It’s not every day that you walk through a historic site and just happen to find a relic at your feet, but that is exactly what happened to a recent visitor from Ohio as he toured the Carter House. While looking at the recent enhancements to the area a visitor walked back toward the secondary Federal Line and spotted something on the ground half covered in dirt. Upon picking it up the item was quickly determined to be a buckle and likely Confederate in origin.
“The day after a hard rain in Franklin, a visitor approached me about an item he found in The Carter House garden. He had found what appeared to be a Confederate belt buckle that had surfaced in an area just inside what was the main Federal line during the Battle of Franklin. I soon contacted a trust artifact specialist who confirmed it was a civilian style buckle often used by Confederate troops and that such items are regularly found in long abandoned camps. He added that it was almost certainly a Battle of Franklin relic, especially considering its location,” said BOFT COO Eric A. Jacobson.
The visitor was very excited and wanted to make sure the relic was placed in proper hands Jacobson explained. “He has been a longtime member of the Battle of Franklin Trust and knew that the buckle needed to remain in Franklin, where it rightfully belongs. It is truly amazing to think that whomever the buckle belonged to, and he was likely a Tennessean, that he almost certainly been involved in many battles and at Franklin he made it all the way to the main Federal line. His fate can only be speculated upon, but he may well have paid the ultimate price.”
Stories like this abound at our local Civil War historical monuments and preserves. Take time to visit and learn a little about the history of the Battle of Franklin this weekend.
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