New Civil War statue in Tennessee town tells a "Fuller Story"
By Tom Adkinson
November 5, 2021

“Marching to Freedom” was unveiled on the Public Square in Franklin on October 23, 2021. Image by Visit Franklin

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – There’s a new Civil War statue in history-laden Franklin, one that’s been a long time coming – and probably not one you’d expect.

In a city that erected a statue of a Confederate soldier on the Public Square in 1899, there now is a statue honoring the 300 formerly enslaved men from the community who enlisted in the Union army in the latter months of the Civil War.

Tennessee native and artist Joe Frank Howard said the “March to Freedom” project found him, not that he sought the commission. Image by Tom Adkinson

Sculptor Joe Frank Howard said he invested considerable time on details of the USCT soldier’s uniform, equipment and expression. Image by Tom Adkinson

“March to Freedom” it depicts a resolute, rifle-carrying soldier of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), one of 20,000 from Tennessee and one of approximately 200,000 who fought to preserve the United States. They were soldiers before they were citizens.

It stands at street level in front of the Williamson County Courthouse and across from the Confederate statue, itself atop a 37-foot monument.

“March to Freedom” resulted from The Fuller Story, a community effort inspired by the 2015 racial mass shooting inside the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C., and the 2017 white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., which in part focused on removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

“It was time to confront our past,” said historian Eric Jacobson, CEO of the Battle of Franklin Trust. “I didn’t want Franklin to devolve into Charlottesville. Whether we like it or not, the Confederacy is part of our history. We may not like it, but it’s real.”

Three members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War participated in the unveiling ceremony. Image by Tom Adkinson

A prayer and solidarity vigil next to the Confederate statue in August 2017 was a catalyst for action. Jacobson reached out to Kevin Riggs, pastor of Franklin Community Church, who called on two fellow pastors – Chris Williamson of Strong Tower Bible Church and Hewitt Sawyers of West Harpeth Primitive Baptist Church.

Instead of trying to relocate, replace or take down the Confederate monument, the four men, two Black and two white, decided the way forward was to tell a more complete story of Franklin’s history of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction. The effort became known as The Fuller Story.

Sawyers said he initially wanted the Confederate monument removed, recalling how as a child it was part of the conditioning that told him “to stay in my place.” However, he said his heart changed.

“The three pastors put down our swords and turned them into plowshares,” he said.

Initial success came in September 2018 when the Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously to install five historic markers and a statue.

The markers speak candidly of how enslaved Africans were sold on the spot where the Confederate statue stands, how escaped slaves enlisted in the U.S. Army at the courthouse, about a bloody racial riot in 1867 and how Blacks’ post-Civil War progress was stymied by violent hate groups and governmental policies.

Some of the children who pulled the drape to reveal “March to Freedom” admire the bronze statue. Image by Tom Adkinson

Ohio artist Joe Frank Howard, a Tennessean by birth, sculpted the “March to Freedom” statue.

“This really touched me emotionally,” Howard said, explaining how he researched the U.S. Colored Troops and sought details to pack into a statue to honor all the Black soldiers who enlisted and fought in battles across the South.

Jacobson explained that the right to enlist and fight was part of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

The USCT soldier in “March to Freedom” has one foot on what Howard called “the tree of bondage” that the Civil War cut down. The statue’s broken shackles, he said, represent the liberation of almost 4 million enslaved people.

The crowd for the unveiling of “March to Freedom” largely filled the Public Square. Image by Tom Adkinson

“We wanted the statue to be at eye level where people could see this soldier’s strength, dignity and personhood. This is art connected to truth,” said Chris Williamson.

Only a handful of statues and monuments to the USCT exist. One is in the Nashville National Cemetery. It was installed in 2006, and Jacobson said he did not know of another one on a public square.

The Fuller Story’s organizers say they are hopeful that Franklin’s work to view history completely will inspire other communities.

“I do believe what we are doing can help other cities and communities in the South with their issues. We hope this makes people open their minds, open their hearts,” Williamson said.

Pulaski, where the Ku Klux Klan was founded, is one that already has reached out, the organizers said.