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Numbers 141. Reports of Colonel Israel N. Stiles, Sixty-third Indiana Infantry, commanding Third Brigade, of operations November 30 and December 15-16, 1864.
HEADQUARTERS SIXTY-THIRD INDIANA VOLUNTEERS,
Nashville, Tenn., December 5, 1864.
SIR: In compliance with instructions received from Brigadier-General Cox, I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the operations of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, at Franklin, Tenn., on the 30th of November, the brigade being temporarily under my command on that day, owing to the illness of Colonel Thomas J. Henderson, the brigade commander.
By direction of General Cox I placed the command in position early on the morning of the 30th, on the left of the Second Brigade, and with the left resting on the river and in the following order: One hundred and twentieth Indiana Infantry, Sixty-third Indiana Infantry, One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana Infantry, with the One hundred and twelfth Illinois Infantry a short distance to the rear in reserve. Substantial works were at once thrown up, and such portions of our front as were not already obstructed by a well-grown and almost impenetrable hedge were covered with a strong abatis made of the hedges which ran at right angles with the works. At about 4 p.m. the enemy commenced his advance on our front in three lines of battle, preceded by a strong line of skirmishers. When within shell range, Battery M, Fourth Regulars, stationed on the left and rear of the brigade, opened upon the advancing lines. The front line of the enemy soon came within range of our muskets and was repulsed. A portion of their second line succeeded in reaching that part of the works held by the One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana, and planted their colors upon them. The color-bearer was killed, and the flag fell upon the outside. A number of the enemy succeeded in climbing over the works, and were taken prisoners. This charge of the enemy was soon repulsed, and he made no further serious efforts to drive us from our position. The battery I have already mentioned, together with a battery in the fort across the river, kept up a continuous firing upon our front till after dark, which, I have no doubt, did much to check any further attempt of the enemy to advance upon us. In the meantime the One hundred and twentieth Indiana on the left was subjected to a terrific enfilading fire, both from the enemy’s artillery and infantry. The regiment and its commander, Colonel Prather, in my opinion, deserve great praise for the heroic manner with which they held their position, the loss of which might have resulted in a defeat to our army. It is proper also that I should mention the stubborn and soldierly conduct of Lieutenant -Colonel Packard, One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana, and his command, in resisting the enemy after he had reached their works. The One hundred and twelfth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Bond commanding, though in reserve, was exposed to a considerable fire during the engagement, and near night-fall was ordered by General Cox to re-enforce some portion of the Second Division.
The conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Morris, commanding Sixty-third Indiana Volunteers, as well as that of the officers generally, was praise-worthy, and that of the men was made more efficient by the aid and presence of Colonel Henderson, the brigade commander, who, though suffering from illness, could not withstand the desire to be present where his command was engaged, and who was along the lines during the engagement, and whose opportunities of witnessing their good conduct were equal to my own.
By direction of General Cox I withdrew the brigade, except the One hundred and twelfth Illinois, across the river at midnight.
I learn that a report of the casualties and the number of prisoners taken has already been forwarded to General Cox.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
I. N. STILES,
Colonel Sixty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Lieutenant STEARNS,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
Numbers 141. Reports of Colonel Israel N. Stiles, Sixty-third Indiana Infantry, commanding Third Brigade, of operations November 30 and December 15-16, 1864.
HEADQUARTERS SIXTY-THIRD INDIANA VOLUNTEERS,
Nashville, Tenn., December 5, 1864.
SIR: In compliance with instructions received from Brigadier-General Cox, I have the honor to submit herewith a report of the operations of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, at Franklin, Tenn., on the 30th of November, the brigade being temporarily under my command on that day, owing to the illness of Colonel Thomas J. Henderson, the brigade commander.
