Part 3
Landrum also left behind a wealth of letters written to his sisters and frequently referenced by Civil War historians. The letters themselves are not online, but anyone lucky enough to visit Ohio can access them on microfilm.
The following letter to his sister Minnie was included in the booklet provided at the erection of the battlefield monument and included in the 1918 book "Representative Citizens of Ohio." It contains a lengthy description of the battle of Murfreesboro or Stones River. The originals are available at ancestry.com but someone was kind enough to transcribe it here:
http://www.genealogybug.net/oh_biographies/landrum.shtml
LETTER TO MRS. WM. P. BRADLEY, SISTER OF LIEUTENANT GEORGE .W. LANDRUM, JANUARY, 1863
"Hd. Qrs. Center 14th, Army Corps, Murfreesboro, Tenn. "Dear Minnie:
"You have doubtless read many accounts of the great battle we fought, of the awful sacrifice of life, the almost numberless host of wounded, and the great loss of property. But I do not believe any one can give you in a letter any idea of the terrible reality. The battlefield was strewn for miles and miles with the dead, dying, and wounded soldiers, horses, and negroes.
"There was continuous fighting for five days. The hardest, fiercest fight was on the 31st of December. On that day at daylight the enemy attacked our right wing (General McCook's Corps), taking our men by surprise. Many of our officers were still in their beds, the men cooking their breakfasts, and the artillerymen watering their horses. The attack was fiercely made, and the enemy completely turned our right wing, driving us back about two and one-half miles. The slaughter was terrible. They captured several of our batteries (as the horses were away), a great number of prisoners, and a great many wagons. A perfect panic was started in the right wing, and was fast spreading to our whole army, when General Rousseau came on to the field and ordered his division—the old Third, now the First—on to the charge. It was beautifully done. He checked, and finally drove the enemy back, slaughtering them by the hundreds. Again they came on, and again were driven back. So it was for four or five hours. Their loss was greater than ours, and they were gradually forced back on the center, but held the ground they had gained on the right.
"At about four o'clock General Rosecrans collected all his batteries at a position to the right, and the fight raged on. Our grape, canister, and shells mowed them down like grass. The cannonading was deafening, and between the discharges of the batteries could be heard the rattling war of the musketry, dealing death to the traitors even more fearfully than the artillery. But they fought like very devils, and for a long time it was doubtful as to whether we could bold our own even. Our right had been turned, our line of battle changed, the enemy's cavalry were in our rear cutting into and burning our wagons by the hundreds. The roads and woods were full of our flying men spreading the report: 'We are cut all to pieces; every officer in our regiment killed! We are all that is left,' etc., ad infinitum."
"All this was as early in the day as eleven o'clock. I had been up for three days and nights working on Signal Station, without any sleep, and with very little to eat. I did not get on to the field until about that time. The road was completely jammed with men flying on foot, on mules, on horses—sometimes two on one horse, some without hats, all without arms. Wagons were being hurried back, and our cavalry were flying in all directions. I finally made my way to the front, heartsick, discouraged, and desponding. I could but see that we were badly whipped, and every one seemed to think as I did; but I determined that it should never be said of me that I had joined in so disgraceful a flight. I would rather be killed on the spot than to have it in the power of any one to point to me as one of the panic-stricken men then flying from the field. I finally made my way to General Thomas, and found him in the thickest of the fight. Never have I seen such terrible fighting, or heard such a continuous roar of guns, or been in a place where the grape, canister, and musket balls rained on us as they did there. Our corps—the center—was gradually being forced back, and it seemed that all was lost; but our brave fellows stood to their work, and the tide of battle seemed to be changing. Again we were driving them back, slowly but surely. The dashing courage and bravery of Rousseau and the gallant, old Third were sure to tell. General Thomas, cool as marble, was there to hold Rousseau in check (as he is brave almost to rashness), and to these two men is due the credit of saving this army from total rout."
The fight raged on, without ceasing, from daylight until it was too dark to see an enemy, and all seemed to desire rest. We did wish it, and were glad of the darkness.
I cannot describe to you my feelings that night. All with whom I conversed acknowledged we were whipped, and expected orders to come to fall back on Nashville. But how? As soon as we attempted to do that it would result in a general rout—perhaps a panic. We were evidently in a very precarious situation. We had lost thousands of our brave comrades; our right was completely turned; the enemy was annoying our rear, destroying our wagons and provisions; and all were discouraged. We did not sleep any that night, but gathered around our little fires, shivering with the cold, hungry, and heartsick—not a smile on a single face; for the first time not a joke uttered; all gloomy, disheartened, and desponding. The generals were near by, in an old log hut, in council. Some were for falling back, some for fighting where we were as long as a man would stand. Generals Thomas, Rosecrans, and Rousseau were with the latter, and it was determined to die where we were. We had held our council outside and come to the same conclusion.
"It was, I am proud to say, my wish to stay where we were if we could not go on. Oh, I can never forget one moment of that gloomy New Year's Eve, nor the desponding men that held the `watch-night meeting' of that night. Every minute the ambulances were passing by us filled with the wounded; the air was vile with their groans; on all sides of us the dead and dying were lying in heaps; and during this time the rain commenced to fall. Our poor men were lying out without fire (we did not dare build fires where the enemy could see us, as it would immediately draw their fire), without food, without blankets, and in the mud, too. At twelve o'clock at night, (New Year's), we shook hands all round and gloomily wished 'A Happy New Year' to each other, talked of our friends at home, and each had some directions to give as to the disposal of personal property about us, if 'anything should happen' next day."
