49–010 

Calendar No. 241 

109TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 109–149 

FRANKLIN NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD STUDY ACT 

OCTOBER 19, 2005.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. DOMENICI, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 955] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the bill (S. 955) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to 

conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and 

feasibility of including in the National Park System certain sites in 

Williamson County, Tennessee, relating to the Battle of Franklin, 

having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an 

amendment and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

The amendment is as follows: 

On page 3, line 5 and 6, strike ‘‘of enactment of this Act’’ and 

insert ‘‘on which funds are made available to carry out the study 

under section 3(a)’’. 

PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

The purpose of S. 955 is to direct the Secretary of the Interior 

to conduct a special resource study to determine the suitability and 

feasibility of including in the National Park System certain sites in 

Williamson County, Tennessee, relating to the Battle of Franklin. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED

Sometimes referred to as the ‘‘The Gettysburg of the West,’’ the 

Battle of Franklin was one of the few night battles in the Civil 

War. It was also one of the smallest battlefields of the war (only 

2 miles long and 11⁄2 miles wide). During the mid-day of Wednesday, November 30, 1864, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood led an 

army of 31,000 and cornered the 26,000-man Federal Army of Gen. 

John M. Schofield at Franklin, Tennessee. Late that afternoon, 100 

regiments of the Confederate soldiers, numbering 20,000, deployed 

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along a 2-mile-wide front and began a spectacular converging assault upon 17,000 Federals strongly entrenched on the south edge 

of the town. The events that resulted over the next 5 hours at 

Franklin was one of the great cataclysmic tragedies of the American Civil War, resulting in almost 10,000 casualties. The size of 

the forces engaged and short duration of fighting during the Battle 

at Franklin ranks among the most significant confrontations of the 

Civil War. This horrific battering of Hood’s army at Franklin and 

its final disintegration 2 weeks later after the Battle of Nashville 

essentially ended the war in the western theater. 

Presently there is little national recognition of the events that 

unfolded in this important battle of the civil war. Almost all of the 

1864 trench line of that battle has become suburban neighborhoods 

and small business establishments. Few Americans realize that 

more Civil War battles, engagements, and skirmishes occurred in 

Tennessee than any other State, except Virginia. Few of these Tennessee sites have been saved for the education and reflection of future generations. The congressionally-designated Civil War Sites 

Advisory Commission identified the Battle of Franklin as a ‘‘Class 

A’’ battlefield, on having a decisive influence on a campaign and a 

direct impact on the course of the ware, in its 1993 Report on the 

Nation’s Civil War Battlefields. 

S. 955 directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a suitability and feasibility study to determine if the Battle of Franklin 

and associated sites should be designated a unit of the National 

Park System or receive other Federal designation. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 955 was introduced by Senators Frist and Alexander on April 

28, 2005. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on 

S. 955 on June 28, 2005. At its business meeting on September 28, 

2005, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered S. 

955 favorably reported, with an amendment. 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open business session on September 28, 2005, by a voice vote of a quorum 

present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 955 if amended, as 

described herein. 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

During its consideration of S. 955, the Committee adopted an 

amendment to clarify that the study should be completed no later 

than 3 years after the date funds are made available for it, instead 

of the 3 years after the date of enactment. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1 entitles the bill, ‘‘Franklin National Battlefield Study 

Act.’’

Section 2 defines key terms. 

Section 3(a) directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study related to the Battle of Franklin to determine 

the national significance of the battlefield and the suitability and 

feasibility of including it in the National Park System. 

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Subsection (b) sets forth the requirements for the study, including the effect the inclusion of the battlefield would have upon the 

National Park System, and whether the battlefield could be incorporated into an existing National Park System unit or designation 

as a separate unit. 

Subsection (c) directs the Secretary to conduct the study in consultation with appropriate Federal agencies, and State and local 

government entities, and interested groups and organizations. 

Subsection (d) states that the study shall be conducted in accordance with P.L. 91–383 (16 U.S.C. 1a–1 et seq.). 

Section 4 states that a report will be submitted to Congress not 

later than 3 years after the date funds are made available. 

Section 5 authorizes such sums as are necessary to be appropriated to carry out the Act. 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following estimate of costs of this measure has been provided 

by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 955—Franklin National Battlefield Study Act 

S. 955 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of sites in Tennessee related to the Battle of 

Franklin. The purposes of the study would be to determine the national significance of various sites and to evaluate the suitability 

and feasibility of including them in the National Park System. 

