O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XX/1 [S# 29]
DECEMBER 26, 1862-JANUARY 5, 1863.--The Stone's River or Murfreesborough, Tenn., Campaign.
No. 156.--Report of Lieut. Col. George F. Dick, Eighty-sixth Indiana Infantry.
HDQRS. EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT INDIANA VOLUNTEERS,
Camp near Murfreesborough, Tenn., January 5, 1863.
SIR: I have the honor to report as follows:
My command arrived in front of Murfreesborough at 8 p.m. December 30, 1862.
On the following morning the regiment numbered 368, rank and file. About noon of December 31, with the brigade, we were marched in line of battle across the Nashville turnpike road, about one-half mile south, across an open field to the skirt of a heavy wood, in which the enemy lay concealed in heavy force. My regiment was on the extreme right of the brigade. We were halted behind a fence at the edge of the wood, to await the arrival of troops to come up to support us on the right, who failed to come. Our right was totally exposed to the enemy, who immediately attacked us in overwhelming numbers in front, our right flank extending around partially to the rear of our right wing.
Our regiment fought bravely until their ranks were being rapidly cut down and thinned, when we fell back to the turnpike road, where a portion of them again rallied, with portions of other regiments of the brigade, and drove the enemy back.
Our loss in the engagement was as follows: Commissioned officers killed, 1; wounded, 5; missing 2. Enlisted men killed, 33; wounded, 54; missing, 99. Total officers killed, wounded, and missing, 8; enlisted men killed, wounded, and missing, 186; aggregate, 194.
Both color-bearers were shot down and the colors left on the field. On the following morning we were marched some mile and a half across Stone's River to the front, and placed in line of battle early in the day, where we skirmished with the enemy all day, lying on our arms that night.
The next day we occupied the same ground, skirmishing with the enemy till 3 p.m., when the enemy in vast numbers attacked the right of our line, composed of the First and Third Brigades of our division, which maintained the ground, fighting obstinately for some time, when they were forced to yield to superior numbers, and fell back, when our regiment fell back to a high piece of ground, near a house on the hill, some 100 rods to the rear, where we again made a stand, again rallied with other troops, and drove the enemy from the field, retaking and holding our former position. Our loss here was 1 private wounded.
Captains Frazee, of Company A; Dick, of Company C; Lieutenants Hixson, of Company D, and Gillilan, of Company I, were wounded in the fight of the first day and compelled to remain at the hospital.
I take pleasure in saying that Capt. Philip Gemmer was present with his command during the whole of the different actions, rendering efficient service and aid.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
G. F. DICK,
Lieutenant-Colonel Eighty-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteers.
Col. JAMES P. FYFFE,
Comdg. Second Brig., Third Div., Army of the Cumberland.
------------------------------
O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XX/1 [S# 29]
DECEMBER 26, 1862-JANUARY 5, 1863.--The Stone's River or Murfreesborough, Tenn., Campaign.
No. 154.--Report of Col. James P. Pyffe, Fifty-ninth Ohio Infantry, commanding Second Brigade.
HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, THIRD DIV1SION,
ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND, LEFT WING,
January 5, 1863.
CAPTAIN: I herewith transmit my report of the operations of the Second Brigade in front of Murfreesborough, where it arrived with the balance of the left wing December 29, 1862, up to January 3, 1863.
December 30, the brigade was under arms in close column of divisions all day; considerable firing in the afternoon in the direction of the right wing.
[EXCERPT]
After falling back from the field, the Thirteenth Ohio, under Major Jarvis, and part of the Eighty-sixth Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel Dick was formed near the road, the Forty-fourth being placed on duty elsewhere, and ordered to move up the road to meet the force that had followed from the field, which was represented advancing. Going in advance of the force, I found the Fifty-ninth Ohio, under Lieutenant Colonel Howard and Major Frambes, hotly contesting the cedar ridge and hard pressed, their left flank being exposed, encouraging the men to hold on, and they should have help immediately. The force following me was hurried up. The remnant of the Thirteenth Ohio, though sadly repressed by the death of the gallant and loved Colonel Hawkins, shot dead on the field, answered the command to go forward with a cheer, and got into line on the left, opening fire just as a regiment on the right of the Fifty-ninth marched to the rear, leaving my right flank again exposed, which the enemy were not slow to perceive, and began taking advantage of. Sorely annoyed, I crossed the road and asked the officer in command, whom I do not know, what it meant. He said he had been ordered back, but on my representations he immediately marched his regiment up again, delivering a heavy fire as he reached the crest of the ridge. I then ordered the whole line to charge, which was gallantly done with a cheer, the enemy being driven from the crest of the ridge down the southern slope and back across the field.
One of the skirmishers, William Brown, of Company B, Fifty-ninth Ohio, met me on the edge of the ridge, marching back through the line at the head of 28 prisoners, besides 2 officers (lieutenants) he had captured in a sink-hole. Many other prisoners were captured by the Second Brigade, amounting to 60, as near as can be ascertained.
After the enemy was repulsed, as stated, there was no more fighting on this day by the left wing, General Van Cleve turning over the command of the division to me, he having been wounded, Colonel Beatty being on duty elsewhere.
January 1, crossed with the brigade over the river, where the Second Brigade was placed on the left of the First, in an open field in rear of a belt of timber on a ridge, the Forty-fourth Indiana and Thirteenth Ohio in the front line, with the Thirty-fifth and Seventy-ninth Indiana on their right, the Fifty-ninth Ohio and Eighty-sixth Indiana in reserve. This arrangement left an open space on the left. On the front line, between it and a road running through a lane beyond the road, was an open field unoccupied by troops, except a line of skirmishers from Colonel Grose's command. In the rear, toward Stone's River, was a cornfield, and behind the fence was a Kentucky regiment, with their right resting on the lane. This left a gap between my left and their right of about 500 yards; thus the forces rested during the day, with sharp skirmishing in our front.
