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Members of the community unveil a new memorial at Carter Hill Battlefield Park on Sept. 18. 

 Hamilton Matthew Masters

Franklin’s Carter Hill Battlefield Park has a new permanent memorial — a bronze sculpture of May-Me, a mule who served the Union Army during the 1864 Battle of Franklin in the American Civil War.

“The muscle of the army were these animals that were moving all of this stuff, all of the logistical support needed by an army,” Battle of Franklin Trust CEO Eric Jacobson said during the Sept. 18 unveiling ceremony.

May-Me transported artillery equipment as part of the 6th Ohio Independent Light Artillery Battery, with mules and horses serving critical roles in Civil War-era logistics.

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Eric Jacobson, CEO of the Battle of Franklin Trust, stands as they unveil a new memorial at Carter Hill Battlefield Park on Sept. 18. 

“This snapshot is of May-Me lying on the ground with her felt hat on, and as the first rumblings [of the battle] are becoming apparent a mile and a half south of here, as the Confederate Army is beginning to deploy. Everyone in this area, human beings and animals alike, are looking that way,” Jacobson said. “She will forever be looking south from a northern perspective, and wondering, just like many of the men who were here, what was about to happen.”

Franklin artist Janel Maher created the nearly life-size bronze statue over several months, first with a maquette, a smaller mock-up design and later a large sculpture in clay before a mold was made and the bronze was fired in a Colorado foundry. The resulting piece weighs around 400 pounds. 

“What I think animals do in war, I think that they're the comfort to the soldier, and take them away from the realities of war, for just a few moments,” Maher told the Williamson Scene. “...I hope when people look at her [May-Me], they will think about the value of what animals do and more.”

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A crowd attends the unveiling of a new memorial at Carter Hill Battlefield Park on Sept. 18. 

In 2019, BOFT commissioned Maher to sculpt another statue, the beloved dog Harvey of the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which resides at the Carter House.

“The partnership between the City of Franklin and the Battle of Franklin Trust is both unique and deeply valued,” City of Franklin Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Clayton said. “Few communities are fortunate enough to have an organization that not only supports one another but [who] actively engages and collaborates on projects of the significance we witness today.”