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Join the Campaign for Loring's Advance |
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Location of Loring's Advance tract (in red). The Carter House is at upper left; Carnton is off the edge at bottom right.
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Learn about Loring's Advance
For reference, the map at top of this page shows the Carter House in the upper center. The City’s Eastern Flank Battlefield Park (golf course) is off the lower right edge. The distance between Carter House and Collins Farm is about 800 yards The Federal trench line runs along the north side of Cleburne and Stewart streets, then slants north to the RR tracks at the top of the picture. STFB identified the Loring’s Advance parcel as a high priority for preservation, being core battlefield and witness to tremendous casualties to the advancing Confederates crossing the property from artillery and repeating rifle fire from the Federal trench line as well as guns at Fort Granger. But just as significantly, the site is in a near natural state and has no buildings that would increase the purchase and maintenance costs. Indeed, the Loring’s Advance parcel retains that “feeling of battlefield”, having natural terrain features that the soldiers of both sides would recognize if they could visit once again. We believe that buying “dirt” - core battlefield with no or minimal structures – is the best way to maximize the effect of your dollars. This has been and will continue to be the focus of our efforts. So, now we need your help to raise $50k that we have committed to the Civil War Trust for the Loring’s Advance purchase. Now is the time to act. Together, we can save even more Franklin Battlefield dirt. Keep reading to learn more.
History Loring’s division traversed this ground under fire during the November 30, 1864 battle. As Loring’s three brigades came north over the golf course to the river, the 4 ordnance rifles of the 1st Ohio Battery D at Ft Granger fired continuously into the crowded ranks. The four rifled guns fired 166 rounds and their post-war historian wrote that of all their actions during the war, their gunnery at Franklin that day was by far their most effective. As Loring's formations got stymied and jumbled at the river, they turned nearly 90 degrees left to cross Collins Farm. While realigning, they were additionally exposed to the 12 pounders behind the east end of the Federal line. Two of those Federal guns were then moved onto the RR tracks, probably near the Murfreesboro Road crossing, and fired double canister along the crescent curved track-bed and along the embankment on Collins Farm below the tracks where the Confederates took shelter. There is a ravine that slants southwest across Collins Farm to its corner boundary and continues along the north boundary of Loring's Advance. Today that ravine is blocked by a railroad fill and culvert. STFB Treasurer Sam Huffman postulates that as built and at the time of the battle, the railroad crossed that ravine on an open trestle. When Adams brigade was blocked by the human wreckage of the first two brigades to smash into the Federal line, he led his brigade west under the RR trestle and up the ravine. As they crossed under the RR, his men were temporarily sheltered in defilade from the Federal fires. As they reached the higher ground just beyond Adams Street, they were again exposed to savage converging fires from the entrenched Federal center. Adams then led a desperate, all-out assault into the main trench line east of the gin house where he was killed. The net result of this tragic day is that Loring's Division has more dead buried at the Confederate Cemetery than any of Hood's divisions - including Cleburne's. An 1878 Williamson County map seems to support the trestle idea. It shows that Lewisburg Pike did not bend left to cross the RR as it does today, but instead continues straight on southeast to the RR and then crosses (under??) the RR where the postulated trestle would be. More study of old land deeds is needed to confirm this idea. If found to be so, the trestle and the ravine on Collins Farm and Loring's Advance parcels become important terrain features to tell the heroic story of Adams Brigade. See photos of the Loring's Advance Nov 5 Tour. See details on the next Loring's Advance Tour.
Click on the image above to view the Civil War Trust map showing the Loring's Advance tract in yellow along the railroad tracks .
Fund Raising for Loring's Advance Our campaign to raise $50,000 for the Loring's Advance 5-acre parcel will begin in early 2012. It’s not scheduled yet, but we plan a kick-off tour of the property in late February or early March while the leaves are still off. The tour will be an opportunity for our members and guests to walk the ground and to see what the soldiers who fought there saw. In all of our fund raising efforts, we have always been mindful of our donors intentions when they wrote checks, especially those who wrote checks with commas. Most wanted their money to buy ‘dirt’, others would sometimes direct their support for a planned marker, or repair to the roof at Collins Farm, etc. i.e. some specific purpose. We always followed the intentions of our donors. In a like manner, past STFB fund raising for other group’s projects was also for clearly stated specific purposes. Even while we were paying off the debt on Collins Farm in 2004-5, we asked our membership to donate to the purchase of the Eastern Flank (golf course) park. In response, we received $27,500 in new money that we transferred to Franklins Charge for that purpose. Later, we canvassed our membership for the purchase of the Holt House (cotton gin site) and our membership gave $10,000 that we transferred to Franklins Charge for that purpose. Similarly with the purchase of the acre of the Carter garden that came on the market two years ago. At our urging, STFB members gave $10,000 for that important purchase. To date, we have received $2,300 in donations to purchase the Lorings Advance ‘dirt’. Plus, we have informal pledges for another $20,000. To raise the $50,000, we will need all of our past supporters and our major donors to come to our aid. In these economic times, it will be difficult – but we can do it. Watch future newsletters and mailings for details. If you would like to help now, please contact: Treasurer Save The Franklin Battlefield, Inc. PO Box 851 Franklin, TN 37065-0851
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