Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

Stones River Stories D uring the Battle of Stones River, a total of nine Medals of Honor were awarded to soldiers who displayed valor above and beyond the call of duty. Two of those medals were awarded for actions prior to the main engagement, while the remaining seven were awarded for actions on December 31, 1862. The first of those medals was not awarded until nearly 25 years after the battle, the first recipients being volunteer soldiers who had gone on to serve in the regular army as officers. Six more medals would be awarded during the 1890s with the last medal being awarded to John Farquhar of the 89 th Illinois in 1902.           The first Medal of Honor awarded for action at Stones River went to John Gregory Bourke, formerly of Co. E of the 15 th Pennsylvania Cavalry which was also known as the Anderson Troop. Bourke, born in Philadelphia to Irish immigrant parents in 1846, lied about his age and enlisted in the Anderson Troop on ...

I n the days leading up to the Battle of Chickamauga, Major General Gordon Granger, commanding the Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, provoked an ugly scene with the men of his command that highlights the differences between volunteer soldiers and the Regular officers who often led them. Major John Corson Smith of the 96 th Illinois, then serving on the staff of General James B. Steedman who commanded one of Granger’s divisions, laid the blame at Granger’s “exacting and overbearing nature.”           The trouble began once the Reserve Corps occupied Rossville on September 14, 1863; the supply wagons trailed days behind and soon the Federals got hungry. “The command at Rossville numbered about 6,000 rank and file,” recalled Major Smith. “Following the forced march over Lookout Mountain, there was a scarcity of food and the men commenced foraging for subsistence- a few nubbins of corn, a bunch of string beans, a piece of smoked mea...

F ollowing the Federal defeat at the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads on June 10, 1864, Private Nathan Browning of the 93 rd Indiana attributed his successful escape to Memphis to the lucky assistance of General Benjamin Grierson’s cavalry. After narrowly escaping capture near a farmhouse, Browning saw a number of his comrades sitting down, worn out and quietly awaiting capture. “I said no. So, I left them sitting until the Rebels came up and told them to throw their hands up, and they were marched back and soon in the pen, stripped of their best clothing and valuables,” Browning recalled in 1893. “I was still on the run, caught up with the Union cavalry and footed it with them over that rough country by the aid of grasping the horse by his tail which enabled me to make good my escape. Comrades, that was one of times that it was tail hold or none, so I hung on, just like a bulldog and it was well that I did.”           Private Browning’s des...

T he last shots of the Battle of Stones River took place on the evening of Saturday, January 3, 1863, when portions of Colonel John Beatty’s and General James Spears’ Federal brigades launched an assault on Confederate positions in the Round Forest held by the 39 th Alabama and 1 st Louisiana Regulars of Colonel John Coltart’s brigade.           It was a wet, miserable evening; it had rained incessantly all day and the men of both armies, exhausted by several days of the most intense combat yet seen in the western theater, were hardly in shape for a fight. Among those who shouldered his musket for this last engagement was Sergeant Henry Breidenthal of Co. A, 3 rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.           Breidenthal drew the unlucky assignment of being in the “forlorn hope,” a group of men tasked with advancing 50-100 yards ahead of the regiment during the attack; their presence would prompt the Co...

I n 1895, Judge Henry H. Williams, formerly a corporal in Co. A of the 71st Ohio Infantry, penned this memoir of his experiences at the Battle of Shiloh. It is clear that Judge Williams took issue with the postwar claims made by Generals Grant, Sherman, and their advocates downplaying the element of surprise at Shiloh: from his view in the ranks, quite the contrary.       " I had unusual privilege for a subaltern officer and was over much of the ground occupied by the Federal army just prior to the bloody battle of Shiloh," he noted. " No fortifications of any kind were in existence and up to Friday, April 4, 1862, no appearance of the enemy had been observed and only the ordinary picket line was maintained by the Federal forces.  General Grant’s headquarters were at Savannah, nine miles down the Tennessee River and on the opposite bank. If at that time there was any apprehension of an attack from the Rebel forces, it was not manifest by any preparation to meet ...

H aving missed most of the action at Fredericksburg, one Alabama soldier recalled the extraordinary meeting of the two armies during the flag of truce two days after the battle. “As soon as they saw the flag, one of them came a little forward and proposed a friendly meeting halfway,” he wrote a few days later. “We accepted, and a dozen or so of us went out and met them, shook hands, passed compliments, traded a little, and had a gay time. In a few minutes, the truce being refused, we all quickly took our places ready to change our friendly meeting into a bloody conflict. We agreed not to fire on each other that day unless the fight commenced.” Later that afternoon, a second flag of truce was agreed upon and again the men met to exchange the bodies of their dead comrades. “A large body of Yankees then came forward with litters to pick up our dead which they brought halfway and laid them down; about the same number of our men commenced picking up the Yankee dead and carrying them to ...

R iding over the Shiloh battlefield on April 8, 1862, Generals Alexander McCook and William "Bull" Nelson came across an old acquaintance lying upon the battlefield: George W. Johnson, the provisional Confederate governor of Kentucky. The 49-year-old, serving as a volunteer aide on the staff of General John C. Breckinridge, had a horse shot out from under him on April 6 th , then took his place as a private in the ranks of Co. E of the 4 th Kentucky on the 7 th . In the course of the fighting, Johnson suffered a mortal wound in the right thigh and abdomen.           I saw lying upon the ground a tall man dressed in gray jeans. I dismounted, approached him, and recognized him as a Kentucky Johnson and told him so,” McCook wrote years later. “He replied, ‘Yes, I am George W. Johnson, Confederate governor of Kentucky.’ He asked me to come nearer. I knelt beside him, better to hear what he had to say. He asked me if I was a Mason, I convinced ...

S ergeant Randolph Smedley of the 15 th Alabama recalled the electric effect seeing General Robert E. Lee had upon his regiment as they moved into action into the Wilderness on May 5, 1864.           “It seemed that every man went in determined to whip or die,” he informed his father. “As we were going in, we passed by General Lee. He raised his hat and said, “Go it, my brave Alabamians!” There is no telling how much good a kind word from such a general as Lee will do. When he spoke, although the balls were flying thick, every face brightened, each one took a quicker step, and when the order forward was given, a yell was raised and each one seemed to try to be the first to get a shot at the enemy.”           Sergeant Smedley felt sure that the bitter losses suffered by the Army of the Potomac in the ensuing battles would send Grant to the rear in disgrace, as had happened so many times before ...