JOHN BANKS' CIVIL WAR BLOG: Potty words: Where to find Union soldiers' graffiti in Franklin

In 1863, John Cottrell of the 14th Michigan wrote his name on the wall of Hiram Masonic Lodge No. 7.
(CLICK ON ALL IMAGES TO ENLARGE.)

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History often isn't pretty. Case in point: The second-floor men's room in historic Hiram Masonic Lodge No. 7 in Franklin, Tenn. On a wall next to the urinal there, you'll find graffiti by 14th Michigan Sergeant John Cottrell and other United States soldiers who occupied the town from 1862-63. The 14th Michigan was one of several regiments garrisoned at nearby Fort Granger, where a friend once hypnotized me shortly after dawn. (Long story.)

Protected by a large sheet of plastic,
Union soldiers' graffiti appears on a wall
next to a urinal in the second-floor men's room.

Of course Cottrell — quite a ladies' man according to a diary the Masons purchased on eBay — and his comrades had no idea at the time they were defacing a restroom. The bathroom was added sometime in the 20th century, well before the discovery of soldiers' graffiti in the 1970s. On the same wall where Cottrell wrote his name, rank, regiment, company and date of defacement (Aug. 25, 1863), even more soldier graffiti was recently uncovered.

The Masonic Lodge, built in the 1820s and now a National Historic Landmark, has a rich history. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson — a Tennessean and a Mason — met members of the Chickasaw Nation there during treaty negotiations with the tribe. During the Battle of Franklin, Union artillery fire struck the building, and in the aftermath of the fighting on Nov. 30, 1864, it served as a Federal hospital and subsequently as a barracks.

But my favorite historical nugget about the Lodge involves a Civil War-themed, Hollywood-produced movie. (Read my Civil War Times feature.) Early on the morning of Sept. 27, 1923, thousands of soldier extras for "The Human Mill" received Civil War uniforms and accoutrements at the Lodge, a wardrobe depot for the movie. Later that morning, producers filmed a spectacular Battle of Franklin scene about a mile from town.

As the movie's wardrobe man, a World War I veteran from Germany, handed out uniforms, the faux soldiers became unruly. Most of them wanted to play Johnny Rebs.

"Gentlemen please, gentlemen!" the German shouted, according to the Nashville Tennessean. "How vill de pig-ture be made if no vun vill be a Vederal?" The director of "The Human Mill" died during production, and the movie was never completed.

Purchased by the Masonic Lodge on eBay, this is the war-time diary of Sergeant John Cottrell,
who wrote his name on a wall in the historic building in 1863.