By direction of General Cox I placed the command in position early on the morning of the 30th, on the left of the Second Brigade, and with the left resting on the river and in the following order: One hundred and twentieth Indiana Infantry, Sixty-third Indiana Infantry, One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana Infantry, with the One hundred and twelfth Illinois Infantry a short distance to the rear in reserve. Substantial works were at once thrown up, and such portions of our front as were not already obstructed by a well-grown and almost impenetrable hedge were covered with a strong abatis made of the hedges which ran at right angles with the works. At about 4 p.m. the enemy commenced his advance on our front in three lines of battle, preceded by a strong line of skirmishers. When within shell range, Battery M, Fourth Regulars, stationed on the left and rear of the brigade, opened upon the advancing lines. The front line of the enemy soon came within range of our muskets and was repulsed. A portion of their second line succeeded in reaching that part of the works held by the One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana, and planted their colors upon them. The color-bearer was killed, and the flag fell upon the outside. A number of the enemy succeeded in climbing over the works, and were taken prisoners. This charge of the enemy was soon repulsed, and he made no further serious efforts to drive us from our position. The battery I have already mentioned, together with a battery in the fort across the river, kept up a continuous firing upon our front till after dark, which, I have no doubt, did much to check any further attempt of the enemy to advance upon us. In the meantime the One hundred and twentieth Indiana on the left was subjected to a terrific enfilading fire, both from the enemy’s artillery and infantry. The regiment and its commander, Colonel Prather, in my opinion, deserve great praise for the heroic manner with which they held their position, the loss of which might have resulted in a defeat to our army. It is proper also that I should mention the stubborn and soldierly conduct of Lieutenant -Colonel Packard, One hundred and twenty-eighth Indiana, and his command, in resisting the enemy after he had reached their works. The One hundred and twelfth Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel Bond commanding, though in reserve, was exposed to a considerable fire during the engagement, and near night-fall was ordered by General Cox to re-enforce some portion of the Second Division.
The conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Morris, commanding Sixty-third Indiana Volunteers, as well as that of the officers generally, was praise-worthy, and that of the men was made more efficient by the aid and presence of Colonel Henderson, the brigade commander, who, though suffering from illness, could not withstand the desire to be present where his command was engaged, and who was along the lines during the engagement, and whose opportunities of witnessing their good conduct were equal to my own.
By direction of General Cox I withdrew the brigade, except the One hundred and twelfth Illinois, across the river at midnight.
I learn that a report of the casualties and the number of prisoners taken has already been forwarded to General Cox.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
I. N. STILES,
Colonel Sixty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Lieutenant STEARNS,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
Letter from First Lieutenant Silas Hart of the 40th Ohio Infantry, Company B.
Vinings Station Ga.
July 7 1864
Hart writes of Company B’s participation in the Atlanta Campaign:
We have been having very hard times since you left and have lost a great many in sick wounded prisoners and killed. Co. B has got to be a very small Co. We have lost fourteen in killed wounded and prisoners. I suppose you have heard all who were taken prisoner and it is use less for me to name them. on the night of June 29th Converse was in command of the picket in front our regt and was killed, there is thirty two present in Co. B now. I think in about two months more we will be on our road home. We are now lying in the bank of the Chattahoochie River and the rebels shooting at us like they did at Mockasin Point. I am in hopes that there will not be any more of us hurt as we get stationed to the rear.
Silas Hart mustered into Company B on 17 September 1861 and mustered out as a First Lieutenant on 7 October 1864 at Atlanta, Georgia. The 40th Ohio was engaged at Middle Creek, Franklin, Shelbyville, Tullahoma, Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain.
Source: Nate Sanders online auction
Letter from an unidentified Union soldier
Camp on the NWRR,
Tenn. Jan. 13th, 1864
Mother
I am far away. For the last two years I have been trying to make up my mind what it is my duty to follow for a means of subsistence. if a man came here on earth to live, die and pass away without leaving some example behind that would be salutary, to come far below the requirements of the great Giver of all things. This in my mind, you must know that I am searching for something for my mind to work upon that would be congenial with my nature. There are many professions that lead to the improvement of our race, and thus to the evangelization of the earth which seems after all the only true and lasting blessing that man can enjoy. But I think he that works only in the future has not the whole of the will of the Creator in his mind, not to say that those that follow the teachings of the scriptures alone are not doing their duty. I know full well that you have hoped in my early childhood that I might be one of ‘the speaking disciples of God, and for a loving mother’s desire, it would please me much to follow that course. However, that is not my calling.
