The Other Side of the Monument: Memory, Preservation, and the Battles of Franklin and Nashville

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MONUMENT: MEMORY, PRESERVATION, AND THE BATTLES OF FRANKLIN AND NASHVILLE by JOE R. BAILEY B.S., Austin Peay State University, 2006 M.A., Austin Peay State University, 2008 AN ABSTRACT OF A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2015 Abstract The thriving areas of development around the cities of Franklin and Nashville in Tennessee bear little evidence of the large battles that took place there during November and December, 1864. Pointing to modern development to explain the failed preservation of those battlefields, however, radically oversimplifies how those battlefields became relatively obscure. Instead, the major factor contributing to the lack of preservation of the Franklin and Nashville battlefields was a fractured collective memory of the two events; there was no unified narrative of the battles. For an extended period after the war, there was little effort to remember the Tennessee Campaign. Local citizens and veterans of the battles simply wanted to forget the horrific battles that haunted their memories. Furthermore, the United States government was not interested in saving the battlefields at Franklin and Nashville. Federal authorities, including the War Department and Congress, had grown tired of funding battlefields as national parks and could not be convinced that the two battlefields were worthy of preservation. Moreover, Southerners and Northerners remembered Franklin and Nashville in different ways, and historians mainly stressed Eastern Theater battles, failing to assign much significance to Franklin and Nashville. Throughout the 20th century, infrastructure development encroached on the battlefields and they continued to fade from public memory. By the end of the century, the battlefields were all but gone. However, to support tourism in the 21st century, Franklin’s preservationists and local leaders largely succeeded in recapturing the memory of their battle by reclaiming much of the battlefield space. In contrast, at Nashville, memory of that battle remains obscure. The city continues to focus its efforts on the future, providing little opportunity to reclaim either the battlefield or memory of the Battle of Nashville. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MONUMENT: MEMORY, PRESERVATION, AND THE BATTLES OF FRANKLIN AND NASHVILLE by JOE R. BAILEY B.S., Austin Peay State University, 2006 M.S., Austin Peay State University, 2008 A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2015 Approved by: Major Professor Dr. Charles W. Sanders, Jr. Copyright JOSEPH R. BAILEY 2015 Abstract The thriving areas of development around the cities of Franklin and Nashville in Tennessee bear little evidence of the large battles that took place there during November and December, 1864. Pointing to modern development to explain the failed preservation of those battlefields, however, radically oversimplifies how those battlefields became relatively obscure. Instead, the major factor contributing to the lack of preservation of the Franklin and Nashville battlefields was a fractured collective memory of the two events; there was no unified narrative of the battles. For an extended period after the war, there was little effort to remember the Tennessee Campaign. Local citizens and veterans of the battles simply wanted to forget the horrific battles that haunted their memories. Furthermore, the United States government was not interested in saving the battlefields at Franklin and Nashville. Federal authorities, including the War Department and Congress, had grown tired of funding battlefields as national parks and could not be convinced that the two battlefields were worthy of preservation. Moreover, Southerners and Northerners remembered Franklin and Nashville in different ways, and historians mainly stressed Eastern Theater battles, failing to assign much significance to Franklin and Nashville. Throughout the 20th century, infrastructure development encroached on the battlefields and they continued to fade from public memory. By the end of the century, the battlefields were all but gone. However, to support tourism in the 21st century, Franklin’s preservationists and local leaders largely succeeded in recapturing the memory of their battle by reclaiming much of the battlefield space. In contrast, at Nashville, memory of that battle remains obscure. The city continues to focus its efforts on the future, providing little opportunity to reclaim either the battlefield or memory of the Battle of Nashville. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... x Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 - Old Times Are Best Forgotten . Then Remembered: Memory of Franklin and Nashville in the Late Nineteenth Century ............................................................................. 23 Chapter 2 - Battles Denied and Battles Edified ............................................................................ 47 Chapter 3 - An Opportunity Wasted: The Failure of a National Military Park for Franklin ....... 80 Chapter 4 - A Colossal Failure of Memory: ............................................................................... 108 Chapter 5 - Mnemonic Destruction: Franklin, Nashville, and the Politics of Development ..... 137 Chapter 6 - The Politics of Remembering: Battlefield Preservation and Perpetuation of the Memory of Franklin -1939-2014 ......................................................................................... 169 Preservation Organizations ..................................................................................................... 169 Preservation of Franklin’s Battlefield Sites ............................................................................ 172 Tourism and Memory ............................................................................................................. 197 The Battle of Franklin Centennial .......................................................................................... 200 Memory and the Growth of Heritage Tourism ....................................................................... 205 Historic Preservation Plans ..................................................................................................... 209 Memory and the Infrastructure of Heritage Tourism .............................................................. 211 Reenactments .......................................................................................................................... 213 Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area ......................................................................... 214 Tennessee Civil War Trails ..................................................................................................... 216 Commemorating of the Battle of Franklin .............................................................................. 217 Chapter 7 - Remembering the Battle of Nashville ...................................................................... 224 Organizations .......................................................................................................................... 224 Preservation of Sites Promoting Battle of Nashville Memory ............................................... 226 Fort Negley ............................................................................................................................. 227 Travellers Rest ........................................................................................................................ 233 Belle Meade ............................................................................................................................ 234 vi Belmont ................................................................................................................................... 234 Remembering the Battle of Nashville at the Centennial ......................................................... 235 Remembering Nashville in Heritage Tourism ........................................................................ 239 Erection of Historical Markers ............................................................................................... 240 Reenactments .......................................................................................................................... 241 Other Ways of Remembering the Battle ................................................................................. 242 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 245 Epilogue ...................................................................................................................................... 246 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 254 vii Acknowledgements A Chinese philosopher is credited with saying “Every

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