On Swept the Tide of Battle: A Buckeye in Miller’s Counterattack at Stones River

Stones River Letters Series

The fortunes of General William S. Rosecrans’ Army of the Cumberland appeared to be on the wane as the sun set on Friday afternoon January 2, 1863. A determined attack by General John C. Breckinridge’s division upon Colonel Samuel Beatty’s division, arrayed on the east side of Stones River, had crumpled the Union line and was surging towards Stones River. Second Lieutenant Robert S. Dilworth of the 21st Ohio recorded the chaotic scene from the west side of the river.

“On swept the tide of battle. Pell-mell, hurry-scurry, came our troops, hotly pursued by the advancing Rebel columns,” Dilworth stated. “The 99th Ohio broke across the river and came near running over us. When they had finally passed through our ranks, Colonel [James] Neibling in his sonorous voice cried out, “Attention!” The whole regiment sprang to their feet in an instant with their arms gripped, ready for the oncoming assault of the Rebel forces and the coming struggle. The Rebels charged up the river’s edge and Colonel Neibling cried out “Deploy into line on the fifth company!” We were in our places quicker than it takes to tell it, and our next command was to lie down. Then we commenced to pour a withering fire into their advancing ranks which caused them to begin to fall back.”

Dilworth’s letter, written a few weeks after the battle, first saw publication November 16, 1896, edition of the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette.

 

Lieutenant Robert Sample Dilworth of Co. I of the 21st Ohio penned an insightful diary during his service with the regiment but this letter (probably written to his future wife Lois Blakeman, published years after the war, is among his most poignant writings. A native of Pennsylvania, at the outbreak of the war he was working as a carpenter in Ottawa, Putnam County, Ohio. He enlisted August 29, 1861 as a sergeant and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant on March 1, 1862 then first lieutenant June 13, 1863. When the regiment was home on veterans' furlough in 1864, he married Lois but was killed in action just six months later at Kennesaw Mountain.
(Photo courtesy of Robert Van Dorn Collection)

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

January 19, 1863

          Colonel John F. Miller commanded the Seventh Brigade and General [James S.] Negley the Eighth Division of Rosecrans’ 14th Army Corps. We left Camp Hamilton seven miles south of Nashville on the 24th and marched through rain and mud in the daytime, laying in the rain at night, reaching Murfreesboro on the 30th making camp for the night without the benefit of any tents, blankets, or food. In the morning, we chose our position and held it throughout the day until midnight when we were ordered out in front as skirmishers. A little before daylight we opened the battle and were in the hottest part of it for eleven and a half hours when nighttime closed in and put an end to the day’s conflict.

          Our regiment was then placed in a dense cedar thicket which skirted a cornfield. During the night, the Rebels had positioned a force on our right center and left. In the morning, they made a charge on us, five of their regiments against us. We laid down until they were within 50 yards of our line, then we opened fire on the advancing line. While we were sweeping death into the ranks of the oncoming Rebels, McCook’s corps of Johnson’s command allowed themselves to be taken by surprise, losing all of their artillery and a great many men and were taken as prisoners.

As they fell back, we became in danger of being surrounded and we were forced to fall back. In doing so, we ran into the Confederate’s advancing column and made a right oblique movement, cutting our way through their ranks and fell back to an elevation where our artillery had been planted and then deployed to support them. General Rosecrans came up and said, “Boys, hold this position one hour and the day is ours!” Well, we held it four and a half hours before nighttime brought an end to our strife. The Rebels fired two solid shots into our ranks, killing four and wounding three others.

General William S. Rosecrans

The following morning, the Rebels charged upon our battery five times and were five times repulsed, losing heavily. Heavy skirmishing continued throughout the day. The Rebels then tried to attack our left but found Crittenden instead, losing a whole brigade in the process.

On Friday afternoon, the Rebels made a charge on our left center. We were ordered out then and took our position near the river’s side, lying down in mass. The regiment had not been in this position for more than half an hour when the storm of battle commenced. It lasted about 20 minutes, the Rebels coming on eight columns deep and forcing us back in confusion. The 35th Indiana lay in position until the Rebels charged up within 20 yards, then arose as one and fired a deadly volley into their ranks and charged upon them. Poor fellows! They lost many men in that ill-fated charge before they too, were compelled to fall back. The 99th Ohio retreated without firing a single shot.

On swept the tide of battle. Pell-mell, hurry-scurry, came our troops, hotly pursued by the advancing Rebel columns. The 99th Ohio broke across the river and came near running over us. When they had finally passed through our ranks, Colonel [James] Neibling in his sonorous voice cried out, “Attention!” The whole regiment sprang to their feet in an instant with their arms gripped, ready for the oncoming assault of the Rebel forces and the coming struggle.

