The Carnton Plantation and the Battle of Franklin

My great uncle Andrew Curtis fought in the Civil War, mustering out of Zanesville, Ohio.  I'm proud of my ancestor for fighting for the cause to free a people and to fight for freedom. Which has lead to curiosity about the battles of the Civil War and wondering which ones my Great uncle may have been involved in.

 

My husband and I tour Civil War historical sites and have been to quite a few. The Antietam Reenactment, with 13,000 re-enactors was the largest, most dramatic, and absolutely best one we have been to.  

Recently I picked up a book called The Widow of the South, written by Robert Hicks.  The book is a mostly true story and factual, with other parts created to fill in the gaps.  It’s a book about the Battle of Franklin and one family’s home being turned into a field hospital.  

Thomas Jefferson and Monticello

Thomas Jefferson,  circa 1800

Recently while driving the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway my husband and I stopped to visit Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.  

Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia.  He was a public official, historian, philosopher, inventor and plantation owner.

He was born on April 13, 1743, at the Shadwell Plantation located just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, and had five siblings. 

His father Peter Jefferson was a successful planter, surveyor and cartographer who produced the first accurate map of the Province of Virginia.   Having inherited a considerable estate from his father, Jefferson began building Monticello (pronounced “Monti-chello” like the musical instrument) when he was twenty-six years old.