Your affec. Son
Source: Nate Sanders online auction
4pp. letter from John D. Messinger of the 104th Ohio Infantry, Company D. Written in ink and datelined
Pulaski, Tenn.
November 20th 1864
Letter reads in part:
We are just getting the particulars of the Election, and as an old ‘darky’ in ‘Alabam’ said one day as we were passing a plantation where about ‘five thousand’ were congregated along the road side. One of the boys ask him what he thought of the music (our comet band was playing) - his answer was ‘dunno suh, but pears like tis getting mity glorious Shuah’ - it pears like the election news from Sherman, begin to make things look ‘mity glorious’ for the Union cause. As the particulars are brought out - the frauds on the part of the copperheads - their total everlasting defeat, it surely is encouraging to all. I believe the end is nigh. ‘Hood’ with his rebel hart is supposed to be on the southern shore of the Tenn. River, about making an attempt to get into East Tenn. I hardly think he will win for we have the army of the Cumberland and Ohio here to whip him with in case he wishes to fight or make a forward movement. I am longing to have this war play out that we may return home to the social haunts in our native town. I rather fear that all the young ladies will have taken the ‘oath of allegiance’ ere our time expires and we will be obliged to ‘migrate’.
Messinger mustered into Company D on 30 August 1862 and was later promoted to First Sergeant. He was reduced to Private at his own request on 7 April 1865 and mustered out on 17 June 1865 at Greensboro, North Carolina. The 104th Ohio saw action at Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kennesaw, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin and Wilmington.
Source: Nate Sanders online auction
The 6th Mississippi Regimental flag, Company D, also known as Lowry’s Rifles. The 6th was in Adams’s Brigade, Loring’s Division. The 6th saw action to the right of Cleburne’s Division, assaulting the Federal line facing fire from Casement’s and Reilly’s Brigades.
There are three known-identified 6th MS boys buried at McGavock. It’s very likely there are numerous more unknown buried at McGavock as their known dead is a very low amount for Mississippi regiments, and considering the 6th MS saw action to the Union left of the Cotton Gin.
Picture Credit” Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy (p. 259).
“The casualties of the corps,” reported Lieut.-Gen. Stewart, “were something over 2,000 in killed, wounded and missing. Among them were many of our best officers and bravest men. Brig.-Gen. John Adams was killed, his horse being found lying across the inner line of the enemy’s works.” The casualties of Adams’ Brigade were the heaviest of the division — 10 officers and 34 men killed; 39 officers and 232 men wounded, 23 missing. Col. Robert Lowry took command of the brigade, which, on December 9, reported an aggregate present 1,769, effective 1,047, prisoners of war 50.
Dunbar Rowland’s “Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898
The Willilam’s Brothers of Co. C. 40th Mississippi. Lt. Joseph Green English Williams, age 24, and brother Lt. Enoch Henderson Williams, age 27.
According to a historian, one of the Williams brothers was mortally wounded in the belly and lay dying on the Franklin battlefield. He crawled over to his brother who also lay dying from the result of a wound which took off a limb. They both layed throughout the night comforting one another as best they could to keep warm from the below freezing temperatures and to stop the bleeding. They were found the next morning, stiff and cold, but clasped in one another’s arms.
Source: T. Burgess, Hendersonville, TN
Salt print photograph of CSA Colonel Alexander McKinstry. The writer has misidentified his regiment as the 23rd when he was actually in the 32nd Alabama Infantry.
An excellent seated pose of Colonel Alexander McKinstry in a Confederate colonel’s uniform with quatrefoil sleeve braid, wearing a sash and sword belt around his waist and holding his high-grade officer’s sword in his lap. His colonel’s kepi lies next to him on a side table.
