Have gun, will travel

Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s hat, gun reunite in Tennessee

General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne’s Colt Model 1851 U.S. Navy revolver traveled from Tennessee to a certain Texas town named in his honor by a long, amazing and oft times improbable journey of starts and stops.

Rich history aside, the gun hadn’t left Cleburne’s Layland Museum since 1973. Until now, that is.

Ben Hammons, Layland curator of collections, recently hand-delivered the pistol to the Historic Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tenn., site of Cleburne’s demise in 1864.

The occasion was a week-long symposium, June 15-22, highlighting restoration efforts of the Civil War’s Battle of Franklin battlefield, which surrounds the Carnton Plantation. The home, open to the public as a tourist and educational attraction, housed Cleburne’s gun and Kepi, a kind of hat, to the delight of Civil War enthusiasts, Hammons said.

Cleburne’s hat, owned by the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, and gun were displayed together for the first time since Cleburne’s death 143 years ago.

Like so many twists in the story of Cleburne’s gun, serendipity loomed large in the reunion.

“It was a happy accident,” said Joanna Stephens, collections manager at the Historic Carnton Plantation. “We knew certain personal items of his were scattered around the country. No one here had seen his pistol, but we’d heard it was in Texas somewhere.”

Carnton Plantation Director and military historian Eric Jacobson’s mother, who lives in Texas, visited the Layland late last year.

“She came in late December, early January,” Hammons said. “Once she saw the gun, she came over and told me her son works as director of Carnton Plantation. I don’t know whether she just happened to come in or if Jacobson found out we had the gun and sent her to see it. Pretty soon after, he contacted me to see if there was any chance of bringing the gun out there.”

Negotiations ensued.

“We’ve loaned out many items in the past,” said Julie Baker, Layland Museum director. “But never the gun because we did not own it until last year. But everything went as planned and hundreds more people got the chance to see it who would probably have never passed through here.”

Loaning the gun out entailed receiving permission from Layland’s museum board and City Manager Chester Nolen. Carnton Plantation had to supply detailed facility reports explaining as the building’s layout, humidity levels, air conditioning service, insurance coverage and other factors.

They also had to agree to supply around-the-clock security for the length of the gun’s stay.

“In working the logistics out, the first goal was to preserve the gun for future generations,” Hammons said. “The gun, being a priceless artifact that could never be replaced — we decided not to ship it and, instead, that I would accompany it personally.”

Hammons delivered the gun to Franklin in his car.

“It was kind of a shame because there were things I’d liked to stop and see,” Hammons said. “But, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable leaving it in the car to go into Graceland for a while. Everytime I stopped to eat, I parked by the window of the restaurant so I could keep an eye on the car.”

Given the complex logistics of the loan of Cleburne’s gun, everything went surprisenly smooth, both Baker and Hammons said.

“It was amazing, hundreds, maybe thousands came through to see the kepi and gun,” Hammons said. “The country singer Trace Atkins made a special trip down from Nashville.

“It’s funny because here, in Texas, we’re kind of on the fringe of Civil War interest. But the farther east you go in the South, the passion is amazing. I saw one girl so emotionally moved that she teared up. A lot of it is personal still; they take it to the heart and it touches them deeply.”

People traveled to Franklin from several states to see the exhibit, Hammons said.

“I did a lot of story telling about the pistol through the week,” Hammons said. “Most people had no idea there is a Cleburne, Texas. They were thrilled by that. Of course, they all pronounce it clay-burn, which is how Gen. Cleburne pronounced it. But, you know, here in Texas, we do things our own way.”

Carnton Plantation employees got a laugh out of the alternate pronunciation, Stephens said.

Although Cleburne’s pistol once again sits securely in the Layland Museum, it may revisit Franklin in about five years.

“2014 will be the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Franklin,” Stephens said. “We’d like to collect and exhibit all of Gen. Cleburne’s existing artifacts.”

Cleburne’s Carnton ties

Built in 1826, the Carnton Plantation served as a field hospital during the Battle of Franklin. The battle marked a resounding victory for the Union Army and ended the war in the west, Hammons said. That day, Nov. 30, 1864, about 9,500 soldiers died, roughly 7,000 of whom were Confederate soldiers. Once the smoke cleared, Cleburne lay among the dead. Soldiers laid him and three other deceased generals out on Carnton Plantation’s back porch.

Cleburne reportedly thought the attack, planned by Gen. John Bell Hood and requiring a march through two miles of open county, was a foolhardy idea.

Union troops were allegedly shocked by the attack as well especially because they were planning to pull out once nightfall hit. Cleburne nonetheless soldiered on, leading his men on foot after having two horses shot out from under him. Forty yards from enemy lines, a bullet pierced his heart.

Cleburne’s belongings were quickly pilfered, a common fate for dead soldiers, Hammons said.

Cleburne’s gun may have been given to his fiancé, remained unaccounted for and disappeared several times, was sold to a scrap-metal dealer, sat in a desk drawer at the Johnson County Courthouse for years, turned up on the muddy banks of Nolen River and briefly resided in Austin before returning to Cleburne. The gun’s story, much like the story of its owner’s life, is worthy of a book.

Cleburne never set foot in Cleburne. Some of the men who served under him, however, suggested naming the town in his honor. There’s also a Cleburne, Kan., and Cleburne counties in Alabama and Arkansas.

On the Web:

www.carnton.org