Retrieving Major Carpenter: Joseph R. Prentice Earns His Medal of Honor at Stones River

It was midday on December 31, 1862, when the six companies constituting the 1st Battalion of the 19th U.S. Infantry were thrust into the furnace in the desperate fight to maintain control of the Nashville Pike at Stones River. “After taking our position on the hill near the railroad, we were again ordered with the remainder of the brigade to advance in line of battle into the cedars,” recalled Captain James B. Mulligan. “We engaged an overwhelming force of the enemy for a full 20 minutes. It was as we received the order to retire that our Major Stephen D. Carpenter fell, receiving six mortal wounds and dying instantly. The fire from the enemy at this time was terrific and our men were falling on all sides.”

Private Joseph Rollin Prentice of Co. E, 1st Battalion, 19th U.S. Infantry was later awarded the Medal of Honor for retrieving the body of his commander from the field while under heavy enemy fire. He was wounded in action May 30, 1864 during the Atlanta campaign and discharged from the army. The Lancaster, Ohio native returned to farming in Indiana after the war then moved to Kansas and Nebraska where he engaged in the freight business. The War Department issued him his medal in 1894 in which he stated "I would not take a farm for it." Prentice died August 7, 1908 in Colorado Springs of a sudden illness and is buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Hebron, Nebraska. It is worth noting that he wears the formal Hardee hat and frock coat worn by the western soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland's Regular Brigade. 

Private Joseph R. Prentice of Co. E was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on the field that afternoon. “Our brigade was in the middle of the line of attack and very soon the Rebels slackened their fire on our division and concentrated all their energies upon the two wings of our line,” he wrote. “It was evident that if the flanks were weakened, the enemy could very easily surround us almost completely and so have us wholly at their mercy. To defeat this plan, Major Carpenter ordered us to retreat in good order and after we had about faced, he fell behind and proceeded to follow us in the rear. No sooner did the enemy see us retreating than they opened fire on us again. I was in the front rank in the advance, now in the rear in the retreat, and could plainly see the awful destruction wrought upon our ranks by the death-dealing work of the enemy. Suddenly, above the din and roar of battle, I heard the major call our ‘Scatter and run boys!’ and was about to join the rest in the rush to a place of safety when I heard a horse bearing down on me like mad. As I ran, I looked around and saw that it was Major Carpenter’s horse dashing after us, frenzied by several slight bullet wounds. I managed to turn him and head him along our lines,” he wrote.

“Then I rushed after the boys to tell them of the fate of the major but did not manage to see any of the commanding officers until we retreated about a quarter of a mile. Then I gained permission to return and look for him. Back I went at the top of my speed and as soon as I entered the clearing, the enemy’s sharpshooters opened a brisk fire on me. Still, I was bound to find the major if possible and knowing about where he fell, rushed to the spot. Bullets ploughed up little puffs of dust at my feet and whistled around my head. A short spurt more and I was at the place. Glancing round, I saw him lying face downward upon the dust and rushed to his assistance. But, poor fellow, he was past need of human assistance! Nevertheless, I picked him up and carried him to the rear, my ears filled with the mournful dirge of bullets that threatened me at every step,” he stated.

Major Stephen Decatur Carpenter, a West Point graduate of the class of 1840 and Mexican War veteran, sustained two head wounds and four body wounds while retreating towards the Nashville Pike at midday of December 31, 1862. A few weeks prior, he had written a letter to the War Department pleading for his battalion of only 200 men to be brought up to full strength. "It is not unreasonable to suppose that my battalion in battle may be ordered to support a battery as it was at Shiloh and be met by a battalion or regiment numbering 800 or 1,000 men. The result would be certain disgrace."  His obituary noted that a lieutenant colonel's commission was on its way to him from the War Department at the time of his death. Carpenter's body was initially buried on the field at Stones River but was exhumed and sent to be buried amongst his family at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor, Maine. 


The 19th U.S. suffered greatly during the battle losing one seven men killed, 55 wounded and seven missing during the fight on December 31st. “The only loss of officers we sustained was Major Carpenter, a loss to this regiment which can never be replaced,” noted Second Lieutenant Charles F. Miller of Co. E. “He was a favorite with the old officers and a father to us young officers. During the five days, we suffered much from fatigue, cold, and want of food. I saw our men eat horse flesh and one day we had corn issued to us by the commissary one ear to a man, the officers receiving the same.”

Long after the war, Joseph Prentice recalled how he received the Medal of Honor for his hometown newspaper the Hebron Journal of Hebron, Nebraska. “As Mr. Prentice showed the medal, he remarked, “I would not take a farm for it.” The medal is now kept in a frame but can be removed at the owner’s pleasure. The medal is similar to a G.A.R. badge but is larger and has an additional emblem above the flag. On the front of the star is a representation of liberty crushing rebellion and on the other side is inscribed the following: ‘The Congress to Joseph R. Prentice, late private, Co. E, 1st Battalion, 19th U.S. Inf’y, for gallantry in action at the battle of Stone River, Tenn., Dec. 31, 1862.’ A manuscript letter also accompanied the medal signed by the Adjutant General of the War Department.

“Our brigade was in the battle of Stones River, Tennessee and was cut off from both sides so that we had to retreat,” Prentice told the local reporter. “My major was cut down and I returned and picked him up and his sword and carried him about one half a mile. By the time I reached there, he was dead. The first lieutenant [Charles Fleming Miller] noticed what I had done and made a memorandum of it for promotion. Afterwards he went into recruiting service and I never got it. A few years ago, I was reading about Andersonville prison and reading about these medals of honor, I thought I would see if I couldn’t get one. I wrote to the Adjutant General and he told me that my deed deserved a medal, and if I could furnish proof of the facts, I could get it. I wrote to Colonel Anson McCook of the 2nd Ohio and secured affidavits of five other soldiers who had witnessed it and turned it over to the Adjutant General. Three of four years afterwards I received the medal.”

 

Inscription on Joseph Prentice's gravestone in Hebron, Nebraska quotes the inscription on his Medal of Honor. 

Sources:

Official report of Captain James B. Mulligan, 19th U.S. Infantry

Account of Private Joseph R. Prentice, Co. E, 19th U.S. Infantry, as written in Beyer & Keydel’s Deeds of Valor, pgs. 127-128

“Medal of Honor,” The Hebron Journal (Nebraska), February 15, 1895, pg. 5

Letter from Second Lieutenant Charles Fleming Miller, Co. E, 19th U.S. Infantry, Daily Capital City Fact (Ohio), January 23, 1863, pg. 2


Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more