During the annual Franklin Folk Festival, Civil War reenactors create a fictional Battle of Frogtown that is inspired by a skirmish that took place in the Iotla Community near where the present day Iotla bridge crosses the Little Tennessee River.
In the real battle, if reports are to be believed, only one Union soldier died. The local home guard, composed of men too old for war and boys too young to run off and join it, managed to fend off an attack by Kirk's Raiders.
A young Confederate soldier warns his fellow soldiers that the Yankees are coming...
Everyone loads and prepares for battle.
The home guard forms a line.
A confederate shoots at Yankees in the tree line.
Kirk's Raiders charge the defenders of Frogtown...
...and find a nasty surprise waiting for them...
...the officer who led the charge is struck down.
A union soldier lies dead. A confederate is mortally wounded as his comrades fight their way into the tree line thanks to supporting fire from the cannon.
The battle continues to rage among the dead.
A captured member of Kirk's Raiders escapes and rushes to join his comrades.
If you would like to see this reenactment for yourself, mark your calendars for the third Saturday in July next year, when it will be fought again.
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