Avenging a Brother: Lt. Col. John E. Murray of the 5th Arkansas at Stones River

During the Battle of Stones River, both the Army of Tennessee and Army of the Cumberland featured regiments led by “boy” colonels. 20-year-old Colonel James Brown Forman led the 15th Kentucky Infantry, part of Colonel John Beatty’s brigade of Lovell Rousseau’s division, and the story of his demise has been previously shared on this blog [see "Swallowed by the Cedars: A Day with the 15th Kentucky"]. 

    It wasn’t until recently, however, that I came across a couple of letters from the other “boy” colonel which fleshes out the story of this extraordinary soldier. Lieutenant Colonel John Edward Murray led the 5th Arkansas Infantry with much acclaim throughout the Battle of Stones River. As part of General St. John R. Liddell’s all-Arkansas brigade, Murray’s regiment fought throughout December 31, crossing swords with Colonel Philemon Baldwin’s brigade in the fighting near the Jenkins woodlot in the morning and later against elements of Van Cleve’s division near Asbury Road around midday.

In the course of the fighting, the Arkansans captured a set of national colors but lost heavily, losing (by Colonel Murray’s account) 159 killed and wounded. After the color bearers and guards were all shot down, Colonel Murray seized the colors himself and led the regiment towards Nashville Pike. His gallantry was noticed by General Patrick Cleburne who said Murray “bore the colors of his regiment through the hottest of the fight and by his own bright example encouraged his men to despise danger.”

What makes Colonel Murray’s story a bit unusual is that he was all of 19 years old when he led his regiment through Stones River, making him the youngest commanding officer of either army at the battle.

          Shortly after the battle, Colonel Murray wrote a few letters home to his family back in Arkansas. The family was then beset with the news that Colonel Murray’s younger brother Robert had been killed during the battle of Corinth back in October. Both letters were shared with the Daily Arkansas Gazette long after the war, being first published in their August 23, 1889, edition.

 

Hardee-style colors of the 5th Arkansas Infantry. During the Battle of Stones River, three color bearers were shot down in succession during the fighting near the Asbury Road; Colonel Murray grasped the colors himself and led the regiment for another mile towards the Nashville Pike. 

In this first letter written to his younger sister Leila, Colonel Murray references the death of his younger brother Robert Murray who was killed at the Battle of Corinth (October 3-4, 1862) while serving as a corporal in Co. A of the 12th Arkansas Battalion of Sharpshooters. His brother was just 16 years of age while Colonel Murray was just 19 at the time he wrote this letter.

Wartrace, Tennessee

January 10, 1863

My dear sister,

          Your letter containing an account of Bobbie’s death was received while I was encamped at College Green, Tennessee and I wished very much to answer it at once but found it absolutely impossible to do so on account of the confusion and bustle which always precedes a battle. We were preparing to move to Murfreesboro at the time so I was compelled to defer my answer until after the battle.

          I had received the news of poor Bobbie’s death a week before I received your letter. I had seen a letter from Mr. Anderson to his son Joe which mentioned his death. However much I may have been shocked and disturbed at his death, I was not greatly surprised for I had heard that Cabell’s brigade was cut all to pieces and the certain information of his death was only the confirmation of my worst fears.

          It is natural, dear sister, that we should mourn his loss, still we ought not to give way to unrestrained grief. We should endeavor to recollect that his death was a glorious one and one that any Southern youth might envy. He died upon the field of battle amid the dead and dying of both armies and his requiem was the dull, heavy roar and the sharp rattling of musketry. He died not like the Northern minions for pay and plunder, but for principle and the dearest rights of man. Let it be our boast that we had a brother who sacrificed his life in the holy cause of Southern independence. Had he died like the thousands of Northern minions whose blood has enriched our soil since this struggle began, then indeed, would you and I and all his relatives have cause to weep, but thank God, it is not so.

          He sacrificed himself on the altar of his country, a glorious offering to liberty. Let us not weep for him but rejoice that he is so much better off. Besides, in a struggle like this, every son of liberty is amply revenged. Bobbie’s already has been. I went into the battle of Murfreesboro determined to avenge his death and I did it. It is true, situated as I was, I could not do much with my own hand, but I carried my men where the Yankees were thickest and the long dark line of dead Federal that marked the track of the Arkansas brigade fully attest the truth of the assertion that every Arkansan who has fallen in the war has been fully avenged.

          For five miles across the country in front of the town of Murfreesboro, the tracks of this brigade could be followed by the files of Yankees who had closed their eyes forever on this earth. The loss of my regiment was heavy, very heavy, being 159 killed and wounded, but I am confidence that we killed or wounded four times that number of the enemy. They made four stands while passing over those five miles, but only once did our troops halt after starting from their first position. Whenever the enemy halted, we started forward with a Rebel yell and never failed to break their lines and send them flying to the rear. I had two horses shot under me but was not touched myself.

