The Franklin Riot of 1867

A Freedmen's Bureau report written nine days later found that Franklin's Black Union League had been harassed and fired on during its night marches with drum and fife, and that some members had armed themselves in response. On July 6 they carried perhaps ten muskets and a few pistols, and had agreed to drop a torchlight procession and disperse. About 25 or 30 armed Conservatives waited at John House's store corner. Testimony conflicted over who fired first. The report faulted the acting mayor, who had known trouble was coming and done nothing in a town with no police.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Carnton — 1.6 mi
  The McGavock farm in Franklin, worked by 44 enslaved people in 1860, that became the largest field hospital of the Battle of Franklin.
• Fort Negley — 16 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.
• National Museum of African American Music — 17 mi
  A downtown Nashville museum, opened in 2021, tracing gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and hip-hop through Black history from 1619 to 2016.
• Ryman Auditorium — 17 mi
  The 1892 brick tabernacle in downtown Nashville that was the Grand Ole Opry's home from 1943 to 1974, now a National Historic Landmark and working concert hall.

More markers nearby

• Reconstruction — steps away
• Union Headquarters — steps away
• Historic Franklin Masonic Hall — steps away
• John H. Eaton — steps away