BGuthrie Photos: TN -- Franklin -- McGavock Cemetery

TN -- Franklin -- McGavock Cemetery:

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[1] MCG_140526_004.JPG	[2] MCG_140526_007.JPG	[3] MCG_140526_010.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. MCG_140526_004.JPG: Tennessee Association, Sons of Confederate Soldiers The association was established at Franklin on Sept. 14, 1892, in conjunction with the annual reunion of the Tennessee Association of Confederate Soldiers which was held in McGavock's Grove 500 yards Southeast of this marker. The Tennessee Association, Sons of Confederate Soldiers was founded by Delegates representing bivouacs from Winchester, Nash., Clarksville, Gainesboro, Knoxville, Franklin, and McKenzie. Known today as the Sons of Confederate Veterans (S.C.V.), the group continues to promote Confederate historical and memorial events.
2. MCG_140526_007.JPG: Confederate Cemetery Following the Battle of Franklin, Nov 30, 1864, John McGovock, owner of "Carnton," collected and buried here the bodies of 1496 Confederates. The five general officers killed there were interred elsewhere after being brought to the house. Other Confederates were later buried here, including Brig. Gen. Johnston K. Duncan.
3. MCG_140526_010.JPG: McGavock Confederate Cemetery Labor of Devotion In the spring of 1866, the bodies of Confederate soldiers killed at the Battle of Franklin were exhumed from their temporary graves and reburied here, on this two-acre plot adjacent to Carnton, home of John and Carrie McGavock. Over about ten weeks, veteran George W. Cuppett led four men who reinterred the remains of 1,481 Southern soldiers. In addition, the body of Cuppett's younger brother, Marcellus Cuppett, who died during the period, was also buried here, the only civilian. A small journal containing the names of all the dead was given to the McGovocks. This is the largest private military cemetery in the United States in terms of the number of burials. John and Carrie McGovock maintained the cemetery for the rest of their lives, largely by themselves. Already well known in their efforts in tending the Confederated wounded at Carnton immediately after the Battle of Franklin, Carrie McGavock became even more famous for attention to the cemetery. In 1890, John L. McEwen Bivouac No. 4, United Confederate Veterans, appointed a committee to maintain the cemetery and raise funds to replace the wooden headboards with the stone markers now in use. In 1911 Mrs. Winder McGavock and the new owner of Carnton, Mr. and Mrs. W.D. Shelton deeded the cemetery to the trustees of the chartered McGavock Confederate Cemetery. The United Confederate Veterans authorized the Franklin Chapter 14 of the Daughters of the Confederacy, to serve as the trustees in the beginning.
4. MCG_140526_019.JPG: The funds with which this iron encloser was erected, were obtained in Texas, by the exertions of Miss M.A. H. Cav or Macon, Georgia.
5. MCG_140526_024.JPG: McGavock Confederate Cemetery After the Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864, the Union Army withdrew into Nashville. Casualties of over 8,000 Union and Confederate soldiers lay upon the field. In pursuit of the withdrawing Union forces, Confederate General John Bell Hood left a burial detail in Franklin for two days. Confederate soldiers were buried near the Carter House breastworks with the graves arranged in plots according to the states from which the soldiers came. As winter wore on, many of the headboards were fading or were used as firewood by the poor. Seeing the great need, John McGavock and family donated two acres of land adjoining the family graveyard, to be used for a final resting place for the soldiers. In April, 1866, McGavock and other citizens formed a committee and began raising money to remove the bodies. Again, each soldier was laid to rest by state and each known name was registered in the Book of the Dead. John McGavock's wife, Caroline Winder McGavock continued to maintain the official Register of the Dead and welcome families and comrades of the fallen who wished to pay their respects. At the same time, the John L. McEwen Bivouac of Veterans assisted in maintaining the graves and in 1890 appointed a committee to maintain the cemetery and raise funds to replace the wooden headboards with the markers you see today. In 1911 Mrs. Winder McGavock and Carnton owners, Mr. and Mrs. W.D. Shelton, presented the trustees of the newly chartered McGavock Confederate Cemetery Corporation the deed to the cemetery and the right-of-way thereto. As the noble McEwen veterans passed away, the care of the cemetery devolved upon their wives who were active in the Daughters of the Confederacy, In 1926 the trustees of the corporation voted to authorize the members of Franklin