FRANKLIN, a city of Merrimack county, New Hampshire, U.S.A., at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnepesaukee rivers to form the Merrimac; about 95 m. N.N.W. of Boston. Pop. (1890) 4085; (1900) 5846 (1323 foreign-born); (1910) 6132; area, about 14.4 sq. m. Franklin is served by the Concord Division of the Boston & Maine railway, with a branch to Bristol (13 m. N.W.) and another connecting at Tilton (about 5 m. E.) with the White Mountains Division. It contains the villages of Franklin, Franklin Falls, Webster Place and Lake City, the last a summer resort. The rivers furnish good water power, which is used in the manufacture of a variety of commodities, including foundry products, paper and pulp, woollen goods, hosiery, saws, needles and knitting machines. The water-works are owned and operated by the municipality. Here, in what was then a part of the town of Salisbury, Daniel Webster was born, and on the Webster farm is the New Hampshire orphans’ home, established in 1871. The town of Franklin was formed in 1828 by the union of portions of Salisbury, Sanbornton, Andover and Northfield. The earliest settlement within its limits was made in 1748 in the portion taken from Salisbury. Franklin was incorporated as a city in 1895.
FRANKLIN, a city and the county-seat of Venango county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., at the confluence of French Creek and Allegheny river, about 55 m. S. by E. of Erie, in the N.W. part of the state. Pop. (1890) 6221; (1900) 7317 (489 being foreign-born); (1910) 9767. Franklin is served by the Erie, the Pennsylvania, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and the Franklin & Clearfield railways. Its streets are broad and well paved and shaded, and there are two public parks, a public library and many handsome residences. Franklin is the centre of the chief oil region of the state, and from it great quantities of refined oil are shipped. Natural gas also abounds. The city’s manufacture include oil-well supplies, boilers, engines, steel castings, iron goods, lumber, bricks, asbestos goods, manifolding paper and flour. On the site of the present city the French built in 1754 a fortification, Fort Machault, which after the capture of Fort Duquesne by the English was a rallying place for Indians allied with the French. In 1759 the French abandoned and completely destroyed the fort; and in the following year the English built in the vicinity Fort Venango, which was captured by the Indians in 1763 during the Conspiracy of Pontiac, the whole garrison being massacred. In 1787 the United States built Fort Franklin (about 1 m. above the mouth of French Creek) as a protection against the Indians; in 1796 the troops were removed to a strongly built and well-fortified wooden building, known as “Old Garrison,” at the mouth of French Creek, and in 1803 they were permanently withdrawn from the neighbourhood. Franklin was laid out as a town in 1795, was incorporated as a borough in 1828, and was chartered as a city in 1868. Most of its growth dates from the discovery of oil in 1860.
FRANKLIN, a town and the county-seat of Williamson county, Tennessee, U.S.A., in the central part of the state, on the Harpeth river, and about 20 m. S.W. of Nashville. Pop. (1900) 2180; (1910) 2924. Franklin is served by the Louisville & Nashville railway. It is the seat of the Tennessee Female College and the Battle Ground Academy, and its chief objects of interest are the battle-ground, the Confederate cemetery and the Confederate monument. During the Civil War Franklin was the scene of a minor engagement on the 10th of April 1863, and of a battle, celebrated as one of the most desperately fought of the war, which took place on the 30th of November 1864. The Union general Schofield, who was slowly withdrawing to Nashville before the advance of General J. B. Hood’s army, which he was ordered to hold in check in order to give Thomas time to prepare for battle (see [American Civil War], § 32), was unable immediately to cross the Harpeth river and was compelled to entrench his forces south of the town until his wagon trains and artillery could be sent over the stream by means of two small bridges. In the afternoon Schofield’s outposts and advanced lines were attacked by the Confederates in full strength, and instead of withdrawing as ordered they made a determined stand. Thus the assailants, carrying the advanced works by storm, rushed upon the main defences on the heels of the broken advanced guard, and a general engagement was brought on which lasted from 3.30 until nine o’clock in the evening. Against, it is said, thirteen separate assaults, all delivered with exceptional fury, Schofield managed to hold his position, and shortly before midnight he withdrew across the river in good order. The engagement was indecisive in its results, but the Union commander’s purpose, to hold Hood momentarily in check, was gained, and Hood’s effort to crush Schofield was unavailing. The losses were very heavy; Hood’s effective forces in the engagement numbered about 27,000, Schofield’s about 28,000; the Confederate losses (excluding cavalry) were about 6500, excluding the slightly wounded; six general officers were killed (including Major-General P. R. Cleburne, a brave Irishman who had been a corporal in the British army), six wounded, and one captured; the Union losses (excluding cavalry) were 2326. In two of the Confederate brigades all the general and field officers were killed or wounded.
See J. D. Cox, The Battle of Franklin (New York, 1897).
FRANKLIN, a word derived from the Late Lat. francus, free, and meaning primarily a freeman. Subsequently it was used in England to denote a land-holder who was of free but not of noble birth. Some of the older English writers occasionally use it to mean a liberal host. The Latin form of the word is franchilanus.