His True Qualities Were Appreciated by all that Knew Him: The Death of Lieutenant Christian Nix at Stones River

One of the most poignant relics on display in the Stones River visitor’s center is the grave marker for Lieutenant Christian Nix of the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Carved into a plank of wood, the marker states “Lieu Nix, 24th WI, Buried Jan 8.” It is one of the few (if not only) remaining grave headstones that shows how soldiers’ graves were marked in the days immediately following the battle of Stones River.

Lieutenant Christian Nix's original grave marker as carved on a wood plank by his comrades of the 24th Wisconsin shortly after the battle. Hundreds of markers like these dotted the landscape around Murfreesboro, many of them quickly wearing away before the graves were moved to the national cemetery starting in 1865. By that time, many of the markers had disappeared or rotted away leaving the identity of those buried beneath them one of the enduring mysteries of the battle. Of the 6,100 Union soldiers buried at Stones River National Cemetery, 2,562 of them (42%) are buried as unknown. 

          We can also thank Lieutenant Nix’s comrades in Co. D of the 24th Wisconsin for preserving the second item on display: Lieutenant Nix’s commissioned officer’s sword. Captain Alvah Philbrook, commanding the company, wrote to the lieutenant’s widow a few weeks after the battle to relate the sad news of his death and explained the circumstances under which he met his end.

Jan. 14, 1863

Camp near Murfreesboro

Mrs. Lieut. Nix,

          It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform you of the death of your husband and our much-esteemed friend and comrade. He fell on the morning of the 31st of December while repelling an attack of the Rebel forces and died like a true soldier doing his duty to his country. He was shot through the body and was taken to our hospital [most likely the Gresham House as he is not listed among the wounded or killed in Chaplain William Haigh's record from Harding House] which was soon after taken possession by the enemy who held it until the evacuation of Murfreesboro. He died on the 5th or 6th and was buried by Lieut. Towl B. Chase of our company with military honors.

Second Lieutenant Christian Nix, a native of Germany, served for more than a year as a sergeant of Co. F of the 6th Wisconsin of Iron Brigade fame before receiving a commission as second lieutenant of Co. D of the 24th Wisconsin in July 1862. The 24th Wisconsin saw action at Perryville and crumpled under a heavy crossfire at Stones River. Lieutenant Nix was most likely carried to the Gresham House hospital where he died on January 5, 1863.According to Lieutenant Ole Dahl's map showing the gravesites, Lieutenant Nix was most likely buried with a group of 80 officers and men in a spot just to the south of the Gresham House along the east side of Gresham Lane. His remains were moved to the national cemetery after the war.   

          I have his effects in my possession & shall forward them to you by the first opportunity. I have his revolver, sword, money, and other things belonging to him. You have lost your best friend of Earth and we deeply feel with you in this sad bereavement for we too have lost an esteemed friend and a true soldier. He did his duty always up to the time he fell and was loved and his true qualities were appreciated by all that knew him. His name and deeds will always be held in sacred remembrance by me and the members under my command.

Yours respectfully,

Capt. Alvah Philbrook

 

          Captain Philbrook, a 32-year-old native of New Hampshire, moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1856 and was working as a locomotive shop superintendent when he was commissioned to raise what became Co. D of the 24th Wisconsin. In a revealing letter written to his younger brother William back east, Captain Philbrook described the Stones River campaign in detail, providing more of the context of the situation in which Lieutenant Nix was wounded.

Captain Alvah Philbrook, Co. D, 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry

Camp on Stone River, Tennessee

January 30, 1863

Dear Brother,

          I have just received your letter of the 11th and I can assure you that I was glad to hear from you for I had begun to think that I was to hear nothing more from my friends East. I wrote a letter to mother immediately after the battle but she may not have received it. I am still alive and doing my duty. It is now a month since we fought the bloody battle before Murfreesboro. I will give you a little account of the part we had in the scrape.

          We left our camp six miles out of Nashville on the morning of the 26th, Caroline and Caddie Alice [Philbrook’s wife and daughter] having spent Christmas with me in camp for they had been on a visit for three weeks previous. I parted with her at sunrise on the road, as our army was on the move. We had not gone over three miles before we ran into some of the Rebel pickets. Our skirmishers commenced firing and our artillery opened upon them as often as they could see a squad together. It commenced raining at the same time & in this way we moved Friday and Saturday. Every little while we would deploy a Brigade to the right or left of the road, form in line of battle and expect an engagement. But the enemy was not in force strong enough to stop and fight us, so they kept on a move and kept out of our way. By burning bridges, they managed to give us the slip and on Sunday and I suppose joined the Rebel army at Murfreesboro.

          About the same time, we got there the force we drove in before us numbered about 10,000. Sunday, we rested, Monday we took a crossroad and went to the Murfreesboro Pike. Got there about dark and now we began to see that a great battle was pending; our cavalry had been ahead & seen the Rebs drawn up in line of battle ready to receive us. They had been fired into and had a number killed and wounded. [This would have been the fight of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry and the 10th South Carolina detailed here.] Some we met with saddles on their shoulders their horses being shot, horses without drivers, Ambulances filled with wounded men. This is the first indication of a fight.

