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St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is located in the heart of downtown Franklin. It was the first Episcopal Church established in Tennessee. St. Paul’s was founded in 1827 by the Rev, James Hervey Otey who would later become the first Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee.
During the Civil War it was used for barracks by Union troops. Many of the pews were burned for fire wood. Following the Battle of Franklin (November 30th, 1864), St. Paul’s was used as a field hospital. Some of those who died in the church were buried nearby at McGavock Confederate Cemetery.
It was heavily damaged during the Civil War (1861 – 1865) and when it was restored eight stained-glass windows were installed designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Here is a photo gallery of the windows shot from the inside.
“Our loss of officers in the battle of Franklin on the 30th was excessively large in proportion to the loss of our men. The medical director reports a very large proportion of slightly wounded men.”
- John Bell Hood, writing two days after the battle to Confederate Secretary of War, James A. Seddon.
The bodies of several dead Confederate Generals (Cleburne, Granbury, Strahl, and Adams) were laid out on the porch at Carnton (see above) after the battle on November 30, 1864.
The South lost 53 of 100 regimental commanders in the field at Franklin. Granbury’s brigade alone lost 70% of their regimental commanders. Undeterred, Hood would unmercilously throw his beleaguered Army of Tennessee against Thomas in another suicidal attack just two weeks later, effectively destroying his army. He would be replaced within weeks of the loss at Nashville, having led the Army of Tennessee for roughly six months.
“Following the battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864, the house became a Confederate field hospital. During the night following the five-hour battle, the McGavocks and their two children Hattie (age nine) and Winder (age seven) assisted the surgeons and tended to the needs of the wounded. Several hundred eventually came to Carnton and 150 died that first night. Bloodstains are still visible in several rooms. They are heaviest in the children’s bedroom, which was used as an operating room. The bodies of Confederate Generals Cleburne, Granbury, Strahl, and Adams were brought to Carnton’s rear porch and placed on its lower level awaiting removal to their final burial places. Most of the over 1,750 Confederate dead were buried on the battlefield, their graves marked by wooden headboards inscribed with the soldier’s name, company, and regiment. Over the months, the writing faded, and the markers began to disappear. “
The Carnton Plantation is a historic house museum located in Franklin. Randal McGavock (1768-1843), builder of Carnton, emigrated from Virginia in 1796 and settled in Nashville. He was involved in local and state politics and eventually served as mayor of Nashville, 1824-25. Around 1826 McGavock moved his family to the recently completed Carnton to farm and raise thoroughbred horses until his death in 1843. After his death, his son John inherited the plantation and continued to farm the land until his own death in 1893. The McGavocks grew wheat, corn, oats, hay, and potatoes, in addition to raising thoroughbred horses”