The Rebels charged up the river’s edge and Colonel Neibling cried out “Deploy into line on the fifth company!” We were in our places quicker than it takes to tell it, and our next command was to lie down. Then we commenced to pour a withering fire into their advancing ranks which caused them to begin to fall back. Colonel Jim then rode out and in a voice that sounded above the din of battle, cried out “Charge!” And charge it was, right up to the river’s bank, amidst a terrible swarm of iron and lead. The Rebels began to retreat in dismay as we charged across the river. Thrice was their flag and banner cut down and thrice did it wave over the heads of the retreating butternuts. At length, they were felled to no more rise in secession, many of them falling into the hands of the 74th Ohio.

Lieutenant Colonel James M. Neibling led the 21st Ohio throughout the Battle of Stones River, at one point in the battle exhorting his Ohioans to give the Rebels "Hell by the acre, give 'em hell by the acre, boys!" A born fighter and popular officer with the boys, Neibling's loose brand of discipline caused much discontent with his superiors. Neibling would miss Chickamauga only to be wounded in the arm May 28, 1864 near Pickett's Mill, Georgia. "Colonel Jim" would pass away February 21, 1869 and is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Findlay, Ohio. 

We then charged upon their batteries which had continued to play on us, taking five guns, but there was another battery called the Washington Battery which still rendered our progress dangerous. We then charged upon this battery which was placed in a woods across an open cornfield about 60 rods in width, right into the face of its murderous fire, a monster battery of five English guns. Yet we must go or lose the prize while it belched forth its missiles of death which fell upon us like rain in our midst. Just when we were within about 50 yards of the doomed battery (which still did its work well), we heard a shout to our right, and then came a stream of fire at a distance of about 30 yards from the noble prize. The 18th Ohio, while we were capturing the former battery, had crossed the river above and on our right, flanking the Rebels while they were engaged with us. They had advanced and the Rebels, not expecting any enemy from that quarter, did not notice them until it was too late. They were apprised of their danger by the cheers of the animated soldiers. The Rebels skedaddled, leaving their battery in our hands, and nighttime soon brought an end to the bloody battle. [The battery the 21st Ohio had a part in capturing was Captain Elisha E. Wright’s Tennessee battery, not the 5th Company of the Washington Light Artillery as Dilworth claims in this account.]

When General Rosecrans saw the rout on the opposite side of the river, he cried, but when he saw us deploy into line, he watched our movements until he saw our fire tell so terribly on the Rebels. He then waved his sword over his head and when he saw us charge and the Rebels falling back, he put his hat on the end of his sword and waving it above his head he shouted, “That regiment has saved the day and me.”

The National Tribune created this image depicting the 78th Pennsylvania charging upon Wright's Battery at Stones River. In the confused Federal counterattack, the regiments of both Colonel John F. Miller's brigade (including the 21st Ohio) and Colonel Timothy R. Stanley's brigade became intermixed and each of the eight regiments claimed they captured this battery.  

After we had taken the last battery, we retired across the river and the boys replenished their cartridge boxes. I was ordered out with companies G, K, E, C, and D as skirmishers that night and oh how it rained! Having waded the river twice, in water up to my waist, then to turn out all night in the rain without the benefit of a fire was too much. I held my ground until 9 on Saturday morning whilst the shells, grape, and canister just more than rattled and clattered around.

Saturday night was stormy and General Rosecrans thought from appearances that Bragg would attack his center and take advantage of the darkness. So, he placed his batteries and masked them. It was just as “Old Rosie” had thought. Bragg made an attack about 7 in the evening but was repulsed by the brave generals Morgan and Rousseau with terrible slaughter. Our men drove the Rebels out of their rifle pits with the bayonet and butt ends of their muskets. [This fight in the Round Forest was the last engagement of the Battle of Stones River.]

We were all quiet Sabbath day until about one in the afternoon when we sallied forth and gave the Rebels a barrage, but all without effect. Captain [Cyrus] Loomis then threw three shells into town but got no response. Our forces occupied all the previous battleground and on Monday morning [January 5th], we marched into the town with our division in the advance and continued on until making camp for the night.

          Lieutenant Dilworth, promoted to first lieutenant in June 1863, would continue serving with the 21st Ohio until he was killed in action June 27, 1864, during the assault on Kennesaw Mountain during Sherman’s Atlanta campaign. He is buried at Marietta National Cemetery.

Source:

Letter from Second Lieutenant Robert Sample Dilworth, Co. I, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Pittsburg Commercial Gazette (Pennsylvania), November 16, 1896


To learn more about the Stones River campaign, be sure to check out my upcoming book "Hell by the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign" scheduled for release in November by Savas Beatie.

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