Like Autumn Leaves Playing Before a Tornado: A Texan at Stones River

 Lieutenant Colonel Joseph M. Bounds of the 11th Texas Cavalry fought in the opening action of the Battle of Stones River on December 31, 1862, and escaped harm while officers all around him went down with wounds. To be sure, the command staff of the regiment was gutted: Colonel John Burks was mortally wounded, while the adjutant and sergeant major also went down in rapid order, leaving Bounds in command of the regiment.

The Texan’s luck nearly ran out that afternoon when his regiment charged against a reinforced line of Federal artillery arrayed along the Nashville Pike. “At this time, the grape, canister shot, and bombs were flying like autumn leaves playing before a tornado,” he wrote after the battle. “I went into the second charge without the mark of a bullet about my person or horses and came out with 33 bullet holes: 28 in my blankets, 2 in my saddle bags, 1 in my curry comb, and 2 in my horse, one of them in her head which knocked her down. I left her for dead and charged on foot about 80 yards. When we fell back from the cedar brake, I found her standing up and led her off the field under a shower of shells.”

          Colonel Bounds’ account of Stones River first appeared in the March 11, 1863 edition of the Dallas Daily Herald.

  

Few troops covered more ground in the Confederate attacks on December 31st than General Ector's dismounted Texas cavalrymen. His four regiments spearheaded the dawn assault on Kirk's and Willich's brigades at the intersection of the Franklin Road and Gresham Lane, capturing several flags along with the six guns of Battery E of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery. By mid-afternoon, Ector's troops had moved north nearly three miles and threatened to seize the Nashville Pike before taking heavy casualties from massed Federal artillery. The Texans got closer than any of their comrades to that final Confederate objective. "The boys all appear in good spirits but are not pleased with the move from Murfreesboro," Colonel Bounds commented. "They think we should have followed the Feds and run them from Nashville." 

     

Camp near Shelbyville, Tennessee

January 7, 1863

          We left Readyville twelve miles south of Murfreesboro on the 27th of December and passed two miles north of Murfreesboro camped in line of battle two days and on the evening of the 29th, we found the enemy was advancing on Murfreesboro to our left. We moved off and met them four miles our from town and had some light skirmishing between sundown and dark. On the 30th, skirmishing commenced at daylight and continued until two hours by sun in the evening at which time there was heavy cannonading and a general attack on our right wing. The Feds charged our lines twice and were repulsed and driven back about 500 yards at dark and both armies lay in line of battle all night.

          Colonel Burks of our regiment was on duty as field officer of the day and had charge of our pickets, he called on me to assist him. We placed our line of pickets within 175 yards of the enemy’s line of battle; we called our men to arms in line of battle before daylight on the morning of the 31st. At light the left wing of our army, consisting of the Texas Brigade commanded by General Matthew D. Ector and the Arkansas brigade commanded by General Evander McNair under the immediate command of Major General McCown, charged the enemy’s stronghold, routed, and chased them about three miles leaving the ground over which we passed strewed with dead and wounded Yankees from the grade of brigadier general down to a private. The killed of the enemy in this charge is estimated at 1,600, wounded, 700, and prisoners 800 and 23 pieces of artillery and 3,000 stands of arms captured. Our regiment captured twelve pieces of artillery.

When the charge was called off there was not a Fed to be seen except some cavalry that were making their way to a cedar brake on a double quick and the infantry that had not fell or been captured and thrown off their knapsacks, and all the baggage and dispersed in the hills and thick woods. When we made the charge, we took them by surprise and made them leave their breakfast on the fires and many a hundred pot of Rio coffee was ran over or left to boil out. Our loss was small in this engagement, our charge being so severe that the enemy did not stand to fire but one volley on us before running and their reserve made but a poor stand. In this charge, we lost our gallant Colonel John C. Burks. He was mortally wounded in taking the first battery early in the engagement. When he fell, the regiment and Confederacy lost a warm friend a brave and chivalrous commander and a patriot. He lived until the evening of the 4th and was interred with military honors on the 5th. William B. Holcomb of Co. G was killed shortly after the first battery was taken; he had captured one of the enemy’s large flags and trailed it in the dust. No one could say too much of his gallantry or of his devotion to his country and friends in the army. Our killed and wounded of total loss in this engagement was about 25 including our adjutant and sergeant major wounded when the whole command fell on me.

