|
| |
Recent Media Coverage of
The Carter House
Cartwright resigns as Carter
House Executive Director
Posted on:
5/22/2008
By
CAROLE ROBINSON, Staff Writer
crobinson@williamsonherald.com
Even with the sounds of traffic passing along Columbia
Avenue only 20 yards away, Thomas Cartwright manages to take Carter House
visitors back in time to Nov. 30, 1864 and the bloodiest hours of the Battle
of Franklin.
For those who have had Cartwright as their tour guide, or have heard him
speak publicly, his knowledge, his passion and his love and respect for the
warriors on both sides of the picket line, has made the battle and those who
fought come alive to be remembered.
The job of telling the stories of Gen. Patrick Cleburne, Gen. John Bell
Hood, the Carter family and “the bloodiest hours of the American Civil War,"
will now fall to others – Thomas Cartwright resigned his position as
executive director of the historic Civil War house and museum earlier this
week after more than 19 years.
“I have been offered some great opportunities doing some consulting,”
Cartwright said. “This was not a snap decision. I thought about it – I
prayed about it a long time. I love this site with all my heart – that will
never change. I love working here – every afternoon at 4 o’clock I think of
Capt. Tod Carter on his horse Rosencrantz saying, ‘I’m going home today.’”
He was mortally wounded just 525 feet from his home.
Opportunities to guide battlefield and historical tours across the country,
including a Lewis and Clark tour and even in World War II European
battlefield tours are also on the horizon for the 52-year-old historian.
Cartwright said he also looks forward to finishing his book, “The Mascots of
the Civil War” and creating some non-historical books, such as a compilation
of his collection of old animal photos from 1840 to the 1920s.
An ardent student of history, Cartwright was hired by the Carter House Board
of Directors in January 1989 to identify artifacts and interpret the battle,
the family, the town and the impact of the war. He became the museum’s
military curator in April 1990 and executive director of the Carter House
Nov. 7, 1997.
For him the job was so much more – it was a passion.
“Every day of my life I live the Battle of Franklin,” he said. “So many
people have influenced my life, including Herbert Harper who saved the
Carter House – it was going to be a gas station. I learned from the
historians and the guests. If I’ve learned anything, I’ve learned it’s risky
– dangerous – to judge the past with our eyes.”
A Nashville native, Cartwright’s interest in the Battle of Franklin began at
a very early age when he listened to his grandmother tell stories of her
father, who fought in the battle.
“I would love to sit with my grandparents and the old folks – aunts, uncles
– and hear their stories over and over again; just stories about people. I
think it’s important to know those personal stories – the human side and
influence.”
When he was 5, he visited the McGavock cemetery (at Carnton).
“Afterwards, I remember riding by the Carter House and my mother pointed and
said, ‘That’s where all the generals were killed.’”
On Nov. 30, 1964 – he was 8 – he joined his family in Franklin to celebrate
the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Franklin and he recalls the impact of
the guide putting a finger in the bullet hole in the family room of the
Carter House.
As Cartwright got older he tagged along with older boys on relic hunts for
mini balls and cannon ball fragments in fields around Franklin and the soil
of construction sites.
Since his mother worked for a publishing house, his appetite for history was
all the more satiated when the owner would send him history books like “The
Blue & The Gray.”
“While others were reading their comic books, I read history books,” he
said. “I love all types of history. It’s the people – the personal stories
that bring it alive. It’s important to honor them – to tell their stories
and keep their memories alive – not glorify their deaths, but glorify their
lives. Then we won’t repeat the same mistakes. On one aspect, I hate war and
hurting other people, but the other aspect is the human side that captures
me. I’m reminded of the quote, ‘In times of peace, sons bury their fathers.
In times of war, fathers bury their sons.’ That typifies the Carter House.
The Battle of Franklin demonstrated the best and the worst of mankind.”
During his 19 1/2 years at the Carter House, Cartwright said he continued
learning through the many great historians he had the pleasure to meet and
visitors who related their own family stories.
“So many people have been good to me and to the Carter House – I can’t name
them all. I just hope a speck of their greatness has fallen on me so I can
carry them with me. They are a part of my life and they will always be a
part of my life. I’m the richest man of the face of the earth.”
