Funds Needed For Payment On Carter Cotton Gin Site
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Preservationists trying to save the Carter Cotton Gin site at the center of the Franklin Battlefield must raise close to $53,000 in order to make a $221,000 payment due in early September. The payment is for property directly east across the Columbia Pike from the Carter House. It was this area where the Confederate Army of Tennessee charged to destruction against dug-in Union troops in one of the war’s bloodiest battles. The preservation coalition Franklin’s Charge bought the tract last year for $950,000. Board member Joe Smyth said, “It was this land where Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s troops almost broke the Union lines.” The site adjoins a lot owned by the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County, where the cotton gin stood. Long-term plans are to create a Cotton Gin Park with a replica of the cotton gin and some entrenchments that crossed the properties. A two-story postwar house on the site purchased last year will be removed. Its foundation is made of stones that formed a cenotaph memorial to Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne who was killed nearby. The stones originally were in the Carter Cotton Gin foundation. For information on how to donate go to wwwFranklinscharge.com or the Save The Franklin Battlefield (STFB) site at www.franklin-stfb.org.
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