For decades, thousands of visitors have made the pilgrimage to Franklin to learn more about the city’s Civil War history. On guided tours, they’ve learned of the bloody Battle of Franklin, which left more than 10,000 casualties – and in historic homes like Carnton and Lotz House, they’ve heard terrifying tales of how well-to-do families cowered in their homes as the battle raged outside, and how many of Franklin’s 900 residents heroically offered aid to the many soldiers needing medical attention once the battle had ended.
What tourists didn’t hear about were the harrowing stories of the enslaved people who lived in Franklin during and after the Civil War. For nearly 150 years, this part of history remained buried under layers of guilt, shame, and secrecy. It was a past that was considered to be too uncomfortable for many modern-day Americans to consider.
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Then, in 2017, everything changed. “It was during a time when Confederate iconography was a touchpoint in our country,” remembers Franklin pastor Chris Williamson, “and people were taking down monuments all over the South.”
As Confederate statues across the nation were removed from public property, protests ensued, including a rally held by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, after council members voted to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from a city park. That rally grew violent and resulted in the death of a counterprotester, as well as 19 injuries.
Franklin residents responded to the Charlottesville tragedy by holding a peaceful candlelight vigil and prayer meeting on the city square beneath a statue of a Confederate soldier that had been placed there in 1899. Following that night, historian and Battle of Franklin Trust CEO Eric Jacobson and local pastor Kevin Riggs began talking about how to offer a more complete version of Franklin’s history in a way that would bring residents together rather than drive them apart. This resulted in months of discussions that included Jacobson and Riggs, as well as Pastor Williamson and Pastor Hewitt Sawyers. During these meetings, Eric shared stories of Franklin’s African American history that he’d uncovered during his years of research. Much of what he shared was information that the others had never before heard. “There are so many other dimensions to the story of the Civil War and Franklin that most people do not know,” recalls Williamson, “We were enthralled by these stories. So, as a result of meeting, talking, and praying together, the Fuller Story was birthed out of that.”
The Fuller Story was the name given to a city-wide commitment to paint a more complete picture of Franklin’s role in the Civil War and beyond – one that includes the trials and tribulations of its African American population. The group worked with City Administrator Eric Stuckey and Mayor Ken Moore to get approval from the city’s board of aldermen to place five historical markers in the town square that share the history of Franklin’s Black citizens. These markers were unveiled in 2019 and surround the Confederate statue. But The Fuller Story’s efforts didn’t stop there.
In October of 2021, a bronze statue of a United States Colored Troops (USCT) soldier was unveiled in front of the Courthouse, in what the city refers to as ‘a place of equal nobility’ across from the Confederate monument. Between 1863 and 1865, more than 300 Williamson County men, most of whom had escaped from slavery, became USCTs and fought for the U.S. Army. Called March to Freedom, the statue depicts a life-sized African American soldier standing with one foot on a stump, a rifle across his knee. It includes many symbols of the struggles of African Americans during and after the Civil War, according to its sculptor, Joe Frank Howard. Speaking before a Franklin audience in 2021, he said, “That stump is meant to represent, as far as I’m concerned, the tree of sorrow — a tree on which men were tied to, children were tied to for sale. Not only were they there for sale, but they were there beaten with whips — we all know about that— and chains. They were sold, and they were treated like animals.”
“The tree has been removed,” he continued. “The tree is gone. With that foot on top of it, this is not to be anymore.”
The statue is one of only a handful of statues across the country portraying an African American Civil War soldier and was the first one placed on public land. It has become a unifying point of pride for Franklin residents. “To know that he is there in downtown Franklin,” says Williamson, “man, it does my heart glad.”
Work to tell The Fuller Story continues today. The Battle of Franklin Trust now has a Director of African and African American History, Kristi Farrow, who is constantly uncovering new information on the enslaved people who lived at Carnton, Rippa Villa, and the Carter House. This information is being used to incorporate the stories of the sites’ enslaved African Americans into tours and interpretive exhibits.
Far from going unnoticed, Franklin’s Fuller Story project has been reported on by media worldwide and has created a ripple effect across the country. Notably, a statue honoring USCT soldiers now stands in Pulaski, Tennessee – the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. “I’m so thankful that Franklin took the lead in something like this because it has definitely impacted other communities,” says Pastor Williamson. “We have just as much a stake in this community as anyone else, and I’m thankful for our local government and the ways that they have gotten behind us as a community and uplifted us and helped to tell our stories.”
