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Harlinsdale Farm Tour

 September 20, 2008

 
   
 

On September 20, David Fraley led an STFB tour of Harlinsdale Farm. He addressed a crowd of 28 interested spectators and very effectively discussed events that had occurred on this site 144 years ago. He pointed out and discussed the campsites and the battle events that took place on Harlinsdale. David also discussed the importance of an archeological study of the area in order to identify specific locations of Civil War events on Harlinsdale

Harlinsdale Farm was the scene of much Civil War activity from early 1863 through December 1864.  When the some 10,000 Federal troops were deployed in Franklin in 1863, the Harlinsdale area became a massive campsite and, most probably, the site of corrals and a drill field.  Later in the year, the force in Franklin was reduced with the remaining soldiers more concentrated near the railroad.  During and following the Battle of Franklin, Federal soldiers and then Confederate troops marched across Harlinsdale toward Nashville. On December 17, 1864, through Harlinsdale to the Harpeth River became the scene of the Third Battle of Franklin.

Following the Battle of Nashville, retreating remnants of Hood’s Confederate army streamed across Harlinsdale pursued by the Federal cavalry. With the Confederate rear guard forming a battle line and their cannons pouring canister into the Federal troops, a pitched battle took place across Harlinsdale through the area where Federal tents had stood little more than a year earlier.  What is now modern-day Harlinsdale Farm was the scene of a horrendous battle.

Click to view the Harlinsdale Tour Handout

 

 
  Tour Photographs

 

 
 

David Fraley addresses the crowd

 

 
 

 

 
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