Chapter #14 United Daughters of the Confederacy also to serve. They do so to this date. Trustees serve today as they did in 1911. The corporation has been designated by the State of Tennessee as the official caretaker of the cemetery. Donations for the 1990-1996 restorations were provided by descendants, Civil War Round Tables, the Franklin and Murfreesboro Re-enactments, Sons of the Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, local banks and businesses, the City of Franklin, the Tennessee Historical Commission, and interested persons. In 1994 the Franklin Memorial Association received a matching grant from the State of Tennessee and continued to raise funds for repair to the markers, the iron fence, gate and grounds. A booklet, written by UDC members, on the history of the cemetery, with a list of the soldiers buried here, is available at Carnton and Carter House. We encourage all visitors to remember the fallen soldiers that gave their lives for their homeland, and we trust all will show proper respect for the dead.
6. MCG_140526_056.JPG: 18 killed at Franklin Louisiana
7. MCG_140526_067.JPG: 51 killed at Franklin S. Carolina
8. MCG_140526_087.JPG: 424 killed at Franklin Mississippi
9. MCG_140526_090.JPG: 129 killed at Franklin Alabama
10. MCG_140526_092.JPG: The notion of putting Lincoln pennies on Confederate graves is confusing to me.
11. MCG_140526_099.JPG: 104 killed at Franklin Arkansas
12. MCG_140526_107.JPG: 89 killed at Franklin Texas
13. MCG_140526_110.JPG: McGavock Confederate Cemetery In the spring of 1866, Col. John McGavock, seeing the deteriorating condition of the Confederate graves on the Franklin battlefield, set aside two acres of Carnton Plantation as the nation's largest private Confederate cemetery. The dead were reinterred here in order by states. In 1890, the wooden markers, which were inscribed with the names of the men, their companies and regiments, when known, were replaced with stone markers. Burial records were preserved by Col. McGavock's wife, the former Carrie Winder. She and her husband maintained the cemetery for the balance of their lives.
14. MCG_140526_115.JPG: 230 killed at Franklin Tennessee
15. MCG_140526_127.JPG: Hattie McGavock
16. MCG_140526_129.JPG: Martha McGavock
17. MCG_140526_131.JPG: Randal McGavock
18. MCG_140526_134.JPG: Mary Elizabeth McGavock
19. MCG_140526_136.JPG: John Randal, infant son of John & Caroline E. McGavock
20. MCG_140526_139.JPG: John McGavock
21. MCG_140526_144.JPG: McGavock Family Cemetery Buried here, beginning ca. 1818, are the remains of numerous family members. Among them are Randal McGavock (1768-1843), planter and political leader who built Carnton; his son, Col. John McGavock (1815-1893), successful farmer and civic leader who was instrumental in disinterring the Confederate dead from the Franklin battlefield and reburying them adjacent to this cemetery; and John's wife, Carrie Winder McGavock (1829-1905). This venerable Southern mother was called "The Good Samaritan of Williamson County" for her many acts of loving service to Confederate soldiers.
22. MCG_140526_156.JPG: Carrie W. McGavock born Sept. 9, 1829 died Feb. 22, 1905
23. MCG_140526_159.JPG: John McGavock Born April 2, 1815 Died June 7, 1893
24. MCG_140526_167.JPG: Maj. Gen. William W. Loring's Division During the Battle of Franklin this Confederate division composed of three brigades commanded by Brig. Gens. Winfield Scott Featherston, Thomas Moore Scott, and John Adams, swept past Carnton as it approached the Federal line jus after 4 p.m. on November 30, 1864. Subjected to artillery fire in this area, Loring's Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana troops took casualties with each step as they closed upon the Federal works. Carnton was quickly taken over as Loring's field hospital and the first wounded were taken into the house around sunset. By the time the battle ended around 9 p.m. Gen. Adams was dead, Gen. Scott was wounded, seven of Loring's sixteen regimental commanders were wounded or dying, and nearly 1,000 of his 3,500 men were casualties. Today, many of these fallen soldiers rest i the nearby McGavock Confederate Cemetery.
25. MCG_140530_01.JPG: WB son of John Earl Born -- 1832 Died Sept. 22, 1894 Member of Co. F, 4th Tenn. Cavalry, CSA, Twice Wounded
Wikipedia Description: McGavock Confederate Cemetery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The McGavock Confederate Cemetery is the largest privately held Confederate cemetery in the United States. It is located in Franklin, Tennessee. The nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers buried there were casualties during the Battle of Franklin that took place November 30, 1864. 780 of the soldiers' identities are known today, leaving 558 as unknown, but not forgotten.

