The Bullet Magnet of Stones River: Dr. Yoder’s Wound Catalogue

At the Battle of Stones River, Lieutenant Noah Webster Yoder could lay sole claim to being the premier bullet magnet of the Army of the Cumberland. The Ohioan no doubt must have felt snake bit at the battle as the 25-year-old former country doctor sustained no less than eight wounds in a manner of minutes when his 51st Ohio vainly tried to stop Breckinridge’s attack on the afternoon of January 2, 1863.

          Lieutenant Yoder’s story, copied from a family history of the Hostetler family, is given as follows:

He educated himself, taught school, studied medicine and practiced till the war of 1861, when he entered the army as Lieutenant of Co. G, 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He engaged in many battles and skirmishes in Kentucky and Tennessee. At the battle of Stones River through some mistaken order of his superior officers his regiment was ordered to advance over the brow of the hill and hold the position at all hazards. The Rebels advanced in solid mass and cut the regiment all to pieces.

"The Bullet Magnet of Stones River" First Lieutenant Noah Webster Yoder of Co. G, 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry survived his eight wounds to return home and practice medicine in his home community of Shanesville, Ohio until perishing from a buggy accident in 1877. 


He was in command and refused to retreat against orders and was hit first by a large musket ball, which entered in front of the breast, fractured the left collar bone and came out the back near the spine. A branch of the large artery which leads from the heart to the head was severed and the blood spurted at every pulsation. His knowledge of surgery taught him how to stop the blood, which saved his life.

 His comrades, against his earnest protest, refused to abandon him on the field. In the midst of the hail of bullets and cannon balls they picked him up but were shot down one after another until at last Mr. John Hall, of Berlin, Ohio, a powerful man who had been drafted and joined the regiment only a few days before picked him up bodily and set him against a stump with his face toward the Rebels. While he was being carried in this manner a ball fractured his left leg below the knee.

The enemy charged past him and nothing but the stump against which he leaned kept him from being crushed to death. A Rebel officer who was in the rear of the advancing charge was attracted by his groans and upon looking at him was struck with the fine intellectual face. Noah had a remarkable, kind and striking appearance. The officer stooped down and spoke some kind words to him calling him "Pawdner". and inquired what he could do for him. The only reply that Noah could make was, "Water! For God's sake give me some water!". His thirst was caused by the loss of blood. No one that has not experienced this feeling can realize it. The officer slipped the strap of his canteen over his head, went to the river, which was some distance away, brought it back and Noah was no time in draining it dry. The officer said, "I must join my command and can nothing more for you." Noah said, "Go! God Bless you."

This map, from my recent book Hell by the Acre, shows the initial position of the 51st Ohio along Beatty's Ridge adjacent to McFadden's Ford at Stones River. Lieutenant Yoder sustained his wounds just to the rear of the regiment's first position as he tried to rally his company. 

The Rebels were soon driven back past Noah and as fate would have it formed their lines of battle just beyond him which left him about midway between the two firing lines and there for nine terrible hours he lay, the bullets and cannon balls from both sides passed over, round and by him. He was hit eight times. The end of his finger was cut off, the breastbone was hit, a ball passed through his bowels and in fact he was shot all to pieces.

This battle was fought January 2, 1863, and yet Noah lived to raise a family of children and do much good in the practice of medicine in the Shanesville community. He lived through all this to be upset from his carriage, in what might be called a mud run, and drowned while on his way to relieve a suffering patient. When his untimely and tragic death occurred, there was mourning in every household, mothers went about their work sobbing and children wept at the mention of his name. Winter snows may fall and cover his grave, but his memory will ever remain green in the hearts of those who knew him best. His heroism, patriotic devotion to his country, and the great good he did to his people will be told from generation to generation.

After his wound, Dr. Yoder’s left leg was amputated but he was promoted to regimental quartermaster April 15, 1863, only to resign his post July 30, 1863. As stated above, he returned home to Shanesville, Ohio, surviving his eight wounds only to lose his life in a buggy accident March 9, 1877, at the age of 39.

Source:

Hostetler, Harvey. Descendants of Jacob Hostetler, the Immigrant of 1736. 1913, pgs. 699-700


To learn more about the Stones River campaign, be sure to check out my new book "Hell by the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign" available now from Savas Beatie.

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