The Chicago Board of Trade used their six 6-lb cannon with devastating effect in repulsing the Texans charge on the Nashville Pike. The battery had four M1841 smoothbores and two 6-pdr James rifles similar to the one pictured above. The Chicagoans fired canister at close range, each seven-lb coffee can shaped round containing 48 1.1 inch round iron balls which spread from the cannon's mouth like a gigantic shotgun blast. 

Immediately after we were called off from this charge and marched back two miles in quick time and put into another charge through a cedar brake against three parallel lines of fresh Feds, their lines extending at least 200 yards beyond our left. They had a line of cannon in their front, about 30 in number, and among them a 44-lb that threw grape and canister shot admirably and the smaller pieces threw bombs with precision and when the usual Texas yell was raised and our line moved off in a charge, we soon reached the Fed line of skirmishers that was nearly equal to our line in numbers and fired on them, killing and wounded a good many while the balance ran behind their line of artillery. The ground being very rough that we had to pass over, our line became broken and finding our regiment about 100 yards in advance of the rest of the line, I halted and ordered them to lie down until the other regiments arrived in line. At this time, the grape, canister shot, and bombs were flying like autumn leaves playing before a tornado and as soon as our right wing arrived, they arose and charged with the ambition of horses within 80 yards of the line of batteries, halted, and fired several rounds at the enemy, doing good execution. All the balance of our line except Colonel Locke’s regiment was in the rear, so I ordered my men to fall back in line with the other regiments.

Before we arrived in line, I found there was a general order for the whole division to call off, but the enemy did not pursue us and continued to shell our line until we got some distance and then sent out their skirmishers who captured some few of our wounded men. But their skirmishers were soon repulsed by another division of our troops that also failed to take the enemy’s position. In this charge, our loss was heavy among others Lieutenant J.W. Collier of Co. G who was slightly wounded and captured while trying to get A.B. Marshall, one of his wounded men, off the field. Collier, although a prisoner of war, is one of the unwavering heroes of our army. This is called the cedar brake charge. While we were on the charge, Captain Douglass ran his battery in range of the enemy and fired twice, doing good execution. He had two of his battery horses shot down and hitched up others and carried his battery out under a heavy shelling.

Colonel George R. Reeves
11th Texas Cavalry

After we were called off, we were moved to the right and took position within 600 yards of the enemy’s line and remained there until midnight on the 2nd during which time there was repeated picket firing and cannonading, but we held our position in line of battle and also a picket line about midway between the contending armies. The total loss of General Bragg’s army in killed, wounded, and missing is about 5,000 as follows: 1,200 killed or who will die of wounds, 800 missing some of which are killed and some prisoners unhurt, and 3,000 wounded, the majority of them so slight as to not disable them from duty. The total loss from our regiment is 111 as followed: 8 killed, 2 mortally wounded, 45 severely wounded, 39 slight wounds, 15 missing, and 2 captured. The loss of the Federal army is estimated at 30,000 killed, wounded, and prisoners as followed: 9,000 killed, 13,000 wounded, and 8,000 prisoners.

On the evening of January 2nd, it appeared that the Federal army was falling back in the direction of Nashville and McMinnville and our division with some others were ordered back to Murfreesboro after having been in line of battle for five days and night. I cannot forbear speaking of the gallant Captain George R. Reeves who was leading his company so nobly in the first charge when I found Colonel Burks and his staff were wounded, and tender to him my hearty thanks for the assistance he rendered me on the field the remainder of the day. I went into the second charge without the mark of a bullet about my person or horses and came out with 33 bullets holes: 28 in my blankets, 2 in my saddle bags, 1 in my curry comb, and 2 in my horse, one of them in her head which knocked her down. I left her for dead and charged on foot about 80 yards. When we fell back from the cedar brake, I found her standing up and led her off the field under a shower of shells.

I cannot tell where our next move will be. The boys all appear in good spirits but are not pleased with the move from Murfreesboro; they think we should have followed the Feds and run them from Nashville.

 *Colonel Bounds would be murdered October 27, 1863 while engaged in gathering up conscripts for the Confederate army. 


Source:

Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Joseph M. Bounds, 11th Texas Cavalry (Dismounted), Dallas Daily Herald (Texas), March 11, 1863, pg. 1

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