The McGavock Family Cemetery lies on the Carnton Plantation.  The cemetery is the resting place for many McGavock family members including Randall McGavock who built the family home.  After the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, the McGavocks set aside two acres of their land for the fallen Confederate soldiers from the battle.  Nearly 1500 Confederate soldiers were disinterred from their temporary graves after the battle and reinterred on the McGavock farm creating what is the largest private military cemetery in the United States.  For decades the McGavock family cared for the graves.

The McGavock Cemetery lies adjacent to the Confederate Cemetery.  John Randall McGavock’s grave is marked by a lamb resting atop his monument.

The lamb is the symbol of the Lord, the Good Shepherd. It also represents innocence, likely the reason why this motif usually adorns the tombstones of infants and young children. Most often the lamb is lying down, often asleep and sometimes with a cross behind the lamb.

JOHN RANDALL

Infant Son of

JOHN & CAROLINE

E. McCAVOCK

BORN June 5, 1854

DIED

Sept. 11, 1854