[Senate Report 109-149]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 241
109th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session                                                    109-149

======================================================================



 
                FRANKLIN NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD STUDY ACT

                                _______
                                

                October 19, 2005.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 955]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 955) to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the 
suitability and feasibility of including in the National Park 
System certain sites in Williamson County, Tennessee, relating 
to the Battle of Franklin, having considered the same, reports 
favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that the 
bill, as amended, do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
    On page 3, line 5 and 6, strike ``of enactment of this 
Act'' and insert ``on which funds are made available to carry 
out the study under section 3(a)''.

                         PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

    The purpose of S. 955 is to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the 
suitability and feasibility of including in the National Park 
System certain sites in Williamson County, Tennessee, relating 
to the Battle of Franklin.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Sometimes referred to as the ``The Gettysburg of the 
West,'' the Battle of Franklin was one of the few night battles 
in the Civil War. It was also one of the smallest battlefields 
of the war (only 2 miles long and 1\1/2\ miles wide). During 
the mid-day of Wednesday, November 30, 1864, Confederate Gen. 
John Bell Hood led an army of 31,000 and cornered the 26,000-
man Federal Army of Gen. John M. Schofield at Franklin, 
Tennessee. Late that afternoon, 100 regiments of the 
Confederate soldiers, numbering 20,000, deployed along a 2-
mile-wide front and began a spectacular converging assault upon 
17,000 Federals strongly entrenched on the south edge of the 
town. The events that resulted over the next 5 hours at 
Franklin was one of the great cataclysmic tragedies of the 
American Civil War, resulting in almost 10,000 casualties. The 
size of the forces engaged and short duration of fighting 
during the Battle at Franklin ranks among the most significant 
confrontations of the Civil War. This horrific battering of 
Hood's army at Franklin and its final disintegration 2 weeks 
later after the Battle of Nashville essentially ended the war 
in the western theater.
    Presently there is little national recognition of the 
events that unfolded in this important battle of the civil war. 
Almost all of the 1864 trench line of that battle has become 
suburban neighborhoods and small business establishments. Few 
Americans realize that more Civil War battles, engagements, and 
skirmishes occurred in Tennessee than any other State, except 
Virginia. Few of these Tennessee sites have been saved for the 
education and reflection of future generations. The 
congressionally-designated Civil War Sites Advisory Commission 
identified the Battle of Franklin as a ``Class A'' battlefield, 
on having a decisive influence on a campaign and a direct 
impact on the course of the ware, in its 1993 Report on the 
Nation's Civil War Battlefields. 
    S. 955 directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 
suitability and feasibility study to determine if the Battle of 
Franklin and associated sites should be designated a unit of 
the National Park System or receive other Federal designation.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 955 was introduced by Senators Frist and Alexander on 
April 28, 2005. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a 
hearing on S. 955 on June 28, 2005. At its business meeting on 
September 28, 2005, the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources ordered S. 955 favorably reported, with an amendment.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on September 28, 2005, by a voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 955 if 
amended, as described herein.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

    During its consideration of S. 955, the Committee adopted 
an amendment to clarify that the study should be completed no 
later than 3 years after the date funds are made available for 
it, instead of the 3 years after the date of enactment.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 entitles the bill, ``Franklin National 
Battlefield Study Act.''
    Section 2 defines key terms.
    Section 3(a) directs the Secretary of the Interior to 
conduct a special resource study related to the Battle of 
Franklin to determine the national significance of the 
battlefield and the suitability and feasibility of including it 
in the National Park System.
    Subsection (b) sets forth the requirements for the study, 
including the effect the inclusion of the battlefield would 
have upon the National Park System, and whether the battlefield 
could be incorporated into an existing National Park System 
unit or designation as a separate unit.
    Subsection (c) directs the Secretary to conduct the study 
in consultation with appropriate Federal agencies, and State 
and local government entities, and interested groups and 
organizations.
    Subsection (d) states that the study shall be conducted in 
accordance with P.L. 91-383 (16 U.S.C. 1a-1 et seq.).
    Section 4 states that a report will be submitted to 
Congress not later than 3 years after the date funds are made 
available.
    Section 5 authorizes such sums as are necessary to be 
appropriated to carry out the Act.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of costs of this measure has been 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:

