Battle of Franklin 150 (1864-2014)

Today's the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. It was a terrible thing. Sam France, my great great grandfather, was a corporal in the Thirty-first Indiana Infantry Regiment, part of the Union defense line on the far right (or far left, looking at this map from Wiki Commons - click anywhere on the image to see a larger version).

From the US National Park Service: 

Confederate units smashed headlong and futilely into the Union line again and again. After 17 distinct assaults and 5 hours of intense fighting, Hood called his soldiers back to regroup for a morning assault the next day. Schofield, however, had no desire for a second engagement and gave the order to retreat shortly after the last shot was fired. By 2 am, the Union army was on its way to Nashville.

At morning light, 2,500 soldiers lay dead or dying in Franklin with more than 1,800 Confederates among them. In all, Hood's army suffered an estimated 7,000 casualties including 65 field grade officers. The Confederate army's senior military leadership was decimated by the loss of 6 generals killed, 8 wounded and one captured. 

The size of the forces engaged, the intensity of fighting, and the high number of casualties ranks the Battle of Franklin among the great cataclysmic tragedies of the Civil War. (Source: here).

I've visited the battlefield. It has a haunted feel.

Today's Rune: Harvest.