Your affectionate brother, Edward

General Liddell's Arkansas brigade held the divisional left flank during Cleburne's attack on the Federal position along Asbury Road about noon on December 31, 1862, the 5th Arkansas being the located at the right center of the brigade line. As Cleburne's men drove back Harker's, Fyffe's, and Beatty's brigades, the division started to turn to the east near the Widow Burris House which still exists on the battlefield today. It was in this vicinity that I believe the 5th Arkansas secured the national colors of the 86th Indiana; the 3rd Confederate of Wood's brigade likely secured the regimental colors. 


This second letter, written to his father Judge John Chelton Murray about a month later, provides more details about the Battle of Stones River and appears to be seeking his father’s approval for his actions and ambitions as an officer.

Wartrace, Tennessee

February 18, 1863

          It is true that IU have striven hard to rise and make my mark as high as you could expect. In this I have in some measure succeeded and my success has been by honorable means without electioneering or even asking any man for his support in reaching a position that few if any of my age have ever attainted. Aaron Burr was a major at 19 and I was a lieutenant colonel before I was that old. I hope that I have also succeeded in your expectations on the battlefield.

          I have been in two hard-fought battles, Perryville and Murfreesboro, and in the opinion of my superior officers acquitted myself with credit. I believe I have written before that the loss in my regiment at Murfreesboro was 159 killed and wounded. I had three color bearers shot and every color corporal (eight in number) was either killed or wounded. My three color bearers were shot one after another as fast as they picked up the colors. After this, I picked up the flag and carried it in my own hands for a mile, driving the enemy from every position he attempted to hold. General [Alexander McDowell] McCook, my old preceptor at West Point, commanded the force with which I was engaged at both Perryville and Murfreesboro. I believe I mentioned in my letter to mother that our regiment captured a beautiful stand of colors.

[Private John K. Leslie of Co. C, 5th Arkansas was credited with securing a silk set of national colors belonging to an unknown Federal regiment; this occurred in fighting that occurred near Asbury Road in the early afternoon hours of December 31st. It is possible that these were the national colors of the 86th Indiana Infantry. “Private John K. Leslie captured a stand of colors with his own hand and afterwards, when badly wounded by a shell, refused to go to the rear until I had to order him to go,” Colonel Murray proudly reported. General St. John R. Liddell also states in his after-action report that it was at this same time that Colonel Murray grasped the colors of his regiment and carried them to the brigade’s final position near the Nashville Pike. Colonel Murray’s gallantry was noticed by General Patrick Cleburne who said Murray “bore the colors of his regiment through the hottest of the fight and by his own bright example encouraged his men to despise danger.”]

          I saw Mr. Singelton today who was at the battle of Corinth. He corroborates all the good accounts that I had previously heard of my gallant and lamented brother conducted on that bloody and unfortunate field.

          You must write soon and please for my sake, do not let your anxiety on my account prey upon your health. That I may fall in this war is possible, but rest assured that if I do, it will not be in a manner to cause the blush of shame to mantle the cheek of any relative or friend of mine at the mention of my name. If I fall before the enemy, it will be in a manner worthy of your son, Edward.

 

Read Fletcher noted that a Colonel Murray bore a striking resemblance to a young Colonel Roberdeau Wheat from Louisiana who is pictured above. 

Read Fletcher, who provided these letters to the Daily Arkansas Gazette, knew Colonel Murray in the prewar days in Arkansas and entertained a very lofty opinion of the youth. “He was the embodiment of courage, frankness, truthfulness, and every sentiment of honor,” he noted. “He was absolutely without fault. His physique was handsome and his face was ever illuminated with a smile, and his dark brown eyes were the windows of the lofty spirit within. He was handsome, graceful, and there was a magnetism in him that he made friends wherever he went. His resemblance to the late Colonel Bob Wheat (who fell at the battle of Manassas as commander of the Louisiana Tigers) when a young man was very striking and in the love of adventure and excitement of battle, they were very much alike.”

John Edward Murray was born March 13, 1843, in Fauquier County, Virginia and moved to near Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1849 with his family. Murray received an appointment to West Point in 1860 but upon the secession of Arkansas, he resigned and returned home. His first wartime activity was training troops under the command of his old West Point commandant General William J. Hardee, but he was soon joined the 5th Arkansas Infantry as a private, quickly climbing the ranks from private to sergeant major, then commissioned as a lieutenant then lieutenant colonel, and all by the age of 18!

Murray participated with his regiment at Perryville and led it at Stones River as he describes in the letters above. He led the consolidated 5th/13th Arkansas at Chickamauga and was promoted to full colonel. The following summer, while serving as a brigade commander, he was mortally wounded July 22, 1864, during the Battle of Atlanta while leading three regiments in an attack upon the Union position. He died the next day and in 1867 his remains were moved to Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas.

To learn more about the Battle of Stones River, be sure to purchase a copy of my campaign study Hell by the Acre, recently awarded the Richard B. Harwell Award from the Atlanta Civil War Roundtable as best Civil War book of 2024. Available now through Savas Beatie. 



Source:

“War Memories: An Old Soldier’s Account About an Arkansas Boys,” Daily Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), August 23, 1889, pg. 5


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