and waving it above his head, scaled the works . . . . . . Again we raised the Rebel Yell and renewed the charge to storm the enemys last line. Merrill, an Indiana officer The Rebels made desperate efforts to penetrate the abatis and human nature couldnt stand the destructive fire that was rained upon them - Merrill, The Soldier of Indiana in the War for the Union, Vol. 2. P.759-760. As cited in Jacobson, For Cause & For Country (2006,pb): 318.
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Addison Lee Ewing, 63rd Indiana Infantry Colonels and Generals rode right up to our faces [at the breastworks] bringing their men in fine style but blue coats wouldnt budge back one inch and there fell victims to their own mad actions. A person could walk over acres of dead . . . stepping on one dead body to another. It was a terrible slaughter. - The Kraig McNutt Civil War Collection . . . we was at Franklin [Dec 20th] where there are hundreds of new made graves filled by the Enemy. I went into the old breastworks where we lay and all over the front of our Brigade which is pretty well dotted over with rebble graves . . . There are dead horses laying around. Some of them almost up over our old works. - The Kraig McNutt Civil War Collection
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Misc
Keesy, 64th Ohio Darkness was setting . . . I concluded that I would now go up again to the battlefield and, if need be, even into the works in search of my command. Lt. Thomas C. Thoburn, 50th OH As we lay there behind a low earthwork . . . Lt. Mangum, Cleburnes aide-de-camp I went up to the works with Granburys brigade . . . About half way between the first and second lines Gen Granbury was killed. Lt. Mintz, 5th AR, CSA Our boys emptied their . . . guns into the . . . fleeing troops and rushed to the . . . works to reform our line. . . . Cleburne, with hat in hand and waving it above his head, scaled the works . . . . . . Again we raised the Rebel Yell and renewed the charge to storm the enemys last line. Maj. T.T. Dow, 112th Illinois When the command moved out of the works, near midnight . . . . I went over the works, and walked some distance out in front.
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Sources:
Unless otherwise stated, most of the eyewitness accounts are taken from Eyewitnesses to the Battle of Franklin , by David Logsdon. But also see: Jacobson, Eric. For Cause & For Country, 2006.
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