Based on information provided by the National Park Service and 

assuming the availability of appropriated funds, CBO estimates 

that carrying out the proposed study would cost about $250,000 

over the next three years. Enacting S. 955 would not affect direct 

spending or revenues. 

S. 955 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would have 

no significant impact on the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following evaluation 

of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying out 

S. 955. The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of imposing Government-established standards or significant economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses. 

No personal information would be collected in administering the 

program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal privacy. 

Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the enactment of S. 955, as ordered reported. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The views of the Administration on S. 955 were included in testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on the bill on June 

28, 2005 as follows: 

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STATEMENT OF DONALD W. MURPHY, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present 

the views of the Department of the Interior on S. 955, a 

bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to 

study the suitability and feasibility of designating sites relating to the Battle of Franklin in Williamson County, 

Tennessee, as a unit of the National Park System, and for 

other purposes. 

The Department supports S. 955 with an amendment 

that would conform the bill to other, similar study bills. 

While the Department supports the authorization of this 

study, we also believe that any funding requested should 

be directed toward completing previously authorized studies. Currently, 30 studies are in progress, and we hope to 

complete and transmit 15 to Congress by the end of 2005. 

We estimate the total cost of this study to be $250,000. 

S. 955 would authorize the Secretary to complete a 

study on the suitability and feasibility of designating sites 

relating to the Battle of Franklin as a unit of the National 

Park System. The Battle of Franklin on November 30, 

1864, was a pivotal turning point of the Civil War. 

After the fall of Atlanta in the summer of 1864, General 

John Bell Hood, commander of the Confederate Army of 

Tennessee, attempted to draw Union General William Tecumseh Sherman northward by threatening the Union 

supply line to Chattanooga. Hood sought to move the war 

out of Georgia in an effort to reclaim lost Confederate territory, most importantly Nashville. Sherman followed 

Hood for only a short time, deciding to turn his attention 

back towards Georgia where he would soon embark on his 

‘‘March to the Sea.’’ In his stead, Sherman detached 

George H. Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland to 

protect Tennessee against Hood’s advance. 

In November 1864, Hood pressed forward into Tennessee 

and confronted a Union force under the command of Major 

General John M. Schofield at Spring Hill. After several 

skirmishes there Hood immediately followed Schofield to 

the small town of Franklin, which had been a Federal military post since the fall of Nashville in early 1862. At 

Franklin, Schofield positioned most of his 28,000 men behind extensive breastworks covering more than 2 miles of 

mostly open fields. Late in the afternoon on November 30, 

Hood, with an army of 18,000, hastily ordered a frontal assault against the well-positioned Union forces. After 5 

hours of fierce fighting, much of it after dark, the Union 

army soundly defeated Hood’s army which suffered 6,261 

casualties, including the loss of 12 generals and 54 regimental commanders. Among those killed was General Patrick Cleburne, considered by many historians to be the 

Confederacy’s top battlefield commander. The Union’s casualties numbered 2,326. With his army largely intact, 

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Schofield ordered a nighttime withdrawal of Union forces 

to Nashville. 

Although the Battle of Franklin was a major setback for 

the Confederates, Hood wasted little time, advancing his 

remaining forces to Nashville where on December 15 and 

16, 1864, the Union Army of the Cumberland under Thomas swept Hood’s army from the field, essentially putting an 

end to the war in Tennessee. 

In its 1993 report, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission identified the site of the 1864 Battle of Franklin as 

a ‘‘Class A’’ battlefield, representing a high level of military importance. The commission reported that the site 

represents an area that had a decisive impact on a military campaign and a direct impact on the course of the 

war. The commission also reported that the Franklin battlefield is currently a fragmented site with very little historical integrity remaining from the battle period. 

There are many sites in and around the city of Franklin 

and nearby areas in Tennessee that have an association 

with the battle. Perhaps most prominent among these are 

the many buildings that served as field hospitals to treat 

the wounded and dying such as the Carter House, which 

served as the Union army headquarters during the battle 

and was later used as a field hospital. The house and outbuildings were purchased by the State of Tennessee in 

1951, opened to the public in 1953, and is a Registered 

Historic Landmark. The scars of war are visibly apparent 

as the buildings still show more than a thousand bullet 

holes from the battle. 

We suggest one amendment in section 4 of the bill to 

have the study completed 3 years after funding is made 

available, rather than 3 years after enactment. This will 

make the bill consistent with other similar study bills. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I 

would be pleased to answer any questions you or other 

members of the Subcommittee may have. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 955, as ordered reported. 

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