Nancy Conway, who has been on the Carter House Board of Directors for more
than 30 years, said Cartwright’s work has brought the site national, even
international attention.
“It is not just what he did here, but the presence of Thomas across the
United States that have identified Franklin, Tennessee, and the Carter House
as significant Civil War sites,” Conway said.
Author Robert Hicks was with Cartwright on Monday and considers him a close
friend.
“Thomas’s departure will leave a huge hole that nobody will really be able
to fill for a long time in preservation,” Hicks said. “His passion for the
Carter House and history is gigantic.”
Carter House Board of Directors President Shanon Wasielewski said the board
is grateful for Cartwright’s 19 1/2 years of service.
“Thomas will be greatly missed. We appreciate everything he has given to
the site and wish him the very best as he pursues his new opportunities,”
Wasielewski said. “He has made an indelible mark on not only The Carter
House, but on the interpretation of the Battle of Franklin and on those that
have toured the house or had the fortune of hearing him speak during his
tenure as executive director. Many people have been drawn to The Carter
House because of Thomas Cartwright.”
David Fraley, currently The Carter House historian and assistant curator,
will serve as the interim executive director while the board is conducting a
nationwide search for Cartwright’s replacement.
“We are fortunate to have someone like David who can help the organization
through this transition,” Wasielewski said. “David brings a wealth of
experience to the position as has hands on knowledge and expertise regarding
The Carter House. He has served in key positions with the historic site for
more than seven years.”
|
|
Burning the note
- Posted on: 3/13/2008
By CAROLE ROBINSON, Staff Writer
Ben Stein is a
writer, commentator, and award-winning actor, comedian and game show host.
His signature deadpan, gravely, monotone deliveries suggest his characters
have a lack of passion, but 63-year-old Stein definitely is not without
passion about many issues.
One of those is the Civil War and the Battle of Franklin in particular.
“I am a fan of Civil War history, but I’m obsessed with this battle,” he
said Monday during a tour of the Carter House. He also visited Carnton
Plantation and was given a tour by Robert Hicks, author of “Widow of the
South.”
Stein was in the area to speak at the National Religious Broadcaster’s
Convention when he decided to visit the Carter House.
“Very little is known by most people about the Battle of Franklin,” he said.
”Everyone knows about Gettysburg, Appomattox, Antietam, but few know about
the bloodiest battle of the war; a battle where so many innocent, decent
people lost their lives, all because of the mistake of one man.”
Stein is talking about Gen. John Bell Hood, who he labeled in a March 2006
New York Times’ article as perhaps “the most destructive American of all
time, with “dazzlingly little strategic or tactical wisdom.”
Stein’s interest in the Civil War also includes The Civil War Preservation
Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving American Civil War
battlefields and promoting educational programs and tourism initiatives that
inform the public of the war’s origins and history.
According to Carter House director Thomas Cartwright, Stein visited the
museum about three years ago and made a “generous” donation to the
Preservation Trust for the Franklin battlefield, which has since helped in
the purchase of the Franklin Country Club, designated the Eastern Flank of
the Nov. 30, 1864 battle.
“He really appreciated what we have here,” said former Carter House board
member, Jody Thompson.
During his Monday visit, Stein assisted Carter House director Thomas
Cartwright in the ceremonial burning of a $135,000 bank note that was paid
in full on Dec. 19, 2007, a loan that was used to purchase a half-acre piece
of land adjacent to the Carter House.
Once a part of the Carter family’s personal garden that November day in
1864, the land became the main and inner trenches of the Federal army,
described by David Hines as ‘”the closest we will ever come to the vortex of
hell.”
The final payment of the note was made possible by a $13,00 donation in late
November from the Austin Civil War Round Table, Cartwright said.
“This was a big dream of ours,” Cartwright told Stein during the note
burning.
“As Robert E. Lee said in Virginia, ‘The Texans always move them.’ The
Texans along with a lot of individuals pushed us over the top.”
Donations came in from every state and several foreign countries to make the
purchase possible, Cartwright said.