Background to the cemetery:

The Battle of Franklin (November 30, 1864) brought a huge problem to the little town of Franklin, with its population in 1860 of just over 900 residents. Almost 2,500 soldiers, North and South, were lying dead in the fields of farmers such as Fountain Branch Carter and James McNutt. When Franklin residents awoke on the morning of December 1, the sleepy Southern town's first concern was what to do with the bodies nearly 1,750 Confederate boys who had been killed.

The McGavock home becomes a hospital:

Col. John and Carrie McGavock's plantation home, Carnton, was situated less than one mile from the epicenter of the action that took place on the Union Eastern flank at Franklin. Because of close proximity geographically, and the compassion of Carrie McGavock, hundreds of Confederate soldiers were tended and cared for immediately after the battle at Carnton. As many as 300 soldiers found care inside the home and possibly hundreds spread out on the plantation grounds. Confederate surgeons worked tirelessly to save as many boys as possible.

Carrie Winder McGavock – Widow of the South:

It was Carrie Winder McGavock, wife of John, who spearheaded the Good Samaritan operation of mercy that last evening of November 1864. She personally supervised the logistics of the effort and sacrificed much food, clothing and supplies to care for the wounded and dying. When she arose to make breakfast in the morning, witnesses say her dress was soaked at the bottom with bloodstains. At least 150 Confederate soldiers died the first night at Carnton.

The smell of blood, wounds, infection and death was horrible. The visual scenes must have been indescribable as well. Carrie's two surviving children, Hattie (age nine) and Winder (age seven) served as medical aides throughout the evening as well.

Initial burial of the soldiers – December 1864:

Most of the Confederate (and Union dead) were buried "near and along the length of the Federal breastworks, which spanned the Southern edge of what was then Franklin," according to Jacobson; The McGavock Confederate Cemetery, p. 21. Union dead were placed by twos in shallow grave in long rows by their comrades without marking the identities. Many of the Union dead were later removed either by family or loved ones or by the military and relocated in graves at home or buried at the Stones River National Cemetery in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Union soldiers interred at Stone's River were placed there by the 11th United States Colored Troops, according to Jacobson: McGavock, p. 22.

However, the identities of the Confederate dead at Franklin, some 1,750, were mostly identified by burial teams the next day (December 1). They were not buried in mass graves. Rather, soldier burial teams took great care to collect and identify their fallen comrades placing makeshift wooden markers at the head of the graves, identifying the men by name, rank, regiment and the company they served in.

Most of the Confederate dead found initial rest on the property of Fountain Branch Carter and James McNutt. Carter had the largest section of land with killed. He also lost his own son, Todd Carter, in the Battle of Franklin. The Carter-McNutt land would be but a temporary rest until the bodies were transferred to their permanent home some eighteen months later, in June 1866.

Deterioration of the graves – 1865 through April 1866:

By the spring of 1866, the condition of the graves and markers of the fallen Franklin Confederates were in bad condition. Many of the wooden markers were beginning to be hard to read, and some had been used as firewood unfortunately. The identities, names and stories of these brave men were in danger.

The McGavocks of Carnton donated two acres of their property to be used as a permanent resting place for the soldiers. Citizens of Franklin began raising funds to exhume and re-bury nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers, from where they lay on the field to the quiet field just northwest of the Carnton house. Enough money was raised to get started and a citizen named George Cuppett was placed in charge of the re-burial operation. He was paid $5.00 for each soldier. The work was "done in order to have removed from fields exposed to the plow-share, the remains of all those who were buried," according to Col. John McGavock (quoted in Jacobson: McGavock, p. 24-25).

Cuppett was assisted by his brother Marcellus and two others. The entire operation took ten weeks and was completed in June 1866. Sadly, Marcellus, just 25 years old, fell ill during the process and died. He is buried at the head of the Texas section in the cemetery today. George Cuppett wrote, "My hole (sic) heart is with the brave & noble Confederate dead who fell whilst battling for their writes (sic) and Libertys (sic)." (Jacobson: McGavock, p. 25)

Soldiers from every Southern state in the Confederacy, except Virginia, are represented in the cemetery. Wooden headboards with the soldier's personal identification were installed, as well as footboards in 1867.

Carrie McGavock's labor of love:

George Cuppett wrote the names and information related to the identity of each soldier in the McGavock cemetery book (Jacobson: McGavock, pp. 39-44). After he finished the re-burials in mid 1866, he turned over the care of the book, and the dead, to the McGavocks. In 1896, the John McEweb Bivouac veterans organization replaced the old wooden headboards with granite markers. The ongoing responsibility of maintaining the cemetery fell onto the able and compassionate hands of Carrie McGavock, a labor of love she shouldered until her death in 1905. The original book is on display upstairs in Carnton.

Time has not been favorable to the identities of the soldiers, though. Today 780 Confederate soldiers’ identities are positively identified, leaving some 558 as officially listed as unknown. The Franklin Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy has maintained the cemetery since 1905.

The cemetery today:

The present day cemetery is located off Lewisburg Pike just a few minutes from downtown Franklin. The graves take up a two-acre section of the Carnton plantation property. There are thirteen sections, organized by states, to the cemetery layout. The two sections are separated by a 14-foot pathway.

On the left side, upon entering are the following sections (with the number of dead buried in parenthesis): left front row one will find North Carolina (2), Kentucky (5) and Florida (4). Next section, Unknown (225). Next section, Louisiana (19). Next section, South Carolina (51). Next section, Georgia (69). Next section, Alabama (129). Next section, Tennessee (230).

On the right side, upon entering are the following sections (with the number of dead buried in parenthesis): Mississippi (424), the State with the largest number of men who died at Franklin. Next section, Arkansas (104). Next section, Missouri (130). Next section, Texas (89).`
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