The Carter House Franklin

The trip to The Carter House Franklin TN, was going to be enjoyable, and so I decided to prepare early enough. I prepared for the trip first and foremost by doing a lot of research about the House (Smith et al, 2016). The research was about the house, what one is expect to carry and what one is not allowed to have while entering into the house, this allowed me to be able to have an insight of the house. Secondly, I wrote to the Carter house Franklin Tennessee, requesting permission to be allowed to take a sight viewing at the place. This was the step whereby I decided to clearly stipulate the reasons as to why I had decided to visit the house (Woodworth & Grear, 2016). Thirdly, I carried each and everything that I needed for the trip, these things included drinking water, a pen, a book, a camera for taking photographs and backpack together with heavy clothes in case of the rains (Johnston, 2014).

The Carter House is a historic house which was constructed by Fountain Branch Carter in the year 1830 (Smith et al, 2016). The house was built out of bricks, and it consisted of a sitting room, and bedrooms. The house was designed in a straight manner, in such a way that it was not in any way curved. Moreover, it was accompanied by other buildings which included a kitchen, farm office and a smoke house. The house was built in a fairly large area of land, allowing the place to have a very huge compound (Woodworth & Grear, 2016). The main purpose of building the house was to provide a hiding place for the Carter family. The house had a basement, which was used by Carters family as they waited for the end of the second Battle of Franklin.

The carter house is a state Historic site in Tennessee, and is under the management of non-profit property organization and the flagship of the Franklin Battlefield, which is a National Historic Commission in the US. On the other hand, in the 1850’s Carter decided to build a cotton gin which later became a much-remembered landmark in the course of the second Battle of Franklin in the year 1864 (Woodworth & Grear, 2016). Even though the cotton gin is not existent, the house and the other three buildings are existent. The houses are therefore used to illustrate the horrors of the Civil war battles whereby it has more than one thousand bullet holes which are still visible (Smith et al, 2016).

The three houses, which bear more than one thousand bullet holes make the house historic (Johnston, 2014). This is consequently because, the house contains more stories particularly when one reads about what happened to the house, which made it to be shot for more than one thousand times (Smith et al, 2016). The house played a very major role in the second world Battle of Franklin, and before the fight the house was a headquarter of the Twenty-Third Army Corps, which was under the command of Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox (Woodworth & Grear, 2016). The house therefore carries very many ancient stories of the Second Battle of Franklin, and thus making it to be more than just a mere house, but a historic site. In addition, the house is used to show the effect and the magnitude of the war. Moreover, the house also explains how Carter lived with his family, and how he used the house in order to avoid being affected, or otherwise his family from being wounded (Johnston, 2014).

The house was built in such a way that it makes it impossible for the enemy to be able to understand where a person is hiding in the house (Smith et al, 2016). This really impressed me, since it shows how smart Carter was, as he did one of the unique things while constructing the house, thus making it hard for an attacker to be able to hurt his family during the war (Woodworth & Grear, 2016). Furthermore, the three outstanding building in the compound, were used to confuse the enemy, thus making it hard for them to be able to understand the specific place where his family could have hidden. In addition, the house looked as if it had no basement, a thing which was also use to confuse the enemies, since they could only shoot at the top part of the house, thus forgetting about the basement. I was surprised by what I learnt, since I could not imagine how a person could be smart enough and come up with a plan of constructing a house which is very unique.

I would recommend a friend to visit the house, in order to be able to clearly see the effect of the Second Battle of Franklin (Smith et al, 2016). Moreover, through visiting the house, one can understand the way the Franklin planned and executed the war, and how he was ready to make sure that his family was not affected by the war. The site should be preserved for future generations, in order to make sure they get to see and understand how the Second Battle of Franklin was (Woodworth & Grear, 2016).

Reference

In Woodworth, S. E., & In Grear, C. D. (2016). The Tennessee Campaign of 1864.

Smith, S. D., Nance, B. C., Breitburg, E., Prouty, F. M., & Royse, R. D. (2010). Archaeological investigations at the Carter House state historic site, Franklin, Tennessee. Nashville, TN: Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology.

Johnston, J. (2014). Franklin.