“This is not to glorify their deaths, it’s to glorify the lives of those
brave Americans,” Cartwright said.
Where onions, turnips, and cabbage once grew, within hours, was transformed
into one of the bloodiest two-acres of the five-hour battle and of the Civil
War.
“They were pile five, six, seven deep like cord wood,” Cartwright said. To
develop a mental picture of the carnage, he quoted from one survivor’s
personal diary, “Every volley from the battery lumbered body parts.”
Now a half-acre parcel of that ground will be transformed back to Nov. 30,
1864, when the Federal army dug their main line and inner trenches.
Transformation plans also include a fence with a silkscreen depiction of the
battle.
After about an hour at the Carter House, Stein, visited the Carnton Mansion,
where the battle wounded were care for, and the former Franklin Country Club
adjacent to the mansion, which was part of the Eastern Flank of the Battle
of Franklin.
Hicks proudly pointed from a second-floor balcony to the Eastern Flank
Battlefield property, telling Stein it is the largest battlefield
reclamation in U.S. history.
“Wow,” Stein kept saying as he toured the house and heard Hicks and
historian Eric Jacobson describe the events of Nov. 30, 1864.
|
| Californian finds Chinese relative
buried in Carnton’s Confederate Cemetery Posted on:
11/29/2007 By CAROLE
ROBINSON, Staff Writer
After more than 140 years, there are still many stories
told and untold stories about the Battle of Franklin being uncovered.
What began as a trip to Nashville for Fan Fair in 2005 became a
life-changing event for Los Angeles resident Martin Chang.
Chang’s life has been a series of changes leading to an evolution and an
understanding of purpose and self, but the discovery of an ancestor buried
in the Confederate Cemetery at Carnton also redirected the quiet, unassuming
young man to a clearer understanding of purpose.
“To me, Charles Chon must have had a purpose,” Chang said of the great-
great uncle he discovered buried at Carnton. “He was a common soldier, he
was captured (by the Union Army) at the Battle of Ark Post and spent time in
a federal prison. When he was released, he reenlisted.”
Martin has uncovered tidbits of information about his ancestor, but there
are still many questions unanswered about Charles Chon and the road that led
a young Chinese man to Tennessee and the unusual discovery.
The Chang family, Chinese by descent, retreated to Taiwan when the
Communists took over their country. They moved to California when Martin was
in his early teens.
As the teenager grew and became Americanized, he acquired an interest in
country music. It was that interest that eventually led him to change his
religion from Buddhism to Christianity.
“I always preferred to listen to music I can connect with,” he said. “”To
me, country music is the music of this country. There is a different culture
that leaves room for God.”
The interest in country music also spurred an unusual interest in the South
and the Civil War, specifically from the Southern point of view. There
weren’t many people of Chinese descent involved in the Civil War, especially
in the South.
“I was interested in the Civil War for some reason,” he said. “I didn’t even
know there were Chinese in the war. I thought the Chinese came during the
Gold Rush after the war.”
While visiting Music City in 2005, Chang, a computer information technology
professional who works on large business computer networks, was drawn to
Franklin to visit the Carter House, Carnton Plantation and Confederate
Cemetery.
“First I came to the Carter House, took the tour, took some pictures,” he
said. “It was late in the day when I went to Carnton – too late for a tour
so I walked the grounds and walked the cemetery. When I was there I felt
like I was on hallowed ground. I could feel honor there.”
On I-65 heading back to Nashville, Chang was compelled to turn around and
head back to the cemetery to pray, even though darkness was fast
approaching.
“That experience, to go back to pray at the cemetery, was very strange,
especially because it was getting dark,” he said. “There was something
familiar in the cemetery and I didn’t know why.”
He prayed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, not knowing he had an ancestor
buried nearby.
“I didn’t know Charles was in the war, I just needed to pray at the
cemetery,” he said.
A couple months later, while surfing the Internet, Chang stumbled on a
listing about Chinese in the Civil War by a Chinese member of a Civil War
roundtable who researched and visited several Civil War battlefields.
“There were a lot of Chinese who fought for the Union, but most were in the
Navy,” Chang said. “An entry mentioned a Chinese man buried at Carnton.”
