Murfreesboro Looking for 16th Ala Inf at Murfreesboro

TerryB

Lt. Colonel
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Location
Nashville TN
An indirect ancestor, Lt. Thomas Samuel (Tom) Pointer of I Company, 16th Ala Inf was tried by court martial at Shelbyville for absenting himself without permission at the Battle of Murfreesboro on Dec 31, 1862. The abstracts of the court martial give few details, except that this was at about noon. The second spec in the charges was that he refused to go back to the line and that the regimental adjutant struck him with the flat of his sword, to no avail. Tom was found guilty of going to the rear without permission but not guilty of refusing to go back to the line, even though the abstract says he waited until the firing had died down. He got a very light sentence--suspension of pay for 30 days--due to "palliating circumstances." The after action report says the 16th ran out of ammo around 11 am and were pulled out of the line to resupply. Maybe Tom just kept going. The report also says I Company was without officers and that the first sergeant took over. This is not explained in the report. Tom went on to fight at Franklin, where his company commander was killed, and the command devolved on him. After Nashville, he was captured in some skirmishing in his home county in Alabama and sent to Fort Delaware, where he was released in June 1865. His record is spotless except for Murfreesbore, so I'm interested in any accounts people may have of the 16h Ala Inf at Murfreesboro. This incident seems very odd, esp. in that the regimental commander never mentioned any of this in his report, and he was not one to hold back when it came to criticism.
 
This was probably taken in 1864.

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