Historic Franklin TN
For all of you history buffs, plan a trip to Historic Franklin, Tenn. The city is packed with history, an archive museum, plantations, battlefield sites, a historic downtown and more.
The City of Franklin was founded October 26, 1799, and was named after Benjamin Franklin, a close friend of Dr. Hugh Williamson, a member of the Continental Congress for whom Williamson County was named. If the name “Franklin” doesn’t give away the fact that this community is enriched in history…then not much will. Franklin although still a baby compared to the great cities of the world, holds a great wealth of history and interesting stories.
For most of its first 180 years, Franklin was a tranquil, small county seat. In the years prior to the Civil War, Williamson County was one of the wealthiest counties in Tennessee, and Franklin the center of plantation economy.
Two Presidents made visits to Franklin and three Secretaries of War were from the immediate area. However, the Civil War devastated the economy. Union troops occupied the area for nearly three years.
The Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, and was one of the war’s bloodiest battles, costing more than 8,000 casualties and turning every home and building in town into a hospital. It took 120 years for the county’s economy to reach pre-war levels. For more than a century, Franklin seemed remote not only from Nashville, but from the rest of the world as well.
The Battle of Franklin remains that turning point in the war in the West that sealed the fate of the Southern Confederacy, and out of which our country was reborn. Serious Civil War historians consider Franklin to be one of the most consequential battles of the war.
The Battle of Franklin has been referred to by historians as the “bloodiest hours of the Civil War.” In those five tragic hours as many soldiers died on the field at Franklin as did either Federal or Confederate troops at the two-day battles of Shiloh and Stones River. The Battle of Franklin also saw the largest infantry charge ever made on North American soil.
Since the Battle of Franklin, the town has come together and become one of the wealthiest cities in one of the wealthiest counties in the United States. The 2000 Census lists the City’s population at just under 42,000.