January 2, the skirmishing commenced early and was brisk throughout the day, until about 3 o'clock, when the indications of an attack in front became so threatening, a battery having been planted in the woods on my left flank, that I ordered my reserve into the front line, deflecting the Eighty-sixth Indiana back, and placing them behind the fence across the lane to sweep the open field in front of the Kentucky regiment. Company A, of the Fifty-ninth Regiment, under Sergeant Carr, was placed on the left of the Eighty-sixth, connecting the two forces, which gave them a cross-fire over the open field in front.
About 4 p.m. Colonel Beatty, commanding the division, came over and was shown the disposition of the brigade, which he approved, suggesting, in case we were compelled to fall back, we should do so through the low ground. We then went to the point near the ford, where the artillery was stationed, and, while examining that, Major-General Rosecrans arrived at the same point. In a few moments a messenger from the front arrived and reported a large force was being massed in front of our lines. Colonel Beatty and myself immediately started to our respective positions. I was shortly met by Adjutant Holter, of the Fifty-ninth Ohio, with a report that the enemy were in motion, advancing on our front. Sixteen regimental flags had been counted in one column. Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen. C. F. King was ordered to make report of the facts to General Rosecrans immediately. Passing on to the Eighty-sixth Regiment, it and Company A were ordered to strengthen their position with rails.
Only a short time elapsed when a tremendous fire indicated that the attack had fallen on Colonel Beatty's right. Another column, it appeared, had crossed Stone's River and participated in the attack, while still another was coming on my left, but for some cause its advance was somewhat delayed. The main column of attack moved diagonally across the front of the wood, striking toward a wooded height on the bank of the river where Captain Drury's battery of artillery had been posted in the morning, under the command of Lieutenant Livingston. The weight of the column of attack fell first on the Eighth Kentucky and Fifty-first Ohio in the front line. They stood gallantly for a few moments, but were swept away. The enemy, still pushing on, received a heavy flank and oblique fire from the Thirty-fifth, Forty-fourth, and Eighty-sixth Indiana, and Thirteenth Ohio. The column next encountered the Ninety-ninth Ohio, Twenty-first Kentucky, and Nineteenth Ohio, which were successively borne backward, as were the Ninth and Eleventh Kentucky.
[EXCERPT]
I cannot close this report without favorably noticing many of the officers and men of my command throughout the trying ordeal of so many days' fighting. My acting assistant adjutant-general, C. F. King; J. B. Temple, aide-de-camp; Capt. Charles A. Sheaf, provost-marshal; Lieut. Joseph Dancer, inspector, who was severely wounded in the last day's fight, and Orderlies H. J. Higgins, E. D. Thomas, members of my staff, are entitled to much credit for their conduct on the field. Colonel Williams, Lieutenant-Colonel Aldrich, and Joseph C. Hodges, adjutant, of the Forty-fourth Indiana; Col. J. G. Hawkins (killed in the first day's fight while gallantly doing his duty); Major Jarvis, upon whom the command devolved after the fall of Colonel Hawkins, and Adjt. T. B. George; Lieutenant-Colonel Howard, Major Frambes, Adjutant Holter, of the Fifty-ninth Ohio; Colonel Dick and Major Dresser, of the Eighty-sixth Indiana (severely wounded in the engagement of the first day), are deserving of particular notice.
Colonel Hamilton, although unacquainted with military matters, was present, assisting all in his power; also Surgs. Martin Hays and Gordon, with the assistance of the brigade band, in getting and attending to the wounded, in which Gus. Penn was shot dead, and Dougherty, both of the band, badly wounded; for their good conduct they are especially noticed. Lieutenants Kibler and Woods attracted my attention by their gallantry while in command of the skirmishers on the cedar ridge. I will also notice the gallantry and death of color-bearer, Sergeant Wood, shot dead with the flag in his hand on the first day's fight; also of Nelson Shields, who seized the colors, and bore them aloft, upon the fall of the color-sergeant, until wounded himself, when he delivered them to Private Loyd; all of the Thirteenth Ohio. I also notice Color-Bearers Benjamin Snellinger and Nathan Coffenberry, of the Eighty-sixth Indiana, who were both shot down (the first killed instantly, the latter mortally wounded) in the fight of the first day. Both of these flags were lost. I also notice, the good conduct of Sergeants Ely and Thomas Hayden, of the Fifty-ninth Ohio, who, on the last day's fight, were raised in the air by a cannon ball plowing the earth beneath their feet, and thrown violently to the earth.
I recommend that William Brown, of Company B, Fifty-ninth Ohio, who captured the prisoners above referred to, and Nelson Shields, of the Thirteenth Ohio, who saved his regimental flag, as proper persons to receive, each, one of the medals ordered to be prepared by Congress for those who particularly distinguish themselves in battle.
In closing this report, I wish also to tender my thanks to Maj. Lyne Starling, adjutant-general on General Crittenden's staff, for words of encouragement and cheer to a portion of my command when hard pressed on the cedar ridge in the first day's fight; and also to express my gratitude to our commander-in-chief, General Rosecrans, for the same favor at the place and about the same time.
All of which is respectfully submitted, together with the reports of the different regimental commanders, appropriately marked, with a corrected account of the killed, Wounded, and missing, which foot up: Officers killed, 4; wounded, 15; missing, 2. Enlisted men killed, 75; wounded, 251; officers missing, 2; enlisted men, 166. Total, 513.(*)
JAMES P. FYFFE,
Colonel, Comdg. 2d Brig., 3d Div., Left Wing, 14th Army Corps.
Capt. E. A. OTIS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
------------------------------------
continued
Bringing the