HISTORY OF CARNTON
Carnton was built in 1826 by former Nashville mayor Randal McGavock (1768-1843). Throughout the nineteenth century it was frequently visited by those shaping Tennessee and American history, including President Andrew Jackson. Carnton grew to become one of the premier farms in Williamson County, Tennessee. Randal McGavock’s son John (1815-1893) inherited the farm upon his father’s death. John McGavock married Carrie Elizabeth Winder (1829-1905) in December 1848 and they had five children during the subsequent years, three of whom died at young ages - Martha (1849-1862); Mary Elizabeth (1851-1858); and John Randal (1854). The surviving children, Winder (1857-1907) and Hattie (1855-1932), are pictured (left) circa 1865.
Beginning at 4 p.m. on November 30, 1864, Carnton was witness to one of the bloodiest battles of the entire Civil War. Everything the McGavock family ever knew was forever changed. The Confederate Army of Tennessee furiously assaulted the Federal army entrenched along the southern edge of Franklin. The resulting battle, believed to be the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War, involved a massive frontal assault larger than Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. The majority of the combat occurred in the dark and at close quarters. The Battle of Franklin lasted barely five hours and led to some 9,500 soldiers being killed, wounded, captured, or counted as missing. Nearly 7,000 of that number were Confederate troops. Carnton served as the largest field hospital in the area for hundreds of wounded and dying Confederate soldiers
A staff officer later wrote that "the wounded, in hundreds, were brought to [the house] during the battle, and all the night after. And when the noble old house could hold no more, the yard was appropriated until the wounded and dead filled that...."
On the morning of December 1, 1864 the bodies of four Confederate generals killed during the fighting, Patrick R. Cleburne, Hiram B. Granbury, John Adams, and Otho F. Strahl, lay on Carnton’s back porch. The floors of the restored home are still stained with the blood of the men who were treated here.
In early 1866, John and Carrie McGavock designated two acres of land adjacent to their family cemetery as a final burial place for nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers killed during the Battle of Franklin. The McGavocks maintained the cemetery until their respective deaths.
Today, the McGavock Confederate Cemetery is a lasting memorial honoring those fallen soldiers and the Battle of Franklin. It is the largest privately owned military cemetery in the nation.
The McGavock family owned Carnton until 1911 when Susie Lee McGavock, widow of Winder McGavock, sold it. In 1973 Carnton was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1977 the house and ten acres were donated to the Carnton Association, Inc. by Dr. W. D. Sugg. By that time the house had suffered from years of neglect and disrepair and since then the Association has been vital in restoring and maintaining the plantation through tours, gift shop sales, membership, special events, and generous donations.
History provided by http://www.carnton.org/
The author of Widow of the South takes you on a tour of the estate in Franklin, Tennessee where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War took place and the mistress of the house who started and maintained the largest private Civil War cemetery.
HAUNTS
HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS:
1) A graveyard where 1700 Confederate soldiers, who had died in the fields near this mansion were hastily buried after this bloody conflict, is located close to Carnton Mansion. After the horrible battle was over, Carnton Mansion became a hospital, where 4 generals died of their wounds, and their bodies s laid in state so the men who were lucky enough to survive could show their respect.
2) A young house servant girl was murdered in the kitchen by a jealous field hand in the 1840's, because she rejected him as a suitor.
3) Out of their five offspring, only 2 of the Cantron children made it into adulthood.
INSIDE MANIFESTATIONS
1) Two spirits haunt the kitchen area of the mansion, and sometimes move to other parts of the house.
A) A mischievous spirit likes to play tricks on the living, when not doing chores like washing the dishes in the kitchen. Hearing some noises from the small, enclosed porch off the back of the house, the curator went to investigate. She found two old panes of glass, on either side of the back door, which had been taken down from a box of panes, located on a shelf. It is thought that this spirit was the girl who had been murdered.
B) The head of a cook who worked for the family during the Civil War years was seen floating in the hallway, near the kitchen.
C) The cook is often also heard bustling around in the kitchen, doing her various duties, going about her business, letting the living know that she is still there.
