We Fight for Home and Country: Letter from the 26th Tennessee

Barked up twice during Breckinridge's assault on January 2, 1863, Lieutenant Hannibal Paine of the 26th Tennessee counted himself as lucky to be alive as he related in a letter to his sister written a week later. 

    "I was afraid in the retreat that they would get many of us prisoners, still, they got but few," he wrote. "I really thought your humble servant as the boys say would go up the spout. We had to march back for half a mile through an open cornfield and many were so exhausted that they could not go faster than a slow walk. The enemy all the while was pouring in a murderous fire of shells, grape, canister, shot, and Minie balls upon our retreating column. I thought once I was so exhausted that I would not be able to get back across the field but I staggered slowly on and reached the woods on the other side when our forces railed and held the enemy in check."

    Lieutenant Paine's letter is part of the extensive regimental files collection at Stones River National Battlefield Park. 

Camp near Tullahoma, Tennessee

January 10, 1863

Dear sister,

          I well know how anxious you all are to hear from me and would have written sooner, but this is the first opportunity that I have had for many days. Since I have written last to any of you, I have participated in a great battle and God, through his divine wisdom and mercy, has seen cause to spare me. I was struck by a spent ball on the leg and I also had a finger glanced but escaped unhurt.

          For eight days and nights we stood in line of battle in all kinds of weather with no covering or tents save the heavens above us and although we were not engaged fighting ourselves all the time, still there was not a day passed but what we were more or less exposed to the enemy’s shells. I shall not attempt to give you a history of the fight for you can get a more accurate account of it from the papers than I could write myself.

          I will tell you what brigade and division our regiment belongs to and then from the newspapers you can find out what part we acted in the bloody drama. Our regiment belongs to the second brigade of General Breckinridge’s division. We were in the memorable charge made on Friday January 2nd. We took the enemy position and drove them half a mile, but their batteries poured such a murderous and destructive fire upon us that we were compelled to retreat.


The 26th Tennessee, part of Colonel Joseph Palmer's brigade, took part in Breckinridge's attack in the late afternoon of Friday, January 2, 1863 but were repulsed after losing nearly a third of their numbers along with their regimental colors. Federal artillery batteries located across the river on McFadden's Heights turned the open ground near McFadden's Ford into a killing field. (Photo by Phil Spaugy) 


I was afraid in the retreat that they would get many of us prisoners, still, they got but few. I really thought your humble servant as the boys say would go up the spout. We had to march back for half a mile through an open cornfield and many were so exhausted that they could not go faster than a slow walk. The enemy all the while was pouring in a murderous fire of shells, grape, canister, shot, and Minie balls upon our retreating column. I thought once I was so exhausted that I would not be able to get back across the field but I staggered slowly on and reached the woods on the other side when our forces railed and held the enemy in check.

Our regiment went into the fight with about 300 officers and men and lost 96 killed, wounded, and missing. Our company went into the fight with 23 men and lost seven killed, wounded, and missing. Captain Joseph A. Cash is missing, supposed to be killed or wounded in the hands of the enemy. Sergeant W.L. Rice is severely wounded and taken prisoner; Henry Hughes is missing and supposed to be killed. Stephen Spence is severely wounded and a prisoner. William R. Singleton was slightly wounded in the right hip and F.M. Loftis slightly in the face. The three last mentioned were merely scratched and are with us safe and well.

The Yankees got possession of the battlefield before we could get our wounded off was the way they came to fall into the enemy’s hands. It was the only portion of the battlefield but what we held. That night we took our original position and stayed there until the next night. About 12 o’clock when we commenced our retreat, we trudged on through mud knee deep that night and by sunrise the next morning were ten miles away from Murfreesboro on the road towards Manchester. Our retreat was conducted quite orderly and quietly. We passed through Manchester which is on the McMinnville Railroad and from thence to Allisonia on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad and from thence to Tullahoma which is distant from Murfreesboro 40 miles.

In the charge we made upon the Yankees on the 2nd of January we lost 2,000 men killed, wounded, and missing in 30 minutes and the Yankees must have lost 3,000-4,000, for I am satisfied that where I went over the battlefield we killed and wounded two or three of theirs to where they killed or wounded one of ours. I know it was certainly the case there because I saw how it was with my own eyes. I expect that you have heard that I was wounded and suffered much uneasiness on that account.

W.A. Crawford, from what I can learn, wrote that several were wounded who were not. That was because he was not in the fight and knew nothing about it, consequently, he had no right to write anything about it. Him and Riley were neither of them in the fight as they were five miles distant with the wagons. Riley was wagon master and Henry don’t belong to the army but he has been with us all the time. He was letting on to be sick. Either of them might have had the best chance in the world to have fought if they had only had a willing inclination to have done so. But I prophecy that if the war lasts ten years that they will neither of them will ever be in a fight. So, if you ever hear them telling what they did in the battle of Murfreesboro you can tell them that they were not in it.

The 26th Tennessee flag captured at Stones River by the 78th Pennsylvania is currently on display in the Objects of Valor exhibit at the State Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

We lost our regimental flag in the fight but captured one from the Yankees so we made a set off in the flag line. Many of the boys lost all their clothes and blankets. I lost my quilt and blankets in the charge and I am now without any bed clothing. But I am doing fine and am truly thankful that I escaped with my life. Perhaps I may be able to procure some more blankets. If you have any opportunity, you can send me, but put yourselves to no unnecessary trouble for I am old enough and have seen enough of the world to shift pretty well for myself.

Tell Ann and June that I have received some letters from them but could write nothing more at present than I have written to you. So, I intend this as a general letter to you all. Tell them they must write to me again and then I will write to them. The probabilities are that we will have another battle ere long. Bragg I think intends giving them battle if they advance somewhere about Tullahoma. If they don’t advance likely he will advance again towards Murfreesboro. Tell Uncle Green that I saw his son James Mathis a few days before the fight. He belongs to Savage’s 16th Tennessee. I have not seen or heard from him since for aught I knew he may be killed or wounded in the fight.

I have no more news to write. The army is in good health considering the hard times we have seen. Present my kind regards to all inquiring friends and tell them I am still in good health and ready to meet the invader and his hosts. All of the soil that Rosecrans gains now is going to cost him blood. The Yankees are sacrificing their lives for nothing, ours for home and country.

Source:

Letter from First Lieutenant Hannibal Paine, Co. E, 26th Tennessee Infantry, Regimental files of Stones River National Battlefield Park

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