carnton plantation

 Today went to Franklin to the civil war site Carnton Plantation.  It was fascinating!  When we first got there Heidi was fascinated by the large mailbox and wanted her picture by it, ha ha ha.  The girls and mailboxes.  I wonder when they will stop being such a novelty.

Then we had lunch on a bench next to the war site.  There was a cool path you could walk around with interesting facts and the weather was overcast and very perfect for a walk.

 Heidi wanted to carry Caimbree but finally settled on holding her hand.  The girls had fun playing around on the grass and path while Jeff and I read the history.

I learned a lot.  The story of Carnton is that the McGavock family lived there when Confederate General William Loring's division marched to the plantation and told the family their home would be used as a hospital, as they were anticipating heavy casualties.  By sunset the wounded began to arrive.  A few at first, then scores.  The family assisted as injured and dying entered the house.  Amputations and operations were done by the windows and by lamplight.. John and Carrie McGavock and their two young children (ages 7 and 9) began tearing tablecloths, sheets, and clothes into bandages. The floors became wet with blood and you can still see the blood stains on the original hardwood floors...there was carpet at the time and there was so much blood that it soaked through the carpeting and stained the hardwood floors.  As you can imagine, my little doctor Heidi was fascinated by all of this.  More Americans became casualties in the 5 hour battle than were lost in the first 24 hours in the Invasion of Normandy.  The other thing I learned was that Tennessee had more battles fought in the state than any other state except for Virginia.

 Also, Tennessee was split in opinion.  While they had a large amount of soldiers fighting for the Confederacy, they also had a large number fighting for the Union.  While 52% of the population in middle TN was enslaved, a lot of wealthy white people had no slaves.  Anyway, there are a lot of things I learned and the plantation itself was fascinating.  No pictures could be taken inside the home.

 After the tour of the home we walked along the grounds.  It really was a beautiful day because of the cloud cover.  The girls did pretty well considering the hour long presentation!

We are having a blast discovering all of the things around us!  We seriously fall more in love with Tennessee every single day.  It was a great move for our family...the girls are so happy and Jeff is a whole new person with his new job.