Alexander McKinstry, originally of the 32nd Alabama Regiment, served as Provost Marshal and a member of the staff of General Braxton Bragg for much of the war. In addition to his duties involving the exchange of prisoners and army discipline, McKinstry was also actively involved with intelligence gathering and espionage activities.
Because of the presence of his photograph in Miss Tarleton’s album, it can be assumed that McKinstry was a close friend of Patrick R. Cleburne, the Irish-born former Arkansas lawyer who became the most admired yet controversial figure in the ill-starred Army of Tennessee. Cleburne was killed in action at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864.
Alexander McKinstry is mentioned a number of times in the Official Records of the War of Rebellion. The 32nd Alabama saw heavy action during the war.
The rendezvous of the regiment was at Mobile, where it was organized in April, 1862. In July it was sent into Tennessee, and received its baptism of fire at Bridgeport, where it crossed the river. It was this regiment that captured Stevenson, Tenn. It was in middle Tennessee under General Forrest, and was overpowered and lost a number of prisoners at Lavergne, October, 1862.
The regiment met severe loss at Murfreesboro and its roll of honor is a long one. It was sent to the relief of Vicksburg, and did valiant work in the trenches at Jackson, where, in repulsing an attack of the enemy without loss, it slaughtered 260 yanks.
It rejoined the army of Tennessee and at Chickamauga suffered severely. During the winter of 1863-64, the regiment was transferred from Adams’ to Clayton’s brigade and consolidated with the Fifty-eighth under Col. Bush. Jones, and took part in the Atlanta campaign; was with Hood in Tennessee, taking part at Franklin, Columbia and Nashville.
Transferred to the district of the Gulf under General Maury, it suffered serious losses during the siege of Spanish Fort and was finally surrendered at Meridian.
The 14th MS was part of Adams’s Brigade, Loring’s Division
“Our division was in the right of the Pike and on the top of a high ridge from where we could see all the movements of the enemy. The blue coats were busy fixing for us. We could see them by the thousands, shoveling dirt, cutting brush and bushes and making all kind of traps for us to march against. I was very much in hopes they would run again, but they kept on digging and seemed to be burying themselves behind their breastworks. I kept feeling more and more anxious about the kind of reception they were going to give us. We lay in full view of them till nearly sundown. Oh! What a day of suspense, and mortal fear. I could hardly content myself with standing or sitting for I fully realized the fact that many of us who were now alive and full of fond anticipation would in a very short time ‘be laid low by the shells and shots of a relentless foe,’ and my anticipations were fully realized.”
-The Civil War Years Revealed Through Letters, Diaries & Memoirs. Warwick, p. 189.
Estes survived the battle. Ten of Estes’s fellow 14th MS are buried at McGavock.
Two known-identified 9th MS boys who fought at Franklin are buried at McGavock. The 9th MS also fought with the 7th, 10th, 41st and 44th MS Infantries, and the 9th Mississippi Sharpshooters Battalion.
Here is an early picture of the 9th Mississippi regiment, taken in 1861 at Pensacola.
Picture credit: Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy (p. 263 & 31).
Though this picture of the 9th MS is taken in 1861 at Pensacola, it does not take much to imagine that this scene was replayed again in Spring Hill, TN, on November 29, 1864, one day before the bloody Battle of Franklin.
The 4th Missouri carried this flag which was presented to them in April of 1862 in Springfield, Missouri. The 4th fought for Cockrell’s Brigade, French’s Division alongside the: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th Missouri Infantry, and the 1st Missouri Cavalry (dismounted) and 3rd Missouri Cavalry Battalion (dismounted).
Cockrell’s Brigade fought to the immediate Confederate right of Cleburne’s Division, assaulting the Federal line at Franklin where the Union Brigades of Reilly and Casement came together.
Picture credit: Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy (p. 260).
There are five known-identified 4th MO soldiers buried at McGavock Confederate Cemetery, a light number compared to the other infantries it fought with. It is likely that there are several 4th MO boys buried as ‘unknowns’ at McGavock.