2) A beautiful young girl, with long brown hair appeared to a workman on the second floor hall way, inspiring his hasty retreat down the stairs. Workmen now go upstairs in pairs.
3) A soldier's spirit has moved into one of the bedrooms. Perhaps he died there, or close by outside, and decided to move into the mansion and stay there, perhaps not quite ready to leave. A picture of the mansion mysteriously crashed to the floor in this bedroom, and was found on top of the floor heater, a place that it couldn't get to by itself.
4) A ghost of a lady dressed in white haunts the back porch area, sometimes floating into the backyard.
5) Spirits of the fallen are especially active in the Autumn months, at dusk. One general isn't able to rest, because he knew that his men wouldn't hold up too well and is still fretting about the coming battle he knew would be a bloodbath . This spirit, General Pat Cleburne, a man with a mustache, a short beard and piercing eyes, paces the back porch, walks around the outside parameter of the mansion, and on occasion talks to lone persons.
A) A man, Mr. P, who had an ancestor fight in the Franklin battle came at just after 5:00 PM to see Carnton Mansion, but it was closed, so he walked around the place, on a path that led to the back of the mansion, trying to soak up the atmosphere, and thinking about his relative who fought here and survived.
Near the porch, he saw the silhouette of a man that he thought was about to get on a horse, but the horse vanished. Noticing another man on the porch, Mr. P asked him what had happened to the horse. The man explained that the horse was shot from under the other soldier, like his horse had been earlier.
This mysterious man, standing on the porch, dressed like a Civil War Confederate Officer, went on to explain that whether on horse or on foot, they would be at the mercy of the enemy tonight.
Furthermore, if Mr. P was coming with him, P had better have a pistol, or he wouldn't last long. This Civil War officer further predicts in an angry voice that not many men were going to make it through the night, and it was the fault of that fool, Hood, who had ordered his men into this soon to be slaughter. He then hums a line or two of a rallying song.
Mr. P was thinking that this officer must of been part of a Civil War enactment, and must have thought that Mr. P was part of it. Mr. P asks this officer what kind of carbine he was carrying. "It's an Enfield .577. What do you have?"
Mr. P confesses that he doesn't have any, and wouldn't know how to use it. His comment astonished and alarmed the officer, who urgently told him to quickly leave and go to either the Carter house or to town, out of harm's way.
The officer then talks to another spirit by his side. "Well, Govan, if we are to die, let us die like men." The officer then throws his hat up in the air, in an angry, forceful way, and melts into the air.
Mr. P then heard the sequence of the sounds of battle. The officer's voice, yelling "Charge men! Charge." Then a swell of the sound of shots, shells, muskets and cannons fill the air. He heard the music of a regiment band, playing "Annie Laurie." Then he heard a whole army of rebel yells, which were fierce, nerve-jolting cries. Terrified, Mr. P tried to run toward his car, surrounded by the unearthly din of battle, as he felt the cold, creepy feeling of death surrounding him. He found himself stumbling around in the graveyard near the mansion.
The next day, Mr. P went back to Carnton Mansion when it was open, and found out that the officer he had talked to was indeed the much loved Irishman, General Pat Cleburne .
B) Still another officer paces back and forth in heavy boots on the front porch.
The spirits are especially restless at dusk, during the Fall months, when the Battle at Franklin took place.
The Cook is usually heard in the kitchen around meal times. Perhaps she doesn't know that she is dead, or feels she has unfinished business in the kitchen. The other spirits let the living know that they are still around, sharing the mansion.
Article of Haunts thanks to http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/tn/carnton_mansion.cfm
I know a lot of our members have had personal experiences and I would love for you all to share them here. I have never an actual ghost there, however I have heard whispers and when I went on the tour 2 years ago when I was pregnant, I got really sick and had to leave early. I only felt sick when I went to the second floor. After I left the house and went outside, I was fine. Hopefully soon I will have more to tell, but for now I would love to hear your stories!
1345 Carnton Lane, Franklin, TN, 37064
615-794-0903
Monday thru Saturday - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday – 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission Prices:
Adults: $12.00
Seniors (over 65): $10.00
Children 6 – 12: $5.00
Children under 5: free
Grounds tour only: $5.00
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