Stones River Letters: Robert Wolfkill of the 13th Ohio

Quartermaster Sergeant Robert F. Wolfkill of the 13th Ohio missed out on the combat that nearly destroyed his regiment at Stones River, but his letter, written in Nashville as the guns went silent, was the first word his home community of Urbana, Ohio learned of the battle.

Writing his mother after helping to bring a load of 800 wounded men to Nashville, Robert wrote his mother in the wee hours of the morning of Sunday, January 4, 1863. “The old 13th Ohio is completely cut to pieces,” he reported. “They went into the battle the first day 500 strong and yesterday 150 men were all that could be got together, the balance all killed, wounded, or prisoners. Co. C has six men left for duty. In Co. A, out of 80 men has only 12 left; 30 men fell at the first fire in Co. A. The reason our regiment suffered so much is this: the two regiments on the left of our regiment gave way and the Rebels flanked and got our regiment and the 44th Indiana between two fires. The consequence is that our regiment and the 44th Indiana are completely used up.”

“I could sit and write all night about the awful sights of the battlefield but will not. Our men are the victors thus far. The regiment deeply feels the loss of Colonel Hawkins. Poor man, he was killed instantly, a ball having struck him in the left breast,” he noted.

Wolfkill’s letter, as the first word from any local soldier about Stones River, was published in both of Urbana’s newspapers, the Urbana Union and the Urbana Citizen & Gazette.


Quartermaster Sergeant Robert F. Wolfkill of the 13th O.V.I. would be commissioned lieutenant within days of writing this letter about Stones River. Note the regimental number 13 inside the infantry horn emblem on his kepi. This particular image has a G.W. Collins, Urbana, Ohio backmark and no revenue stamp, so it might be an early war image. 
Author's Collection

Nashville, Tennessee

January 4, 1863

My dear mother,

          You are no doubt anxious about me for by this time you have already learned of the great battle which is now raging at Murfreesboro. Yes, one of the hardest fought battles of the rebellion is now going on at that place. The fight commenced on the 31st of December and has been kept up ever since. Today is the fifth day of the fight.

          I have just returned from the battlefield where I went the day before yesterday [January 2nd]. I was up all last night and the night before. We took supplies down to the men. Until this evening, I have not been out of the saddle for nearly 36 hours. You can judge how I feel now; I am almost tired to death and am so sleepy I can hardly hold my eyes open.

          The old 13th Ohio is completely cut to pieces. They went into the battle the first day 500 strong and yesterday 150 men were all that could be got together, the balance all killed, wounded, or prisoners. Co. C has six men left for duty. In Co. A, out of 80 men has only 12 left; 30 men fell at the first fire in Co. A.

Captain Mast and Lieutenant Gould of Co. C are both wounded; Captain Mast in the head slightly and Gould seriously in the thigh. Colonel [Joseph] Hawkins was killed on Wednesday and his body lies on the field yet. The place where he fell has been fought over ever since and it was impossible up until yesterday to get his body. First Lieutenants Murphy and Ray along with Second Lieutenants Fox and Whittaker are among the killed. Lieutenant Thomas J. Stone of Mechanicsburg is wounded in the arm.

The reason our regiment suffered so much is this: the two regiments on the left of our regiment gave way and the Rebels flanked and got our regiment and the 44th Indiana between two fires. The consequence is that our regiment and the 44th Indiana are completely used up.

I will enclose a list of the killed, wounded, and missing of Co. C:

Orderly Sergeant Caskey, wounded

Sergeant Smith Minturn, slightly wounded

Corporal More from Mechanicsburg, wounded

Bugler Rupple, wounded

Private Gruber, wounded

Corporal Swaufer, wounded

Private James Stevenson, wounded

Private [William] Nelson Shields, slightly wounded but on duty. This young man caught up the colors when Sergeant Odin Wood of our company who was color bearer was killed and bore them off the field, receiving a wound while doing so.

There are several more wounded but I can’t remember names at present. Sergeant Holland, Privates Milloway, McAfee, and some 12 others are supposed to be killed. The last seen of them, they were seen to fall on the field. There is no doubt, I think, about Holland’s, Milloway’s, and McAfee’s deaths. John Delaney is missing and no one knows whether he is dead, wounded, or a prisoner. I think probably the latter.

We brought 800 wounded back to this city last night in the wagons. I could sit and write all night about the awful sights of the battlefield but will not. Our men are the victors thus far. The regiment deeply feels the loss of Colonel Hawkins. Poor man, he was killed instantly, a ball having struck him in the left breast.

John Cundiff is here. He went to the battlefield with me and made himself useful in bringing the wounded of Co. C to this city and procuring good hospitals for them.

Your son,

Robert F. Wolfkill

    The losses of the 13th Ohio at the Battle of Stones River directly led to Wolfkill being promoted to the second lieutenancy of Co. C effective January 1, 1863. He would serve with the 13th Ohio until mustered out of service in June 1864. Wolfkill then was commissioned regimental quartermaster of the 6th U.S. Veteran Volunteer Infantry, serving until October 1865. 

    Born March 20, 1842 in Whiteside County, Illinois to Elijah and Elizabeth Wolfkill, he had moved to South Charleston, Ohio by 1860 and was working a a clerk in John Rankin's dry goods store in South Charleston. The following year, he was living in Urbana and enlisted as a private in Co. D of the 90-days organization of the 13th Ohio; he then enlisted in the three year organization where his skills acquired as a dry goods clerk were put to work as the regimental quartermaster sergeant. 

    After the war, he returned to Urbana and soon married Mary Helen Chaney with whom he had three children. By 1867, he moved to Sharon, Pennsylvania where he enjoyed a lengthy career in the iron industry, rising to bookkeeper and cashier of the P.L. Kimberly Co. before taking a similar role with the Steel Company of Canada, relocating to Hamilton, Ontario in 1889. He worked in Hamilton for 22 years, retiring in 1911. Lieutenant Wolfkill died of a stroke January 14, 1930, at the age of 87 in Hamilton, and his body was interred at Oakwood Cemetery in Sharon, Pennsylvania. “Although of a retiring disposition, he was very kindhearted and always ready to assist those in need,” his obituary stated.

Source:

Letter from Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Fielding Wolfkill, 13th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Urbana Union (Ohio), January 14, 1863, pg. 3


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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