Burial of the soldiers right after the battle

Most of the Confederate (and Union dead) were buried “near and along the length of the Federal breastworks, which spanned the Southern edge of what was then Franklin,” according to Jacobson; The NcGavock Confederate Cemetery, p. 21. Union dead were placed by twos in shallow grave in long rows by their comrades without marking the identities. Many of the Union dead were later removed either by family or loved ones or by the military and relocated in graves at home or buried at the Stones River National Cemetery in Murfreesboro, TN. The Union soldiers interred at Stone’s River were placed there by the 11th United States Color Troops, according to Jacobson: McGavock, p. 22.

However, the identities of the Confederate dead at Franklin, some 1,750, were mostly identified by burial teams the next day (December 1st). They were not buried in mass graves. Rather, soldier burial teams took great care to collect and identify their fallen comrades placing makeshift wooden markers at the head of the graves, identifying the men by name, rank, Regiment and the Company they served in.

Most of the Confederate dead found initial rest on the property of Fountain Branch Carter and James McNutt. Carter had the largest section of land with killed. He also lost his own son, Todd Carter, in the Battle of Franklin. The Carter-McNutt land would be but a temporary rest until the bodies were transferred to their permanent home some eighteen months later, in June 1866.

Source: excerpted from the Wikipedia article (authored by Tellinghistory, the owner of this blog site)

This image is a stereoview of citizens burying their dead after the battle of Fredericksburg