Randal McGavock, a prominent Nashville resident and a friend of Andrew Jackson, built Carnton in 1826. After McGavock's death in 1843, his son John McGavock inherited the property and soon improved the house. Late on the afternoon of November 30, 1864, John McGavock, his wife, Carrie, and their two young children were caught up in one of the monumental conflicts of the Civil War, the Battle of Franklin. The McGavocks were trapped between almost 40,000 Confederate and Federal soldiers. At 4 p.m., the Confederate Army of Tennessee launched a massive frontal assault, at least as large as Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, and waves of soldiers smashed into the Federal defenses south of Franklin.