"Day broke at last, and we expected, with its dawn, to hear the roar of the enemy's guns. An hour passed and only an occasional musket was heard; another hour, no attack yet. What could it mean? We had been all over the field; the generals were posting their commands, cheering the men, and preparing to give the enemy as warm a reception as was in their power, should they give us 'a call.' But time passed on. Twelve o'clock came, and no attack yet. We began to feel easier; they were evidently not in the best condition—must have been badly punished, and did not feel like coming up to time. In this way we argued and finally concluded that we were not whipped yet. All seemed to be encouraged, and faces began to wear a more cheerful aspect."
"Our generals rode around as cool as men could be. Rousseau was everywhere, and whenever he appeared there was a wild enthusiasm. Some of the men actually hugged his horse, shook his hands, caught hold of his legs, and nearly pulled him from his saddle. He is the most popular man in the army; just the man to command the volunteers."
"During the afternoon there was an attack made on our right, but after two or three hours of fierce, hard fighting, they were repulsed with fearful slaughter. Our men were well handled, positions well chosen, and we drove them back with small loss on our side. There had been some skirmishing and artillery fighting all along our lines, and we had been first best all the afternoon."
"We again gather around our little fire at night. Our faces are a little more cheerful, so our conversation. An occasional joke is heard, and we even laugh aloud; we are in good humor. If we only had something to eat, and our blankets, we might persuade ourselves that we were really happy. Again the generals are in council. Their council is ended and we are ordered to mount our horses and commence our rounds with General Thomas. His orders are given cooly, and are executed quickly. The army have learned that they can trust in him. Every post is visited, every place examined. General Rosecrans is with us, cool, calm, selfpossessed—a cigar in his mouth, not lighted--never is—never saw him without it; an old hat on, a common blue overcoat. His long, large, hooked nose, sharp eyes, give him the appearance of a Jew peddler, and you involuntarily expect to hear him cry 'rags, old clothes,' etc., but he is now as cheerful as he can be. He says he has ' 'em' just where he wants ' 'em,' and he and Thomas inspire all with the confidence they appear to have."
"We all expected they would attack us the next morning, but they did not; but in the afternoon they made a terribly fierce attack on our left, and oh, what an awful onslaught it was! One of our brigades, the Twenty-third, in Van Cleve's Division, broke and ran like dogs; but the Thirty-seventh Indiana, Eighteenth Ohio, Nineteenth Illinois, and some other regiments charged on them, and after a hard hand-to-hand fight, they were driven back, Receiving re-inforcements they came on again, but were driven back, this time in wild confusion, and could not again be rallied. This fight, while it lasted, was, I think, the hottest and most-closely contested of all yet, and resulted in a brilliant victory for us. The next day the enemy commenced evacuating Murfreesboro."
"The next day we had some skirmishing, and at about four O'clock p.m., made our first attack on the enemy's lines, and drove them out of their rifle-pits in front of us. That night we had a happy council around our camp-fire, and we could have a 'great, big one,' too. The next morning the enemy had left Murfreesboro altogether, and after we had made a reconnoisance of the road we virtually took possession of the place."
"This is a confused account of a greater fight than the seven days' fight before Richmond. We lost eleven thousand men, killed, wounded, and missing. The enemy lost some fifteen thousand, so they report. They are going to make another stand at Shelbyville, some thirty miles from here, or else attack us here—they say the latter, and I should not be surprised to hear the roar of their guns at any moment. But they will not have the advantage of a surprise next time, as we are doubly vigilant. They did not expect us to leave Nashville this winter, and had built winter quarters here expecting to stay."
"All praise is due our brave men. Never did men do better fighting and suffer greater hardships than they have in this great battle. They had to lie down in mud knee-deep, without blankets and without food. Many horses were eaten by our soldiers. Such men can never be whipped. They are invincible. Can their country ever be sufficiently grateful to them? Can men deserve more from their countrymen?"
"Well, Minnie, I have been through one more battle, and am unhurt. Men have been shot down behind me, on the right of me, and on the left, and before me. Strange how one escapes and another is stricken."
"When I learned that Colonel Fred Jones was killed, it so unmanned me that I cried. Only a few hours before I had shaken hands with him in front of his men. The enemy were in sight, the bullets flying around us. I was sent there under orders. I can almost feel the grip of his hand on mine as we bade each other `good-bye.' I never saw him more. We have all lost a friend. The country has lost a patriot, a brave officer; one who had ability, courage, and talents of a much higher order than many of our generals. Heaven has gained a saint. I have known Fred for years, and have yet to hear the first ill of him. Among the first to volunteer in defense of his country, he has earned a place in her history that few so young as he could gain, none more deservedly. He has finished his career by giving up his life in a glorious cause. He died a soldier. Let us hope not in vain. I cannot describe my sensations as I passed along the lines and shook the hands of my friends. When I came to Warnock, neither could speak for some time. Finally, our voices came out in 'God bless you, George!' from him, and 'How glad I am to see you! Thank God, we are both alive,' from me."
"You may remember that last spring I described this place to you as one of the prettiest I had seen in 'Dixie.' Oh, what a change! Desolation is written over the face of the whole country. Fences are gone, yards torn up, houses burned or pulled down, and where there were then beautiful flower gardens, there are now mud-holes. Trees have been chopped down for wood, arbors destroyed, and the large, fine, and elegant residences are rapidly falling to decay. All, all is desolation!"
"May God, in his mercy, forever keep war from our peaceful homes in the North."
"Your brother,"
"George W. Landrum."