Things Began to Assume a Serious Aspect: A 4th Michigan Cavalryman Recalls the Horrors of the Nashville Pike

Leonard Beck of the 4th Michigan Cavalry only saw action on the first few days of the Stones River campaign before being sent back to Nashville on December 29th guarding a group of 58 Confederate prisoners of war. What he saw along Nashville Pike upon arriving at Murfreesboro in early January filled him with horror.

          “While the battle was progressing in front of Murfreesboro, a considerable force of Rebels got in our rear and committed many atrocious deeds,” he related. “Negroes employed by the government as teamsters were ruthlessly murdered and their bodies thrown into the ditches bordering on the pike. Whole wagon trains were burned and the road strewn with dead mules, horses, Negroes, etc. LaVergne is supposed to have been the principal point where the Rebels committed these depredations and as a retaliation, our forces burned the principal buildings of the town.”

          Private Beck’s account first saw publication in the January 29, 1863 edition of the Adrian Watchtower in his hometown of Adrian, Michigan.


 

Page 88 of the February 7, 1863 edition of Harper's Weekly features this haunting Thomas Nast image depicting the massacre of Negroes at Murfreesboro Pike. Leonard Beck's description of what he found along the pike a few days after Wheeler's Raid coincides with the Harper's Weekly depiction. Harper's correspondent reported that the bodies of 21 slain Negro teamsters were found in the ditch along the pike.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

January 8, 1863

          We paid a high price in blood to secure Murfreesboro but a great victory was won by our brave soldiers and after five days of bloody fighting we conquered and sent the Rebels from this vicinity. On the 26th day of December, the day on which your letter was dated, the 4th Michigan started for this town. The grand army of the Cumberland moved the same day. We marched until noon when skirmishing commenced. Our regiment had the road in the advance, two other cavalry regiments occupied the right and left while the remainder of Crittenden’s corps followed along in the rear.

          Brisk skirmishing was kept up until about 2 p.m. when we were brought to a sudden standstill by Rebel shells thrown from LaVergne, a rabid Secesh hole two miles in our front. All of our regiment except our company was sent to the right, This deployment left Co. F in a precarious position. Six pieces of artillery came to the front and commenced firing with vigor upon the Rebels. The enemy fired and their shells being so close we were ordered to leave the road. The order was obeyed with unusual alacrity. Their shells came very near us.

          While in the road, the shells came howling directly over our heads causing considerable dodging and after getting over the fence, a shell passed directly in our rear between us and the fence. This shot was a good one, the ball passing near the ground, throwing the sand in every direction. Things began to assume a serious aspect.

          We were ordered to dismount and move to the front to support the battery. With rifles in we passed the battery and took position 15 paces in advance lying on the ground under a fence, our guns resting on the second rail and pointed in the direction of the enemy’s battery to repulse any infantry attack they might make. Occasionally some of us would raise our heads to see what was going on then an order would come from two of these battery officers, “Keep your heads down! Don’t you see the shells? Lie low or they will hit you!” Pretty good advice we thought.

Private Leonard Beck and his wife in a postwar view from the Record of Lenawee County, Michigan. Beck joined Co. F of the 4th Michigan Cavalry in August 1862 and the Stones River campaign marked his first combat experience. Beck would see fighting at Chickamauga and throughout the Atlanta campaign before being promoted to regimental commissary sergeant. Among the most notable incidents of his service was one that occurred after the end of the war; he was in Macon, Georgia and witnessed the arrival of a detachment of the 4th Michigan Cavalry bringing in their most celebrated prisoner of the war: President Jefferson Davis. 


          We lay there throughout three hours during which time heavy firing was kept up on both sides. A Rebel shell burst over one of our batteries killing an artilleryman, wounding another, and injuring several horses. Then we encamped for the night.

          At daybreak, we formed in line of battle and commenced moving upon LaVergne. Our line presented a more hostile array than the day previous for by this time our infantry and the remainder of our artillery had come up and taken position. Our regiment was ordered to the right to act as flankers. We took peaceful possession of the town and marched along. [See "The LaVergne Skirmish" by Captain John James 26th Ohio] We saw but little fighting on Saturday. At night we encamped within 11 miles of Murfreesboro and remained inactive through Sunday to our great joy.

          On Monday morning, an order came for Co. F to escort 58 Rebel prisoners to Nashville. We returned to Nashville and as the Rebels had got into the rear of our army and were committing unheard-of depredations along the Nashville Pike, the general commanding the city retained Co. F to our great disappointment and consequently we saw no more of the fight. After remaining in Nashville for one week we were permitted to return to the regiment which we learned had won some glory. It had made two of three brilliant charges and many tongues teemed with praise to the gallant 4th Michigan.


The 4th Michigan Cavalry earned a stellar reputation during the Stones River, particularly for their charge on the afternoon of December 27, 1862 where a portion of the regiment under Captain Frank Mix captured a bridge over Stewart's Creek. The Wolverines would serve in General Robert H.G. Minty's celebrated Saber Brigade for the balance of the war. 


          In our march hither we did not pass over the grounds where the noble struggle ensued, but along the pike we saw enough to convince us the carnage was terrible. The ground for miles around was a scene of devastation. Every hour was riddled with grape and canister, fences were town down and burned, forest trees were stripped of their limbs and every shrub was marked with a rifle shot. Strange as it may appear to you, we actually saw trees twelve inches in diameter on which we counted 20 bullet holes within six feet of their roots.

          Consider if you can the chances of a man in the battle of Murfreesboro. Grave were seen on every side, some of them 40 feet in length and others of smaller dimensions. While the battle was progressing in front of Murfreesboro, a considerable force of Rebels got in our rear and committed many atrocious deeds. Negroes employed by the government as teamsters were ruthlessly murdered and their bodies thrown into the ditches bordering on the pike. Whole wagon trains were burned and the road strewn with dead mules, horses, Negroes, etc. [See also "A Sentence of Fire: Wheeler's Raid Around Rosecrans at Murfreesboro." for a Confederate account of Wheeler's Raid and "Hooping, Yelling, and Rushing About Like Madmen: An Indianan Captured on Wheeler's Ride." for a Federal account.] 

LaVergne is supposed to have been the principal point where the Rebels committed these depredations and as a retaliation, our forces burned the principal buildings of the town. A battalion of 1st Michigan Engineers arrived at LaVergne in time to barricade themselves and gave the Rebels a good whipping. [See "A Gallant Defense: The 1st Michigan Engineers and the Fight for LaVergne."]

Source:

Letter from Private Leonard Beck, Co. F, 4th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, Adrian Daily Watchtower (Michigan), January 29, 1863, pg. 1

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 t...
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 ...
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 h...
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 Ma...
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 se...
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

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...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more