That man was Martin’s great-great uncle, Charles Chon (the spelling has
changed slightly over time and distance.)
“He is in a grave with a clearly marked headstone – number 66 with C. C. in
the Texas Regiment.”
The discovery gave Martin Chang a new purpose, and an understanding of the
direction he been led. He now wanted to know and understand his ancestor –
the brother of his great-great grandfather.
To do so, he needed to do some walking in Charles Chon’s shoes, so he joined
the Sons of Confederate Veterans, became a Confederate reenactor and a
detective unraveling the story of his mysterious uncle who was a stone mason
in Guangdong Province but landed in Shanghai where he disappeared.
“Hired by an American merchant,” Chang speculated.
The disappearance was around the time of the Taiping rebellion. When the
Ch’ing Dynasty took over they killed 20 million Christians, Martin said.
“He may have been a Christian and escaped to avoid being killed,” Chang
further speculates.
The next place he showed up was South Texas. He signed the papers to join
the Texas Cavalry in York and died at the age of 22 at the Battle of
Franklin.
Questions like how Charles landed in the United States – there are no
records of his arrival, how he landed in Texas and in the notoriously tough
Texas regiment that was a cavalry before taking to foot travel, and why he
reenlisted, all remain a mystery.
“One thing for sure, he was tougher than nails,” said Thomas Cartwright, a
historian at the Carter House. “Texans were tough. They brought the level up
very high.”
There is a part of Martin Chang’s Chinese culture that lures him to be close
to his ancestors, but the Christian he has become encourages him to connect
with that ancestor.
“He left home, fought in a foreign war and died. He disappeared and140 years
later I found him. I should do something for him.”
For now, Chang would like to get the aging headstone fixed and honor his
great-great uncle in reenacting the Battle of Franklin and other Civil War
battles in an effort to keep the memory alive.
|
Battle of Franklin commemoration
set Nov. 30
Posted on:
11/22/2007
By
CAROLE ROBINSON, Staff Writer
On Nov. 30, 1864,
the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War were fought on land surrounding
the Carter House in Franklin.
“It was the bloodiest battle of modern times in any war,” wrote Sam Watkins,
Company H of the 1st Tennessee Infantry, CSA. “It was the finishing stroke
to the independence of the South.”
Sam Watkins knew what he spoke – he was one of the survivors of the battle
that killed or injured more than 9,500 Confederate and Union soldiers,
including Theodrick (Tod) Carter, who was serving as an aidr for Gen. T.B.
Smith on the battlefield and saw his home for the first time in three years.
Commemorating the 143rd anniversary of the battle, on Nov. 30, at 1 p.m. the
Carter House Association, the Tennessee State Historical Commission, the
Department of Environment and Conservation will hold a special ceremony to
unveil plans for its new Interpretive Center and Museum Project. Continuing
a tradition, renovations on the old Franklin High gym on Columbia Avenue,
next to the Carter House, will begin which will transform the facility,
which has been a part of an educational institution since the 1956, into an
educational facility for the Carter House.
“We are saving the gym and renovating it,” said Carter House historian,
Thomas Cartwright. “That’s a big part of old Franklin that is going to stay.
A lot of people have ties to it.”
The Interpretive Center and Museum will be much larger than the current
facility located behind the Carter House and the theater will hold 125
people, Cartwright said.
It will be used as a means to educate visitors and
residents about the Battle of Franklin, often referred to as “The Pickett’s
Charge of the West,” tell the stories of those who fought and keep alive the
memory of those who died, said Cartwright.
“There are so many stories, so many new stories,” he said. “A man from
Cadiz, Spain died here. Two Yugoslavian brothers, a man from Turkey and
seven Mexicans from the Texas Brigade were killed here. This (Interpretive
Center) will keep their memories alive.”
According to Cartwright, many visitors come back to the Carter House
numerous times. The staff wants to be sure each visit is a learning
opportunity.
“This is a national treasure,” Cartwright said. “It’s not about hate. It’s
about love – love of home, love of family, love of state, love of country.
Whether you’re from the North or from the South, this will be a chance to
interpret the experience.”
