The Carter Farm

The Carter Farm. 1st Kentucky Light Artillery Battery. You are standing where the 1st Kentucky Light Artillery Battery (US) was posted during the battle, staring down the Confederate advance. The battery was organized in September 1861 under Capt. David Stone and consisted of four three-inch rifled guns. By late 1864, Capt. Theodore S. Thomasson commanded the battery, and infantrymen took the places of the artillerists who had mustered out when their three-year service terms expired., During the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, Thomasson moved two guns into position here in the main Federal line about noon. The other two guns joined them two hours later. The battery faced southwest to sweep the Confederate approaches, and three 100th Ohio Infantry companies supported it. When the Confederates advanced soon after 4 P.M., Thomasson’s guns roared into action, shelling the Southerners “about 1,700 yards” distant. The gunners ceased fire, however, when two Union brigades on the advanced line retreated toward them in the face of the Confederate attack. Suddenly, two Confederate divisions breached the main Federal line and briefly overran the battery, whose men were “driven from their posts.”, A Federal counterassault quickly pushed the Confederates back in hand-to-hand fighting. The 1st Kentucky gunners regrouped and unleashed a steady stream of “canister and shell” into the enemy troops for two hours, then over another two hours reduced their rate of fire. During the battle the battery fired 107 rounds and suffered fifteen casualties. It was engaged at the Battle of Nashville two weeks later. It concluded its service in Texas in the summer of 1865 and the men were discharged.