In early 1866, John and Carrie McGavock designated two acres of land adjacent to their family cemetery as a burial place for nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers killed during the Battle of Franklin. The McGavocks maintained the cemetery until their deaths.
The American War Between the States claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history. Many of the nations first military cemeteries were establishment as a result, memorializing the fallen soldiers of the war, both Federal and Confederate. By the late 1860s Americans had begun holding springtime memorial services to the countless fallen soldiers.