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The McGavock Confederate Cemetery is the largest privately held Confederate cemetery in the United States. It is located in Franklin, Tennessee. The nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers buried there were casualties during the Battle of Franklin that took place November 30, 1864. 780 of the soldiers’ identities are known today, leaving 558 as unknown but not forgotten.
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 McGavock 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.
The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