The program will also recognize longtime Carter House supporters such as the
late Herbert Harper and Elizabeth Lovell, includes various speakers.
Historic Carnton Plantation’s Blue and Gray days will commemorate the 1864
Battle of Franklin with a variety of activities on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. On
the afternoon of Nov. 30, 1864, Carrie and John McGavock turned their home
into a Confederate Field Hospital for the hundreds of wounded and dying who
needed surgery and medical care.
On Friday, the day will include guided tours often led by local historians
emphasizing what would have been happening on that tragic day on the eastern
flank of the battle. At 4 p.m., Ruth McCallister, the great-granddaughter of
Civil War soldier and author Sam Watkins, will do a reading followed by the
lighting by city of Franklin officials of 10,000 luminaries representing the
soldiers who were killed, wounded or taken prisoner during the battle, and a
bonfire complete with period music.
Saturday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. there will be living demonstrations,
reenactors and artisans present.
|
Eloise North retires from Carter
House
Posted on:
5/3/2007
By STAFF REPORTS
The public is invited to join the staff and volunteers of
the Carter House at a special reception May 3 from 6 – 8 p.m. at Southgate
Studio and Fine Arts at The Factory to honor Eloise North, a volunteer at
the Carter House for 25 years.
North was a former kindergarten teacher at Miss Inge Smith’s Pre-School and
Harpeth Academy before she began to volunteer at the Carter House as a tour
guide and manager of the gift shop.
“Eloise has touched the hearts and minds of many people and this is a chance
to let her know how much she was appreciated,” said Mary Jane Wade, one of
the event organizers.
“Eloise, having been a teacher, has had so many people pass through her life
and they all admire and love her,” Wade said.
There will also be special presentations by County Mayor Rogers Anderson and
Franklin Mayor Tom Miller.
|
Carter House Association acquires core site of Franklin battlefield
Posted on: 11/30/2006
By CAROLE ROBINSON, Staff Writer
The cost of a
piece of land is measured by the value placed on it by the purchaser. Just
in time for the celebration of the 142nd anniversary of the Battle of
Franklin, the Carter House Association Inc. acquired a piece of ground they
consider hallowed; a one-half acre plot at 124 Strahl St.
The property purchased from Chris Waller for $210,000 was part of the
Fountain Branch Carter garden until Nov. 30, 1864, when during the Battle of
Franklin, it became the core of the battlefield.
“This is on the battlefield’s ground zero,” said Gene McNeil, treasurer of
the Carter House Association. “On the east side stuff went on, but nothing
like what went on here. We have now moved to another level of preservation.”
For several years the association has been trying to acquire the land
bounded on the east by properties occupied by Franklin Florist and
Willowbrook Hospice Inc. on Columbia Avenue, on the south by Strahl Street
and Carter house property on the remainder of the site.
The entire Carter House Garden was an irregular shaped two-acre plot, about
65 yards deep and 125 yards long and were the inner trench lines for the
North and South within its boundaries, the parcel was a “no man’s land.”
“These two acres (the entire garden) were among the bloodiest of the whole
war,” said Thomas Cartwright, executive director of the Carter House. “The
20th Ohio Light Artillery lost half its men during the battle. As an example
of how bad the scene was, Col. F.E.P. Stafford of the 31st Tennessee
regiment, was found standing up dead and wedged in by the bodies that were
six or seven deep stacked like cord wood.”
Currently a house, a mobile home and accessory buildings occupy the
property. According to the sale agreement, the residents will be allowed up
to one year to relocate, and then the reclamation of the land will begin.
The restoration and interpretation of the historical features of the
property will take place over a period of years, as additional funds are
raised.
Though the Carter House property itself is owned by the state of Tennessee
and operated by the Carter House Association, the ownership of the new
property resides solely with the Carter House Association.
“We have had a goal for years to put money back so that some day when
adjacent property was for sale, we would be able to purchase it,” said
McNeil. “Sure enough, we had the opportunity, and we negotiated for over a
year. We did this without any public funds, and with the assistance of
Cumberland Bank, we were able to purchase the property.”
|
|
News