Edward Blake of Co. H, 24th Wisconsin
With the shredded colors of the regiment

          The cavalrymen hailed our Men and said, “Boys there is fun ahead for you.” We passed long lines of infantry stretched out on each side of the road drawn up in a line of battle. It was raining at the time and not a fire was permitted to be used by anyone. Our division passed through the whole army and took our position in front, sleeping in a cornfield that night. At daybreak we built small fires and cooked our coffee and then commenced moving forward to meet the Rebels, which we did about 10 a.m. They commenced falling back before our sharpshooters and artillery. This day, Tuesday December 30th, was mostly devoted to artillery duels. We were supporting Bush’s famous 4th Indiana Battery. We lay to their right and rear on the ground while they were firing on the Rebel batteries. The Rebel shot and shell came thick and fast and fell all around us. We were kept moving from our position to another all day long. We lost some men by their artillery and all of us had some very narrow escapes.

          The trees were all cut to pieces where we lay. One of my men who laid between my legs had his cape cut in two and his blanket all torn to pieces by a shell, afterwards bursting, covering us with dirt and leaves. Many a ball struck the ground ahead of us and bounced over us. It is a fearful place to lay for hours supporting a battery without anything to occupy your mind but the chances of the next shots and all the time expecting an infantry charge from the other side. [Future Medal of Honor recipient Arthur McArthur of the 24th Wisconsin left a vivid account of being under artillery fire on December 30th in "Perfectly Appalled: Arthur McArthur Escapes Death at Stones River."]

          I tell you I was not sorry to see the sun go down that night; but our batteries done some fearful work that day, they completely demolished one Rebel battery at a distance of 500 yards but he lost six of his men killed besides his wounded and many of his horses. That night we slept on our arms directly in front with the sharpshooters of both sides between us; who kept up a continual crack of musketry. We could see the Rebs’ fires. I see them passing before their fires all night.

Brigadier General Joshua Sill
Killed in action December 31, 1862
24th Wisconsin was in his brigade

          At daybreak Wednesday, we stood in line ready for them, but we were not expecting an attack but everything in war does not go by our calculations for the enemy had concluded to attack our lines. We saw them advancing out of the woods five columns deep and they advanced in splendid style. Our artillery would cut fearful gaps out of their ranks but they would close up and keep moving in on our lines. We opened fire on them as soon as they came in musket range but did not stop them until they got within 75 yards of us. There the balls whistled thick and fast round our ears. At the same time, they flanked our right & opened a battery on us from the left.

          So, our General gave an order to retreat and we had to make a retreat of it for some three hours through a cedar swamp, the enemy pressing us right and left all of the time. In fact, they had us nearly surrounded but we would give them Hell any chance we could get they shot all the horses on some of our batteries and they got our guns but we finally got with our army again and still kept chasing. With our batteries supporting it when necessary and when night came, we bivouacked about five miles from the battlefield having been ordered there to help retake our wagon train that the Rebel cavalry had taken. It done me good to see our cavalry charge on them and to see our guns scatter the devils to hell as they were trying to get out of our way, our turn had come now and the tide of battle had turned.

          That night we had but 250 men in our regiment some 100 were killed and wounded, many taken prisoners and some cowards skulked away to where there was no danger. I buried four of my men including my second lieutenant Christian Nix and hence some ten men wounded and still missing. I had but 47 men in the fight. Long marches & exposure had reduced me down to about half of my number before the battle including details which they are always making from companies.

          Thursday and Friday we did not participate in the fight but built breastworks & lay behind them awaiting the Rebel coming. We had directly in our front 30 artillery pieces and the woods were full of sharpshooters in our front. Now and then our men meeting the fate of a soldier. It was exciting to see them skulking behind trees and get their shots in when they could. I used to go out amongst them at times to see them firing but the final fight was made on our left. We stood in line of battle while it was raging expecting any moment to be ordered forward. We could hear them yell on both sides as they charged and recharged the cannons kept up a continual roar and suppose there was never a harder fought battle for the time that this Friday’s afternoon fight was. It lasted about 1-1/2 hours and 100 cannons were roaring all the time and nothing but darkness kept the whole army from being annihilated but they concluded to leave the place to us.

The 24th Wisconsin fought at Stones River equipped with .54 caliber Austrian Lorenz rifles. 

          We are now encamped three miles on the other side of Murfreesboro but we have lost many a brave soldier to take this place, thousands lie wounded all the way from here to Louisville they send them north as fast as the boots can take their feet. I wish I could relate many of the scenes I have seen and passed through. I have seen 1,000 of the Rebels wounded, seen them die like dogs to be hurried. Such suffering I have seen among our own wounded for they must suffer after we have done all we can for them.

          I will write no more of this. I was in Nashville with a train last week & saw Caroline, she has gone home now. This soldiering is enough business. Last week we went to Nashville and marched back. It is 34 miles. We went out with a forage train seven miles into the enemy country and there done 24 hours picket duty with it raining most of the week. That was our week and so it goes most of the time. I tell you they are bound to use this western army as long as they last.

          Give my respects to Mr. Clark and Bidwell tell them we are going to clear out of Tennessee before April. We expect another big fight before long and I think our General Rosecrans is enough for them. Give my love to George. I hope this war will end soon and then I am coming to see you. Write often.

From your brother,

Alvah Philbrook

Capt. Co. D, 24th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers

 

Lieutenant Christian Nix's gravestone at Stones River National Cemetery

          Today, Captain Philbrook and Lieutenant Nix rest united in death. Captain Philbrook was killed in action November 30, 1864, during the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee and his remains today, like those of his beloved comrade Lieutenant Nix, reside in Stones River National Cemetery.

Sources:

Letter from Captain Alvah Philbrook, Co. D, 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, 24th Wisconsin Regimental Files, Stones River National Battlefield Park

Alvah Philbrook Collection, State Historical Society of Wisconsin

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