Archaeological dig at Carter Hill could unearth a missing piece of history

Battle of Franklin Trust CEO Eric Jacobson looked over a mound of turned earth Tuesday morning, just south of the Carter House. Below him two archaeologists hunkered on their knees close to the earth, turning the dirt carefully.

A few feet away a Civil War-era Minie ball bullet lay partially covered in dirt with a marker beside it.

If Jacobson and the archaeologists find what they are looking for in the current dig underway at the Carter Hill Battlefield Park this week, the trust will have uncovered the final stretch of the Federal Army’s front line earthworks in the Battle of Franklin on Nov. 30, 1864.

"We found it over there in '09, we found it over there in '14, "Jacobson said pointing to the other portions of the Federal line already denoted with markers. "So, we are trying to find this in between piece to connect it, which would really be amazing because then we could mark not just the location of the Federal earth works, but really the entire expanse of the Confederate breakthrough."

The dig that started Monday has been planned since the trust acquired the land in early 2016. The dig was in the location that formerly contained the Franklin Flower and Gift Gallery and the former Williamson County Court Appointed Service Advocates (CASA) office.

The land, which was owned by Reid and Brenda Lovell, was signed over to Franklin's Charge and Battle of Franklin Trust for $2.8 million.

The property was transferred to the city in exchange for $1.5 million to be paid by the city on a non-interest basis over 7 years from hotel-motel taxes collected by the city.

The trust received a grant from the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area—a federal, state and local partnership to preserve Civil War battlefields. In part, the grant helped move the dig forward.

Archaeologists with the land surveying and environmental consulting company TRC Solutions dug all day Monday with little luck, but discovered hopeful signs when the dig resumed Tuesday.

First, evidence beneath the top layer of soil showed the land was once greatly disturbed, then the team discovered a variety of fired bullets with their own stories to tell.

"When you've found fired bullets that means they've hit something, not six hundred yards away, right here," Jacobson said.

Among the traditional Minie ball bullets used in the muskets of the Civil War era, Jacobson said the team also uncovered Williams Patent "cleaner" bullets used by Federal troops for cleaning a musket's barrel. Their poor accuracy and dubious effectiveness at cleaning left them out of favor among the soldiers, often discarded on battlefields.

But Jacobson said Tuesday that the presence of fired Williams cleaner bullets speaks to the horrors of the Battle of Franklin and the harried 50th Ohio Infantry who maned the front line that day.

"If you’re finding a fired Williams cleaner that means they were so desperate they were using them and then it was hitting something: a Confederate," he said. "(The Confederates) busted through this line and that's why the fighting is so awful here."

Jacobson hopes the dig could yield other finds, but but the primary goal is to finally be able to properly mark the line.

"For years, we stood around, and said it was here and there and the cotton gin was there and we found out the gin was 20 or 30 feet away from where we thought," he said. "To find the line, we can finally establish a better perspective of what was going on here."

Jacobson asked local residents not to visit the site until the dig is complete.

Reporter Jordan Buie can be reached at 726-7970 or at jbuie@tennessean.com.