S. 955--Franklin National Battlefield Study Act

    S. 955 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
conduct a special resource study of sites in Tennessee related 
to the Battle of Franklin. The purposes of the study would be 
to determine the national significance of various sites and to 
evaluate the suitability and feasibility of including them in 
the National Park System. Based on information provided by the 
National Park Service and assuming the availability of 
appropriated funds, CBO estimates that carrying out the 
proposed study would cost about $250,000 over the next three 
years. Enacting S. 955 would not affect direct spending or 
revenues.
    S. 955 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would have no significant impact on the budgets of state, 
local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. 
This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy 
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 955. The bill is not a regulatory measure in 
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or 
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals 
and businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 955, as ordered reported.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The views of the Administration on S. 955 were included in 
testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on the bill on 
June 28, 2005 as follows:

Statement of Donald W. Murphy, Deputy Director, National Park Service, 
                    U.S. Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the 
views of the Department of the Interior on S. 955, a bill to 
authorize the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to study 
the suitability and feasibility of designating sites relating 
to the Battle of Franklin in Williamson County, Tennessee, as a 
unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.
    The Department supports S. 955 with an amendment that would 
conform the bill to other, similar study bills. While the 
Department supports the authorization of this study, we also 
believe that any funding requested should be directed toward 
completing previously authorized studies. Currently, 30 studies 
are in progress, and we hope to complete and transmit 15 to 
Congress by the end of 2005. We estimate the total cost of this 
study to be $250,000.
    S. 955 would authorize the Secretary to complete a study on 
the suitability and feasibility of designating sites relating 
to the Battle of Franklin as a unit of the National Park 
System. The Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, was a 
pivotal turning point of the Civil War.
    After the fall of Atlanta in the summer of 1864, General 
John Bell Hood, commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, 
attempted to draw Union General William Tecumseh Sherman 
northward by threatening the Union supply line to Chattanooga. 
Hood sought to move the war out of Georgia in an effort to 
reclaim lost Confederate territory, most importantly Nashville. 
Sherman followed Hood for only a short time, deciding to turn 
his attention back towards Georgia where he would soon embark 
on his ``March to the Sea.'' In his stead, Sherman detached 
George H. Thomas and the Army of the Cumberland to protect 
Tennessee against Hood's advance.
    In November 1864, Hood pressed forward into Tennessee and 
confronted a Union force under the command of Major General 
John M. Schofield at Spring Hill. After several skirmishes 
there Hood immediately followed Schofield to the small town of 
Franklin, which had been a Federal military post since the fall 
of Nashville in early 1862. At Franklin, Schofield positioned 
most of his 28,000 men behind extensive breastworks covering 
more than 2 miles of mostly open fields. Late in the afternoon 
on November 30, Hood, with an army of 18,000, hastily ordered a 
frontal assault against the well-positioned Union forces. After 
5 hours of fierce fighting, much of it after dark, the Union 
army soundly defeated Hood's army which suffered 6,261 
casualties, including the loss of 12 generals and 54 regimental 
commanders. Among those killed was General Patrick Cleburne, 
considered by many historians to be the Confederacy's top 
battlefield commander. The Union's casualties numbered 2,326. 
With his army largely intact, Schofield ordered a nighttime 
withdrawal of Union forces to Nashville.
    Although the Battle of Franklin was a major setback for the 
Confederates, Hood wasted little time, advancing his remaining 
forces to Nashville where on December 15 and 16, 1864, the 
Union Army of the Cumberland under Thomas swept Hood's army 
from the field, essentially putting an end to the war in 
Tennessee.
    In its 1993 report, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission 
identified the site of the 1864 Battle of Franklin as a ``Class 
A'' battlefield, representing a high level of military 
importance. The commission reported that the site represents an 
area that had a decisive impact on a military campaign and a 
direct impact on the course of the war. The commission also 
reported that the Franklin battlefield is currently a 
fragmented site with very little historical integrity remaining 
from the battle period.
    There are many sites in and around the city of Franklin and 
nearby areas in Tennessee that have an association with the 
battle. Perhaps most prominent among these are the many 
buildings that served as field hospitals to treat the wounded 
and dying such as the Carter House, which served as the Union 
army headquarters during the battle and was later used as a 
field hospital. The house and outbuildings were purchased by 
the State of Tennessee in 1951, opened to the public in 1953, 
and is a Registered Historic Landmark. The scars of war are 
visibly apparent as the buildings still show more than a 
thousand bullet holes from the battle.
    We suggest one amendment in section 4 of the bill to have 
the study completed 3 years after funding is made available, 
rather than 3 years after enactment. This will make the bill 
consistent with other similar study bills.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would 
be pleased to answer any questions you or other members of the 
Subcommittee may have.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 955, as ordered 
reported.

                                  
