The Carter Farm

The Carter Farm. The Federal Line. Gen. Jacob D. Cox’s Division, XXIII Corps, led the Federal army to the outskirts of Franklin before dawn on November 30, 1864. While army commander Gen. John M. Schofield inspected the bridges on the Harpeth River, Cox set up his headquarters behind you at the Carter House. Schofield determined the river impassable, and engineers began repairing the bridges. Schofield ordered Cox to establish a defensive line on the southern edge of town to buy time for the engineers. Capt. Levi Schofield laid out the line and later recalled , “While sitting out in front of the house… everything was as still as a grave, and there was time to ponder.”, Cox deployed his division in a line from Columbia Pike east to Lewisburg Pike, and then across that road to the river. About 5,000 men here dug a two-foot-deep trench, piled the dirt in front, and then strengthened the works with other materials. A Federal officer wrote that his men threw up a “temporary breast-work” and placed “head-logs on top.” Some of the soldiers ripped wooden siding from the cotton gin and threw it atop the works., The main line of defense between Columbia Pike and the Carter cotton gin, held by the 100th and 104th Ohio Infantry regiments, as well as four pieces of artillery, became a focal point of the ensuing battle. The line curved around the gin to create a projection or salient, and some of the most brutal fighting of the battle unfolded in this area.